To me fishing tackle is anything that fits in your tackle box. Other people may have a different definition of fishing tackle that includes things that don’t fit into a tackle box but to me that falls under fishing gear and that’s a totally different kettle of fish.
There’s a ton of fishing tackle out there and at times I had 4 tackle boxes full of lures, leaders, reels, line, bobbers, floats, sinkers, split shot, jigs, snaps, swivels, flys, scents, twister tails, and anything else I might need while fishing.
As a general rule I had one tackle box for northerns and walleyes, another for panfish and one for ice fishing. The 4th tackle box was for carrying anything that didn’t fit into the other three. All in all I probably had a lot more fishing tackle than I’d ever need.
Do you really need that much tackle to go fishing? Nah, not unless you’re a fanacticabout fishing. The truth is I wanted to be the best fisherman I could be and be better than anyone I fished with so I used every little trick I’d ever learned and some of those involved tackle. So I had lots of tackle and I caught lots of fish when others didn’t or couldn’t.
If you are a beginning fisherman or woman you don’t need that much tackle to get started. The basics are pretty simple and shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg. I would suggest you have at least three of each of the following items. Yes, I know you can’t fish with three at once but you will encounter rocks, snags and fish that break your line. If you only have one of each piece of tackle it will hamper your fishing.
Start your fishing tackle shopping at home by deciding what you primarily want to fish for. That will help you decide what tackle you need the most. Let’s say you are going to start off by catching panfish. It’s a good place to start because they are plentiful and you shouldn’t have a lot of trouble catching them.
I’d suggest 1 small size of short shank hooks and 2 sizes of longer shank hooks. You don’t need big hooks for panfish and aberdeen or eagle claw hooks will work just fine.
Next you need some split shot, sinkers or weights. Two sizes of split shot are plenty for right now. If you decide you need more you can get them later on. A couple of smaller sinker sizes and you should be good to go as far as weights go.
Pick up some small snaps and swivels while your at it as they make changing the hooks and jigs much easier. Then grab some small 1/16th and 1/8th ounce jigs in white, yellow, black and red. That should cover the majority of panfish situations you run into. So far your tackle is relatively uncomplicated.
Next you need some bobbers, corks or floats, depending on what they are called in your area. Choose three sizes of these also. However for panfish you don’t want or need anything to large. The fish has to be able to pull the bobber under without undue effort. To big a bobber and the fish will fell it and let go of your jig or bait. To small and your weight will cause it to sink.
I like the small slip on bobbers best as they are fast and easy to change. However even the small plastic red and white clip on bobbers will work okay. That’s really about all you need to get started on your fishing tackle collection. P&S Fishing Tackle, Inc.is a great place to find high quality fishing tackle for US and Canada anglers. Cabelas and Bass Pro have huge selections too.
Of course you’ll need much more fishing tackle if you keep fishing. You’ll always find a lake where the hot lure isn’t something you have and you’ll buy a couple. Then you’ll decide you want to fish for more species than just panfish so you’ll have to buy Northern Pike, Walleyes or Bass lures, different rods, reels etc.
BTW, when you do that you’ll also need more tackle boxes. It won’t take you to many years to discover that, wow, all of a sudden you have three tackle boxes full of stuff and you have more fishing tackle than you know what to do with.
