America's Fishing Equipment Ranks Last for Live Bait

[Johnny wilkins]

An example of horrible performing bite indicators that America manufactures - mass quantity refuse - the live bait angler's enemy to catching fish (cheaply made bobbers)

 

Cheap, Clunky & Bad - American Live Bait Tackle Companies- Shame on You

 

Ok, the next time you are in a fishing store, look at the rack of bobbers if front of you. See all the bright colors some stripes and some contrast? Without any uncertainty, the people that make those products don't know what a bite indicator is capable of. Yes, I just wrote that - they don’t know what a bite indicator is or they wouldn’t make them like that. Many company owners don’t even use the products they sell, resulting in pathetic poor-performing products. But, highly profitable.

 

The next time you reach for your bobber- think, are they just trying to make money off me with the cheapest product?

 

As part of my Revolution series, I look at the horrible tackle available to live bait anglers in America. I have been tracking fishing equipment back in time - a bit of fishing archeology. 

 

Why has live bait tackle gone backwards in time and become worse here in the United States? Around the world, tackle continues to advance far ahead of ours. The gap is so tremendous, it is shocking how poorly we fish compared to the world. America has the world’s worst live bait fishing tackle. 

 

My findings are shocking. My theory that fishing tackle has become worse is proving to be true. Evidence is everywhere.

 

Where did all the fishing equipment go? Why do the shelves contain bobbers with so few features. Why could inventors of gimmick bobbers have missed the whole point? If they did their homework, they could easily see how bad their products were - that they are not rockets and they lack brains.

 

How is it that live bait anglers have been neglected and forgotten? The simple answer - racist & classist America. If you live bait fish, you are lumped into a lower class. You are not bright and you just fish the dumb way.  You are too cheap to buy expensive tackle (read profitable) and you are not worth the time to manufacture quality. You “don’t need it”, “won’t buy it”. 

 

Whites wrecked the tackle industry for live bait anglers. They didn’t want to sell to Chinese, Blacks or poor Irish. Turn-of-the Century, politics, class, racism and war are factors. You know these racist terms: “Garbage fish, bottom fish, trash fish” - those are the fish we poor fished for. We don’t need any special tackle for that - I guess.

 

Also - how is it that we have put up with this for so long?  I have theories on how some of our skills have eroded through time, and I am collecting my evidence. Vintage floats and hooks show where we were in fishing fifty and even one hundred years ago. It is a sad fact that American fishing equipment was BETTER back then! There are components no longer used by tackle companies because they want to save on cost and increase their profits.

 

Somewhere the focus shifted from having the coolest, best fish-catching product where a company owner could be proud, to a cheap widget. Now, some of the changes came because our cities grew and lake resources were used up. Even as far back as 1890 the US Fish & Game Service was trying to stock fish. 

 

People had caught fish before the 20th century. Cities like Chicago exploded with commerce and people going from 4,000 residents to over 2 million people. A few wars got in the way and items like wire and brass, performance components in early tackle were taken off everyday items to aid the troops. In many cases, these parts were never put back in.

 

Manufacturing and material needs during war changed the components that went into bobbers in the 40’s. Manufacturers took out wire components and brass components. 

 

Following the war, these components existed, but other products were on the market without these components - built for fast manufacturing made of plastics and sans the extra wire or brass. They could make these cheaper and faster to shop out to dime stores. Lures started to really dominate the scene and bass were distributed across the United states 40 years prior.

 

Float eyes or guides to hold your line and to keep the bite indicator taught - they were removed. Now, some who knew what a bite indicator was made their own or crafted their own bite indicators. The masses, we continued to buy tackle lacking it’s working parts. 

 

Wars ended, life returned but machines and manufacturing were the flavor-of-the day. More, faster, cheaper and lots of plastic. Cork went away, quills went away, wood went away - in favor of plastic with seams.

 

Generations grew up and maybe we focused too much on destination fishing. Resorts, trips, exotic wilderness- that is what was sold in the print magazines. On the brand new television set, we saw adventures in National parks. Curt Gowdy traveled to remote parks, pristine resorts and to destinations around the world. Americans still make the trip very far away in order to seek fishing. A lot of the fishing was fantasy based as good fishing couldn’t be found near home.

Or- Could it? I say there has always been good fishing, just the fishing got tougher and the equipment became horrible. Combine the two with the run-away favorite bass and you see a recipe for disaster.

 

Revolution Continues...

In my next article, I will talk about America’s fishing decline - the situation worsens...

 

[Johnny wilkins]

Oh by the way Keith- it is the Big Round red & white... the small red & white is for pros. Did you make your tee time?

[Johnny wilkins]

Brilliant Keith! Love it.

 

Also- if someone wants leisure - I can't debate leisure. If we want to catch fish, I really relax and enjoy a good workout of catching fish. If I am going fishing, I want to catch a lot or catch a mixture of many and then some large fish. If any angler enjoys catching just a couple of fish and getting sun - this is their deal. I can not debate you wanting to only catch a couple of fish or how you will go about it.

 

If continuing down this discussion, then you are clearly interested in catching more fish or you are just intrigued. Either way, I welcome both the conversation - especially that great check-in from Keith and I will gladly discuss it. Again, I can't debate someone's enjoyment of the outdoors or a leisurely fishing outing exploring the outdoors. I enjoy walking trout stream waters even when I don't catch the trout. I like being out in the woods. That said, I don't remember the days where I got skunked as well as the days where I was hooking a whole bunch of trout or a couple of monsters.

 

Tony, first excellent discussion. My angle is for all people. I am a subject matter expert but I am still working my way toward getting better. I am not a pro. Anglers can be just a regular person or kid. Let me just say that  I took a kid with a moderate case of autism out last summer and he caught 60 fish with some instruction and basic gear. The gear isn't special and I am no Tiger Woods in many ways but I love your angle.

 

I gave him a cane pole with 2 lb. line. He had a float from a local tackle store and he had hooks from Japan which I snelled. This was a 10 foot pole - nothing special. 

 

You as "regular" - I use this term loosely - you are probably way above regular because you are here and we on BigBluegill.com are irregular from the rest of the world. This is a GOOD thing.

 

The golf club thing - and yes Walmart'e does have golf clubs - does work for all anglers. Even with the cheapest golf clubs, they all hit different distances and have their own strengths. Some floats are sensitive and work well with no wind in shallow water. With some wind, you need to switch floats, add some depth, you need to switch floats. Need to cast further away, you switch floats. Increase the size of your bait... you get the picture. A grub float is usually NOT a minnow float. 

 

Regarding the artificial baits, if people fish them by me - they can go home with next-to-nothing. If the live bait catches 40 - 100 x more fish with a much more subtle presentation, my math has a subtle presentation out-fishing the artificial baits in all situations, but hey that is just me. Now, when I go fish for 1.5 - 2 lb. white bass and they are going crazy, I will use a jig (but I will tip it with.. live bait).

 

Presenting the bait straight beneath my bite indicator, I have two things in my favor. 1st, I don't offer anything in my rig where the fish detects my hook, line, shot or float prior to me wrapping the gape of that hook around the lip of that fish. Am I 100% no, but you saw last weekend's bag in a cold front. I can type a lot but photos will speak much better than I can. With no lead jig near my bait, the fish doesn't have something to sort and spit and it doesn't have to stare at the bait because it doesn't look like anything - it IS food. A hook and food gets fought over. My bait falls through the water column a lot longer than an artificial bait and mimics the drop of a natural bait more closely. This is a massive advantage over artificial baits. In nature, fish eat more things that fall or rise than they do by chasing them.

 

While my presentation is beneath the hook, when the setup is going right, there are more than one fish in the area and they fight over that bait falling through the water column. I am confident that selecting a spot on a pond - as long as it is not an area that is only 1 - 1.5 foot deep- you can decidedly outfish your friend who walks around that pond seeking active fish. A person who is keen to set the hook on a bite , will beat the feather-casting person walking about. 

 

As I have also read in many books, the act of walking about puts the fish on notice and once their behavior has been changed, you will not likely be catching as many. I read a book from 1912 and it speaks of this. There are books from the 1800's and they say that the angler who keeps a still profile on the bank will get rewarded and those who move about will create fish not apt to feed. Part of my presentation is keeping in the same position and remaining very still. I know it works because when people want to talk to me and they walk up and stand right next to me - the bite slows down or stops. Worse if they have brightly colored shirts.

 

The angle I have is simple - foam, plastic and poor designs do us no favor. There is a very good way to fish and then their is hiking or sunbathing. Yes, some enjoy a relaxing warm nap with the water lapping up against the boat. Others enjoy stalking the shorelines and  exploring - those are both methods anglers use to fish.

 

We can discuss casting and lures, but at the end of this comes catching fish. Many can buy fishing gear, but if they could catch some fish, they would buy much MORE fishing gear.

 

I have photos of this cardboard monolith from the isle at Walmarte' clearly marked panfish and it is a shambles. I will put $10,000 on the line, give the entire kiosk to someone and I will use a cane pole, float and tin of bait. If we fish for 4 hours, the person fishing the "Vicious Fishing" Panfish equipment will be shamed into submission in the first :45 minutes and will be watching me - yes watching me (not their own stuff) the rest of the day.

 

I would put my house on it, my car and everything that belongs to me, if you want to catch fish MORE - you need to look at the US tackle industry and take 99.9% of it to the recycling bin. Diagrams on packaging that are wrong, line that is too heavy, hooks that are too big, line coming out of the top of bite indicators, lack of float control, distance and sensitivity. The worst split shot in the world - thick, bad hooks it is all fact.

 

Now, even if your pursuit is to enjoy some leisure time and you don't want to catch many fish, maybe having proper instructions, line, hooks and the rest can enhance your enjoyment with a few larger fish per trip because your gear has been refined slightly.

 

The only thing piles of this stuff are good for- when you want to take your kid fishing and you just don't want to take any fish off the hook or rebait your kids stuff all that often. For this, it works very well. Now, for safety- that's another story. American hooks are better suited for hooking a kid and getting them to the E.R. than they are for catching fish.

 

I did some recon at Walmarte' and came up with some finesse #10 hooks tied to 8 lb. leader. Pathetic. Worse yet- the Panfish Kiosk from Vicious supplied me with some 10 lb. line tied to #6 hooks. These are nearly fish-proof by me and you can almost hold the hook out straight on that leader.

 

Why do bass anglers use artificial baits? Because 100% of the tournament sponsors sell artificial baits and their entire system is built around the promotion of fake stuff, they use fake stuff. It is the one-sided angler and the one-species industry that has wrecked many an ecosystem, destroyed urban fisheries and that has put the fishing industry in decline. I see these bass guys in the bait store in their $145 make-your-own B.A.S.S. sponsor shirts and I have to wonder why they spend 8 hours on the water to average 2 fish weighing an average of 2.3 lb. (this was their season average). I can see right through their shirts- they aren't sponsored - they just want to look sponsored. They are welcome to drive their 2 hours to the lake, fish for 8 hours, weigh in and then drive 2 hours home for 2 fish - that just aint my bag baby.

 

I actually can afford to miss a few hook sets. I can usually afford to miss a few fish, when I catch over 100 or 200. However, I really enjoy it when I miss very few. Do you know what a pleasure it is to get 6 hooksets in a minute? It is such an awesome feeling and I love it.

 

The venue we are fishing on Saturday is not a big numbers venue, but for 4 hours I want to catch 25 lb. of fish from my one position. You can debate walking and trying to fool fish. In my conversations and commentary, I will try and help regular anglers catch more and larger fish.

 

Try something different, modify what you are doing and you just might like catching fish in a different way. Remember Apple Computers - Think Different was their slogan. Did it work? What do you think?

 

Today's Stock Prices:

Microsoft Stock: 25.08 -0.29‎ (-1.14%‎)

Apple Stock: 331.85 +4.39‎ (1.34%‎)     You can fish the regular way like 90% of the people and stick with the results you know. Or, you can Think Different. Apple's success is because their stuff is the best. They don't cut corners.  Apple uses premium materials and runs superior software on their own hardware components. My Aunt and Uncle flat out told me they didn't want Apple. I bought them one and they denounced it and continued using their PC computers. Well, eventually they kept asking me and then they bought one. Then two, now they have ipods, ipads, laptops and they will never use a PC again. There is different stuff out there.   Yes there are packs of hooks that say they are "American Made Hooks" - they are even Red White & Blue! They are "Hand Assembled in China"- you can pick those up for $1.50 and you thought they were good ole American gear. Eagle Claw is from Denver but their stuff comes from China. It says so right next to the American Flag on the back. You might catch a couple of fish on them. But, with a $2.50 pack of snelled hooks, on proper line with a proper hook shape- Thinking Differently-I will have to unhook a lot more fish.   It doesn't wreck my day or bother me too much to unhook a bunch of fish and some big ones. I'm just different. Just give me and some concepts a chance.

 

: )

 

[Keith Owen]

 

I like the little, round, red and white ones! They are perfectly engineered for my highly specialized form of fishing. It is a closely guarded secret, but I have also been known to tie a jig beneath one and cast blindly in any direction (including into the parking lot) just to fool highly selective fish into thinking I don't know what I'm doing. This is an important aspect to maintaining that "Beginners’ Luck" factor, even for an old pro like me.

 

It is also important to maintain an EXTREMELY SLACK LINE between the rod tip and the bobber (a highly technical term I don't have time to explain). This, along with double hand-fulls of cheesy poufs will also elicit bites and provide competent excuses for missing fish.

 

I am truly enjoying this discourse, but I have a tee time in 20 minutes and must find my favorite shovel handle to play with.

 

Best Fishes,

Keith

[Tony Livingston]

Well, we do have something in common. I too can appreciate other fishing styles and disciplines. I have to admit though, that I'm having a hard time trying to figure out where you're coming from. I don't mean any disrespect, but it seems to me that what you consider bank fishing is not the same thing as what the majority of anglers I know would consider it.

When I think bank fishing, it means just that... no boat, just fishing from shore. It appears to me that when you fish, you basically "stake" out a spot, and that one spot is where you stay. I know I've read where you chum the water to call the fish to you, so that's what I base this observation on. My apologies if I have misunderstood. Most bank anglers travel - that is, they move around the shore, trying different locations and baits.

It makes perfect sense to me, that having to fish within the constraints that I believe you do, would require specialized gear. Your only ability to "cover" the water would rely on the length of the rod, and your ability to swing the bait out. I would just travel down the bank, or cast somewhere different. You require specialized floats, which I'm sure are probably not available from domestic tackle manufacturers, because you're fishing competitively, within a rigid time frame. You're basically after anything and everything that swims in your small section of water. You can't afford to miss a strike, or lose a fish. If I do, no problem I'll just move on to the next one, or, more likely, re-cast and get him next time. Time is not an issue, and the mass-market premium floats work quite well enough when you're not watching the clock.

"The bigger the Gill', the lighter the bite" Any ice fisherman who ever stared down a hole and watched a brute stare at his jig for 5 minutes before backing away knows that one to be true. HOWEVER, and this is a biggie, that's because in the winter I'm fishing vertically, straight down.  Isn't that how you fish most of the time? Straight below a float, maybe allowing the current to drift your bait? That is exactly where finesse and presentation matter most. When your bait is suspended like that, the fish have plenty of time to inspect it. If they feel something isn't right, they'll hit it and spit it before you can blink. This type of fishing entices the fish by visual cues, and big Bluegill can be very selective. not so much the little fellows.

But, I have an ace in the hole. That would be artificial lures. The fast retrieve doesn't give the fish much time to cue in visually, rather it triggers an aggressive strike. It's instinctual I believe. Again, most Bluegill anglers I know don't hesitate to switch back and forth between live bait and artificial. They wouldn't dream of handicapping themselves by adhering to one particular technique. And Big Bluegill love micro crankbaits and spoons. But, you do have to cast and retrieve. I believe most of us do.

"It is rare that fish feed on fake stuff" Not even close. Fish hit artificial lures all the time. Why do you think that all those Bass fishermen use em? It's not because those much-maligned tackle manufacturers' have it in for nightcrawlers, it's because they work.

As I've stated, I believe artificial lures trigger a reflexive strike, it can be almost automatic, as it appeals to a fish's predatory nature. And BIG bluegill are quite predatory, the little ones, maybe not as much, but then again most of us aren't after little ones are we?

 

I like your golf club analogy, but I think it could be taken a little further. I would guess that Tiger Woods has a complete set of clubs. I also feel confident in stating that he probably didn't get them at Wal-mart. Let's say that for every Tiger, there are ten thousand weekend, casual golfers. They also have a complete set of clubs, but maybe they're happy with the wal-mart irons. They provide hours of enjoyment, at a cheaper, mass-produced price, and they do the job just fine.

As I've stated before in our discussions, I mean no insult or disrespect to you. I'm just trying to make clear that you fish in a manner quite different than what I would surmise the majority of Bluegill anglers do. What you perceive as horrible, pathetic, cheap clunky, and bad...may do the job just fine for most of us who aren't Tiger Woods.....

[Johnny wilkins]

A golfer that uses only his putter on every shot is what I meant to say at the end of my last post...   : )

 

[Johnny wilkins]

If I would have had a closed mind, I would only know what I learned in the past. I met a guy at a trade show. Thought his methods were strange. His name is on that bobber, but he didn't design that, the company did.

 

I appreciate the fact that some people fish from a lawn chair and that they just like the air and being on the water. I appreciate other concepts. I fish with a 40' put-over take-apart pole and don't expect people to use those. I fish with a 15' telescopic pole and a 10' telescopic pole. I know some will not abandon their micro reel and ultra-whippy mini rod, but I will never say anyone should use those.

 

I have seen anglers with good skills fish with bad equipment and I don't expect some will change. When we fish 40 anglers spaced apart 30 feet from one another on the same water, fishing the same period of time, you can see exactly what each caught. It is here that gear is measured. I don't measure it, but the catch measures it. Those with the right setup and the best gear, presentation and bite indicators have the heaviest bag which consists of big fish and small fish.

 

What do you think about the phrase- the bigger the gill, the lighter the bite?

I rarely use artificials, because it is rare that fish feed on fake stuff. It is common that they feed on real food. I appreciate your statements.

 

It is my hope that an affordable, popular product can be made available that suits the way people fish. Of course, I also hope they are catching fish and spreading the word. 

Let me close by saying, my teacher, who's name is sadly written on  the above float NEVER FISHED IT IN a any competition. The company made that - he didn't endorse it and wouldn't want it fished. This ( the above ) and this example is the best illustration of what I can show you has happened.

 

An excellent angler who has won many competitions on bluegills and who has fished in many World Championships representing team U.S.A. has his name slapped on a poor-performing bulbous bobber.

 

Know this, my teacher DOES fish slip-style, but he fishes floats which will show him a bite, not a fish swimming away. He also can fish 10 yards to 100 yards but no one can fish the same float at all those distances and all those depths as well as an angler who selects the right float for the right depth and the right distance.

 

Show me a golfer that uses just his putter and we can close this case.

[Tony Livingston]

Wow...

I'm reminded of something an old machinists' friend of mine once told me.

"Son, the hardest thing you have to learn, I can't teach you. And that is, you must have the ability to know when a job is good enough. Every job requires that you do your best, but not every job requires the same level of precision. Don't spend a week completely redesigning a paper clip, when the old one holds your notes together just fine"

As usual, your enthusiasm for your fishing style is commendable, Johnny. May I suggest another point of view?

The American tackle industry has not abandoned us, we abandoned them. You are quite correct when you state that money is the driving force behind their decisions. As it is with any and all commercial enterprises. Why spend time and money in R+D when the interests, and the market, isn't there?

The majority of anglers I know, and myself included, would much rather target a few QUALITY bluegill over QUANTITIES of smaller Bluegill. We also cast. A lot. And pretty far distances, too. No 30' telescopic rods, just a simple ultralight rod and reel. Personally, I tend to use a slip float, and I typically need to cast that float 20-25 yards, then fish at a depth of 5-15 feet. That requires mass (weight). Do you have a float that would meet these requirements, and accomodate the equipment and style of fishing that the majority of us are using? Quite possibly you do, but I must confess that I have my doubts that it would perform any better under these constraints than the mass-produced Thills' I'm using now.

Remember, the market dictates what products will be available, and demand drives the market. No demand, no product.

I would guess that your fishing style, while interesting, is a very small part of the American fishing scene. I have no doubt that the tackle available to you, as a competitive bank angler, is quite inferior when compared to European tackle manufacturers.  Again, no demand, no product.

For the style of fishing that I feel the majority of US anglers practice, I think the equipment is quite acceptable. There will always be room to "tweak" individual components, but a complete redesign is not necessary.

Also, most Bluegill anglers I know will readily switch between live, and artificial baits. They do not consider themselves elitists when they throw a spoon or spinnerbait , they are merely using all of the techniques and equipment available to them in order to catch more fish, or target specific, (bigger) fish. I would think that as a competitive bank angler, your options, as far as artificial lures are concerned, might well be slim. But remember, most of us are casting, not swinging the bait out. We're looking for 2 nine -inch Bluegill, not 9 two-inch Bluegill. This is not meant to dis your fishing style, there's room for all fishing disciplines here,. Rather, as a friendly reminder that a lot of us have no problem filling our fish baskets with the equipment currently available to us, and are not convinced that American tackle manufacturers are inherently evil.

Remember the paperclips Johnny, it's all about the paperclips.

 

[Johnny wilkins]

p.s. - if you use any equipment I critique - don't take this as an offense.

[Johnny wilkins]

I will be showing some pictures of some vintage fishing equipment coming up showing the parts I am referring to. 

Everyone can improve their tackle by adding components to existing tackle which will make it better. Components that the tackle industry has left off are essential to making your bite indicator perform better for you.

More control, more sensitive and better fish-catching equipment - the opposite of what is available to us. Look for vintage tackle photos and observations on this soon. I have some new product catalogs that a client requested so I will need to dedicate time to this coming up.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Okay - thanks, Johnny. If there is one thing I love its someone who is passionate.

What I would like to see is a comparison between the old style stuff (w/ guide eyes, etc.) and the new "crap."

I understand that things have changed, but can you point us to places where we can see what used to work?