Your confidence vs your equipment

Started by usngsm2, September 24, 2007, 09:05:46 PM

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usngsm2

This topic is a direct result of an encounter I had today.
I met this guy who only fishes with walmart daiwa rods in
the med/hvy class. Now I am by no means bashing this guy
or his equipment but it made me take a look at some of my
most recent purchases. How much money could I have saved?
Should I sell everything I have? Well no for me but as I crank'd
deeper into this water I wonder how much of the BASS'n world
is just marketing? I don't think Ish was fishing with STEEZ rods and
reels when he first hit the scene, so why do we purchase such
expensive equipment? Is it to have an edge? or to give us peace of
mind or increase our confidence? I will probably not buy a megabass
rod or reel in excess of $500.00 or more. I need a boat is what I keep
telling my self ( Lord willing and I put on E-6, I will do just that). I don't
know about you but my confidence doesn't come from my equipment but
the fact that I can reliably use it. Still at the end of the day I am just well
please to fish and my skill level increases the more I use my tackle.
How about yourself?

GRAPEAPE

My most expensive pc of equipment is a Rick Clunn Combo that I got as a gift.  I like to think that I can figure out a way to catch fish anywhere with what I have.  I really don't think that Fishing is like golf in the sense that you CAN buy a better game.  Practice, and confidence go a long way above high dollar equipment IMO.

tmiller2

i personally could care less about how much everything costs....im confident enough in what i have that i dont really need super expensive stuff (i just want it)....in fact the most expensive single thing i own is a citica that i bought the other day....

but as i fish more and have small tourneys with friends around the area for little money (except my friend who just got drafted hes now a millionaire so we make him put in more) i want something i little bit nicer that i know wont break and will be much more sensitive to the fish hitting.....

before this year i never used anything except my shimano symetre and a 5'10" ugly stick but now i have  like 5 other rods and reels that i have gathered over the years and the 3 or 4 that i bought this summer all rigged differently in my car ready to go whenever the situation arises.....

maybe that has something to do with it but in my mind a rod and a reel will catch a fish a expensive rod and reel will catch more fish but then again i can still break out my old rod and catch just as many fish as i do with the new stuff that i bought for a situation
"the vibrashock?.....its like crack for fish"

docav

marketing plays the biggest role in fishing. when ducket won the classic he wasnt using the e21 rods but they are promoting it as if he was. they even went as far to take the airrus rods logo off his shirt as seen below. airrus rods is still promoting ducket as using their rods on their site http://www.rodsbyairrus.com. anglers at that level use all kinds of baits like when KVD won the classic in Pittsburgh he used a rb1200 smithwick that was 20 years old but he promotes his signature line of jerk baits from strike king. smithwick even came back out with the rb1200 after he won the classic. it is about the bottom dollar and promoting the company you work for or which one will pay you the most to say you use their products. doug

this picture is from the bassmaster site and has the airrus rods logo above the berkley logo


this photo is from the e21 site and has the logo removed above the berkley logo

bassindon69

It's not the same shirt. Don't they change shirts and hats for pics now and then to acomidate a specific sponsor?
All good points. I think it also has a little to do with if you have the money to burn or not and a lot of keeping up with the Jones's. For me to change over to swimbaits I had to get all new tackle (Rods,reels,lures) Line was the same just heavier. But I checked around first. I was a man that needed to save a few bucks so I could fish lol but wanted the right stuff to get the job done. There is enough information out there, if you look around you will find what works for you and gets it done. When I started shopping for all the new swimbait stuff there are big price differences just like with everything else. For the reels Calcutta 400 TE is 300.oo, the Calcutta 400B is 200.oo and the Cardiff 400 is 100.oo these are what I was looking at. Guess what, they all get it done. Sure one is smoother all around but again they all get it done. When it came to rods there was one that stood out for the money and that was the Okuma guide select swimbait rods at 100.oo. I now have 4 rigs for me and two for the wife. Thats right she toss's the swimbaits too  ~c~ bless her hart. If I had the money to burn I would have a 500.oo rig not a 200.oo to 300.oo rig, maybe. But still the results would be the same. I can say that the results would be the same because I shopped for a specific type of fishing (swimbait fishing). Why did I do this? Because I want to take pics of these big fish. Not just tell stories  :) I mean you are not going to do well in a race like the Indy 500 with a VW Bug. You may finish but you will not compete. Right? Me and my stupid analogies LOL! So if you just use any old kind of rod or equipment for any old kind of fish, most likely you will have any old kind of day with lots of any old stories to tell about the one that got away. The right stuff is the way to go, even if you buy the low end it is still the right stuff, right? :) 

Don.

docav

its the same shirt and hat. they airbrushed or used some kind of picture software to remove it. there is another picture just like the one above but its hard to see because of the confetti. here are three more from the finale day that show the airrus logo also. doug



this one is hard to see but it is there

scatch1

#6
Don and I think about the same.Grapeape too! Shawn rg geta a vote too!

BassHunter69

My most expensive rod and only rod of this caliber is the gary yamamoto tournament spinning rod med/hvy that runs about 200 bucks. made to be used with braided line. my other rod i use for plastics is a quest im7 med/hvy spinning rod. even though the quest is cheaper i'm confident in its use i use both rods equally. i do have other rods such as the rod i use for crank baits which is an ugly stik  :o lo.
my ugly stik with ugly braid is the cheapest rod i have which i got for $39.95 it works good for cranking it up for me at this time.  i like all 3 rods to be honest although i'm seriously thinking of getting a tournament grade cranking rod since i do fish tournaments in the alabama area.


BH69

bass_101

This is a great topic.  I myself fish in a junior club, 3 tourneys a year.  I have three combos: 6'6'' MH BPS Extremes 5.4:1 reel ...... 7'MH Bill Dance combo ... 7' M action Berkely Cherrywood rod with a Abu Cardinal reel.   Total: $200. The Extremes combo is fantastic for the price.  The Bill Dance combo isn't smooth, but with a trained thumb can be a decent combo.  My spinning rod gets used about 1/16 of the time, if that so I see no need for a 100-200 dollar combo.  I would have no more confidence if I had three steez combo's, just for the fact that I have learned how to compete with what I have.  Anglers should learn how to look for quality instead of price.  Just because the rod or reel is 300 bucks doesn't gurantee it's any better than a 100 dollar rod or reel.  I think this is the same for everything in life though. 

Indian Creek Lure Co. - Pro-Staff

-Shawn-

Confidence is important!! But Quality of equipment becomes more important as you spend more time on the water and catch more fish.  Their is a big difference between quality and price though. Don't con yourself into thinking that quality has to cost an arm and a leg.