Tackle Shops, Info true or false

tattoobob · #1 02-23-2006, 10:32 PM

How do you feel about the reports and spots that tackle shops give out, Lies to sell plugs and bait or passing info someone who came in and teld them the were catching fish at spot X?

I never ask for info I basically know where and what I am going to use, Plus I never stop after to give them a report. I never weigh fish at a B&T either

Frank Daignault · #2 02-24-2006, 02:02 PM

No generalization can be made about anybody -- Frenchmen, blonds, homely Connecticut guys, and tackle shops. Buttttt, like you, I have seen a lot of very dumb things said and done in tackle shops. A lot of promotional BS is spawned in tackle shops. A lot of lies are fed into fishing reports that hail from tackle shops. A lot? What is a lot? Now, that is the question. For instance, I know some shops that really tell it straight. I know a lot that don't and there must be a ton of shops about which I just don't know. I guess the safe thing is to look at everything with a grain of salt -- writers, shops, books, guys you meet. Good post, great issue and a common eye roller that might help in our mission to instruct.

DeeJay · #3 02-24-2006, 04:00 PM

Also--think about this. Most small shops are Mom and Pop, family run buisnesses. The proprietor probably opens around 5:30 or 6 AM, puts in a 12 hour day at least six, maybe seven days a week in season, goes home, has dinner and hits the sack. How much time do you think he has to fish himself?

In other words, the reports he's passing along are "word of mouth". And you know the old saying about "garbage in, garbage out". I would say that most aren't intentionally feeding you a line of bull--they want you back, by the way, and really hope you catch fish--but a lot of times what they're passing along is the same smoke someone else blew up their behinds.

The guys who catch the most fish don't run their mouths in tackle shops (or on the internet, for that matter).

ONSHORE · #4 02-24-2006, 05:44 PM

I've worked in tackle shops summers since moving to the Cape. They pass along information that we hear from our customers or experience ourselves. None of it is "inside" information but we have no reason to "promote" anyones agenda.

We are not trying to attract customers to our shop with the information, but trying to give general information to assist those that ask for it. We don't "burn" locations.

When I fish an area for the first time or after not being there for a long time, I try to stop by the local shop, buy sumething, ask questions about the fishing in general. I don't expect anyone to give me anything other than general information on the state of the fishing at a particular spot.

Doug · #5 02-24-2006, 11:08 PM

We were fishing False Point near Cape Hatteras one April Monday afternoon and ran into a nice run of 20" to 30" puppy drum (red). It was me, my friend and 2 other fisherman we didn't know but did talk with.

Between the 4 of us we caught 9 fish total over the course of the day. Mike and I spent all day there and did report to a certain B & T that we had caught 3 fish. We didn't know if the other anglers reported, we did tell the shop that they had caught "a few" also.

Imagine my surprise to see that shop post on their board that they had "over 30 puppy drum reported" landed at FP that day. Here's what happened. We were checked twice by a ranger who saw the 4 fish in our coolers and also a couple of the releases. He reported that to this shop.

Maybe the other guys reported their 6 fish and weighed in their 2 that were kept. Just between the ranger and the people actually fishing, 18 fish were reported caught to this shop. Say a couple others who saw us catch also reported them to the same shop?

Now we have over 30 "reported" fish from that area for the day to that shop. Did they know they were the same fish? I guess that would be the issue here, did the shop know (a good possibility) that the same fish were being duplicated?

If so, then they would be guilty as charged. The fact that they didn't report 30 fish being weighed in by 30 different anglers would hold some credence to the fact that maybe they didn't know. Maybe 3 different people were at the counter at the different times fish were reported caught.

Whatever the deal was there, the fact of the matter was that the tackle shop basically reported hearsay in a way that they probably benefitted. Technically, they reported what they were told, along with the fact that they only weighed 4 fish for 4 anglers.

Doug

JoeLyons · #6 02-25-2006, 10:11 AM

If a tackle shop never reports in the paper that the fishing is slow - that should be a red flag.

tattoobob · #7 02-25-2006, 11:30 AM

Where I fish I go into most of the shops and I think I have weeded out the phonies, A place in RI last fall I stopped in (for the first time) to get some eels and asked about the fishing. and got the straightest answer " The fishing has been slow all fall you just have to be in the right place at the right time" I will go back there again and again. There are 2 where I normally fish PI and one I call and he has the bait waiting so there is no time wasted. the other is Surfland and they treat there regulars like family. there is only 2 on Block Island and they both seem ok. but it seems one is never open because he is doing charters. All in all I don't think they are trying to give false information, they are just passing along what someone else has told them.

Oh and you always have the bait shop hang arounds who know everything, they are always ready to give you advice if you want it or not.

Frank N · #8 02-25-2006, 11:39 AM

I had struck out in the very early AM hours so I stopped at a B&T for a particular bomber I wanted to try in the bay that AM. Went and caught ONE weakie. Stopped back at B&T for coffee on the way to meet Rags at IBSP, mentioned the weakie...late that day, the report said there was steady action at sunrise from the docks on weakies....

There are about 6 people who I trust to tell me how the fishing is/was.

wetlinewalker · #9 02-25-2006, 11:54 AM

Like tattoobob says, I know what beaches I am going to go to and that's all there is to it. I'll rely on the regulars sometimes, but will plug the beaches that have produced consistantly for me over the years, making my own reports. Tackle shop reports don't sway me one way or another.

ALB31 · #10 02-25-2006, 12:35 PM

Assuming the tackle shop is honest he may not be hearing from anyone really that good. So to fish or not to fish depends on how good you are and what kind of tricks you have to offer Mr.Bass or Miss Bass.

If Fred G. from the fisherman tells me it's a stiff, it's a stiff. If the info comes from someone I don't know it's up in the air. And I go fishing. If they say it's a stiff and they don't fish the rigged eel I go fishing.

Plum Crazy · #11 02-25-2006, 03:37 PM

I go fishing as much as I can and never rely on reports.
It is nice to know at the beginning of the season if the fish are "here" yet
but I am going regardless.
I have one shop that I trust immensely and that is Surfland.
They will tell me who caught fish and where. But mostly they tell me about people they know I know. I look on the board to see who weighed in.
If there are only a few pics up there I know it MIGHT have been slow.
But like Tattoo says I don't weigh my fish in either. So there could be alot of us who do not weigh in.
I like to hear that the fish around, bigguns or schoolies.
I also love Canal Bait & Tackle down the Cape.
And then there is always the best one where I will go out of my way to get to and that is the Hook up in Orleans and nobody will tell you like it is more than ONSHORE. But I mainly ask things like what they are hitting on.
I don't think they would purposely give out false info to sell things. It wouldn't
benefit them in any way.
But then again if a B&T told me they were hooking up like crazy at spot A and I went there and caught zip I would blame myself, not them.

There are alot of good stories to heard and told at these local B & T's.
Some are worth the trip alone.
Good thread

egcove1 · #12 02-25-2006, 03:59 PM

I think a lot of it depends on whether or not you are a regular customer, and whether or not the people in the store are actually getting out themselves, and then are they willing to share the info. I suppose I ask when I go to NJ, because of it being unfamiliar territory( some info is better than none I guess), but when I go home to RI, I never ask, ya just know where to go, and some times they are there, and sometimes they are not.

As a kid in Jamestown, we always relied on the Creek Bait Shop. We would ride our bikes there, and Old Zeke would tell us kids where to go, give us xtra worms and mummies, and crabs too. He even showed us how to snag silversides for mackerel fishing.

Frank, I know the building is still there, is Zeke still there? It was 46 years ago that we moved off Jamestown.

Frank Daignault · #13 02-25-2006, 04:52 PM

I don't think his name was really Zeke. He was one of the Felice brothers and a very helpful guy, charming really. All the Felice brothers were high liners -- Pergo, Eddie, and the Jamestown one. It is like I said when I activated this thread, some are good, memorable guys, like Kay Moulton and many others. Others are frauds. Generalizations are dangerous. i liked Joe Lyons' remark about watching the ones who never report bad fishing. That is the safest measure of all.

Plum Crazy · #14 02-25-2006, 05:44 PM

Kay rocks!! I love her

I have been going there so long that I can tell by her facial expressions when something funny is going on.
I always get the inside scoop.
Last year this guy came in all full of himself saying he caught a sailfish from shore. HUH? A what? LMAO!!!
My God I never laughed so hard in my life.
He described this fish to Kay, and Kay being the wonderful person that she is
just listened to this story in awe.
Come to find out it was a sunfish. This guy caught a mola mola.
How he got it in is beyond me.It must not have been a big one, though he said it took a very long time to land. He released it thank God. But we laughed for weeks over that.
Imagine a sailfish on the North Shore

from shore. We would be unindated with
fishermen from all over the world! One thing I never forget is my camera.
I would have loved to see a pic of this 'sailfish' that was caught off the North Shore.

egcove1 · #15 02-25-2006, 06:55 PM

Speaking of sunfish, I saw one last year, about 500 yards straight out from Narragansett town beach. The poor thing had 1/2 of one of it's fins hacked off by a prop, and it was in shock, and trying to swim. Man what a sight. This thing was about 6 feet long and 4 feet across, and at a guess 18" thick.We were in the boat and we watched it for quite a while.

Well Frank, maybe his real name wasn't Zeke, but I am pretty sure that my memory says that is what everybody called him. He was good to us kids, and as I recall the only shop on the island. I think all these years later, it still is