Story & Photos
BY DAN O’SULLIVAN
F
or each of the past two years, I’ve taken
the time here in the pages of WesternBass
Magazine to provide a gift guide for bass
anglers. With the amount of contact I have with pros and industry people, I get the chance to
see most of the new products released, and in some
cases, yet to be released.
I’ll be honest, having spent so much time fishing in the West throughout the past 20 years, I pretty much knew what I personally needed to catch fish when I finally got to head out on the water, so it was rare for me to get truly excited about a new product, because I pretty much had most everything I needed.
As a rule, I like new tackle and gear, but when I walked the aisles of Outdoor Pro Shop, Fisherman’s Warehouse, or any other tackle shop, I made a bee line for what I needed; usually some sort of terminal tackle item, walked to the cash register, checked out and left the store.
That was always one reason why I didn’t like tak- ing my Dad with me to tackle stores on quick trips.
34
Dad has a way of getting lost in a store for hours. De- spite the fact his shop - like most of ours - has stuff we’ve forgotten about, he’s always on the search for something new. If I had two hours to kill, taking Dad was fine, but needing a quick stop for hooks or sinkers or something small, I tried to go by myself.
All of that changed in August when we moved to Alabama. I now need everything new, and a trip to the local fishing tackle purveyor has a whole new mean- ing. I’ve gone through the Academy and the Gander Mountain here in Gadsden, and I plan on hitting Bass Pro Shops in Leeds as well as Mark’s Outdoor Sports in Vestavia Hills, outside Birmingham.
No, I’m not going to buy much of anything myself, I’m making a list, and checking it twice and going to make sure all of you are really nice and re-stock my tackle for my new area. I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to retool almost entirely, and this list will give all of you the chance to help me get myself ready to tackle my new aquatic surroundings in Alabama.
While much of my tackle is obsolete in this area, I have decided that I will not be parting ways with any
®