If you were to put all of your stuff together in a big pile. What percentage do you think you actually use on a regular basis?

 

Myself?

 

I'm going with 10%.

 

I have so much stuff that I don't use. I'd actually compare it to a woman's closet. You buy something new and it takes the place of all of the old stuff. I have plenty of brand new lures that probably won't touch the water. Just like my wife has clothing with the tags still on them in our closet.

 

I do what the monkey commands so I don't see this ending.

 

What say you?

3.14159265359

A-Jay

In a full year, I probably use 80-90% of the lures I own.  Some of them I don’t use regularly as they are for seasonal use, example I don’t use frogs in the winter months.  Through the years I’ve purged a lot of tackle I don’t use and just try to keep it to what works.  Like most I do try new things but I find that after a season or two it doesn’t make it into the normal rotation I get rid of it.  I use to have 10 different colors of plastics but now have 2 or 3 colors that I know work.

25 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

3.14159265359

I like pie, can't wait till Thanksgiving for sum Pumpkin pi, with a dollop of homemade whipped cream!

Back to the original question probably 10% too.

I have stuff I don't even remember buying, or what I was thinking when I did buy it.

A lot of saltwater stuff too, I only go in the salt a couple times a year now, whereas I was pretty much saltwater fishing 90% of the time. 

 

5 minutes ago, herder said:

I like pie, can't wait till Thanksgiving for sum Pumpkin pi, with a dollop of homemade whipped cream!

Why wait? I've got a pumpkin pie sitting on the counter that I'm gonna dig into tonight.

If you mean lure types (spinnerbait, crankbait, etc.), then I probably use 50% of what I have. If you're talking color variations within each lure types, then it's probably closer to the square root of pi...which I believe meets bait monkey approval.

 

I have to exhibit some self control or I'd be 400lbs.

There are some choices to be made, I've reluctantly choose to control what goes in my pie hole.

Tackle buying,,,,,,well,,,,ya'll know how that goes  

I have too many lures and usually use a few. Maybe 1 percent. My crankbait boxes are so saturated , I have a hard time closing them . If I want to add a lure, I first have to remove a lure.

Down sized a few years ago and kept only what I use, small pile and use all them.

Tom

I am not sure of the percentage but when I kick the bucket, somebody is going to have a field day. 

 

I’ve been downsizing like crazy since I moved. Honestly a few different soft plastic worms and and creature baits, jig trailers and jigs. And a frog and popper and chopo. I have a few jerk baits and rattle traps and that’s it. I make the jigs myself now. And honestly can generally carry what I need in a fanny pack those deal from bps. I stopped bait hoarding 

Lures are like a football team.  You may only start 11, but some day, the last man on the bench, may become the MVP.  I have a very large bench.

2 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

What percentage do you think you actually use on a regular basis?

10 - 15%.

@king fisher just explained it perfectly for me.  Across the year (my waters go from clean to grass filled and back) and across the different lakes (natural, man made, bigger, smaller, remote, dock lined) with both large and smallmouth available I use a lot of the breadth of the lures I have.  All of the skirted baits get use, a lot of the plastic shapes I have get use.  Where the differences is, is that mostly my water is clear.  That gives a certain color set that I gravitate to which means I use 30-50% of what I carry.  But then again, you go to a new place or go there after a unique event and suddenly the color pallet changes.  And then you’re very happy that you have the other 50-70%.

 

I’m also pretty critical about what stays in the boat.  I think AJay does a similar exercise and I started to do it after seeing his posts.  I’ll try a couple new things per year and add in some stuff.  But at the end of the year whatever isn’t working or isn’t producing gets trimmed out.  Maybe not entirely, but I’m not going to carry multiples of something that I might not even throw.  

The way I look at it, my grandsons will never have a reason to complain about tariffs on fish gear because they will never need to buy any.

40 % or so . But I have a problem with buying them 

I pretty much use everything I have. If I don't actually use it, I plan to use it. I'm still learning what I like, what the fish like, and what I need to focus on.

1%.

I'd say close to 100 percent. But I'm a devoted minimalist influenced heavily by Okappari style fishing. (And I only have 4 rods, total. And I'm also a JDM enthusiast. So I'd say I'm a definite minority in these regards.

 

I established my baits and gear by first doing a "world series of bass rigs" to determine which rigs best suit my fishing style, conditions, etc etc. This took several seasons to accomplish, as I insisted every rig a minimum of 40 hours but most were fished for about 100 hours in real time. Some much more.

 

Once my preferred rigs were chosen, for baits I always sought out those regarded as "the best" for that particular rig. For example, for the Free Rig, the Dolive Beaver is considered the "best" in its creature/craw class. I start there. Then I test others as I go along or as they're introduced to see if it can dethrone my current "best".  And so it goes. Even this process can take a long, long time. I'm currently testing worms for the Neko Rig, so this is proving extremely time consuming as the are probably several hundred worms on the market. But I persist..

 

Once you have all of the "best in class" baits determined, those are what I stock (and only in a few colors). All other baits that didn't make the cut get donated to members here, local kids clubs, friends, etc  ..

 

This system allows me to keep tackle and baits at a minimum while still fishing the absolute best baits and best rigs available to me.

 

I feel if I can't catch fish with 4 rods rigged with the best techniques using the best baits....the fish aren't going to be caught that day on anything.

 

Here's my current stock boxes and rods.

Impressive and interesting process, @RRocket.

8 hours ago, Bazoo said:

Impressive and interesting process, @RRocket.

It's definitely not a fast or efficient process...but I wanted to put the work in.

 

 

I would say probably around 10% as well. The 2 tackle bags I drag around in my boat probably weigh 30+lbs. Combined yet when I pit them away for winter they're dwarfed by the amount of stuff I have in storage.most of which I may never use.

Maybe 15-20%

I'm totally hopeless, so out of control with tackle that I can't venture a guess.  I have a 500 square foot man cave which is dedicated to my obsession.  I also have a 50 foot wall with pegboard and shelving in the garage for overflow.  I keep 20 rigged rods in my boat and switch some out after each outing.  I have friends who come over to peruse my stock and borrow lures to try out before buying their own.  I keep telling myself "No More", but I am weak.  Currently I am  conversing with Mike at Siebert Outdoors to place a sizeable order for his wire tied swim jigs because the 3 boxes I have don't seem to be enough.  Following completion of that venture will probably be a selection of Dixie Jet spoons;  seems to be no cure, but you know what?  I keep running across other Bass Addicts who are easily my equal or above;  incurably diseased. 

10 percent as well. Most of the things I've bought I have either found I prefer something else or it's for a niche situation I don't run into much.