Poor Bull (bad equipment)

[Sinker]

All of us like ta talk about the good equipment we use. Does anybody KNOW of things that are just poorly made? It could save the rest of us some money and lost fish. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of patience. Something screws up it gets wrapped around a tree, dumped inna burning barrel, or a similar fate. I'm fairly confident I won't be duped by the same thing again, but I don't remember brand names etc.

[Whiskers]

This is a good idea for a topic but i can't think of anything off the top of my head.let me go look around the trees here,i tend to do sorry junk the same way.lol!

[Wolfman]

I thought the zebco 808's would be good for cats, paticularly the larger cats when they first came out.
Big hunks of plastic junk is what they were. Get a good sized cat on one and they would gut it pretty quick.
I've seen some guys bragging on them of late, the 808's and 888's so maybe they changed em. But for my money id avoid em for anything over about 10lbs tops.

[Whiskers]

I bought one of the new 808 Hawgs but haven't used it yet.I got it for a spare for company etc. I wouldn't be surprised though if they're not as tough as the really old ones,I have an 808 and a 888 I've had for 25 years or better and they have held up well.I know the 202s and 404s aint what they were years ago,my kids used to go through one of each every summer but I still have some of the old 202s,404s,33s from when I was a kid that is made much better.Everything is probably made in a Chinese sweat shop now by 9 year old kids.

[Wolfman]

Best reel zebco ever made was the 44. Ive still got half a dozen around the house that are easily 30 years old. Caught their fair share of cats and then some. 33's are good. The 303's never seemed to last much like the 3 or 4 808's i tried.
I might get another on a combo at wal-mart for amber for catfishing. I just bought her a 33 on a zebco 33 medium action rod for her birthday.

[Sinker]

I reckon my biggest pet-peeve as fur as fishin equipment goes , is them dern rinky-dink ready-ta-use (and waste yer time) trotlines. Them dam things ain't worth th plastic it takes ta wrap'em! Them's the ones left out hangin in the trees when th fishin's done 9 times outa ten.

[Sinker]

Nuther one o'my gripes is th crap advertised on tv in them fast talkin loud commercials. I perty much automatically tune it outa mind quick as it comes on anymore, so I can't name a single thing being hyped currently, but ain't nobody ever fergot the 'Pocket Fisherman'. Seems like there's a direct link between how much hype a product gets and how utterly worthless it really is!

[Whiskers]

I don't pay any attention to commercials,if something works I wait till someone I trust has used it,then make up my mind if I want to try it.I remember the pocket fisherman but never tried it.I almost bought on at a yardsale last year though just because my kids never heard of em,but I passed it by.

One thing I've had no luck with is them dern telescopic fishing poles.I bought a couple because I thought they would be handy to carry on my motorcycle and I think I broke them both on bluegills.lol!

[Wolfman]

I get a kick out of looking at all the Bass lures on the shelves. 99% of them were made to simply catch the fisherman themselves.
Course if you look around there's starting to be all kinds of catfishing baits ect marketed now. Freeze dried shad, immitation shad, numerous stink and blood baits, ultimate types of catfishing lines(glow in the dark, camoflauge ect).

I got one of them wal-mart bait areators awhile back that run off of two D batteries for a bait bucket for chub and hawgshead minnows. Well you know how hard it is to kill them things.
By the time i was at the lake an hour after seining them half of them were dead and the other half were dieing. Had to put em in my cooler with the spray bar to save em.
Batteries would'nt last more then about two hours in the silly thing either.

If i try another one it will be one of them Mr Bubbles or Mr Bubbles Max.


Here's a good/bad choice. Bass pro brand batteries, the redish ones. On average fresh they will have 2/3rds the charge of a good fully charged duracell. They do seem to be consistant charge wise. Where as i have got the higher priced duracells that did'nt last as long sometimes. They seem to vary a LOT charge wise.
Overall id have to give the bass pro batteries(the red ones, the other suck) a plus. You can buy a large package with three to four times the batteries then whats in a standard duracell pacakge for less then half the price. I use a lot of them so stock up when im at bass pro...lol

[yeehaw]

I have a Zebco 404. When i catch something it dosn't like to reel in it just keeps going, and sometimes gets stuck. But my friends 404 works great, mine must have been made on monday.

[showmebob]

Bass Pro lure retriever. Had a 16 foot one for 2 years and never could use it. It would break, I would repair, it would break/repair etc. Finally took it back for my $$$

[Wolfman]

Best lure retreiver is braided nylon line of about 200# test with a nice big sparkplug and a big snap swivel. Attach the snap swivel to the bottom of the sparkplg by the eye through the diode gap then bend it down. Tie off your line to the eye of the swivel as well. Just clip it on the line, pull your line snug and drop it down the line. If it don't come unhooked bob it up and down with the braided nylon while keeping the main line fairly snug.
Toss a couple of extra sparkplugs in the tacklebox in case you lose one.

[Sinker]

I thawt ya just left that junk fer seed!

[showmebob]

Thanks Wolfman, I'll give it a try.
When I was a kid we used to use spark plugs for retrieving gigs and small hooks by just closing the plug electrode around the line and letting er slide down. It worked ok. I had not t hought of trying the spark plug for other lures.

[Wolfman]

If the hooks not buried to bad the sparkplug will knock it loose. You can also use bank sinkers if you want more weight. i garuntee a 8 oz bank sinker will knock almost anything loose if it's not all tangled up in line or brush...lol