Reality Check

[MichaelAngelo]

There are tried and true products with excellent track records. Usually, they're not sold in stores anymore and you can buy them on Craigslist for less than you can buy the modern renditions.

Further, there's the question of how much uncertainty one is willing to accept. The Canadian Tire Special spinning combo is probably (99% of the time) going to work. But the thing is, fishing can come down to once-in-a-lifetime moments that some feel are worth preparing for.

Like Sean said on here before, buy cheap buy twice.

Or just don't buy at all and stick to your old guns! I did this for a while until my inconsistent drags on my old reels potentially lost me some fish in California. "Potentially"... I'm not certain of how things could have played out different if I was using more suitable gear.

I bought some "new" stuff including an old, used Sedona workhose. $30 got me a dependable reel probrably better than the latest shimanos of that price. That "potentially" is worth eliminating from the picture.


Even going into the Florida trip, I didn't have a consistent large spinning reel... I haven't made that purchase yet. I was using some random "Powerleader 600" who knows what . I caught me fish... but it also could have lost me fish... could have.