Still In Awe

[am4mu]

I am still perusing my new 2008 BPS catalog and I am getting floored the more I look. Where does the madness end. Daiwa makes a new baitcaster called the Steez, only 5.5 ounces and just $449.95. Not to be outdone I get to the Shimano's and they have a baitcaster with digital braking( the Calais) and this is just $649.99. I have not even made it to the rods yet. This is starting to make fly fishing look cheap!! Am I to old school or is this just ridiculous. I'm not even going to touch bass boats at $45 - $50,000. And these are the big box boats not even the big boys,Triton, Ranger etc. I thought my old Panterra II was expensive. Just curious as to what other people think. Doug

[Quillback]

Those reel are out of my price range, that's for sure. I'm sure they are sweet reels, but you can get some darn good baitcasters for under $200 - I don't know what the extra $300-400 gets you. Fancy crank baits and swim baits can set you back too.

[Dutch]

I have always found toys to be really high whether they be golf clubs, quality rifles, or boating stuff. I'm just glad that I have all I need and don't have to look at the high priced stuff on the market right now.

[Larry Richards]

As long as anglers a willing to spend that kind of money for tackle and boats.They will continue to raise prices every year until people stop buying.They are testing us.Look at BPS rods they have them made in China for less than $5 a rod.Unfortunately anglers are willing to pay way more for something than it is worth I see it all the time on Ebay people biding way more for something than what it cost at WalMart. As long as we are willing to continue this trend they will continue to raise the prices.This will soon be a rich mans sport.Take a look at the cost involved in fishing a tournment.

entry fee 100-200 per person

gas truck 2 days of prefish 1 day tourny 100+

gas boat 2 days of prefish 1 day of tourny 80-100+

oil for three days 15-20

terminal tackle 20-100

line for 1 tourny 30-60

extra stuff that you buy couse you think your gonna need it 100+

food drinks,eats,smokes? for three days 50+

now for the good part figure in the cost of a truck payment and ins

boat payment and ins for a month

wear and tear on truck and boat (tires)oil changes,and car wash

lodging if needed for 3 days 150

WHY BECAUSE

We are addicts and they are feeding our addiction.

[zander]

Amen to that.

[Trav]

I use $100 reels and $60 rods. I have a 1983 SeaKing with a home-made deck, front and back trolling motors from the late 80s, a hummingbird graph from 1991, and it is all pushed by a vintage 1961 Evinrude Fastwin.

I have more money in my Tackle cases than I do my rig.

I drive a 93 Chevy pick-up and live in a house that was built in 1921.

My property has had a dock on it since shortly after powersite was built so it's Grandfathered back so far that I dont even have to pay to have it in the lake.

The funny thing about it all is, the fish cant tell the difference. I dont worry about scratching up my boat when I move way up the creeks. Nobody is gonna steal anything off my dock cause theres nothing worth stealing and if I break anything, I dont care, for everything is easily fixed or cheaply replaced.

All that fancy stuff is just status.

Oh...and I have a cool OA bumper sticker too. Haha

[Daddy Carp]

If you look back to about Aug/Sept on the Pomme de Terre forum, I think I outlined these things and said then that Pro Bass tournaments were not about friends and friendly fishing. It has become nothing more than a Competitive sport driven by Promoters and Equipment Mfgs. These guys don't fish for fun, they are driven by the "almighty dollar" and a greedy need to be 1st. Once it gets beyond the friendly local club outings, It suddenly turns brutely commercial.

[Trav]

DC....

you have that right. I won a boat load of money doing local tourneys back in the early 90s. After being a spectator at the 1994 BassMaster Classic, I thought I would try the BASS tourney trail in 95. I did 5 events and decided it was a little too political for me. Wasnt my scene at all. Maybe it was cause I competed as a non-boater or something, but it seemed that the guys I was paired up with were just way too serious.

I did learn alot and fished with guys like Rick Clunn and Dion Hibdon to name a couple. Cost 12 grand to fish those 5 tourneys if you lump in travel,food and lodging. It hasnt hampered my interest in the BASS any, just prefer to be a spectator.

[Al Agnew]

Having GOOD equipment makes the experience a little more pleasurable. I love smooth, lightweight casting reels that will handle 1/8th ounce lures if necessary. I think that a good reel makes me a bit more efficient at fishing. A good fly rod is a whole lot more pleasurable to cast than a cheap one.

But at some point, you run up against the law of diminishing returns. Is a $600 reel three times as good as a $200 one? I doubt it. It may be a little better, but not THAT much better. Can I tell a big difference between an $800 Winston rod and a $300 Sage? Not really.

As for lures...that's a bit of a different story. A $16 Lucky Craft Pointer does some things differently, and probably a lot better, than a $3 Frenzy whatever their jerkbait is called. And I get a big kick out of the guys that refuse to spend $15 on a lure that would last them several years of use, while not blinking an eye spending the money for soft plastics, even though they will go through a dozen or more bags of their favorites in a season, at $5 a bag. Which kind of lure costs them more?

As for boats...most of us don't need the speed difference between a 225 HP on a 20 ft. bass boat and a 70 HP on a nice big aluminum johnboat. We don't NEED the beauty of one over the other, either. And we can set up that johnboat to be just about as comfortable to fish from. But our boat is our most visible fishing possession, no different than our car. And for some, appearances are important.

[Trav]

Hey Al, I totally agree on the fishing lure perspective. I wont even hesitate to drop $15 on a good bait. Even if I knew I was gonna loose it in the sticks eventually.

As far as rods, I break a couple a year and draw the line there.

I agree on reels to a point, I mean, a good reel will last for years but I start to feel the pain once they get near the buck fifty mark.

And if you saw my rig you would know for sure appearances dont mean squat to me. Haha Like I said, the fish dont know the difference.