Do you think that fishing gear is generally too expensive ?

I wondered what everyone thinks about the cost of fishing gear, I suppose this covers all disciplines.

Personally I believe that the quality of tackle has improved by a very
large amount over the past 20 years and I believe that today you get a
lot more for your money. However there is a lot of tackle around that
is greatly over priced.

Now I know top quality items command a high price and this can be
justified with top spec gear to a degree, but there is a lot of gear on
the market that is clearly overpriced and we tend to pay a premium on
some items, especially I find on terminal tackle.

I am interested to see everyones views on the subject, do you think that we pay too much ?

I voted no in as much as you do not have to pay too much. There is a great deal of quality tackle around that I do not think is over priced BUT in many instances it is the angler that is looking to pay too much money for the sake of fishing with a so called "top brand". I watch the forums and people are asking "should I buy this product from brand X or this from brand Y" neither are cheap brands and what anglers don't realise is that most mainstream "top brands" are no better than other mainstream brands, they just ask for more. The difference between brand X and brand Y is only in the advertisers budget and the mind of the angler who doesn't want to be seen with anything less than what they are told is the right tackle to use!!

Don't get me wrong, we do see some real junk trying to be passed off as quality tackle but on the whole the traditional brands and a few of the newer ones are much the same. Some specialist brands and custom products are in theory worth paying more for if you are getting a custom or specialist product these are seldom more expensive then the middle of the range "top brand" companies.

I voted no because there is a big range in prices and quality. All you have to do is think what quality or what your price range fits the bill lol

Great response Martin I believe that you have hit the nail on the head with your reply. There is enough choice out there that you can get the right gear for the job at the right price and it will last many years.

I have seen more and more that your setup has to look the biz, otherwise it is shunned upon. This is totally wrong and I'm sure that everyone has heard the phrase all the gear no idea. Having the most expensive gear is not going to catch you more fish. Fishing is about watercraft and trying to get an understanding of what the fish are doing according to the conditions. A fish isn't going to look at someones tackle and decide "I'm not going to eat that look at the crap gear".

I voted about right, as I personally think that we have never had so good with the quality and choice of tackle.

Martin has put a lot of time and effort into getting the right tackle at the right price, offering great value for money. I just want to get a bit of a debate going about the choices that we have.

Do we make our choices based on a name, or do we buy for fit for purpose ?

while I agree with martin to a great extent, I voted yes I think a good deal of tackle (mostly terminal tackle & baits) are vastly over priced, you can't buy a decent pack of hooks for much under £3 & that is the same for most things

don't get me wrong I am not having a go at the tackle shops here, most of them are just passing on the extortionate prices they pay themselves, but next time your looking around the racks have a look then think of the actual production cost of that little packet

That's what I'm talking about Carp hunter, it's the little packets with one or two bits of plastic in them and we are paying a quid a shot. However I think 99p for 10 hooks is about right, but Carp hooks on the other hand are £3+ for 8-10 and is over the odds.

I have found that Carp gear especially held a premium, until a few years ago when the market got flooded with cheap Carp gear, the quality was lacking for the most part of it.

One of the things that annoys me is the so called RRP which is usually highly inflated, the real/street price is usually a hell of a lot lower than the RRP. This difference makes the buyer think that they are getting a bargain, but in real terms they are not.

It was actually a chat with Martin that got me thinking about this. He was talking about the Mick Brown range of pike baits which all retailed at £4.99, correct me if I'm wrong Martin wasn't it for a 3 pack of mackerel or sprats ? This is just extortionate and you are just lining Mick Browns pockets. Now I like Mick Brown and he is a pike magnet, but a mackerel is a mackerel and just because it has Mick Browns name on it does not mean that you are going to catch more pike.

I've noticed more and more these days that the top anglers and celebrities are bringing out their own ranges of tackle and putting their name on things. As a result the prices have inflated and there is no shadow of a doubt that we are paying over the odds.

Anglers are going for these brands for the name, there's no doubt about it, as the named and endorsed gear is selling very well.

When I was a lad, Ian Heaps was our top man, he was sponsored, but you never seen any Ian Heaps gear on the shelf. The large angling companies sponsored anglers in the hope that they would sell more of their gear, but it never went beyond that.

It is very hard these days to choose tackle, the market is saturated with gear and it's tough to get the right item for the right price. When I was a lad, me and my friend eagerly waited the new fishing catalog's every year and there were only three, Shakespeare, Diawa and Abu. As a result all of my gear was a mix of Shakespeare and Diawa, we couldn't afford anything from the Abu catalog and we used to drool over the Cardinal reels. We had very little to choose from but we managed to get by, it came down to a choice of say one rod, it was a simple choice, Shakespeare or Diawa.

Today we go to buy a rod and there will be 20+ manufacturers selling maybe 4-5 variations of the same rod. It can be tough, although I shouldn't really complain as we have all that choice, but the tackle market can be very confusing, especially for a beginner.

When I got back into fishing after a 10 year absence last year I was amazed at the price and quality of the tackle I could buy! Ok so terminal tackle had stayed at the same price and I can understand this as much of it is only priced at pence over cost price but things like rods reels and poles I couldnt get my head around! I was in Holland and I went into the local tackle shop asking for some gear to catch anything that swam in the lake I was staying by at Center Parcs. Turned out the biggest catfish in holland lived in this lake at 229lb! I ended up with a carp rod, bait runner, 36" landing net and handle, bank sticks, scales, and terminal tackle with some 18mm fishmeal boilies for 100 euros! That was roughly £65! To say I was chuffed was a bit of an understatement! Within half an hour of being on the bank I had banked my first 30 but the cat never showed itself which is a good thing looking back as I would have had to go in to unhook it with a landing net that size! Then I split up with my long term girlfriend who im still on off with all the time now and as I had all this free time and money (funny that eh? haha) I went into martins shop and had a little look around. An 8m pole for 40 quid? I thought he was pulling my leg! I bought one and got right into fishing again! Right now I am hooked on the JRC gear. I think the quality and price of it is brilliant! I will definately be investing a little more into this tackle! I would say a lot more but it looks like the gentleman that owns a coachhouse in heathfield has accepted my offer on it so im gonna be proper skint from now on! Ah well, at least I will be able to walk to the tackle shop! lol

I forgot to add the factor of rip off Britain, we pay over the top for everything and I mean everything. I checked out the prices of everything when I was in Florida, I could have cried and then I was feeling angry and was enraged by how cheap the cost of living is over in America.

We really are ripped off left right and center, but we don't complain and pay the high prices. Unfortunately I did not buy any fishing tackle over there, as we were limited in what we could take back. I did buy a flashgun for my Nikon camera and even after taking the great exchange rate into consideration, I paid 40% of what it would have cost in the UK.

Customs could have got me on the way back, but I posted the manuals back home so I had no documentation on me I needn't have bothered as the customs in Cardiff were not even there on our arrival. I could have cried, I bought only my allowance of cigarettes and I could have taken a thousand through

So just by living in the UK we are instantly hit by inflated tackle prices. Now that I've taken everything into consideration, I wish that I could change my vote to paying too much.

Its not really for me to say, i think most of the tackle is pretty cheap HOWEVER some of the gear is way over the top for what it is, but people want to buy it so they can tell everyone how much it cost and feel big about themselves (MUPPETS). I, being the son of a tackle shop owner, have never had the excitment of saving up my pocket money for a reel that i have wanted for a long time because I dont pay the RRP (what do expect) . One thing i must say, is that i know dad prices his stuff at the RRP or cheaper so it doesnt confuse him (he can always look in the catalogue if he forgets the price) but you can make your own mind up if it makes you feel better

Lamby wrote:Its not really for me to say, i think most of the tackle is pretty cheap HOWEVER some of the gear is way over the top for what it is, but people want to buy it so they can tell everyone how much it cost and feel big about them selves(MUPPETS). I, being the son of a tackle shop owner, have never had the excitment of saving up my pocket money for a reel that i have wanted for a long time because i dont pay the RRP (what do expect) . One thing i must say, is that i know dad prices his stuff at the RRP or cheaper so it doesnt confuse him (he can always look in the catalogue if he forgets the price) but you can make your own mind up if it make you feel better

I have to admit there chris, when I popped into your shop recently I was pleasently surprised as to how reasonable your prices were so full credit to you & your dad on that one

for anyone that has'nt visited martins shop yet I highly recomend it, they will certainly be seeing more of me in the future

This is a great debate Alastair and very useful from my point of view to read anglers and customers comments. The prices in the UK are driven by many factors, business rates, fuel duty, high rents and the general high cost of living (NEW Labour my arse). It is however driven as well by the angler, as Lamby stated we have people looking for the expensive brands in the shop. For example, we have a top quality 10bb freerunner in the shop, the exact spec of a certain well know carp brand but ours is half the price. Guess how many we sell I bet they come from the same factory

We run Tackle Frenzy for local anglers and when we set out I wanted to provide tackle at anglers prices. On the whole this has worked yet we still get asked when we will be getting 'decent' tackle in? We have 10bb coarse & carp reels in, 100% carbon & Kevlar carbon carp rods, Bivvies, bedchairs, chairs, seat boxes and more end tackle then you can shake a rod at so what do you think these anglers are after? High price tackle from manufacturers that spend vast amounts on sponsorship and advertising - all passed on to the angler.

What is over priced, just right or cheap tackle - it very much depends on the angler

Cheers for that CH, its always nice to know when you are appreciated for the hard work and effert we put in

So we have a great explanation now, as to how tackle costs are higher and the general cost of living is higher in the UK. We are taxed to death on absolutely everything, business's are getting strangled by high taxes, high rents and high transportation costs. The consumer is also bearing the brunt, with huge mortgages, high energy costs, high fuel costs and countless other stealth taxes. Whereas salaries have not changed much for the past few years. We have less disposable income, does this influence what fishing gear we buy ?

Why do we prefer to buy the branded gear rather than the cheaper alternative ? which in a lot of cases is the exact same product

I have to agree with Carp Hunter on the cost of end tackle and bait. These are areas that can be expensive but we do have less expensive alternatives available in the shop - funny thing it, the more expensive brands sell four times more than their cheaper alternatives! Driven by brands and price The marketeers spend their money wisely.

Bait will soon be available in a scoop & save style loose bin at cheaper prices and hopefully we have found a less expensive boilie producer. It remains to be seen if the top brand at £3 a kilo more is still the best seller

Once again I ask you the angler - what do you want to see tackle and bait wise in the Tackle Frenzy shop