# I'll Never Buy Tackle Again



## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

I was tempted to title this post "Fishermen Are Slobs" but that's not really fair, although a number of them undoubtedly are, as we all know.

Having had a stroke a few years ago, I need more exercise. One thing I began doing was shore fishing locally in the Downriver area. This got me outside and it was fun. It wasn't a lot of real exercise, though. Anyway, one thing I quickly began noticing while fishing was how much discarded/dropped tackle I'd find. It didn't matter where I went, I'd always find tackle. About a year ago, I stopped fishing down here and began hitting spots just to hunt tackle. I do this once or twice a week and have a route hitting all the public spots from Ecorse down to Monroe. I'll start at one end of the route and clean up and by the time I finish the route, a few weeks have passed and the places I started at are full of tackle again for another go-'round.

I pick up pretty much anything that can be used and isn't trashed/broken. I'll snip harnesses with rusted or busted hooks to salvage the beads, spinners and other hardware. I pick up lead of all types, from big-ass 3-4 oz. sinkers down to the smallest splitshot. I have multiple coffee cans full of sinkers and shot. I find a lot of pliers. Lots of plastics with plenty of life in them (I have no idea why guys toss them just because they've had a hook in 'em once). I've found a few rods. A net. Tons of swivels, snaps and other hardware. Lots of steel/wire leaders (apparently there are a lot of pike and musky fisherman trying from shore Downriver lol...). Over the past year, I'd estimate I've found enough tackle to fill a dozen or so tackle boxes. This in addition to the dozen or so full of "good" stuff I used to pay for and have collected over a lifetime.

I know a place near Pt. Mouillee where when the wind and water conditions are right, practically everything that floats down the Huron River ends up washed ashore on a piece of land about an acre in size. When I first discovered this spot, I had to call the wife to come out and help because I was running out of pocket space to shove dozens and dozens of plugs. We spent a few hours there and must have collected 100+ good plugs. I filled entire cases full of Hot 'N' Tots and such. It was like a tackle store blew up and everything was just laying on the ground for the pickin'. That was my best find yet.

Anyway, I went out again this morning and found what you see in the photo below. This stuff came from the Black Lagoon and Mouillee HQ parking lot, probably my favorite two spots to search. Not bad for a couple hours of walking around, getting my exercise AND a bunch of free tackle. Helping to clean up these places and perhaps saving some waterfowl lives (by removing lead) isn't bad, either.










I'm moving up north very soon and will no longer be doing this down here anymore. I've begun doing it up north and find plenty at the popular spots (9th St. Alpena, etc.) there, too. If anyone is interested in spots and tips Downriver, I'll tell you exactly where to go. Feel free to contact me privately via the forum.


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

This just reminded me of a video on YouTube I saw awhile ago where this guy in Flat Rock arranges a "tournament" with his pals. They go to Huroc Park and the idea is to see who catches the first and largest fish, and the catch (no pun intended) is they can only use tackle they find there, including pole and line. I thought it was great. Needless to say, I wouldn't have a problem competing in such a contest.


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

Here's that pile sorted and ready for cleaning, gives a better idea of what I found. The junk lead at bottom right goes into the scrap bucket. Fishing lead is typically dead soft so it'll have to be hardened but will come in handy when I eventually start casting boolits. Overall I'd guess there's gotta be at least $50 worth of tackle there.


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## MichiFishy (Sep 17, 2019)

-db- said:


> Here's that pile sorted and ready for cleaning, gives a better idea of what I found. The junk lead at bottom right goes into the scrap bucket. Fishing lead is typically dead soft so it'll have to be hardened but will come in handy when I eventually start casting boolits. Overall I'd guess there's gotta be at least $50 worth of tackle there.




You're doing a great thing here, good on you. 

So when are you opening your tackle shop?? lol


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

I see a Rapala with a broken lip in that pile. Sadly, I have about a dozen of those that will never catch another fish yet I cannot bring myself to throw them away...


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

PunyTrout said:


> I see a Rapala with a broken lip in that pile. Sadly, I have about a dozen of those that will never catch another fish yet I cannot bring myself to throw them away...


Yeah, I keep them, too. I have no idea what they could be used for but have a bin full of various baits with busted or missing lips.


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

I was gonna start a thread highlighting the various tackle that my dad would gather from our fishing excursions. I just recently upgraded and upcycled some spoons and spinner blades that were found items. Had to soak them in vinegar to remove some rust and tarnish but they're as good as new now.


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

Mrfish989 said:


> I





-db- said:


> I was tempted to title this post "Fishermen Are Slobs" but that's not really fair, although a number of them undoubtedly are, as we all know.
> 
> Having had a stroke a few years ago, I need more exercise. One thing I began doing was shore fishing locally in the Downriver area. This got me outside and it was fun. It wasn't a lot of real exercise, though. Anyway, one thing I quickly began noticing while fishing was how much discarded/dropped tackle I'd find. It didn't matter where I went, I'd always find tackle. About a year ago, I stopped fishing down here and began hitting spots just to hunt tackle. I do this once or twice a week and have a route hitting all the public spots from Ecorse down to Monroe. I'll start at one end of the route and clean up and by the time I finish the route, a few weeks have passed and the places I started at are full of tackle again for another go-'round.
> 
> ...


Since you find everything in the huron, last june I lost a 17 dollar gold colored whopper plopper on my first cast at like 6am....did you find it? I will come pick it up....jk.


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## Smallie12 (Oct 21, 2010)

I see you found a couple pencil floats and a mushroom, nice (haha)

Cool hobby while doing good for yourself and others, win/win!


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

It's trying sometimes. I find and keep some decent stuff but the amount of unusable garbage is vast. You can start feeling misanthropic after awhile when what you're doing is purposely seeking what basically amounts to litter. You tell yourself maybe this is just stuff people are accidentally dropping but that's obviously not the case- the truth is these are slobs tossing this stuff on the ground. Or too lazy to pick it up after they dropped it. I've been out doing this and start thinking what I should really be doing is picking up ALL the trash, not just the stuff I can use, but then you look around and realize you'd need to be dragging a dumpster with you, it's just not feasible. So I pick up the stuff I can use.

The good days I have doing this are the days I don't find much. When I don't find much, that means fishermen are picking up after themselves.


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## Quack Addict (Aug 10, 2006)

PunyTrout said:


> I see a Rapala with a broken lip in that pile. Sadly, I have about a dozen of those that will never catch another fish yet I cannot bring myself to throw them away...


Want to sell them? I know a guy that repairs them somehow.


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## Quack Addict (Aug 10, 2006)

-db-
I hope your recovery is going well and lasting effects are not serious. It's great that you found a way you enjoy to get out and about for some outdoor rehab. And congratulations on getting away from the rat race and heading northbound.


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

Quack Addict said:


> Want to sell them? I know a guy that repairs them somehow.


If I can find them you can have them. 

I'll PM you if I can locate them.


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## Smallie12 (Oct 21, 2010)

-db- said:


> The good days I have doing this are the days I don't find much. When I don't find much, that means fishermen are picking up after themselves.


Well said!


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## tincanary (Jul 23, 2018)

Wow, that's a lot of stuff you picked up. Who knows what you'll find. Have you ever heard of magnet fishing? Apparently, these magnet fishermen tie a rare earth magnet to a rope and throw it out into the water, pulling up all kinds of stuff. You might come up with some interesting stuff doing that around docks and marinas.


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

A quick walk through half of Huroc Park during Prime Time (mid-day on a Saturday when everyone is out there, limiting the number of spots I could check) today netted the following:










Hit that park first thing in the morning before anyone gets there, especially during Fall and Spring when steelheaders are out, and you can easily find triple that amount.


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

tincanary said:


> Wow, that's a lot of stuff you picked up. Who knows what you'll find. Have you ever heard of magnet fishing? Apparently, these magnet fishermen tie a rare earth magnet to a rope and throw it out into the water, pulling up all kinds of stuff. You might come up with some interesting stuff doing that around docks and marinas.


Yeah, I've got a magnet setup. Tried it a few times without any luck. I think kids have already hit all the bridges and docks down here. It may come in handy if I ever have something go overboard up north, though, so it was a good investment.


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## Petoskey (Jan 12, 2019)

Awesome thread. Love all the pictures of the scores. You should post a couple pics of your all time favorite finds!


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

Great thread. I get really bummed when even a tag end of line I snipped off manages to wiggle out of my pocket and I figure that out later. And the worm containers ... though once upon a time I bumped into a branch while wading and an empty one was pushed up out of my creel and into a fast current all in the blink of an eye. Minor point being - some minor amount of lost tackle really is accidental. 

Nets I always leave where I see them. I had one picked up and hauled away just 15 minutes after I moved upstream and forgot it - by the only other people fishing there, and just an hour after we had chatted in the parking lot with that net in my hand. I was pissed. 

But always near the top of my list when selecting a lure to try next is any that I have “caught,” or just found on shore. 

My favorite broken Rapala is one that was totally destroyed by a Musky. I have no plans to try to fix up that particular little trophy. 

Do you think this all increased a bunch last year, with the big rise in license sales?


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## PerchPatrol (Mar 31, 2006)

2 years ago, a sudden gust of wind took my buddys spoon box into eagle harbor. 

25-30 cleos, ko wobbles etc... went into about 10 feet of water. We got most of them back with a magnet on a string that day.

In May, our same group was there again. The water is down 18 inches or so, and we looked down and saw a lure in the spot where his stuff went over.

We grabbed the same magnet, and pulled out 3 more spoons. Rusty hooks a little, but nothing else wrong.

Had a good laugh about that one.


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

-db- said:


> It's trying sometimes. I find and keep some decent stuff but the amount of unusable garbage is vast. You can start feeling misanthropic after awhile when what you're doing is purposely seeking what basically amounts to litter. You tell yourself maybe this is just stuff people are accidentally dropping but that's obviously not the case- the truth is these are slobs tossing this stuff on the ground. Or too lazy to pick it up after they dropped it. I've been out doing this and start thinking what I should really be doing is picking up ALL the trash, not just the stuff I can use, but then you look around and realize you'd need to be dragging a dumpster with you, it's just not feasible. So I pick up the stuff I can use.
> 
> The good days I have doing this are the days I don't find much. When I don't find much, that means fishermen are picking up after themselves.


As I’ve aged I’m stunned by the amount that I drop, esp terminal tackle that I don’t see well enough to find….


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

When I lived down state a river ran thru te backof my land. Steel head ould spawn out on th egravel on my place and I use to find diferent tackle in the river. This river had a dam a few miles west and I would go down there in the summer with a magnet on a line and wade while picking up lures off the bottom from the salmon fishermaen the fall before. At one time I had pails of spoons may with the hooks rusted off. These once cleaned up made it to Canada with me oike fishing. on the Magpie river. Many are stil there


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## Smallie12 (Oct 21, 2010)

My favorite memories of finding stuff and helping the environment happened on the Pere Marquette River eons ago. I can't remember if it was in the same trip or two separate ones but I know it happened in nearly the exact same spot that I had actually only fished a very few times in my life. I was drifting a hole just upstream of the off limits portion of a weir near Custer. 

One event I kept snagging something on the bottom and finally loosened it up enough to see that it was a blue hot-n-tot that was still hooked on bottom with some line via its tangle. Some little kid was wandering about on the opposite side of the river and asked me if I wanted him to jump in and get it and I told him no way, I didn't want him to get hurt and eventually I'd get it anyways. He wandered off and a few minutes later I got it loose and reeled it in. A couple guide boats drifted by that afternoon throwing plugs and cranks so I figured I'd tie that on and try it out instead of my spawn and egg patterns I was drifting which hadn't produced to that point. Sure enough, as luck would have it I got a king a few casts in that took me 45 minutes to land and it was 40" and around 25lbs and fresh from the lake.

The second event in the same place I noticed a group meandering down stream but up river from me. They stopped in a hole around the bend and continued to fly fish. It just so happened one of the girls snagged into one and it spooled her. A few minutes after all the hooting and hollering I saw some floating line drifting down the river so I grabbed it and started to wrap it around my hand thinking I'd get it back to them. A few seconds after starting to haul it in it began tugging back and sure enough it still had the snagged salmon on the end. I actually landed the fish which was quite large too, mid 30's and probably 20lbs. I unhooked it from its belly snag and walked up river and placed the coil of backing and fly line on the shore across river from them and told them what happened. They thanked me for getting the line back but were sort of ticked off I let the fish go, haha, go figure that would happen in snaggers paradise. Moral of the story, careful trying to handline a fresh salmon as they can pull that line tightly around your bare hand and it hurts!


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

Had some time to kill this morning so went walking at a couple more spots:










Another mechanical pencil find, which is a strange trend the past few outings. "Army guys" are always a fun find.


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## dlingerfelt22 (Jan 20, 2015)

-db- said:


> Yeah, I keep them, too. I have no idea what they could be used for but have a bin full of various baits with busted or missing lips.


If they are old wood rapalas you can fix them. Cut out the old lip and get a piece of .090 or .150 lexan. Use baking soda and super glue to install it in the slot. The super glue can be used to seal it for water or you can remove the hooks and dip it in spar-ethane exterior oil based.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

-db- said:


> Yeah, I keep them, too. I have no idea what they could be used for but have a bin full of various baits with busted or missing lips.


A wall display of retired lures from the tackle box.


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

Yep, couple easy variations. Before I was married I had piece of decorative fishnet given to me by a former GF, that covered a portion of one wall adorned with a lot of old tackle. 

Of course, once married you might get away with having it in a basement workshop…🙄


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

PunyTrout said:


> I see a Rapala with a broken lip in that pile. Sadly, I have about a dozen of those that will never catch another fish yet I cannot bring myself to throw them away...


Sometimes ya gotta just let go of the old to make room for the new.

L & O


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

Feedback here motivated me to get out a third day in a row this morning and I'm glad I did. The score today is an old Millsite (of Howell, Michigan) stringer. I have one or two of these in my vintage tackle collection already but it's nice to find one for free, and in good shape!










Also note the junk lead pile at bottom right. Yes, those are .38 Special wadcutters. There's a place I hit in Trenton where I find these all the time. Wave action on the shore uncovers new ones every time I check the spot. The PD or one of the local ranges must have dumped a bunch of them there at some point in the past for some reason.


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

-db- said:


> I was tempted to title this post "Fishermen Are Slobs" but that's not really fair, although a number of them undoubtedly are, as we all know.
> 
> Having had a stroke a few years ago, I need more exercise. One thing I began doing was shore fishing locally in the Downriver area. This got me outside and it was fun. It wasn't a lot of real exercise, though. Anyway, one thing I quickly began noticing while fishing was how much discarded/dropped tackle I'd find. It didn't matter where I went, I'd always find tackle. About a year ago, I stopped fishing down here and began hitting spots just to hunt tackle. I do this once or twice a week and have a route hitting all the public spots from Ecorse down to Monroe. I'll start at one end of the route and clean up and by the time I finish the route, a few weeks have passed and the places I started at are full of tackle again for another go-'round.
> 
> ...


Movie to Alpena, better sell the route/spot to someone else like we used to do w/ paper route(s). Are there still paper routes??


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## mfs686 (Mar 15, 2007)

Does this count as cleaning up lost lures? Was out fly fishing for carp yesterday and I got this guy with a jointed crankbait in his mouth. Lure recovered, fish released.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

So, -db-, since you are moving, where is this great tackle-concentrating place, that needs people to keep it clean? I'm sure lots of people already know about it, since tons of tackle is left there, or washes up there. The sinkers aren't washing up, lol. Plz share the spot, and someone is bound to want to keep it clean, and clean up on some used tackle.


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## bobsbeads (Jan 19, 2014)

PunyTrout said:


> I see a Rapala with a broken lip in that pile. Sadly, I have about a dozen of those that will never catch another fish yet I cannot bring myself to throw them away...


those lips can be replaced.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I remember taking a pretty decent walk down a Lake Michigan beach, to go surf fishing in a somewhat obscure place, a long time ago. I found several J-Plugs washed up on the walk. Once I had a couple rods set, I walked a bit more, and ended up with 11 J-Plugs that day. Somewhere between Manistee and Frankfort, and many years ago, when there were soooooo many boats out fishing for Salmon.


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## westsidepolack (Feb 6, 2018)

PunyTrout said:


> I see a Rapala with a broken lip in that pile. Sadly, I have about a dozen of those that will never catch another fish yet I cannot bring myself to throw them away...


When i break the lip on one of my rapalas i turn it into a keychain ( if they are size07 or smaller). I currently have a purple perch husky jerk on my keys. The purple perch hit a bridge pylon when i was trying to cast right up next to it.

Sent from my LM-G900 using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

Another walk down near Mouillee this morning:


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

Fishndude said:


> So, -db-, since you are moving, where is this great tackle-concentrating place, that needs people to keep it clean? I'm sure lots of people already know about it, since tons of tackle is left there, or washes up there. The sinkers aren't washing up, lol. Plz share the spot, and someone is bound to want to keep it clean, and clean up on some used tackle.


SW corner of the Pointe Mouillee HQ area. Relatively few people go back in there. Mucks, at minimum, are required as it's so wet and thick. When the water is high and there's a strong south wind for a few days, this area gets flooded and everything that floats down the Huron will get pushed ashore there as it flows out the mouth of the river. You'll see lots of deer sign (so much so that if I were staying Downriver, I'd take up bow hunting and be Dan Infalting the entire Mouillee State Game Area hard). Be careful of snakes back there.


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## piketroller (Oct 24, 2016)

-db- said:


> Another walk down near Mouillee this morning:


You’ve got some pretty good eyes if you spotting blade clevises on the muddy ground.


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

piketroller said:


> You’ve got some pretty good eyes if you spotting blade clevises on the muddy ground.


I usually pull those, along with the spinners and beads, from busted harnesses I find.


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## rtminc (Jan 18, 2009)

-db- said:


> I was tempted to title this post "Fishermen Are Slobs" but that's not really fair, although a number of them undoubtedly are, as we all know.
> 
> Having had a stroke a few years ago, I need more exercise. One thing I began doing was shore fishing locally in the Downriver area. This got me outside and it was fun. It wasn't a lot of real exercise, though. Anyway, one thing I quickly began noticing while fishing was how much discarded/dropped tackle I'd find. It didn't matter where I went, I'd always find tackle. About a year ago, I stopped fishing down here and began hitting spots just to hunt tackle. I do this once or twice a week and have a route hitting all the public spots from Ecorse down to Monroe. I'll start at one end of the route and clean up and by the time I finish the route, a few weeks have passed and the places I started at are full of tackle again for another go-'round.
> 
> ...


Thank you for helping to keep these areas picked up. I’ll repaint anything you find for free in thanks for your effort 

Scott


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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