Omg help!

[roadglideguy]

okay we need a section or a resource in here for people suffering from "EGB"...excessive gear buildup! Maybe an 800 number or a 12 step program. I keep saying ..."oh I am done now I have everything I could ever need" and then poof...today I buy three more reels! I have stopped surfing porn and now I surf the auction pages!!! I do not want to share the numbers but I could outfit a village...surely others share my pain...I have about 16 rods and 14 reels...I need a bigger room! Okay your turn to confess...

 

[plecain]

You have a mild case.
When the total of rods/reels passes the 100 mark then you might consider treatment.

 

[Ard]

At the least you have decided to talk about it, seriously buying stuff at a rate which surpasses a persons actual needs may well be a problem. I existed for many years using one rod and one reel. They were pretty much top line tackle back in the day and still are hard to beat. However, in the late 1980's I began picking up a couple reels even though I didn't have rods for them. That kicked off a period of about 15 years wherein I bought about ten more rods then I leveled out. I just didn't use all of them, I found myself using two most of the time.

Now days I upgrade when it seems the correct thing to do but must say that I'm using just two of what I have once more. You'll find the way,

Ard

 

[honyuk96]

It's called hoarding

 

[knotjoe]

...I have about 16 rods and 14 reels...I need a bigger room!

No, you just need a nice new rod rack or cabinet to house them in now

To me, those numbers are nothing to freak about depending on usage of the items and diversity of the fishing you do. I'm pretty good with keeping the numbers down on rods & reels, but it's not a mark of discipline, it's more like an acceptance of future weakness. Stuff just gets better all the time and I'll likely want something shiny and new, thus I preserve room for it now.

Switch to hooks and thread, some things are actually wise to horde and they don't take up much space. I don't think I could have too many bobbins, either, but could do without that crazy Rite bobbin and it's fleeing parts on the thread changes (Yeah, it was one of those New & Better ideas I just had to have)

 

[pnc]

Tried counting in my head. Reels 20 , rods 30...... ish. Half the rods are specialty rods. Or not so specialty. Many are glass for where graphite is scared. Short light & short heavy rods.
All get used at some during the course of the year.

........ pc

 

[silver creek]

okay we need a section or a resource in here for people suffering from "EGB"...excessive gear buildup! Maybe an 800 number or a 12 step program. I keep saying ..."oh I am done now I have everything I could ever need" and then poof...today I buy three more reels! I have stopped surfing porn and now I surf the auction pages!!! I do not want to share the numbers but I could outfit a village...surely others share my pain...I have about 16 rods and 14 reels...I need a bigger room! Okay your turn to confess...

I once bought 6 new rods in one day.....

Sign me up for the advanced treatment!

 

[just4grins]

It reminds of when I was much younger. Too many girl friends and trying to keep them from finding out OMG! Remedy is exactly the same for gear, reorganize and give it away to the bare minimum, and start over. The Atkins Diet for gear!

 

[weiliwen]

I am by nature a collector; I would stop short of saying I'm a hoarder. But I do have too many rods and too many reels. After my last rod purchase, I think I'm done for a while, though. The desire seems to have left me. In fact, I've seriously considered selling all but 4 or 5 of the 15 or so rods I own.

Most of the ones I'd sell are lower end, though, and they don't seem to have much of a market. Same case with my reels - I put some great but inexpensive reels for sale on this and another FF site and got no bites. I guess I'm stuck with them, but will probably donate them to a good cause.

I think that I have really found my lifelong favorite rods now; that's the only reason I can come up with the fact that the fly rod collecting bug has left me.

 

[shaunsquid]

I am envious of the problem you folks face. I just keep thinking "Man, I wish I had a rod that could handle the steelies and salmon in the river down the road" but can't justify the purchase because there are too many house projects to take care of. Some day I will be in your shoes. Until then...live it up boys. You only have so much time on the stream.

 

[geordie41]

At this point in time I have more reels than rods ,I would like 2 possibly 3 more rods all bamboo . I'm wating to get on the wating list (3year +) for a small Nick Taransky "Bush Creek" rod for fishing small streams in my native Northumberland which are remote set in beautiful windswept high country with mainly small wild brown trout ( a 1lb fish is considered huge )
. Nick builds a fantastic rod short with fine tips for lots of feel with small fish but with plenty of power further down the rod to combat the wind .

The second rod I'm after is a true 4# 7 1/2 ft Dark flamed Massimo Tirotcchi American taper for dry flies . The 3rd well I'll get the other 2 first :icon_mrgr

 

[wthorpe]

It helps if your spouse fishes. When you average it all out then YOU only own half the number of family rods, reels, etc. Now, if your wife's gear is not duplicative of YOURS and YOU happen to use hers once in awhile, well, then that is just random chance, and it does not reallly count against what YOU own. Right?! So given all that I only own 7 rods and 8 or 9 reels, and maybe 10 lines -- and maybe only a thousand or so flies?

 

[moucheur2003]

I have stopped surfing porn and now I surf the auction pages!!! I do not want to share the numbers but I could outfit a village...

Okay, the way I see it you have two choices:

1. Admit your mistake and revert to your prior habits.

2. Find a more manageable outlet for your acquisitive urges. Like wine, for instance. The good stuff will deplete your wallet just as fast as good fishing tackle, but then you use it once and it's gone.

 

[yikes]

In your thread title, OMG= Obsession: Much Gear?

If there’s a lot of stuff you don’t need or use, and is not part of some specific “buy and hold” collector’s strategy to increase resale value, and yet you still can’t seem to part with it, then yes you may have a problem.
If you can’t part with that unused $30 Cabelas reel because hey, you never know when you might need it, then it’s time for a new strategy.

In that case the best way to get rid of it is to give it to someone who will appreciate it. It helps you feel better about holding onto it for so long.

 

[Bigfly]

As a licensed fishing councilor......
If you are buying more stuff than you can use....you are a good "merican" patriot.
But if you buy fishing stuff and don't go fish.........you are keeping good gear out of the hands of people that DO fish.......for shame.
I'd feel the same if I walked into a garage and saw tools neatly hung up and never used. Or that muscle car that belongs to an old guy who has forgotten how to drive fast. Dish that gear to the most needy (maybe Shaun....) or one of those wounded warriors groups......or hoods in the woods....a local club....or set it out on the curb....some Jedi will find it.........
(Helps if you text me an address first....)
Even the Stradivarius stored in museums come out to play from time to time.
Doesn't do you or anyone any good leaning in the corner....or in a fancy case.
Lighten your loads for better Karma.......

Clearly there is an issue not just for you.....since the most viewed thread is "what did you buy?
And just like that fast car......go drive those rods hard.....that is what they are for.....not for romantic dreaming of a day on the water.....
OK......you can keep one for dreaming.....but those thirteen other rods gotta go........the word that comes to mind is "Bogart". Pass it around......


Jim

 

[shaunsquid]

OK......you can keep one for dreaming.....

I have one that my late god father made himself. I have aims to build a big ol' shadow box and mount it on the wall (and maybe build in some hidden hinges for concealment of home protection, but that's another story). That one is for dreaming, I don't dare take it on the water.

 

[redspringer]

It helps if your spouse fishes. When you average it all out then YOU only own half the number of family rods, reels, etc. Now, if your wife's gear is not duplicative of YOURS and YOU happen to use hers once in awhile, well, then that is just random chance, and it does not reallly count against what YOU own. Right?! So given all that I only own 7 rods and 8 or 9 reels, and maybe 10 lines -- and maybe only a thousand or so flies?

This is my exact philosophy as well.

My wife fishes hard and demands only the finest gear....lol. I'm not sure where she got that from...

One for her, one for me, one for her, one for me, now we each need a backup, etc...etc....etc

 

[myt1]

"...I have about 16 rods and 14 reels..."

Dude, you need two more reels.

 

[kevind62]

I guess I'm in denial. I didn't know I had a problem.

 

[JW51]

It reminds of when I was much younger. Too many girl friends and trying to keep them from finding out OMG! Remedy is exactly the same for gear, reorganize and give it away to the bare minimum, and start over. The Atkins Diet for gear!

just4grins glad you avoided this fate:
Rectangular is the wooden box
Where lies my love neath the golden phlox
They say he died of the chicken pox
In part I must agree
One chick too many had he
Kingston Trio - The Ballad Of The Shape Of Things

My solution to too much gear was to start giving things away. The older slower rods are great for getting kids started. Mostly these kids are children of our daughter's friends who fished with us growing up. The veteran's group is excellent too. Then you can buy new stuff guilt free. Don't do what I did though; I just told them about where the rod had been fished and the fish I had landed with it with no explanation that I just had too much stuff. Word got around that I was on my death bed or suicidal.