If you do actually read my fishing tackle reviews then please bear this in mind……

I happen to believe that black metal in all its various guises is the greatest art form of the modern age, but there is every chance you like different music - and that’s okay (but you don’t know what you’re missing out on!). I happen to believe - no, stuff that, I happen to know - that Predator is the greatest film ever made, but you might (wrongly) prefer something else. I happen to believe the Citreon Berlingo is the greatest chest freezer on wheels ever made, but you might drive something different because a Berlingo doesn’t sit right with you and how you live your life - and that’s okay. I happen to really like specific items of fishing tackle which I sometimes review on here because the gear suits me and my fishing and how I fish, but you might not get on with some of the gear I review as well as I do, and that’s okay………

A bloke was questioning my tackle reviews on Facebook the other day. He was perfectly polite about it and he also asked some perfectly valid questions. I don’t have to agree with his opinions though, but that’s the nature of discussion is it not? After a bit of going back and forth when I tried to (yet again) explain my position and what I choose to try and do with these tackle reviews that I so enjoy writing on here, that was when it suddenly made sense to me and I think we got to the crux of it. I don’t know if this bloke will see it like I do, but what it seemed to come around to was the fact that some of the gear I review simply doesn’t work for other anglers like it does for me, plus why am I not slagging stuff a lot more?

The slagging or not slagging stuff has been covered on here before so we can leave that alone, and the same with my working so closely with a fishing tackle company. It was the “fact” that some of the gear I choose to review might not be as good as I reckon it is because it doesn’t work for another angler like it might work for me……………..

So what is a fishing tackle review? Should it be “an act of carefully looking at or examining the quality or condition of something or someone” based on how the item or items work or don’t work for me and my fishing, or should it be trying to have a bit of a guess how a certain rod or reel or lure or braid etc. might or might not suit you and how you might go about your fishing when I most likely don’t fish exactly like you?

Well I know what I think. I choose to tell you how an item of fishing tackle works for how I go about my own fishing, which let’s face it is mostly lure fishing for bass. I most likely fish different locations and conditions to many of you here. I most likely cast a bit differently to you, and certain types of (steely) lure rods might suit me better. I am perfectly comfortable with a heavier (Slammer type) spinning reel for a lot of my fishing, but you might not be. I might find that a particular soft plastic rigged weedless and weightless which let’s face it isn’t going to cast to the horizon might actually be perfect for at least some of and quite possibly a lot of my bass fishing, but you might have different requirements and you read my review and wonder what on earth I am on about when I keep banging on about Gravity Sticks or DoLive Sticks and so on. You might never need to wear BCWs (breathable chest waders), but I happen to live in them, and I accepted many years ago that we are pushing a mainly freshwater intended bit of kit into a realm it wasn’t really designed for.

It would be remiss of me to suggest what might or might not work for you and your fishing when I don’t live where you do or fish exactly as you do. I like to think that I am quite good at breaking down why certain stuff works for me and how I fish, but you need to bear in mind the sort of bass fishing I do. I know that my bass fishing horizons as such are extending every year, but if I gave you a rod to use which I think is the mutt’s nuts but you don’t like it as much as me? It’s no more than a personal opinion, and I think that most of you here read my reviews with this in mind.

I was out fishing last week with my mate Mark and I gave him a 8’6’’ rod to fish with because he wanted to try one out. I was also fishing with an 8’6’’ rod but it was different to his. Halfway through the session we briefly swapped over but Mark said straight away that he preferred the (cheaper) rod he had been fishing with, whereas I slightly preferred the more expensive one. Mark fishes a bit differently to me and likes different things. So do you. A fishing tackle review on a personal blog where the blogger doesn’t get paid for his time can only be one thing in my mind - personal opinion. I don’t do conspiracy theories.

My personal opinion by the way isn’t any more or less valid than yours, but I choose to (waste?) spend some time writing fishing tackle reviews on this blog. I wish that a few other anglers did similar stuff to me because it might help more anglers out with forming a general consensus, so maybe I’m the fool here for spending time writing reviews AND continuing to stick my head above the parapet and draw a bit of flak for doing so. Well if I am the fool then so be it, but I’m a 49 year old father of two rather awesome girls, I have been with the same amazing girl for thirty years this July, I know my own mind, and I am perfectly comfortable with what I do on here from an information and ethical point of view. If you gave yourself over to black metal and Predator and Citroen Berlingos though, you would see that I am actually right about a lot of things in life! You just don’t know it yet………………