* I never have stopped at a tackle store without buying something.
* I have a mental list of "hard to find" and discontinued lures that I must look for at each and every tackle store I come within 50 miles of.
* I vehemently deny that I'll never be able to fish 10 percent of the lures I currently own (even if the definition of "fish" is a one-time cast, five feet in length).
* I finally understood what all the hype about "Black Friday" was when I discovered all those "Black Friday" flyers from numerous sporting goods stores.
* I buy Plano 3700 series tackle boxes whenever they are on sale.
* The tackle boxes I buy on sale are filled before the credit card statement they are charged on arrives in the mail.
* "Take 'em down" or "buy 'em all" are terms used in conjunction with relieving a retail peg or eBay listing of all 11 identical "hot lures."
* I can quickly and confidently identify the three generations of Rapala's Fire Tiger as FT-1, FT-2 and FT-3.
* I have actually researched what a ticket to Poland would cost--just to buy Salmos that are not available on the American retail market.
* I am contemplating a "last will and testament" for all my fishing tackle that specifically details what each of my buddies will receive.
According to the author of this list, if all or a majority of these items describe you, "It's OK to go ahead and admit that you're addicted to fishing tackle."
I also read the tale of a fella who used to walk into a tackle shop wishing he was rich enough to buy one of every lure they were selling.
"I knew one of those lures would be the 'one'--that perfect lure, the lure no fish ever could resist," he said. "All I had to do was discover it, buy it, use it, and then rely on it."
As his budget allowed, this fella would buy one or two lures each trip to the store and eagerly await the next chance to put the new lure to the test.
"Some were abject failures," he admitted. "Some caught fish sometimes, but they proved better at fooling me than fooling the fish. Once in a while, I bought a winner that showed promise or actually became a reliable producer."
Over time, this gent's tackle assortment grew larger and larger--then tragedy struck.
"Perhaps it was less tragedy and more a fortuitous lesson," he opined. "My tackle box filled mostly with 'wannabe' hot lures was lost overboard on a wild, choppy day."
He learned a couple of lessons from this experience. One, you need to make sure things are battened down when navigating choppy seas. And two, You have to replace that collection of lures before you can go fishing again.
"I still was not a rich man," he explained, "and didn't have the budget to replace all the lures I'd lost. This trip to the tackle shop meant I had to just buy the essentials. I could afford a dozen lures, at best, so I had to shop smart. I needed to pick out only specific models in time-proven colors and sizes. It was a tough call, and I had to make some hard choices. Still, when my wallet was empty, I had what I hoped was a winning selection."
The next time he went fishing, he described "feeling naked or at least under-gunned. I had just the basics--my dozen new lures and a few that still had been on the line or squirreled away in a cubby hole somewhere."
Nevertheless, the fishing proved to be terrific. And best of all, as he concluded, "My wallet no longer cringes when I walk into a tackle emporium. I no longer look longingly at the chartreuse lure with hot pink curly-cues and wonder if the fish would be able to resist it. I know they won't resist the sizes, colors and models that have served me well year after year since losing that tackle box over the side."
This posting was driven by my own personal experience. As most of you probably recall from earlier postings, I parted with my collection of surplus fishing tackle this past summer, and all had been going smoothly until a few days ago when a good friend invited me to accompany him and another friend on a little trip to Richmond. Seems they plan to attend the annual Fishing Expo this Saturday, followed by a stop at Green Top Sporting Goods on the way home.
For a few months now, I've been percolating along just fine--staying out of all local tackle outlets and making only a couple of brief visits to online websites. To visit the Expo and Green Top now would be inviting the same kind of relapse I experienced the first time I quit smoking. I can't forget that only one cigarette had me hooked all over again, and it took another few years before I could put an end to my addiction--once and for all.
Suffice it to say that I turned down my friend's invitation--for the reason already stated, as well as a couple others I don't want to discuss here.
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