zee baas - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

Flaptail · 02-13-2007, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassturbed

what's crazier to you flap (are you calling me numbskull?) ...

spending $100 on a hunk of painted wood that will be soaked in the brine ...

or

$1,300 on a specialized tool ...

or

several hundred thousand dollars on the lifetime cost of purchasing, maintaining/cleaning, fueling, taxing, towing and fondling a cash flow money pit we call a boat?

Numbskull is a very good friend of mine. If 100.00 is the intial investment on a piece of painted wood that at auction will bring ten fold, thats not a bad choice, a 100.00 to actually fish with for a plug is insane. I do not own a big boat, just a 37 year old skiff that gets me two days of flats fishing on 6 gallons of fuel. Boats are not a good investment as you ably point out. If you really need that specialized of a tool that you think will make you better as a fisherman then go for it. I think it's hype and a lot of people are buying into it.

For example, I have a 17 year old Shimano GT-100 reel. Simple little conventional affair made of graphite with a line guide. I paid 30.00 bucks for it then and you can buy one now for $55.00 (time and ARB bearings brought up the cost) I clean it twice a year, it has had only once the main gears replaced. It has caught literally tons of bass from dinks to large and everywhere in between and has been dunked countless times. All it needs is a spray with the hose and occasional shot of reel lube. Just cannot kill it, got two others as well. Casts like a rocket and weighs nothing with a drag as smooth as silk.

Like you say, if you think you need it themn buy it, nothing against you or anyone who does but it's my humble opinion that it's not nescesary and furthemore the more I have to worry about keeping an eye on my gear when on the truck or anywhere away from home becuase of it's value the less I enjoy the experience.

A Penn 706 will do the same job. I have a Doctor friend who has fished one for years. Seen him go in off the rocks at C-HUNK and other rocky places for years and it still works like a charm.

I realize I am not that popular because I have a bad habit of saying what I feel when I feel I need to say it. It is good for my stress levels though, I don't have any! I am sure I will never be offered a VS by the manufacturer becuase of my past stand on them as well like other scribes and "prominent" fishers, but really I don't give a rat's ass either.

Zeebaas, VanStal it's all hype, great marketing with a pyschological current running through it. I fish five out of seven nights/days a week in season. My choices have proven themselves to be reliable, cost effective and lasting.

Does ZEEBAAS make 300.00 pliers too?

You may fire at will.

Back Beach · 02-13-2007, 12:58 PM

Get a life guys, its a f#@#$@#$N fishing reel. No need to ever quantify the cost of fishing tackle IMO, its just too dangerous.

Remember, no matter how you break it out,the fisherman's calculator says a fish costs $75 per pound.

For $1,200 though,you could get two saltiga Z4500's and a 229 newell.

That $1,200 gets you one 16# fish if you do the math and apply the fisherman's calculator.

I gotta get back to work now.....

dredey · 02-13-2007, 01:45 PM

"to each his own". i have friends that golf with expensive clubs, because they enjoy it. i do not knock them for their $1200 dollar clubs. my best friend has a $20,000. dollar custom chopper because he enjoys riding. just because i do not ride i do not knock him for it. to each his own. my father has been fishing everyday during the season since the day i was born. he does not use expensive tackle and he catches just as much as the rest of us. and he does not knock me for my expensive tackle because like i said "to each his own" the point is, everyone has ther own interests. that's what makes the world go around. if everyone had the same interests, with the same clothes, and the same shoes and the same cars and the same houses it would be a dull, dull, world. everyone has a right to do as they choose. i know guys that will pay $100 for a plug. just because i won't pay that much for a plug doesn't mean i will knock that person. "to each his own".....period!!!