HOW MUCH TACKLE DO I NEED?

[mrcarp]

HI I HAVE A QUESTION I STARTED GOING THROUGH MY TACKLE BOX AND GOT RID OF ALL THE STUFF I DONT NEED. WHEN I GOT DONE I ONLY HAD SOME BOBBERS AND RAPALAS. IS IT TRUE AS YOU FISH MORE THE LESS YOU NEED. I WATCH THE PROS AND THEY HAVE BOXES AFTER BOXES IM I MISSING SOMETHING I HAVE A SMALL BOAT AND CANT BRING 4 5 BOXES WITH ME JUST WONDERING WHAT OTHERS THINK THANKS

[Northlander]

You can never have to much tackle! Never!

[Nick Kuhn]

When the fish are biting you won't need much. When they aren't, you just need to throw as many different presentations as you can until you find the right one. I have been out there trying some odd things, like putting the a plastic worm inside a tube. Didn't catch anything but neither did anything else.

[davesfriend]

In my opinion, it depends on what fish you are after. I have a storage bag from cabelas that I use for trolling, 1 bag for panfish and perch ect. And 1 bag for hard water fishing(ice). If you are after walleye's,just some jiggin stuff or trolling stuff. It is not how much gear it is what kind of gear..

[Daze Off]

I don't even want to confess how much cr** I have... Inventory of it is nearly 30 pgs long. If I put it all in a pile I think it might fit under a standard card-table.

It is almost a hobby seperate from fishing. I love playing around with new baits.

I need to find a 12-step program for tackle-aholics....LOL

Daze Off

[Rost]

I counted 413 crank baits in my tackle bag the other night and I still don't feel that I have enough.

[setterguy]

I think I always need one more than I have.

[Daze Off]

Just out of curiousity I counted mine - 316 cranks of which 116 are Rapala's of various kinds and sizes.

[hanson]

If you only target 1 species of fish all the time, a guy doesn't really need that much.

Now if you mix it up with Bass, Walleyes, Bluegills, Crappies, Pike, Muskies, Cats, and "other" fish from time to time, the sky is the limit in regards to rods, reels, line, and tackle. Shoot... one could argue you need different boats as well to target a few of the certain species above.

[Northlander]

It always seems like the guy in the boat with you is catching fish on the 1 thing you dont have or are out of.

[PerchJerker]

I mostly fish for 1 species (walleye) but I fish many different lakes and rivers, and at all differnt times of the year, so I end up using many, many different baits and presentations throughout the year.

[Rost]

I like having atleast 3-4 of each color, especially with my "go to" cranks. I do a ton of trolling and casting with #5 Shad Raps and I like to have plenty of them in stock.

Off hand, I bet I have around 200+ Rapalas, 50 walleye divers, 60 Flicker Shads, 40 Reef Runners, and a bunch of Misc such as cabelas baits, mirrowlures, Salmos, et.. My next project is stocking up on the Salmo Collection. I've held off long enough on these.

The scary part is, that I have buddies with 2000+ cranks and they are still buying them!

[Grant Pearson]

you can never have too much stuff!

[hoggs222]

One thing I would hate to admit is that I have around 150 muskie lures and I've never caught one! I need to get out more!

[Nick Kuhn]

 Originally Posted By: hoggs222

One thing I would hate to admit is that I have around 150 muskie lures and I've never caught one! I need to get out more!

While my story isn't quite that bad, but had gone out and spent quite a bit on those $10-$25 muskie lures, and the lure I caught my first muskie after that on a 6" floating rapala I had for years. My brother did the same thing, only his was on a spoon. Sometimes those old classics are just hard to beat I guess.

[hoggs222]

I did get over half of them for free though. The other half, I got a really good deal on. The guy was moving to Florida and had no use for them.

[slipperybob]

You need some to field test

You need some in different colors

You need some as back ups

You need some in various weights

You need some in various sizes

You need some to collect

You need some to custom or modify

You need to cover the entire water column

You need to entangle with rocks, stumps, downed trees, weeds, floating veges

You need some to scare off other fisherfolks LOL's

Then you have to have a backup storage location, just in case the boat sinks on you...

That's not even getting into different rod/reel combo's or boats....

[MidCoast]

I dont have that much tackle.... I just use what works... Seems like fish always seems to be bitting on the same old stuff that i use all of the time...

[Grant]

The question is "do I have enough?"

the answer is "No"

Seriously, I mainly do cats and rough fish, sometimes pannies and/or pike with the kids. so realistically I can do with a relatively limited collection, the largest expenditure is hooks and lead to replace what I snag up in the river. at that I generally don't use shiny fancy new stuff, more the old school ways my dad taught me- works well enough and costs a bunch less

Of course now that my wife has taken up cake decorating and scrap booking I have a ready made justification to spend money on my hobbies, so there's a chance the above paragraph may be someday obsolete!

[merganser]

The only lure you need is a purple mister twister. It will catch everything.(I actually caught two LMB that were over 22" on the unlikely mister twister) Good luck finding the correct shade of purple though. I had some old purple twisters that I caught every kind of fish on. Now, I can't find that shade of purple. I've looked every where. There are purple ones out there but not that shade. Like every one else says, you can have a million different lures and never have enough. The funny thing though, I bet if you did a survey you would find out that most people have their favorite couple of lures that they use all of the time. I use every thing from home made muskie lures to little 16th ounce crappie jigs. Just depends on what your fish of choice is at that particular time. I envey you people that only fish for one particular species. With that being said, I look at my brother who mainly bass fishes and I shutter at the thought of how much money he has invested in lures he will never even use!!

[Bassboy1645]

hmmm i got one huge box and a few smaller clear plastic boxes....Fishing in the boat myself or with one person I got three rods and my box which I can cover everyway to fish for mainly just walleye. My walleye lures do catch bass and pike as well although I dont fish them much so it sucks losing tackle to toothy fish....I have 3 trays andthe top with all rapalas mainly shadraps, jointed shad raps, and countdowns, with a few original floaters. I got a few salmos, flatfish, soem assorted mini cranks or those little fat bass cranks. oh a bunch of deep divers and deep husky [PoorWordUsage]. Thnk trollign or casting walleye from 1-25 or 30 fow. I got my seperate jig box piled high. i got a box for rigs and bobber fishing. sinkers, wieghts, swivels hooks mainly red or plain. I got a tube wrapped with a dozen premade spiner rigs. and the rest is pliers, line, a regualtion book, ect.

I got a handful of about 7 muskie baits I have faith in and throw routinely all yr wheen i fish skis.

On any given day and time in the summer i fish everyday so I usually got a pattern down...I take just a medium sized box with the essentials and a handful of the selcted techniques raps, or spinners, and always jigs, and then a handful of somethign to try if the pattern fails.... maybe a bobber set up or maybe a little cleo jigging spoon for example. I stick with the patterns and even if its off or goign downhill I can pick a few fish up and decide what i need to do the next day weather to move or to fish different....idk You cant have enough i dont think but there is a poitn to where that statement is kinda iffy...