Tools Or Toys?

The other day while I was putting away tackle, I came across boxes full of lures and baits. They had been used once or twice and retired to "this lure has no purpose" status. I began to wonder how did I come to own these "losers" of the fishing lure world. It didn't take long to realize, I had purchased these items because I had not thought through the reasons for making these purchases.

If you're like me and most other fishermen I know, when you walk into your favorite tackle department and peruse the selection of offerings you are thinking; "Wasn't it the pink buzzbait that my buddy Tom caught that nice bunch of fish with?" "Kevin Van Dam just won a tournament on that newly marketed crankbait?" That's the ticket, it is sure to win me the club tourney this Saturday. If this is your motivation for most of your lure purchases, then before you walk into the tackle shop again and spend some more of your hard earned money, you may want to take some advise from someone who has been there and done that.

By examining my reasons for all of these lure purchases, I realized that as a serious fisherman it was more important for me to look at my lures as tools and not toys. If I was going to be a successful bass fisherman, I needed to know not only the right tool use but how to use it and under which conditions. The closest analogy I can think of is mining. If a miner is hired to drill a tunnel through bedrock it would be unproductive to use a bit that is designed to drill through sand or topsoil. Read More

Excellent read Frank. Thanks for all the insight.