My head almost exploded. I walked into THE HOOKUP TACKLE store.

[Darth-Baiter]

Road-tripping.  
 

‘’I wasn’t about to drive thru phoenix without a short 11 mile detour. The funny thing was my wife was driving.  The store is in the weirdest location. We went thru a residential neighborhood.   Inside the door I found a store way bigger than the entry way indicates.  It’s HUGE!  
 

the people were the nicest ever.  It is jammed packed with lures, manufactures, colors,  I’ve never seen before.  Stunning.  If you happen to be wheelchair bond, you’re not navigating the tiny lanes between jam-packed displays.  I saw vision 110 colors that were new and exciting.   They have an aluminum boat filled with water so they could demo lures.   I wanted to flip a Neko into it. 
 

I went in for a Triza Dragoon.  They told me they may get some “mid Summer”.   What?1. Haha.  They knew I drove from California, so one guy said, “give me a minute”.  He came back with a steeply discounted DEMO rod. I think they made a video with the thing. It was still plastic wrapped cork.  We all exchanged fish stories and I paid for the rod and got out before I explored the lures.  I was pushing the wife envelope already.

 

I did get a free Megabass sticker for my kayak.  And my wife made me eat a salad for lunch.  Haha. I’m glad I don’t live near PHX. ( I do have to drive home. Hmmm. What can it hurt to stop by again?)
 

the Hookup Tackle store is the most impressive fishing store ever (I’ve ever seen). 

[king fisher]

Next time leave your wife at home and take the Bait Monkey instead.  Skip the salad and have a burger.

[Swamp Girl]

Nah, eat the salad. I have a friend who just died at 61 from 99% blockage in his arteries. No more fishing and hunting for him. Gosh, I miss him and I hated to witness his last couple years, when walking to the mailbox would exhaust him. 

 

Truthfully,

 

A fellow fisher who eats a burger from time to time

 

 

On the less serious side, that store sounds great! 

[JustBassinThru]

Soooooo jealous! Thats fantastic. Just put in my 2nd order with them this morning! I'll tell you what, all my fishing gear was alot cooler before I found these guys (on YouTube). So many unique high quality products. Ooof they are going to be hard on the checking account! 

[Darth-Baiter]

The guy in front of me spent $1300. Half basket of baits a gLoomis rod and some reel.  
 

best fishing sticker selection I’ve ever seen.  And caps. Ball caps. 
 

 

[Derek1]

That would be be a great store to check out. 
good for you. 

[Revival]

[GetFishorDieTryin]

1 hour ago, Revival said:

Check out there YT and website.  Pretty sure they are the biggest MB retailer outside of Japan.

[Revival]

39 minutes ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

Check out their YT and website.  Pretty sure they are the biggest MB retailer outside of Japan.

I’m aware.  I was just hoping to see YOUR pics. ?

[JustBassinThru]

We all were waiting... I think your fibben'???

[Darth-Baiter]

I took one pic.  Didnt want to come off looking like a shell shocked tourist.
 

the casting pool.   Btw. That was a Japan fishing video. No captions. 

 

 

[Darth-Baiter]

Hotels booked quick on the drive home. No time for the detour. I gotta make a hotel far away. 

[DogBone_384]

I looked them up on Google Maps … It’d cost me roughly $1,900 in fuel round trip …

 

I’ll pay the shipping … while trying not to spend a mortgage payment on jerkbaits!

[JustBassinThru]

2 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

I’ll pay the shipping … while trying not to spend a mortgage payment on jerkbaits!

I'm currently losing this battle ?

[islandbass]

On 11/22/2022 at 7:54 AM, king fisher said:

Next time leave your wife at home and take the Bait Monkey instead.  Skip the salad and have a burger.

Lol, the monkey was on his back predator style the whole time, lol. 
 

To the topic, now I need to know how long the drive is from Tucson to Phoenix. I have family in Tucson and relatively speaking, that might be within spitting distance. 

[Darth-Baiter]

7 hours ago, islandbass said:

Lol, the monkey was on his back predator style the whole time, lol. 
 

To the topic, now I need to know how long the drive is from Tucson to Phoenix. I have family in Tucson and relatively speaking, that might be within spitting distance. 

Two hours ish. 
 

do it!

[islandbass]

2 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

Two hours ish. 
 

do it!

That’s all? That’s somewhat akin like Seattle to Portland.

 

My bait monkey just uncloaked, started rattling his cage and pointed those three red dots on my wallet, lol. Thanks. 

[Darth-Baiter]

1 hour ago, islandbass said:

That’s all? That’s somewhat akin like Seattle to Portland.

 

My bait monkey just uncloaked, started rattling his cage and pointed those three red dots on my wallet, lol. Thanks. 

Oh d**n.  Haha. 
 

easy drive.  Speed trap between Phx and Tucson.  Bait monkey doesn’t budget for that at all.  So careful