Title. I'm curious if there are any items you wish you had bought and things you regret buying when you first started fishing.
I regret ever buying monofilament line. I wish I bought a decent net sooner.
Nothing wrong with monofilament/fluorocarbon leader. The net is absolutely necessary however, a good strong 1 without those braided bumps that can injure fish.
I also wish I bought a net sooner. That being said I also wish I had bought the rubber one sooner vs the traditional ones where the hook gets tangled.
I stopped buying all the other floro lines that snap and just went back to mono.
Wasted so much money on expensive lures I was too scared to lose, should've just bought a shitload of soft plastics and a decent pair of pliers from start.
Soft plastics are what I use 95 percent of the time. If you have the time to make your own, I highly recommend it.
Wish I bought- get the good medium 7’ rod and reel combo that you could fish about everything on and then buy other rod/reel combos around that as I got better. I started with the heavier rods and wasn’t able to effectively use 1/3 of the lures I bought.
I wish I had bought a higher quality rod right away. I spent more on the reel than on the rod and that was a mistake.
I wish I found tenkara BEFORE I found fly fishing.
I totally love the idea of a tenkara rod for my outdoor expeditions, but probably wouldn’t do a fly rod
Wish I had bought hook remover. Big spinnerbait was a waste since smaller ones catch bass and panfish both.
Booyah pond magic is the best spinnerbait IMO, at least for bass
I regret buying and brand of line except PLine. Its just the best Ive ever used.
Unfortunately sometimes you have to cycle thru different brands of line to find the best for the way you fish.
I bought a big 7’ Pflueger monarch baitcaster way too soon. I only ever use it as a Carolina rigged catfish pole with a big circle hook because I hate casting it because I’m so scared of it backlashing. At least this way it goes out once when I get to the spot and only ever has to go out again if I catch a fish. $80 that I could have spent on 2 spinning poles or a ton of tackle. Things I’m really glad I bought: I have a lanyard with one of those retractable straps of ID’s but instead it connects to a set of forceps I wear when I’m fishing so I never have to go looking for pliers to get a hook out of a fish’s mouth.
I wish I had bought a better tackle bag. I had always used hand me down bags and boxes and never could organize well and never had enough room and now I have a backpack that's the right size and easy to organize and a lot more comfortable to carry.
Wish I got a baitcaster sooner than I did, and wish I discovered fluorocarbon sooner. Also wish I did more research into good fluorocarbons cause the bad ones are BAD
I only used baitcasters or conventional reels growing up in Florida, but never owned my own gear. Recently got back into fishing and got a ML and UL spinning setups only to realize I couldn’t throw my heavier lures that I bought. Got a baitcaster and remembered how much I like it and am better at casting with it. I just ordered a BFS setup for smaller stuff.
Don't buy cheap stuff, if you want to try a new rod/bait just hold out until you can get a better one, buy once cry once
I wish I knew more about rod action and how to pair line, reels and lures to specific rods. Would have saved me time and money. Also leaves soft plastics in my life and less bobbers. Keeping it minimal.
Not really regret buying, but on some of my lures, I wish I would have changed the trebles out for single hooks sooner. Sooo much easier to deal with.
Interesting, I have the opposite feeling. Bought too many single hooks a long time ago and now only use heavier lures with treble hooks because I cast farther, swapping is easier, and I more reliably hook fish.
Things I regret not buying immediately: A good set of pliers, a cast net, bait knife (something to cut up bait with without making your normal knife gross), premium hooks, and a wide assortment of weights. Things I regret buying: Cheap reels. I have had many $20-30 reels fall apart on me, and it wasn't until I had my first "quality" reel that I realized how important good equipment is. Just remember - "buy once, cry once."
75% of the lures and tackle I bought. Kept chasing the best thing and barely used most of it.
Regret buying a heavy action shore jigging rod with an expensive ass reel to start shore jigging. 2 years later haven't managed to catch anything with it, cant use soft plastics with it, and in the meantime I realized I prefer catching trout in alpine streams so it collects dust and I just use the speargun when saltwater fishing
Buying crap that won't work for you waters. Downsize everything, dont buy crankbaits
I buy crankbaits and other similar styles when I find them on clearance and thats it. I've amassed a solid collection that I hardly ever use, but I also didn't spent much on them so I don't really feel like I wasted anything.
My biggest regret was not putting enough value on the weight of my gear. My first rods and reels were great quality - Penn reels and rods - but NOT lightweight. I’ve found that the weight of my gear is a HUGE factor for me. I throw lures much more than bait and wait so it matters but I really didn’t know how much. Even my first top end rod - century 9’ Weapon - isn’t light enough for it to be my “go to” vs a situational pick. I now prioritize the weight of my gear as the final most important deciding factor. If I find a couple fit for purpose rods, my final decision will be is it light enough.
I wish I had bought a strap for all the shit in my truck bed that snapped all my rods I owned. Most expensive mistake of my life. However, I now own super awesome stuff.
Worm threader get one and some worms it is fun
I regret buying cheap tackle bags and boxes hoping one would eventually be good. This includes the cheap ones that come in every tackle bag. I'd have saved money just buying quality once. I have two things I wish I had bought as a beginner. First is storage for tackle. Believe it or not, you don't have to have every single bait you own in your tacklebox/bag for every trip. I mounted a crankbait holder on my wall and all of those, my topwaters, and my spinning baits live there. My soft plastics live in a storage container with dividers so I can organize by bait type and color. After a trip, anything I grabbed goes back. Before a trip, I go through and grab what I will need for what I am targeting in the body of water I will be at. I do have some favorite baits and gear for my favorite rigs that don't leave, but everything else is situational and comes with me when appropriate. The second thing I wish I bought sooner was a rod/reel setup specific to my favorite presentation. I love throwing a drop shot and, while you can make it work with most bass fishing gear, a dedicated finesse setup works so much better and I got so much better at it when I finally did buy the right gear for it.
Don't go down the gear rabbit hole. It's deceptively easy to way overspend on edge-case shit you might only use a couple times.
Buy one high-quality, medium-weight, do-anything rod/reel about 7' long and load it with good 25lb braid.
One good landing net.
Whenever it's an option, live/cut/frozen bait catches more fish than plastic and metal.
Don't buy a million lures that look neat. Buy like 5 proven performers for your area, and learn the right way to use them.
A 4-5ft. cast net and some breadcrumbs means an endless supply of bait (This one's probably region-dependent, but works great for me)
Use sunscreen even if it's kinda cloudy, and reapply it more often.
I wish I knew that Shimano sustains were so good. I would have just bought numerous of them. Instead of trying out all the higher end stuff. Also imho the rod matters more than the reel.
Wish I had bought a boat sooner.