Tackle Collection Size

[Tanner1Wilkerson]

So is it possible for a 20 year old on a college budget to have anywhere close to as much gear as a pro or a guide? A bass boat is a whole different story but I see the guys that make a living off of fishing with a box designated to only flipping baits with multiple colors of one style or a few cranking boxes with different colors of multiple depth/size/bill style just for example and man I wish I could get to that point just to be more effective as an angler. I take the sport and my desire to improve more serious than what my age and budget allows and it’s really frustrating. I will say that since I’m limited to the bank it is rare that I throw deeper diving hard baits or a rigs and things like that. But man I recently ordered 300$ worth of tackle and when I got it I was just like wow this really isn’t even that much    I understand that the guys that are fortunate enough to do it for a living are making justified investments for their source of income, I totally get that. I’m just so ready to have the time and money and a boat to get into the tournament scene but I literally only have like 5 chatterbaits, maybe 10 jigs and like three boxes of soft plastics just to give an idea. I’d feel so unprepared if I were to start dropping money on entry fees and start really stocking up on gear. I guess my question is for you guys older than me. I’d like to know if everyone starts out in this position or if I’m just way behind. Thanks if you made it this far.

[Scott F]

The amount of tackle you have means nothing. A friend of mine is by far the best fisherman I’ve ever fished with. He doesn’t own a rod that cost him more than $100, he only brings 2 of them on a trip that lasts 10 days. He brings one, average, hard sided tackle box, that is far from full of lures. He just knows where to cast, makes good casts and puts the few lures he does bring in front of fish.  You already have everything you need lure wise to catch fish. Learn to catch fish with the baits you have. If you aren’t getting fish with those lures, you won’t be more successful with more lures that you don’t know how to use.

[Tanner1Wilkerson]

12 minutes ago, Scott F said:

The amount of tackle you have means nothing. A friend of mine is by far the best fisherman I’ve ever fished with. He doesn’t own a rod that cost him more than $100, he only brings 2 of them on a trip that lasts 10 days. He brings one, average, hard sided tackle box, that is far from full of lures. He just knows where to cast, makes good casts and puts the few lures he does bring in front of fish.  You already have everything you need lure wise to catch fish. Learn to catch fish with the baits you have. If you aren’t getting fish with those lures, you won’t be more successful with more lures that you don’t know how to use.

Thank you for your advice. I’m pretty consistent with what I have now and I’m glad to know that having a large assortment doesn’t make or break you. There has been times where my friends aren’t getting anything and I’ll suggest where to cast and they’ll get something so I understand what you mean with that. It seems that fisherman seem to just get a sense of what looks good and where fish are likely to be holding and it seems to be something that can’t really be explained but just learned from experience. I have a hard time explaining to people that hey it’s not all just luck and that it has to do with tricking the fish on stubborn days. Thanks again for the info and “good luck” man!

[Hammer 4]

I would suggest having a Staple of baits, i.e. proven baits that will catch fish consistently.

Obviously you'd want plastic worms of various types, i.e. Roboworms, Senco's, ect

I would include spinnerbaits, chatter baits also.

Jig's of various types are a must, as with trailers of which there are many, most folks have their favorites.

You could add swimbaits of various sizes, some to use on underspins, or bigger one that require a Heavy rod and at least a 300 size reel.

Then there are the top water baits, frogs are a must have imho..Buzzbaits, and walking baits may be in the mix too. Then you have glide baits, some can get rather spendy.

I don't fish crank type baits much anymore, but they can be very effective catching fish, either lipless, or billed.

Do I think you need 20 of every type of bait out there to be successful..no. Get what you think will work for you, and only time on the water will give you that knowledge.

 

Aside from baits, get the best gear you can afford. You don't need a 250.00 rod, or reel to be good. As for line, I've always bought the best, but good line isn't worth snot if you tie bad knots, so get good at tying different well.

 

Anywho, welcome to the forum, all the best to ya young un... 

[FishinBuck07]

I echo the other responses, having lots of tackle does not make you a better fisherman.  I have learned from experience, about 5 years ago I got on this kick of buying a bunch of stuff because a friend had it and said I had to have it if I was bass fishing.  Well I didn't think about it and went and spent a bunch of money.  Today I don't have 75% of that stuff because I couldn't catch fish on it, mainly because I wasn't taking the time to learn how to fish one bait, I was trying to learn to much at once.  Now I focus on what I fish well with and always have, I still have some stuff that I don't know how to fish well yet but that stuff stays, I try to take with me the stuff I have confidence in.  I fished for years with Ugly Sticks and cheaper reels, they got me by, and caught a lot of fish.  I am almost 40 and just got my first boat last summer, and I have finally purchased higher quality rods and reels.  I guess what I am saying is don't try to keep up with the guy that has to have all the latest and greatest equipment, because usually those are the people that couldn't out fish a toddler.  Buy the equipment you can comfortably afford and the baits you are good with and enjoy fishing.  No need to spend your whole paycheck on one setup to catch bass, they don't know the difference.

[JediAmoeba]

A lot of my lures are for novelty.  I catch 90% of my fish on 3 lures/techniques.  A lot of this is due, in part, to when I started out I only had a few lures and really focused on those few lures and how to properly present them.  Once I started buying more lures i didn't necessarily catch more fish...because I would fall back on those few lures I had perfected and had total confidence in... 

 

Confidence and cadence are important but you have to put the bait where the fish are holding.  I think a lot of people that start out with a lot of lures are at a disadvantage in some ways - they don't learn where the fish are and focus more on why the fish arent hitting each lure.  So, bo, I don't think you are at a disadvantage.  

[Cgolf]

In a way I started out similar to you. Due to starting a family and getting married at 23, while finishing college I have pretty much been on a budget the last 23 years. I still fish an ugly stick and have many 15 year old rods and reels that I am still slowly upgrading. I have built up a pretty decent stock of tackle, but it took years to happen. I basically asked family for gift cards to different tackle shops for gifts. It definitely didn't happen over night.

 

Ultimately I started by getting stuff I new would catch fish anywhere which for me then and now was slider heads and kalins 5" grubs and tubes, they still whack em today. I remember when I was excited to upgrade my Shakespeare excursion with a 29$ Shakespeare Cattera. That being said that Excursion reel that is at least 20 years old now is still catching me fish on my trout rod, got my money out of that reel. I have just slowly expanded my tactics as money allowed. 13 years ago I was able to get a 16 foot package aluminum boat new for a good deal and that opened up more tackle options.

 

So patience is the key, and just focus for now on the staples. Also shopping sales only has helped me feed the bait monkey more efficiently.

[fin]

If you only have 10 lures, odds are you’ll catch fish on more than 50% of your lures.

 

If you have 1000 lures, odds are you’ll catch fish on less than 5% of your lures.

 

Now that’s a generalization, so it’s obviously not totally true, but the basic point is true. The real trick is figuring out what lures work for you. You buy a lot of lures trying to find that out, and the answer is not the same for everybody.

[Hartwood71]

There is only so much time in a day.  With LMB, i feel like you can make almost any lure an important one if you use it enough.
 

The more lures you have, the more lures you also don’t use.   
 

But it’s fun having them anyway.  

[Fishes in trees]

Tackle is accumulated over time - even if you're trying to do the pro/semi-pro thing.  Time moves at its own pace.   It is really hard to get older quicker.   Actually it isn't - just eat a bunch of Meth , day in & day out for a few months or so - you'll look a lot older pretty quick.

 

JUST FOR THE RECORD - THIS IS A JOKE - ADMITTEDLY MAYBE NOT A PRIZE WINING JOKE, BUT A JOKE NONE THE LESS!!!

[Smalls]

12 hours ago, Tanner1Wilkerson said:

A bass boat is a whole different story but I see the guys that make a living off of fishing with a box designated to only flipping baits with multiple colors of one style or a few cranking boxes with different colors of multiple depth/size/bill style

In my opinion, all that is mostly unnecessary for the average angler. We can get by and catch fish with a few types of baits for each water depth, 4-5 basic colors, and minimal terminal tackle. 

 

But fisherman are "gear nerds". It's a very in depth hobby, and having all sorts of different gear and things to tinker with is half the fun sometimes. I just recently made myself stop buying a lot of hard baits. I've got like 4 boxes of just topwater poppers. Unless some completely innovative game changing popper comes along, I don't need any more. 

 

Pros travel the entire country, fishing all sorts of different types of water. Their livelihood depends on having that one particular bait that works on this specific stretch of bank on this particular lake. On top of that, their tackle collection is a mixture of free/discounted baits and 20, 30, even 50 years of stocking. 

 

Buy what you need to get out fishing. Buy the things you want when you can. In 20 years, you'll have more boxes of squarebills than you can cram into a boat. 

 

 

[newriverfisherman1953]

Often, having a bunch of stuff just means you spend your time buying instead of fishing. That said though, I have a lot of stuff; 60 years of stuff. Get some basic baits you can fish different depths with and go use it. Learn how to present a bait. Forget about how good they look in all your tackle boxes. 

[Hower08]

Learn to fish a few different techniques and become confident in all of them. For me I could cut way back on amount of tackle I own. Although I can catch fish on anything in my boat I only fish two different color jigs and two different trailers. A few different spinnerbaits and buzzbaits then the same old crankbaits worms and jerkbaits  flukes and topwaters. I could put everything I need to be in the money at any tournament I fish in maybe 3 Plano boxes and be in a way better position than with the amount of tackle I keep my boat filled with 

[DitchPanda]

I have way more tackle than I need...why? Because I like it... I have a good job and can afford it and I also just enjoy having options. But it is definitely not necessary by any means in my opinion. When I started I went years using a plastic worm and a spinnerbait... All I really had was worm hooks, lead bullet weights, beads and barrel swivels so I could rig texas or carolina..Also had 1 popper and maybe 3 spinnerbaits and caught lots of fish. Also will say I have a close buddy I've been friends with for almost 10 years now...he is also a member here...who has 5 or 6 rods to my 20 and maybe 20% of the tackle I've got and guess what? He caught 1 last Sunday and I got skunked...he outfishes me often enough to remind me that I don't need all of that stuff.

[Shimano_1]

There are going to be a hundred different opinions on this like most things. I dont think for a second that a guy with a few lures and 2 poles could consistently catch fish all season long in a variety of lakes etc. That doesnt make them a worse fisherman...I've just learned over the years that as the seasons change so do the fish and so should your approach to catching them. It's all relevant tho. If you only fish ponds or a particular lake then yeah a few baits would be sufficient.  We travel all over the state and what I fish on local smaller lakes with grass is totally different than what I fish on Cumberland for big brown bass. I wouldn't run out and start buying up everything but I've built up my arsenal over the years to cover anything from 30 ft clear water to super shallow muddy and in between.  I've let the success and failures dictate what I prefer for different circumstances and I've sold and gave away a lot to replace with more confidence baits. For someone wanting to dive into it a little deeper I'd suggest maybe finding a local club and trying your luck as a co-angler. The options are there for whatever you're driven to do. You sound like you already have plenty to get ya started and some experience with other anglers will help show you what you do and dont need. Admittedly I could probably take a quarter of my tackle and be just fine....but I've had more than one occasion when I had all my gear except the one thing I needed in that particular situation.  Dont get overwhelmed tho. Most of us have acquired our tackle over many years. Take your time and enjoy it! Good luck

[Raul]

Honestly ?

 

I own hundreds of crankbaits, pounds and more pounds of soft plastics and .....

 

You don't need all that crap, 95% of my cranks have never touched the water, 95% of my spinnerbaits are in the same spot, soft plastics ? 98% of the maybe 200 lbs of them are just there.

 

There you go

 

From a tackleholic which btw coined the term BaitMonkey ( yeah, no s*t, it was me the one that christened the obssession ).

[scbassin]

I remember When Raul was the baitmonkey.

[MIbassyaker]

Relax. Tackle collection is a lifelong hobby, but unnecessary if your goal is just to be an effective angler. There is no such thing as being "way behind".  Master a handful of techniques to cover the top, middle and bottom of the water column, buy replacement baits when you need to, expand your arsenal when you can. 

[MassYak85]

Don't get sucked up into "buying your way to success". Collecting tackle is fun and there's always gonna be perceived "holes" in your arsenal that you could fill. But success is gonna come 90 percent from just understanding the fish and knowing where to fish from time on the water and research. Sure some days a specific strategy might produce better and you might not be fully equipped but it's only gonna matter if you already are keyed in on fish, and at that point you're already doing pretty good probably. 

[swhit140]

I try to buy the lures that I have confidence and success with. I have 85% of my tackle in my one large tackle bag. Other then that I just keep my soft plastics 2 or 3 plastic totes in my boat. I have 7 combos and I can use them to fish all applications/situations. I'm not a tackle collector, I'm a tackle user