# Hobby or addiction?



## lkmifisherman (Feb 4, 2004)

I have todays 64,000 questions for those that fish the Great Lakes.....


When do you have enough fishing gear for the big lakes? 

Is there such a thing as enough?

Is there such a thing as to much?

Where do you draw the line between a hobby and an addiction? Or is it an addiction from the gitgo? 


Yesterday I took a quick inventory of the equipment I had and I am curious as to what others have....When I have a fair amount of responses I will post my results to see where I fall....The things I looked at were:

Riggers
Rod holders
Rod/reels
Spoons
J-plugs
Crankbaits
Flashers/dodgers
Flies/Squids

I am not looking for exact numbers just a close ballpark figure...

Neale aka LMF


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## thomas11 (Mar 30, 2006)

never got enough, things change all the time...rod holders never got enogh but my boat has 30 on it... spoons try close to 3,000.. j plugs- about 600 in 5 diffrent sizes.. doggers and spinnies- 7 boxes.. the thing is if i am out there i got just about every thing made plus things that have not been made for 30 years.. by the way the most rod i run any more are 12...:yikes::yikes:


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## fish-on (Nov 27, 2004)

ENOUGH??????
Never have enough,need more,MORE,MORE.Between me and tom we probaly have 2 semi loads of fish gear :lol::lol:.Everytime I hit the bait shop it's," oh,got to have 20 of those,wait,wait, can't forget them."Heck we even use kitchen utincels for lures :lol:.So, I would have to say we're addicted.Now if I can just figure out how to make the fish hit those toasters :lol::lol:.


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## reelworld (Dec 29, 2005)

It's an addiction


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## DangerDan (Mar 10, 2005)

between the two boats I have:

about 
34 rod & reels
39 rod holders
7 or 8 tackle boxes
(since we're naming baits)
100s of spoons
dozens of flies 
dozen or so squids
10 or so meat rigs
couple dozen Jplugs
10-12 dipsies
100 or so body baits
dozen or so flashers
Speed & Temp
GPS
2-FF (one I dont use)
1-lg. tote full of lures that need refurbishing
1 box of mono of different tests.

All this lasts til the next time I go fishing. Then I'm sure I'll need something else.

When I was a young boy I had a rod & Reel and a tackle box that smelled like bait.

Now I have a tackle shed that smells like...well what does it matter what it smells like...:lol:

By definition, it's a hobby!

And if you need the fish to "hit" the toaster your not using enough voltage! :lol:


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## sfw1960 (Apr 7, 2002)

I fish - but not necessarily the great lakes ~

I heard you do hobbies in your spare time.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Comprende` ???

:evilsmile


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## STEINFISHSKI (Jan 30, 2001)

Hell, I have all of that stuff and don't even have a boat anymore.:lol:

Hobby.....NO.

3 Riggers
10 Rod holders
25 Rod/reels
400 Spoons
75 J-plugs
350 Crankbaits
65 Flashers/dodgers
80 Flies/Squids

I'm one sick puppy.


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## Fixin' to Fish (Nov 13, 2006)

You can never have enough or even too much stuff. There will always be new innovations that will have to be tried. *Great Lakes fishing is neither a hobby nor an addiction, it's a lifestyle.*


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## DangerDan (Mar 10, 2005)

STEINFISHSKI said:


> I'm one sick puppy.


Yeah I heard that about you....:lol:


Wait.make that 38 rod holders... I broke one this weekend high ballin through the branches... But we can remedy that.
and I'll need 4 new convectors after X-mas... 1st things first I always say.... 

2paws says: Dan, I think I found where that branch hit your boat... I called out, MARK? :lol:


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## SalmonBum (Feb 28, 2001)

In the yrs I have been doing this, I have learned that you can have too much tackle. When I started, I bought just about every spoon I put my hands on. I took me awhile to figure it out, but once you learn what works in &#8220;X&#8221; conditions, I now only fish with about 20 different color spoons, only 3 different color flashers and about 4 different color J-Plugs. The difference is I have A LOT of each color. The most important factor is to learn what color to run and when to run it. You&#8217;ll learn real fast that you only need a few. Some people overwhelm themselves with so much junk, they can never get proficient at running any of it, but rather just get confused by all the choices they have. 

I do believe that there can never be too many ways to present the baits. I have, well, let&#8217;s just say a lot of different rod combos for certain presentations. The key is not to try to master ALL of them at once, but get experienced with one, then move on to another style. After you have mastered a few, put them together and you&#8217;ll lay the smackdown.

Here&#8217;s a little trick I have used in the past:
Example: Lake Huron is primarily a &#8220;Silver Streak&#8221; lake. If fishing gets slow, switch over and run a different brand, like Pro Kings or DW&#8230;&#8230; Something the fish normally don&#8217;t see. Just some thing as simple as that can put fish in the boat.


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

Not necessarily Big Lake fishing as much as just fishing in general, but it's more of a WAY OF LIFE for me  !

Oh yeah
Riggers-4, 3 on the boat
Rod holders-6 employed
Rod/reels-huh? I cannot count that high
Spoons-LOL!
J-plugs-same as above....
Crankbaits-Holy freakin LOL!
Flashers/dodgers-same as above LOL
Flies/Squids-same as above LOL


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## fish-on (Nov 27, 2004)

> And if you need the fish to "hit" the toaster your not using enough voltage! :lol:



Dam, I knew we where forgetting something....:lol::lol:


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## Getaway (Jan 17, 2001)

My wife *thinks* its a hobby.

My buddies call it an addiction.

I tell myself it's an "investment"...:16suspect


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## itchn2fish (Dec 15, 2005)

Getaway said:


> My wife *thinks* its a hobby.
> 
> My buddies call it an addiction.
> 
> I tell myself it's an "investment"...:16suspect


I guess this is one thing, at least, that we can agree on. A sound investment it is.


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## Tad Pole (Aug 22, 2006)

lets just say this, My worst fear in life is that once i'm dead my wife will sell my fishing gear for what i told her i paid for it


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## toto (Feb 16, 2000)

Hi my name is Bill, and I'm addicted to fishing.

Having said that, I moved down here to Florida a couple of years ago, but I kept all my boat fishing gear, except the downriggers. So I have plenty of spoons, J-plugs, etc which I do use for fishing down here, and it works.

Now I don't really know the answer to the question of whether I have enough or not, but what I can say is: Try having 3 tackle boxes full of stuff stolen from your garage, and then turning into the insurance. I had this happen once, and it was in excess of $3000, I could not believe it. You don't think much about it, picking up a $3 or $4 lure once in a while, but man does it add up.


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## stinger63 (Nov 25, 2003)

My email address says it all "iliv2fish"


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## tgafish (Jan 19, 2001)

lkmifisherman said:


> I am not looking for exact numbers just a close ballpark figure...
> 
> Neale aka LMF


Riggers 4
Rod holders 32
Rod/reels 18
Spoons 200
J-plugs 12
Crankbaits 100
Flashers/dodgers 20
Flies/Squids 25
in line planers 6
dipseys 10
nets 2
one big planer set


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## DangerDan (Mar 10, 2005)

Getaway said:


> My wife *thinks* its a hobby.
> 
> My buddies call it an addiction.
> 
> I tell myself it's an "investment"...:16suspect


:lol: :lol: :lol: Well put....


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## bumpbottom (Jan 3, 2006)

I think I have 500 or so bombers, Every silver streak I think they make ( oh by the way you gotta have at least 2 of each color and then you need them in magnums) 500 tomic and J plugs, 75 dodgers countless squids fishcatchers..... you name it I got it, Now what to pull them with.. 17 differnet boat rods. Oh yea I pier fish and stream fish too! gotta have rods and equipment for that too. Need to stop buying flies for the stream:idea:. make my own !. Yet one obsession leads to another..... My wife has been talking to other family members in secret....... I think they are planning an intervention soon.:yikes:

For all those that can keep thier money in thier pocket when they see the newest greatest supersuckahatchee special lure


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## lkmifisherman (Feb 4, 2004)

Well I gotta say that I think that there are more of you addicted hobby fisherman out there than have posted here....

REMEMBER....you have to admit the addiction first lol.....Maybe there is a large number whos wives also read this thread....then I can understand why they are quiet.....

As for me I guess I agree with everyone including SalmonBum....

When the boat splashes down mid summer it will have....

6 riggers
36 rod holders
2 more rods than rod holders
300 crankbaits
340 spoons
140 Jplugs
70 flasher/dodgers
60 flies/squids

I think I need more rod holders....Maybe a set of trees but most definately a rocket launcher....I am looking into copper rigs now so that rod number may climb by a couple or 4... not sure I want the hassle of the copper though....

I moved, changed jobs and bought a bigger boat so I tend to believe it is a hobby that has gone wild and mutated through an addiction and into a way of life....

LMF


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## DangerDan (Mar 10, 2005)

lkmifisherman said:


> REMEMBER....you have to admit the addiction first


Ok so is there a 12 step program somewhere? I'm afeared It'll be mighty cold out sleepin with the dog after the wife finds out I bought a pontoon for a river conversion.:lol:

But,,,, but honey........................:lol: :lol:

The motor alone is worth what I paid for it.....


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## fish-on (Nov 27, 2004)

> But,,,, but honey........................:lol: :lol:
> 
> The motor alone is worth what I paid for it.....


Now dan,you know they dont understand that kind of logic.You'll probaly be stuck in the dog house untill next fall when you take her on the fall river cruz.Nothen like the the leaf colors from the river.If that dont work then my friend , large pricey gifts :lol::lol:.


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## DangerDan (Mar 10, 2005)

She's already doing better. Just today she was asking how I would be doing my conversion. Yeah, fold out bench seats and a table top over the helm for overnighters, add a TV and an XBox maybe a nice BBQ on the aft deck and I got it licked. 

Today I was going somewhere and she patted me on the chest after that kiss goodbye and says baby, no more boats today, three's enough.... 

Whata Gal,, Aint she somethin....


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