Via my work I don’t pay for a lot of my fishing tackle, but I’m still slightly obsessed with making it last as long as possible

Free fishing tackle never actually paid any bills, but because I work in fishing and by design I have often worked with various tackle companies doing all manner of different things, I tend to not have to pay for a fair amount of the gear I might fish with. Either a company like Savage Gear or now Penn and so on send me stuff which I ask to see for various reasons, or we might be working on new products and I need to see, test, evaluate and report on various samples - BIG parcel coming next week for example - or quite often via contacts in the trade I get to try stuff out for personal interest or blog reviews. When I am done with the gear either it goes back or sometimes a kind person says keep it and fish with it which in turn can be really helpful for my guiding work especially. Occasionally stuff arrives which I have nothing to do with and which I never asked to see. Sometimes this ends up as being very interesting, and I refer specifically to the awesome SGS6 8’3’’ 12-42g (review here) and SGS6 9’ 7-35g (review here) lure rods especially which I would never have asked to see but I am so glad they were randomly sent to me by a guy I know within Savage Gear.

At the end of the day and with lure fishing especially, we can only fish with one rod and reel full of braid at the same time. For sure I might sometimes carry a couple of rod and reel setups, but that is only ever for testing and/or comparison purposes. I don’t like carrying more than one rod and reel with me and if you have read this blog for any length of time then you will know how obsessed I am with lure rods especially which I reckon can very nearly do the lot for me. Needs must sometimes though and for work purposes I will sometimes carry two outfits.

It’s the same with lures. I only ever carry two of those medium size washable lure boxes which I pushed Savage Gear to do because I so need them for my own fishing and I was really struggling to find the long-sided versions especially. For sure I am very often testing different lures out (which I know affects my own catch rates but I love my work and I love trying different stuff out), but I only ever take those two boxes - one short-sided and one long-sided - and whatever lures I want to actually fish with or test and so on have to fit in those two boxes which then sit at my side for easy access. I have a lot of different lures here at home and I am often giving stuff away to friends and anglers I know who will actually use the stuff and give me honest feedback. It’s really helpful for my guiding work as well.

Free fishing gear doesn’t pay the bills but of course I probably spend a bit less on actual fishing tackle than the next angler because of my work. I am a hopeless tackle tart at heart though and to be honest I am not sure if that previous statement is actually true! I consider it just plain wrong for somebody in my position to ever sell anything which they are given for free so I would never make any money like that either. I have my eyes on a new lure rod from Japan for example that isn’t actually on the market yet and which I categorically do not need - but when it is available in the shops I am not sure I will be able to resist because I am so weak around the shiny stuff.

So what a lot of this boils down to is the simple fact that in reality I don't actually need to wash my lures and hooks down when I get back from fishing because I could always just grab a new weedless hook or jig head or various hard lures when components go rusty. I could also not bother washing down a rod and reel outfit because in reality by the time a set of guides goes rusty or a reel seizes up I would more than likely be on to the next set of samples anyway. I want my gear to last though because why on earth not?

I hate waste and even if I haven’t paid for something because of my work I will always try to look after each and every item of fishing tackle really well and try to make it last as long as possible. I will sharpen hooks when they need it and I will obviously change rusty trebles and split rings, but it’s amazing how long good components can last if you wash stuff down in freshwater and let it all dry out. Ever since Savage Gear switched over to really good saltwater treble hooks for many of their hard lures I have hardly ever had to change a treble hook or split ring - because I wash my gear down after fishing. I just can’t bring myself not to do so. For sure Savage Gear do spare treble hooks and split rings for saltwater use which I will continue to use even if I am deemed surplus to requirements at some point - because they are bloody good and I trust them implicitly. But I rarely need them unless I am chopping and changing hook sizes to see how different lures might or might not react to it.

Sometimes I might be deliberately not washing down something like waders or wading boots to see how they last in almost a permanent saltwater environment, but I fish a fair bit - okay, not right now but hopefully back to it in a couple of weeks or so - and from a testing and/or lasting point of view I am not one of those anglers who dumps the gear down after a fishing session and then expects it to keep on performing flawlessly for evermore. Any testing/comparing and just plain fishing revolves around looking after my gear as best I can and then evaluating from a position that I have done what I can to look after the stuff so how does it last from there if that makes sense…………..

I would like to say a great big thank you once again for so many kind messages of support which keep pouring in, and also a thank you to the various anglers I have seen out and about when I have been walking and who have asked me how I am doing. I never quite understand or realise just how much this blog and my Facebook page get this sort of stuff out there, but it’s a big thank you from me. I had a long online meeting with a heart specialist nurse the other day and all seems to be going well on the recovery front. She did ask that I refrain from fishing or running for a while longer, until they can check my levels out when I go to exert myself like that, so in the meantime I am chomping at the bit but doing exactly what they tell me to do. Apparently the first four weeks after a heart attack are vitally important as regards your heart healing all the scar tissue from the actual heart attack, and especially when it was so severe as in my case. What is not helping is the constant English rugby sagas, so whilst I will be watching and slightly dreading the Fiji game tomorrow, what I am looking forward to the most is the New Zealand V South Africa game this evening. How massive is that opening match of the World Cup going to be in a few weeks time? France v New Zealand. Hoping my heart is going to be strong enough by then to take the excitement and also what I feel is going to be a lot of disappointment with England and the World Cup. You all have a weekend and thank you again.

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