Your fascination with...

[Aknib]

Rods, lines, shot, hooks, reels... The list is endless.

What's your particular hang up, what do you seem to irrationally ecru the most of and why?

Easy for me, as rational and minimalist as I like to see myself I have endless floats which will never get wet and I suspect many of you are the same.

That in itself prompts further questions...

Why did I buy them then?

Did I see something for a specific purpose with the intention of giving it a go but never got around to it, did I just pop in to the tackle shop for a pint of maggots but picked up a couple up unwanted extras just to make it worthwhile for the proprietor or was it just love at first sight and who needs a reason?

I'm guilty on all accounts I'm afraid.

Go and empty your cupboards and come back with the results, along with an explanation... If there is one!

 

[sam vimes]

what do you seem to irrationally ecru the most of and why?

Pretty much everything.

Why did I buy them then?

For no better reason than I felt like it and I could. Sometimes it's because my angling has headed in a new direction, sometimes because I got a good deal. A lot of the time because I simply wanted to try something else.

 

[S-Kippy]

Rods i have a major weakness for...not so much reels. Hooks definately but I alway like to stockpile preferred patterns and sizes and often want a packet ( or two) in different boxes in different bags.

I am an absolute shocker when it comes to hooklink material. I have spools and spools of the stuff...mono,fluoro,braid,hi-tech,low tech,thick,thin,clear,coloured etc yet 9 times out of 10 I reach for the same spool in the usual bs. I cant explain it other than I never want to be caught out not having quite the right diameter/bs that I think I need.

And despite all this I often put on a pre tied hook to nylon. Work that one out.

 

[Krang]

Lures. I wouldn't say its really irrational because diversity in ones lure box means adaptability to different conditions. I do buy a lot though. Just yesterday I ordered a popper, a frog and a jointed minnow.

 

[lambert1]

Hooks for me too and mostly to nylon. I have two hook tyers that are absolutely mint! My eyesight for close up stuff is lousy. I started using the Craluso links that Rob recommended and find them my go to now. I have a pocket in my fishing waistcoat that is bulging with hook packets and if I buy something other than bait it is usually hooks.

 

[laguna]

Floats!
I collect them, hold them, look at them, admire them, stroke them, make them, buy them, find them, steal them, retrieve them and occasionally... fish with them!

I've had this obsession since 1968 why?

 

[mikench]

Er fishing tackle. If I see something new, different , promising a miracle, I cannot resist. I have feeders of every type, every manufacturer and in all weights just in case. I have floats , spare chairs and attachments just in case. I have reels for all occasions just in case. I have waterproof clothing for every eventuality just in case.i have brollies for rain and sun just in case.

My worst and definitely a hanging offence , is to take most of it with me in my Pickford's van just in case.

I daren't mention rods. This lockdown hasn't done my condition much good as I gleefully and excitedly await delivery of a rod, couple of reels, another landing net head and various bits.

Why do I like landing nets? Must go as my AA meeting starts soon. That's Anglers Anonymous.

 

[Paste paul]

I don’t buy much these days ........only if I need something.
But I used to love collecting floats......
I made them by the dozen and bought them by the two dozen..
I even made the boxes they went in....
I bought the Ivan marks book of float fishing and preceded to make all the various types of floats.......
back then you could buy balsa bodies Reed peacock and brass inserts with an eye on for load to the float ..... a couple of tins of umbrol paint and hey presto.....
I was obsessive but I can’t remember why I stopped ?
I used to have all my gear clean and maintained and everything had its place now it just gets thrown in the box at the end of the day.......
One thing I will say is I personally think as good as fishing tackle is now it’s definitely gone two far the other way.......a lot of lads have to have the latest of everything and that’s what the tackle companies want.

 

[steve2]

Lures, on the last count I have 100's of the things and still buy more if I see some good second hand ones on Ebay.
Lure fishing rods why do I need so many I can only use one at a time.

 

[no-one in particular]

Lures. I wouldn't say its really irrational because diversity in ones lure box means adaptability to different conditions. I do buy a lot though. Just yesterday I ordered a popper, a frog and a jointed minnow.

I was thinking of you the other day Krang when I came across this, don't know why! Anyway, hope your alright.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I would have to say that while I do have a lot of rods, my particular fascination has to be with . . . floats. I must have literally hundreds of them, all shapes and sizes, plain and fancy, to very fancy made by the likes of Paul Cooke and Andrew Field.

I have boxes and boxes of them in my garage incuding a large box I came across last week in a bit of a tidy up that I opened to find probably two hundred pole floats, some on winders that I remember packing up when I left my apartment in Norway back in 1999 to take a place in Wiltshire.

I really love the older models, like the Harcorks, and many others from the late 50's and early 60's when, as a younger angler, we had "favourite" floats that we'd used because of their appearance rather than their functionality. Like so many other things these days people seem to have realised the value in Harcorks and some fetch really "silly" prices on the people's auction site.

There is something about the old crow quill floats too that evoke pleasant memories of days fishing as well as some of the older Avons that I used for the first time on the club outings as a junior on the Hampshire Avon.

One float in paticular was a small-ish float with a sliding body called (I think) 'Miranda'. I mentioned this years ago on here and one member sent me a pair of them, and those have pride of place in my shadow box coffee table in my sitting room. Back in the day I used them on the Thames for bleak fishing . . . .

So, my 'passion' has to be . . . floats . . .

 

[108831]

I carry some 300 plus floats(probably nearer 400,i dont count these days)in my match box,quite a few in my river trotting rucky,plus a drawer upstairs with more than a couple,it would be rude not to have them,eh???

 

[nottskev]

Probably because I had back surgery at an early age, I've had a lifelong interest in devising ways to make seatboxes lighter, easier to transport and with bait trays etc right where I want them.

I can't bear clunky attachments, big plastic knuckles, wobbly wheels, all the shoddy paraphernalia that festoons some boxes and chairs. Everything has to be neat, tight and minimal and I've spent hours in sheds and garages over the years playing with bits and pieces of aluminium to fix this to that on various boxes.

For the past few years I've had a compact box mounted on a 3cm square frame with open ends and threaded bosses built in, and that opened up a new world of fittings for wheels, handles, rod rests, bait waiters....

Sorting out seatboxes has been one of those things where someone is annoyed you're not listening, as you're nodding while thinking, I need something that's a push-fit into there, with a 90 degree angle and......

 

[wetthrough]

Sorting out seatboxes has been one of those things where someone is annoyed you're not listening, as you're nodding while thinking, I need something that's a push-fit into there, with a 90 degree angle and.....

I know how you feel Kev. I'm much the same. I don't want something that's been designed to badly accommodate as many people as possible. I can appreciate why manufacturers do it but things are rarely exactly the way you want them.

 

[rayner]

I don't think I've ever classed anything in angling as a passion, I'm more for fads. Reason being, passions last fads don't.
I've gone through all manner of fads from floats to feeders and most things between.
The fad I'm consumed with at the moment is an accessory chair. I needed to lose weight from the box I use to something lighter.
The chair is all but sorted with what I need. All that's left now is to dodge this virus and get back fishing,
Then I shall have to find a new fad.
If I have to make up any more hooks I'll just be in tears, I already had loads of hooks tied on spools.
I've made over 50 wagglers that I'll probably only use a couple. I'm up to the back teeth doing pointless tasks just to waste time, that's an end to wasting time, time can just wash over me, at least for a short while.

 

[Keith M]

Like others on this forum I can’t go past a tackle shop without buying a few packets of hooks, if I need them or not, and if they sell good wagglers then I’ll buy a few of them too whether I need them or not.
I never buy single floats though, it always has to be at least five or six of every useful size and tip colour, incase Im going to run out of them on the bank.

Keith

 

[Paste paul]

Probably because I had back surgery at an early age, I've had a lifelong interest in devising ways to make seatboxes lighter, easier to transport and with bait trays etc right where I want them.

I can't bear clunky attachments, big plastic knuckles, wobbly wheels, all the shoddy paraphernalia that festoons some boxes and chairs. Everything has to be neat, tight and minimal and I've spent hours in sheds and garages over the years playing with bits and pieces of aluminium to fix this to that on various boxes.

For the past few years I've had a compact box mounted on a 3cm square frame with open ends and threaded bosses built in, and that opened up a new world of fittings for wheels, handles, rod rests, bait waiters....

Sorting out seatboxes has been one of those things where someone is annoyed you're not listening, as you're nodding while thinking, I need something that's a push-fit into there, with a 90 degree angle and......

I agree with you pal........ I can honestly say that if someone put there mind to it a real box system could be sorted out......
Most of the boxes these days are matchman oriented which is fine but it’s not for everyone.
Some of the best boxes I’ve seen are the boxes people have adapted and tinkered with ......
Good on yer

 

[markcw]

I carry some 300 plus floats(probably nearer 400,i dont count these days)in my match box,quite a few in my river trotting rucky,plus a drawer upstairs with more than a couple,it would be rude not to have them,eh???

Look on the bright side if you fell in carrying your match box .You would ..... Float. mg:

 

[peterjg]

I used to have a thing about bait flavours. I've tested loads but now I stick to just 3 or 4. I love testing and trying out lines and knots.

 

[nottskev]

I used to have a thing about bait flavours. I've tested loads but now I stick to just 3 or 4. I love testing and trying out lines and knots.

I've been thinking, you can't spend that on a book, but your post just reminded me of that great experimenter, flavour inventor and tester, Archie Braddock, and I've just splashed thirty-odd quid on his book The First Seventy Years, which collects his diaries across every species. Now and then I bump into him, as I'm hurrying off home from the river as it goes dark on a winter evening - and he's just setting up, saying I'll fish til 11 or 12. I'm sure it will be worth it.