A year without buying tackle?

[GEK79]

Let me take some time to think about the past 50 years or so . . . NO!

In the coming year I will not buy ant further rods, reels or lines as I have sufficient to last me for another two or more lifetimes. However, now fully retired, I do tend to tie flies on a daily basis and I have a very healthy obsession with hooks and genetic capes.

I am 'normal', really I am, very normal, honest.

Remeber the pictures you posted of fly tying wardrobes..

 

[ROVER]

I buy a lot of tackle, reels and lines in particular, not to mention capes and other fly tying materials. Rods I'm not too bad with, I mostly buy mid to top end second hand rather than new, current fly rod count around 20ish, everything from #2 through to Spey #9/10.

Anyway, I've been made redundant (good news), and am taking a year out for part time study/part time fishing (housework too I've been told).

I was obviously planning on cutting back the tackle purchases, so I can get through the study and still have some cash spare before going back to work (for a summer 2022 Iceland trip). Then I'd a review of what I have and reckon I can go cold turkey and not buy ANY tackle in 2021. I've enough tackle, including consumables such as tippet materials and materials/hooks to tie 1000's of flies.

Can I do it? Where will the temptation come? Has ANYONE on here ever managed to go a year w/o buying any tackle?

I feel I should have a Channel 4 film crew follow my battle against addiction during 2021.

Looks like I might have struck lucky with sending your new reel this side of xmas then!!

 

[eddleston123]

We should all stick together and NOT buy any tackle for the next year.

By that time the price of tackle will have halved and will be being sold at the price it should have been in the first place!



Douglas

 

[GEK79]

We should all stick together and NOT buy any tackle for the next year.

By that time the price of tackle will have halved and will be being sold at the price it should have been in the first place!



Douglas

And then we will buy twice as much..

 

[rockslider]

I don't think I have bought anything new in twenty years

if we ever fish together, please remind me not to steal tippet off you!

 

[Hardrar]

My excuse is, if we don’t buy products, the manufacturers and dealers will soon disappear, there’s far too much coming from China as it is.

 

[ohanzee]

My excuse is, if we don’t buy products, the manufacturers and dealers will soon disappear, there’s far too much coming from China as it is.

Do you really feel personally responsible for keeping tackle manufacturers in business?

 

[Hardrar]

Do you really feel personally responsible for keeping tackle manufacturers in business?

Absolutely 100% if we all do our bit, we wouldn’t have our sport without them.
Sadly it’s very hard to buy 100% British Game tackle now, but not entirely impossible.
I also try to support as many independent local businesses as I can.

 

[PaulD]

I also try to support as many independent local businesses as I can.

Admirable. If my village pub was open and stocked fly tying materials life would be 'peachy'.

 

[micka]

I think we are all culpable buying more online nowadays, a trend accelerated by the Covid epidemic. But I agree about supporting local tackle shops. I always did this with Mickle Trafford near Chester but that too has gone (as has Orvis at Tarporley) and I dearly miss it. Foxons, Fawcetts and John Norris are all a long drive away from Warrington, though I do mail order from them.

There is no substitute for a good browse amongst the fly tying and hooks section in a well stocked tackle shop and making a purchase at the end that adds up to far more than you thought it would. But when you open it up and organise the things at home it still puts a big smile on your face.

The old saying "retail therapy" has so much truth in it and I'm right there with Steven (Mr Trout) and Hardrar in delighting in the more than occasional "unnecessary" reel. fly tying tool, cape or whatever!

Mick

 

[Hardrar]

Admirable. If my village pub was open and stocked fly tying materials life would be 'peachy'.

I wish we still had local tackle dealers, I’d use them over “on line” any day and all day. The last three closed over the past decade including the local Orvis shop. We used to have a great Hardy and Greys local dealer, but since the last two takeovers of Hardy, they didn’t seem to want to support the local dealer network anymore, with massive minimum forward order requirements etc

 

[micka]

Admirable. If my village pub was open and stocked fly tying materials life would be 'peachy'.

I remember an Irish bar in Foxford that sold great Guinness and beer, did takeaways, brilliant bar food, was a tackle shop and had live music from a power threesome of young Irish guys on drums, bass and lead that could almost put Cream or Police to shame. The nearest thing to heaven on earth I've come across I'd say!

Wasn't always conducive to feeling top of the morning on the river the next day mind you.

Mick

 

[running bear]

Looks like I might have struck lucky with sending your new reel this side of xmas then!!

I was on the waiting list and ordered during 2020 so it was never at risk!

I was doing a final assessment before 2021 and I'm more concerned about my lack of a useable WF5, I ordered a real gold from max catch in August, still not here. I gave away 2 old but serviceable WF5s in December assuming I'd have the max catch.

Not a line weight I use much but I'll be stubborn and wait and see what happens. My #4 half silk goes well on a #5.

 

[Hardrar]

I remember an Irish bar in Foxford that sold great Guinness and beer, did takeaways, brilliant bar food, was a tackle shop and had live music from a power threesome of young Irish guys on drums, bass and lead that could almost put Cream or Police to shame. The nearest thing to heaven on earth I've come across I'd say!

Wasn't always conducive to feeling top of the morning on the river the next day mind you.

Mick

Used to get the same scenario in the Cumberland Fells 40 odd years ago, ( but without the Guinness or Irish Whiskey sadly, had to make do with Newcastle Brown or Eden) a day ferreting, mole trapping, or stream fishing then a night in the pub- which was also a grocery shop, tackle dealer and Gunsmiths.
We used to go to the Dog and Duck (still there and open) behind the George Hotel in Penrith- they stopped charging after 11 and supper was free, breakfast supplied if you stayed all night! God knows how We did it back then, then went to work next day too.

 

[ohanzee]

Absolutely 100% if we all do our bit, we wouldn’t have our sport without them.

What 'sport'? the lochs I fish have been there since the ice age and when I go I don't take part in a sport, I just go fishing, I don't need an industry to do that.

 

[Scotty Mitchell]

What 'sport'? the lochs I fish have been there since the ice age and when I go I don't take part in a sport, I just go fishing, I don't need an industry to do that.

But would you know that fishing was even a thing without the “industry” behind it?

 

[Hardrar]

What 'sport'? the lochs I fish have been there since the ice age and when I go I don't take part in a sport, I just go fishing, I don't need an industry to do that.

You very much need educating, my learned friend, all in the best of nature and intention.
Fishing is the ancient craft of catching fish for consumption or processing and if you want to go fishing you would be better off with a Cast or Seine net, trots or long line, traps or trawl and drift nets, they are much better at catching fish than a rod and line, you are then by definition a fisherman and have gone fishing.
If you return the fish you catch on a rod and line, it is most definitely Sport and you become an Angler- which to me and many on here, is a way of life.
There is a very obvious and distinct difference. I don’t need to go Angling other than for personal enjoyment, a fisherman has to go, to feed his family and also make a living and possibly risk life and limb in the process.
The actual act of having a rod and line in your hand, or in your rod rest is only a small part of being an Angler:- travel, the environment it takes you to, the collecting and ownership of tackle the companionship or solitude, the fishy tales, the photographs, the taxidermy, the art work, the tying your own flies and building your own rods, is all part of the Sport of Angling, tackle suppliers are the lifeblood of our Sport, often owning extensive fishing rights, that we can hire or arranging trips at home and overseas for us, many local to me have Charter boats too for Sea Angling trips. I have many really good friends in the Angling supply industry, that have given me lessons, advice on obtaining fishing rights and new equipment to try foc for feedback, as well as an awful lot of tackle over the years.
You need to read The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton and the Keeper of the Stream by Frank Sawyer, both of which I have second edition and first editions of, it might help you understand what an Angler vs a fisherman is.
We most definitely do need a tackle supply and Angling industry, a conversation between yourself and my good friend Chris Yates would be very beguiling!

 

[pentlandflyman]

I went nearly all last year without buying anything because I was bored one day and decided to go through my account and add up what I had spent the previous 12 months...I was nearly sick and I pray to god she never decides to have a look herself. I caved and bought the HMH TRV and a few bits n bobs but I am going to seriously watch what I'm spending from now on because I obviously have a bit of a problem

Good luck to you because it isn't easy

 

[anzac]

But would you know that fishing was even a thing without the “industry” behind it?

I can't imagine how you asked that without first having a mental image popinto your mind of some stone age man trying to spear a fish with a sharpened stick, an Biblical age man -- or 21st century Pacific islander with a casting net, or laterally the millions of sustenance fishers who have existed through the ages.

I will offer that two things have made fishing a sport. The first is man's competitive nature as leisure time became more common,. The second is the move from sustenance fishing to catch and release.

 

[Scotty Mitchell]

I can't imagine how you asked that without first having a mental image popinto your mind of some stone age man trying to spear a fish with a sharpened stick, an Biblical age man -- or 21st century Pacific islander with a casting net, or laterally the millions of sustenance fishers who have existed through the ages.

I will offer that two things have made fishing a sport. The first is man's competitive nature as leisure time became more common,. The second is the move from sustenance fishing to catch and release.

I should have said “sport fishing”
As has been said there’s a difference between Angling and sustenance.
I’m just playing devils advocate here I can see both sides of this one.