The Gear always works

I'm willing to bet that all but 0.000001% of all fishing gear works. It all catches what it is intended to catch: the fisherman. Do you really think the 30' of plastic worms in all sizes, colors and flavors are meant to catch fish? Absolutely not. They are meant to catch the fisherman. Go look into a tackle box (especially mine) for proof.

At one of my favorite bait and tackle shops in Kalamazoo, I started asking if there were any new silver bullets. The owner would mime a hook-set and lead me to the latest and greatest, guaranteed to fulfill their purpose lures.

I don't want to count the number of lures, plastic whatchamacallits and stuff I've bought. And let one of them catch one fish. Migosh, you have to get more and use them for years, even if that was the only fish dumb enough to bump into the hook.

I've got a truck load of rods, reels and stuff. Walk through a discount store or a high-end tackle shop and the urge is there. Years ago, I had a relatively inexpensive fiberglass rod and reel combo. For some reason, the rod fit me and did everything I wanted. Circa 1995, I bumped the rod overboard in 4 feet of clear water on a windy day and lost it. Over the next couple of years, I collected rods and reels just trying to replace the feel. I finally found a Fenwick with an Abu-Garcia Cardinal reel that came close.

A while back, I decided to try a bait caster. Dropped about 70 bucks on a Shimano combo and absolutely hated it. Would only use it for chunking stink bait out with a heavy weight. Decided that it was the combo and went out and dropped the coin for a midrange (price) Shimano set. Shouldn't have gotten a medium rod. Hated it. Turns out that the el-cheapo does throw Ok and I used that one more than the more expensive one.

The gear always works. It caught what it was intended to catch.

You know, the fishing tackle industry never sends thank you notes to those of us who go the extra mile to support them.