tackle collecting Fishing Vs Tackling As A Hobby

[ATA]

Since you can catch bass(fish) with very basic MH or M  spinning set up spooled by  8lb mono line, some 3/0 hook with some soft plastic which costs less tan $100 all in all, Made me think of majority of us that we always buying and upgrading our gear. We don't only have bass fishing as hobby but we have another hobby that I think we can call it tackling :).

I mean I really enjoy to buy and collect all the gear I can. But to be honest with you I am sometimes not using them in months, For example I have 5 BFS combos and two of them were used only once last year simply because I like the most one of them and I do majority of my BFS fishing with that combo.

This applying to my lures and soft plastics as well, you imagine I fish 200 days plus in one year and whole last year even with tackle shortage I still have bunch of soft plastics.

If you want to be honest 90% of tackle I have are extras and I just have them and using them because I enjoy to do so.

another example of what I did was unnecessary is my 11 travel combos 6 spinning and 5 casting combos, Since day one I didn't go to travel so I didn't use them as their purpose.

I am going to wrap it up, this 90% unnecessary purchase belong to my other hobby call tackling haha...

Thanks for reading, I just wanted to share my thoughts.

[Cigarguy]

Want and need are 2 different things.  I would speculate that most of us here have tackling acquisition addiction.   That is the luxury, comfort, and privilege of living in a first world country.

[PhishLI]

I enjoy rolling different reels onto different rod and line combinations in order to find a sweet spot, or something special, or specific. I've disliked a number of reels or rods right off the bat, but have then found magic when mixing and matching them. Happens a lot. Makes things interesting for me. There's definitely an extra bit of satisfaction when landing fish on a combo I favor at that moment. It's the equivalent of carefully calibrating a miter saw, then executing a perfect outside corner on crown moulding. Something like that matters more to some people, and less to others.

[NavyVet1204]

I’ll admit that my addiction stems from FOMO or “fear of missing out”. Every time I say enough, I find a deal somewhere that is too good to pass up whether it be rod and reel or tackle. It never fails. At this point I’ve accumulated six combos of bait casters and only have three spinning combos. Plenty good for what my wife and I do for fishing. However…….BFS is my newest excuse to acquire that next combo. I don’t mind though, my family is taken care of as well as bills.

[Mike L]

I wish I could do what you guys do. 
But there was a time I could buy just fir the sake of buying but not anymore. 

Now a days I tend to buy what I need when I need it. 

Balancing needs and wants kinda creeps up on you. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike
 

 

 

 

 

 

[GreenPig]

Tackling? What? Speak for yourself. I use all my gear.?

[galyonj]

39 minutes ago, Mike L said:

I wish I could do what you guys do. 
But there was a time I could buy just fir the sake of buying but not anymore. 

Now a days I tend to buy what I need when I need it. 

Balancing needs and wants kinda creeps up on you.

 

I'm...getting there. Y'all are being a lot more polite than I am -- I jokingly describe myself as a gear ***** (with no offense intended, and I'm sorry if it comes across that way).

 

I just love all the...stuff in the hobbies I have. When I was more into shooting I was the same way. Now, with fishing, I just want all the things because they're all so neat.

 

But I struggle with that of late, because most of the stuff doesn't fit how I fish, or it just doesn't catch fish for me, so I'm working to tamp down that urge to buy whatever new shiny and neat thing I see.

 

Yesterday I took four rods and a whole backpack full of stuff. Ended up spending the entire day fishing a little paddletail swimbait on a 3/32oz head from a spinning rod, because that's exactly what the fish wanted.

 

The bottom line is that if I bought what I needed and knew I had a use for instead of buying what I thought looked neat and didn't really have a use for, I'd not only likely end up catching more fish because it prevents me from analysis paralysis, but I'd save money in the process.

[Deleted account]

6 hours ago, ATA said:

Since you can catch bass(fish) with very basic MH or M  spinning set up spooled by  8lb mono line, some 3/0 hook with some soft plastic which costs less tan $100 all in all, Made me think of majority of us that we always buying and upgrading our gear. We don't only have bass fishing as hobby but we have another hobby that I think we can call it tackling :).

I mean I really enjoy to buy and collect all the gear I can. But to be honest with you I am sometimes not using them in months, For example I have 5 BFS combos and two of them were used only once last year simply because I like the most one of them and I do majority of my BFS fishing with that combo.

This applying to my lures and soft plastics as well, you imagine I fish 200 days plus in one year and whole last year even with tackle shortage I still have bunch of soft plastics.

If you want to be honest 90% of tackle I have are extras and I just have them and using them because I enjoy to do so.

another example of what I did was unnecessary is my 11 travel combos 6 spinning and 5 casting combos, Since day one I didn't go to travel so I didn't use them as their purpose.

I am going to wrap it up, this 90% unnecessary purchase belong to my other hobby call tackling haha...

Thanks for reading, I just wanted to share my thoughts.

Understanding that they are 2 separate hobbies is a good sign. A lot of folks can't make the distinction and hurt their catching as a result. Nothing wrong with tackle collecting, it just isn't a part of being success at fishing.

[gim]

I normally don't just "collect" tackle as a hobby.  Fishing is one of my hobbies and certain tackle is a necessity to do it.  While I do have a variety of lures and plastics, most of them do get used somewhat regularly (some more than others).  I don't have 20 different rod/reel setups either because I only need about a dozen.  I will also tell you that I had the best fishing season I've ever had in 22 years last season.

 

I will admit that I have stocked up on tackle in the past year though.  Last year the tackle shortage sucked and I couldn't find certain simple items like hooks or plastics that were effective at catching fish at the time.  So when I saw it this past winter, I bought it.  I'm not going to run out this season.  But in a normal year, I don't have as much tackle as I do right now.

 

I won't knock someone that collects tackle or stock piles it.  Just don't hoard the toilet paper.

[Mike L]

38 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

I'm...getting there. Y'all are being a lot more polite than I am -- I jokingly describe myself as a gear ***** (with no offense intended, and I'm sorry if it comes across that way).

 

I just love all the...stuff in the hobbies I have. When I was more into shooting I was the same way. Now, with fishing, I just want all the things because they're all so neat.

 

But I struggle with that of late, because most of the stuff doesn't fit how I fish, or it just doesn't catch fish for me, so I'm working to tamp down that urge to buy whatever new shiny and neat thing I see.

 

Yesterday I took four rods and a whole backpack full of stuff. Ended up spending the entire day fishing a little paddletail swimbait on a 3/32oz head from a spinning rod, because that's exactly what the fish wanted.

 

The bottom line is that if I bought what I needed and knew I had a use for instead of buying what I thought looked neat and didn't really have a use for, I'd not only likely end up catching more fish because it prevents me from analysis paralysis, but I'd save money in the process.

Most folks....Well maybe not most, will buy what they need first then get what they want. That’s me

But Sometimes the urge to buy what I want is too strong to. 
Then the reasoning don’t matter. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[NavyVet1204]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

I normally don't just "collect" tackle.  While I do have a variety of lures and plastics, most of them do get used somewhat regularly (some more than others).  I don't have 20 different rod/reel setups either because I only need about a dozen.  I will also tell you that I had the best fishing season I've ever had in 22 years last season.

 

I will admit that I have stocked up on tackle in the past year though.  Last year the tackle shortage sucked and I couldn't find certain simple items like hooks or plastics that were effective at catching fish at the time.  So when I saw it this past winter, I bought it.  I'm not going to run out this season.  But in a normal year, I don't have as much tackle as I do right now.

Yes! The COVID situation last year really hurt my inventory big time with not being able to replenish much at all.

[813basstard]

Luckily I don’t have this affliction. 4 baitcasters, 1 spinning. All tackle I own fits in 1 duffel bag. 
Hell I’m trying to down size that. 
If they don’t bite what I have, I do doughnuts in my bass boat then go home. 

[Mobasser]

Over 40 yrs of fishing I've bought a lot of stuff. I have 2 big tackleboxes stuffed with lures of all kinds, with another big box reserved for older vintage lures I've picked up over the years. The thing is, I rarely use all this stuff anymore. I've downsized what I take fishing, and my catch rates have remained good. I think I've got between 30 and 40 rods at home, but more than half are older outdated rods. Same with reels. I've got a bunch, but some are old or need repair. So, just like you guys, I love fishing tackle. I just don't buy or carry that much anymore. When I'm done fishing, I'll pass all this stuff along to my grandson.

[king fisher]

When I was young I had very little money, but lots of time to fish.  I was forced to learn to adapt and use what I had to catch fish.  I would cast a 1 OZ oz. bait on a rod made to cast 1/2 oz. lure or put a 1/2 oz. weight on the line ahead of floating Rapala to get it deeper, because I lost my only Deep WeeR and the bass would not come up to hit my Floating Rapala, which was my only other plug.  I fished every day, learning the water, and the habits of the bass like only someone who fishes all the time can.   I always managed to find a way to catch fish with what little I had. 

       Now I have a rod, reel, line, and lure for almost any situation possible.  The bait Monkey does his best to ruin my marriage and I have way more gear than I need.  Problem is I have very little time to fish.  I sit at home thinking of situations where I might need a certain outfit, and then buy it.  I watch videos and see people catch fish on a lure or technique I haven't tried and imagine it must be exactly what I need for a certain lake at a certain time of year.  One more tackle order and I will have exactly what I need.  If I loose a lure that is working, I buy three more just like it rather than count on something similar to work.   No longer do I have to adapt and get by.  I want to be prepared with the perfect set up for every situation.                                                                                     I have come to realize that I am more of a collector than a fisherman.  I am OK with that.  Collecting fishing gear is as good a hobby as any.  Every once in awhile I catch a big fish, on a new lure I was sure I couldn't possibly live with out.  I instantly convince myself that exact make, model, and color of lure was the only lure that could have possibly caught that fish.   Making all the time and money spent acquiring my treasure worth every minute and every penny.

       

[gim]

33 minutes ago, NavyVet1204 said:

Yes! The COVID situation last year really hurt my inventory big time with not being able to replenish much at all.

When the fish are biting on a specific color of senko and you can't find it anywhere, you tend to buy it when you see it next with the thought that you can prevent it from happening again (at least in the near future).  I have heard from more than one vendor/retailer this spring already that the shortage this season is likely to be as bad as it was last year, if not worse.  I aint waiting to find out though.

[NavyVet1204]

4 minutes ago, gimruis said:

When the fish are biting on a specific color of senko and you can't find it anywhere, you tend to buy it when you see it next with the thought that you can prevent it from happening again (at least in the near future).  I have heard from more than one vendor/retailer this spring already that the shortage this season is likely to be as bad as it was last year, if not worse.  I aint waiting to find out though.

No sir nor will I. My season will be cut short due to my little boy’s due date at the end of august (which I don’t mind at all!) and I have since been buying a pack of plastics here and there along with tackle and such.

 

As of right now, I think shakey head jigs are about the only thing I “really need” so still need to get some more.

[CrankFate]

I am a fisherman, not a collector. Yes, I do buy a fair amount of gear, but I really use it. I have different setups to maximize my catches and fun by species and technique. I usually go by weigh thrown and size of fish. But, begrudgingly, over time, I realized that certain applications require different gear.

 

As a kid, we had one setup for saltwater and one setup for freshwater. That was it. There was no money for anything else and no money for fancy lures.

 

I live in a city surrounded by saltwater, where no one bass fishes. But I was sent away to stay with a military family in the Midwest every summer from first grade until I started high school. If it wasn’t for that, I would never have fished for bass and would never get into tackle.
 

The salt water shops where I liver were 100% utilitarian. No one wanted more than the most basic gear and no one wanted to spend a penny extra. I still see guys fighting with the bait shop owners over the price of everything.

 

Out in the Midwest and upper south, it was a completely different scene. The people were actually more careful with spending money on gear, and things in general, but were also more into enjoying better gear that was earned from some doing some kind of work. You’d see fancy flies, expensive fly rods, hunting rifles, bows and arrows. Snow mobiles.
 

This was what people were working for. I was forced against my will to have to work for these things, too. Or otherwise, I don’t think I’d ever care for bass fishing or the gear that goes with it. As a kid, every kid, fishing all day for sunnies, perch, channel catfish and carp, only wanted one thing—to catch largemouth bass, which basically don’t exist where I live.
 

Since most fishing happens in the summer, when I was away, I basically started fishing for every fish like it was a largemouth bass, since that was the way people were fishing every summer when I was away. Nostalgia. Alright, that’s enough on that...

[bulldog1935]

a topic that gets worn out on antique tackle forums - it's a form of denial, because everyone who begins or even contributes to such a thread turns into a virulent collector.  (bicycles, Lionel trains, Barbie dolls, firearms)

1918 FE Thomas Special at work (will always be worth more than I paid)

[Smells like fish]

I’m a tackle addict that also fishes. I’d be buying tackle if I lived in a desert. I only fish 50-80 days a year or one or two days per week.  It’s a dam addiction!!!

[rtwvumtneer6]

I'm not sure if this is more of a justification or a lesson learned over and over, but if you find something you like, buy a bunch.  It will either be discontinued, or replaced by the newer (not always better) model.  

 

The longer I do this the less I am attracted by flavor of the month, but rather buying duplicates and replacements for proven baits that fit my style of fishing.

 

[DitchPanda]

I made very little money for a long time...then about 7.5years ago I got a much better paying job. I went from one tackle box and a few rods  to 25 tackle trays...an entire 3 level storage bin of plastics...and 20 plus bass rods and reels. I still fish alot...maybe not as much as back then..but alot. I enjoy the tackle side almost as much. Collecting...tinkering...customizing.

[Michigander]

I have a ton of stuff that I don't use but most of it was either experimentation or trial and error to find out what works for me. Now that I have enough experience to actually have preferences, my purchasing has gone way down and is mostly just refilling expended baits and tackle.

 

I built a new lineup of rods over the winter because I actually knew what I wanted and they needed reels so there was some upgrading there. However, unless my style of fishing changes drastically, I think my purchasing has truly leveled off. Every dollar spent on fishing is a dollar not spent on my other hobbies, so I can't afford to buy things I am not going to use until they wear out.

[WRB]

Coming from a member who bought lots of my antique, vintage and current tackle and lures you are either a collector or in the business of selling tackle. I kept 5 rods a 1 tackle bag to backseat and catch bass, it’s all I need.

Tom

[AManWearingAHat]

The bait monkey can be a hard thing to fight off. I recently went through a tackle and rod expansion because I wanted to try a bunch of new techniques. Tackle I more just bought everything I thought I would need.

Rods, being more expensive, I bought two or three that would do most jobs well enough rather than specialty set ups for everything. I suspect as I find what works for me, Ill start retiring some of the soft plastics I bought

[ATA]

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

I have heard from more than one vendor/retailer this spring already that the shortage this season is likely to be as bad as it was last year, if not worse.  I aint waiting to find out though.

Oh yeah we going to have big tackle shortage this year, all of the major retailer have orders stocked ad adding everyday and they getting far behind to ship the orders.