What is the absolute best steal of a deal you have ever gotten on fishing gear?

[BassNJake]

37 minutes ago, EWREX said:

set of 10 brand new jackhammers (fire craw included) on ebay for $70 lol

If you hold that firecraw til early next spring you could sell it by itself for $70

 

[EWREX]

1 minute ago, BassNJake said:

If you hold that firecraw til early next spring you could sell it by itself for $70

 

SHE'S ALREADY TIED ON BABY! i like to use my tackle ?

[Spankey]

Over the years I’ve gotten some good deals on rods, reels, baits and all. Caught some great clearance items. But a steal? I won’t go that far. 
 

When I was a young guy back around ‘76 or ‘77 , much like you I made a killing at a mom and pop tackle shop and a hardware store closing up. At that time I was getting into crankbaits and rubber worms. Worked out great for me. I walked out of there with a box of Bombers, Cottons, Mann’s, Rapalas and Mr. T stuff. Cents on a dollar. Still have and use some of them. 
 

But my deal of the lifetime was buying a Heddon 7 1/2 foot featherweight bamboo fly rod and reel w/ canvas roll and leather reel cover and a couple of fly wallets for $50 from the owners daughter. It was not new, was probably 20 or 25 years old than. Immaculate shape and still is. I bought it to trout fish with and never thought of it as a wall hanger until a lot later. My streams are real narrow and I thought 7 1/2 foot would be perfect. I wasn’t wrong but wasn’t right either with that thinking. At the time I didn’t even want to spend the $50, the gal was sort of pushing me on it, glad she did, and never gave any thought that one day it would be antique. I just wanted to catch trout with a fly rod. I think it is a Model #17. A few years later it sank in that maybe I should put that thing up and don’t risk anything happening to it with its age. Bought a Sage, still use that now. Probably ‘85. I’M A FLYFISHING HACK. My thought have always been when I retire I’ll work on my flyfishing skills. Make that a priority. I’ve trout fished since I was about 9 or 10 years old. It’s a big part of my fishing life. Hard to explain. Not that bass fishing isn’t, that’s just the flip side of the record. “b” side I guess. 

20 minutes ago, Smalliefan2 said:

Local hardware discontinuing selling fishing. Original Big O, $2.00. Old bombers, whopper stoppers, etc similarly priced. Bargains on hooks, sinkers, everything else. My brother and I loaded up. Still fishing with some of those baits today. 

 

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

All bought new:

rods
2 SC premier rods $24@
SC LTB $115
SC Legend Elite $125
Original Cumara $100
Clarus $30
Crucial $42
13 Omen Black $30
Okuma Helios $110

reels
Curado 50E $99
Chronarch CI4+ $110

Lews BB1 Pro $87
SupremeXT spinning $75
Tatula $38

 

Kimami Palm Trees $2 a pack bought 175 packs or so, all they had left of certain color, discontinued now.
 

[bulldog1935]

Hardy Bougle MkIV bought on closeout from Harrissportsmail in UK, $230.  

S/N 034

Here, swinging streamers to check for summer rainbow holdovers, but 2 surprise stripers instead on the 5-wt.  (ate them, too - hey, they eat our rainbows)

 

Fished the reel for 5 years and sold for $625 (full disclosure, including the photo above)

This was after Hardy moved production from England to Korea for Mk V, VI, and VII, driving up demand for the 1000 MkIVs out there, and every older Hardy reel that said England.

Made $395 profit in addition to initially saving $395

This isn't the most dollar profit I made on a reel that I also fished - that belongs to a 1917 Hardy St. George I fished 4 years and sold for just above double what I paid - but the 180% profit is noteworthy, making the Bougle purchase an absolute steal - definitely answering our OP's question.  

Several other nice benchmade fly reels, Ted Godfrey, Peerless, Kusse Leonard-Mills, I fished and later sold for $200-500 profit, either because the maker doubled their bench prices or stopped making and demand took over.  I'm not dumb, if it's burning a hole in my pocket, I sell it.  

Speculating and repairing antique reels is another story.  

and yes, turned all that into other tackle.  A few years later, Hardy USA complained about Harrissportsmail prices, and Alnwick forced them to raise their prices if they wanted to continue selling Hardy.  

Hardy has also since moved production of a few reel models back to England from Korea to strengthen their market value.  

I haven't played the game in a long time, because it takes up too much time to do it well, but if you want to see what's out there, Lang's Auction is this weekend.  

[Jig Man]

2 Gloomis GLX rods from a guy for $100 each.

[NYWayfarer]

I was at DSG once when they were having a clearance sale. They mark the clearance stuff with colored dots to show the percentage off. I picked up one of their Tec Spec Elite $80 rods. When I got to the register it rang up as $19 I didn’t realize it was a percentage off the lowest ticketed price of the item. I went back and got the rest of the rods. I bought 4 rods for what 1 used to cost.

 

The $80 Adidas sneakers I had rang up for $4 that same trip

[Columbia Craw]

I bought two lots of deep crankbaits from A Jay at a very very good price and they all had hook changed out to the good stuff.  I just grabbed three dozen Dobyns football jigs, 3/4 ounce, for a buck each.  That was a deal!  I bought a brand new Quantum Smoke for sixty bucks and made it a birthday gift to my tournament partner.  Several pre owned Daiwa from members here for great prices.  I grabbed three New  Procyon spinning reels for 99.00 each.  Also a new Zillion for 211.00.  Not bad.

[NavyVet1204]

1 hour ago, Columbia Craw said:

I bought two lots of deep crankbaits from A Jay at a very very good price and they all had hook changed out to the good stuff.  I just grabbed three dozen Dobyns football jigs, 3/4 ounce, for a buck each.  That was a deal!  I bought a brand new Quantum Smoke for sixty bucks and made it a birthday gift to my tournament partner.  Several pre owned Daiwa from members here for great prices.  I grabbed three New  Procyon spinning reels for 99.00 each.  Also a new Zillion for 211.00.  Not bad.

You did well sir.

[new2BC4bass]

Plenty.  See what I can remember.  I know I've forgotten my cost on several items, but know I saved big.

 

6' MH Lightning casting rod $17 Walmart closeout

Daiwa Procaster 100HN for above rod.  $30 on closeout ($70 reel) and under-priced at MSRP

Curado 51E $98 shipped ($200 reel)

Pinnacle Primmus (2) $104.10 (around $220/$230 reel) love them

6'6 MHF Cielo OG spinning rod $75 shipped ($300 rod)

KVD Smoke S3 $100 for $180 reel

Pflueger sale 2 Supreme XT & a Patriarch ($60/$80 for $150?/$200 reels)

Icons $40 for $120 reel

several Fenwick Smallmouth (mostly casting) rods (new) for less than $80 ($130 list) worth more

Several OG Tatula casting rods (new).  Most expensive (my cost) $100

Abu Fantasista Regista 7’ MF casting (new) rod $500 rod for less than $173

Abu Fantasista Regista 6’10” MLF spinning (new) rod.  Don't remember my cost, but for sure less than $180

couple used Shamans at just over 50% savings of new price

New Quantum Tour Edition and Superlite casting rods (around $60 & $80 for $200 & $220 rods)

 

The Bait Monkey gets me, but I make him pay for it. 

 

[dopey]

St. Croix Imperial Fly Rod at the flea market.  Handle was still wrapped in plastic!!  

[CrankFate]

Tatula CT for somewhere around $500.00-550.00, maybe more.

[cdlittle]

Got an Okuma GS rod at a yard sale for $20, tags still on it. It's become my jerkbait rod and I love it so much.

[Bankbeater]

1st generation Revo-S for $50.  The place I bought it at was trying to clear out their inventory so they could restock with new items.

[FishTank]

Where to start......

 

5 maybe 6.... Shimano Curado BSF's for $30 each at DSG many years ago.  Sold them all

2 St. Croix Avid rods for about $60 a piece when Gander Mountain went out 

A bunch of GYCB Senkos for $2 a pack

Abu Garcia Revo ALX for $120 

Shimano Antares 2012 for $240

 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Retail wise, probably a Curado 201 E7 on clearance for $98 at Gander Mtn. Second hand, I got 3 Scorpion 1001s from a Buddy. He begs to buy them back but I ain’t havin’ it. Lol

[GReb]

Wow some of you got really lucky. Best deal I’ve ran across was a Tatula SV brand new for $99 at Academy. The worker didn’t understand the mark down but that’s how it rang up so he let me have it. All the other SVs were full price 

[new2BC4bass]

41 minutes ago, GReb said:

Wow some of you got really lucky. Best deal I’ve ran across was a Tatula SV brand new for $99 at Academy. The worker didn’t understand the mark down but that’s how it rang up so he let me have it. All the other SVs were full price 

Picked up a new model Mojo Bass to look at.  Only one I saw in store.  Dick's Sporting Goods.  Had price of the older model.  I had no St. Croix rods so I said to self, "Self, what the heck."  I'm saving some.  Rang up $75 at checkout. 

[MiceNReets]

St croix legend tournament bass 7’11 flippin stick brand new for $89

 

brand new curado mgl for $100

brand new slx mgl for $100.  
 

 

[PhishLI]

A pristine Chronarch 200E7 and a Chronarch CI4+. Dude bought the 200E7 NOS at the same time he bought the CI4+ brand new at a local Tackle shop. Got frustrated quickly trying to reel righty and sold them both to me for $50 each. Bingo!

 

New JDM Daiwa Catalina. $159 with applied discounts for a $359 reel. Nice.

 

I put a 7'MF Tatula XT spinning rod in my Amazon cart then never clicked buy, so there it sat for months. One day I logged on and saw a message saying that the price had decreased to $37. Free shipping with prime. Click! Sweet.

[kayaking_kev]

The Last 2 Years.

 

SAVED $100 OR MORE

G.Loomis Conquest 843c MH - ($405)   $695

Daiwa Catalina LH - ($120)   $350

NFC X-Ray MB-733 ML Blank - ($75)  $250

NFC X-Ray MB-736 MH Blank - ($75)  $250

NFC X-Ray SJ-736 H Blank - ($15 Shipping)  $250

NFC X-Ray MB-7109 Mag-H Blank - ($75)  $250

Dobyns Xtasy 723c MH - ($385)   $550     
Dobyns Xtasy 755c Mag-H - ($385)   $550

13 Concept Z - ($70)    $200

Dobyns Champion 634cb M  - ($115)   $230
Dobyns Champion  734c H - ($156)   $260

Dobyns Extreme 702c ML - ($240)   $340
Dobyns Champion 704sf MH - ($150)   $250

 

SAVED $50 OR MORE

Dobyns Champion 736cb H - ($145)   $240

Daiwa Tatula CT Type-R #1- ($80)    $160
Daiwa Tatula 100 LH #1 - ($80)    $160

Dobyns Sierra 735c - ($108)   $180

Daiwa Tatula CT Type-R #2 - ($100)   $170
Daiwa Tatula 100 RH #2 - ($90)    $160

Dobyns Champion 705cb  MH - ($165)   $230

Dobyns Champion 704cb  M - ($165)   $230

13 Fate Black #1 MH- ($40)    $100

13 Fate Black #2 MH - ($40)    $100
Dobyns Kaden 744c H - ($120)   $180
Lews Tournament MB #1 - ($80)    $140

Lews Tournament MB #2 - ($85)    $140 

Fenwick HMX 7'6c H - ($35)    $ 90

Shimano Vanford - ($180)   $230

13 Origin FB Reel - ($50)    $100

 

 

[soflabasser]

There are times stores have clearances and I have bought some fishing tackle that way. 

[Sam]

Wife goes to estate sales and one Sunday we drove to a sale in an upper class neighborhood on a beautiful lake and I started to look for fishing items.

 

Found two old, broken down spinning rods that had not been purchased and I looked at the reels.

 

Shimano 2000 Stradic spinning reels were on the rods and they were asking $10 for each.

 

Kept the reels and gave the rods to a friend who repairs rods and reels so he could have the line guides.

 

 

[Randy Price]

I was at Cabela's in WI a few years ago looking at SC LTB rods and found one mismarked for $ 19.99.  I got all excited and thought it was my lucky day BUT I'm a big believer in Karma and I knew I really couldn't live with myself if I kept it so I alerted one of their staff. 

[thunderblack]

A couple that I still remember

 

Brown trout Able nipper brand new $45 retail for $200

Able reel for $175 retail was $600

Steez AGS $220

NRX rods for $200

newer MB Destroyer $225

Stella $265