Fishing is one of those sports where we tend to spend a ton on our gear, and unfortunately a lot of that can stay tucked away in the bottom of a tackle box unused for years. There’s always a few items, however, that we find we simply can’t live without. I thought it would be fun to write an article about the most useful fishing gear I’ve ever bought. Everything here is fishing gear that has saved me money, time, or had such an incredible impact on my fishing that I can’t live without it.
Without further ado, here’s a countdown of the 10 most useful pieces of fishing gear I’ve ever bought. Read on to find out what I think is the most important piece of fishing gear ever!
10. Hook Sharpener
A quality hook sharpener is important as you’re only a few snags away from having dull hooks that are going to reduce your chances of hooking and landing fish. You don’t need to go too crazy with this but I do recommend having one in your tackle box. A few strokes on the file will give you considerable confidence which is almost as important as having a sharp hook in the first place.
These will also help you keep your lures longer and save money when buying used ones. Many used lures come with dull hooks, especially if they’re somewhat “vintage” (and it’s getting scary how something from the 90’s might even qualify as that now)! Even some of the newer crankbaits out there have hooks that leave something to be desired. A hook sharpener can turn a “so so” lure into dynamite.
A good hook sharpener that is inexpensive but also works well is the . This is the one I keep around and while it isn’t really much for bells and whistles it does the job.
9. Split Ring Pliers
Split ring pliers are a must-have tool when you’re fishing crankbaits, jerkbaits, or other plugs with thin wire hooks. For example, the Rapala Shadow Rap has got to be one of my favorite jerkbaits, yet the hooks on it are so thin it doesn’t stand up very well to large fish. While you can bend the hooks back a bit from time to time, they aren’t invincible and will eventually shatter. Having a pair of split ring pliers means the difference between tossing the plug away (or at least aside) and contining to fish it a few moments later.
I wrote an entire article about what split ring pliers I prefer, but the bottom line is I really prefer a dedicated tool rather than pliers that happen to have a beak. I think the dedicated tools really make life easier as they’re built for that purpose exclusively and I find I have a much easier time getting tiny split rings opened up with them.
My personal favorite split ring plier is the Rapala Mini Split Ring plier. I wrote an entire review of them you can find here.
8. Lure Retriever
Fishing lures are expensive and fish like to hide near cover that tends to snag said expensive fishing lures. Having some way (or at least hope) of retrieving your lures is going to come in handy if you’re casting where the fish are. I personally have a Frabill telescoping lure retriever on my boat and it paid for itself not long after purchase. Though this isn’t the most practical item to lug around with you on foot, it fits well into many storage compartments on a boat and really isn’t any more out of the way than a paddle if you have to leave it on the floor.
If you’re interested in other ways to reduce snags, you might want to check out my article where I discuss just that which you can find here.
7. Hook Removal Kit: Surprisingly Useful Fishing Gear!
OK, so this probably won’t make most folks Top 10 list of most useful fishing gear, but then again, most folks don’t have a father who keeps his crankbaits in his pocket in plastic bags. I have found that a tool that provides an easy and painless way to remove hooks from flesh is an indispensable part of my tackle box.
Don’t believe me? Go look up the costs of the average emergency room these days in the United States. When you get there, odds are all they’ll do is what this tool can do for free!
If you need some help in learning how to take a hook out on your own, check out this video of a very brave man who selflessly hooks himself and then removes it in an altruistic effort to help you learn the technique. This is one video I hope I never have to replicate!
6. Line Conditioner
If you throw a lot of fluorocarbon, you owe it to yourself to try out some line conditioner. What this does it make your fishing line much more supple and easy to manage. This is going to reduce the number of tangles you get and also extend the life of your line because it won’t knick and kink as much due to your just fishing with it rather than picking out tangles.
Fluorocarbon can be very difficult to manage without it so I definitely would encourage you to pick up a bottle. It’s another one of those pieces of fishing gear that can definitely save you money.
5. Waterproof Boots
A good pair of waterproof boots is going to make everything you do in fishing easier and better. They’re one piece of fishing equipment I constantly mutter to myself that I’ve got my money out of them and then some.
If you’re a shore fisherman, these are going to allow you to take a few steps out so you can get your cast where you want it instead of in a tree. You also don’t have to worry about mud, and, if you buy ones that are also snakeproof, you can walk around with more confidence even on wild shorelines.
If you’re on a boat these will make launching and retrieving it significantly easier. Half the reason you see people struggling on the holidays is because they’re trying not to get their feet wet. Being able to just walk in a bit to get everything going makes a world of difference, especially if you don’t launch or retrieve boats all that often.
The boots I personally wear are these waterproof ones by LaCrosse. I love them!
4. Trailer Load Guides
Most trailers these days come with some form of load guides. What these do is help you load a boat correctly on a trailer, especially in times of heavy cross wind. While they aren’t completely necessary they’re an invention that is incredibly helpful and can save you much time, frustration, and embarrassment.
These are also important because while most trailers have a “sweet spot” where if it’s parked at just the right angle and depth, the boat will load on center, if you trailer your boat around a lot to new ramps, it can be hard to achieve this. The load guides at least can give you a visual reference as to how things are going and you can make adjustments as necessary.
3. Wacky Rig O-Ring Tool
For a blogger who writes about these wacky rig o-ring tools as much as I do, you’d think this would be the #1 most useful piece of fishing gear I’d recommend. Believe me, I considered it. But while this is an extremely useful tool, it’s only really useful for one particular situation – putting an o-ring on a wacky worm! Still, I consider this very inexpensive tool indispensable because it can often be found for about the price of a package of Senkos yet can make that package last three or four times as long as it normally would!
After just one fishing trip (heck, just one hour somtimes), this fishing tool is already paying for itself. I’d certainly encourage anyone who fishes Senkos or other worms “wacky style” to pick up one of these o-ring tools today. Here’s a link to where you can buy a great one I have several copies of on Amazon.
2. Braid Scissors
I fish a ton of braided fishing line, and the time between when I accidentally dropped my pair of specialty scissors for cutting it and the time when I replaced them was one of the more trying experiences of my life.
“Yes,” you “can” cut braid with pliers… But… No. No, you really can’t. It’s a pain in the butt to put it plainly and doesn’t work anywhere near as well as scissors. Also, I’ve found the cutting edge on the pliers tends to wear down much faster than on the scissors. It’s another one of those situations where a tool that is dedicated to the job is going to outperform a tool that can also do that job.
I personally use these braid-cutting fishing scissors from Rapala and find them to be perfect though you can also head into any hobby store and get some good fabric scissors (just don’t steal them from your wife or you’ll be the next thing tossed in the lake).
1. Minn Kota Terrova – the Most Useful Piece of Fishing Gear Money Can Buy
The #1 most important fishing tool you could ever buy that will save you time and frustration and pay for itself is a Minn Kota Terrova trolling motor. OK, so unless you’re fishing tournaments or monetizing fishing somehow, it won’t technically “pay” for itself, but you’ll catch so many more fish that it’ll feel like it.
I’ve been fishing these trolling motors for well over a decade and absolutely love them. Their spot lock feature is worth the price of admission itself, but there’s so much more. You can teach it to move along certain structure lines. You can easily change speeds from whatever you’re doing to max at the push of a button. Nowadays, you can move the boat 5 feet in any direction one button press at a time.
I wrote an extensive review of the latest Terrova I bought (which did make some welcome changes over older models. I’d check it out and then rush over to Amazon to buy one of these today as it really will change your fishing experience like nothing before. The Minn Kota Terrova is hands down the most important piece of fishing gear I’ve ever bought.
Conclusions
Well, that’s a pretty good line up of useful fishing gear right there. If you’ve tried other stuff that you just can’t live without, I’d love to hear all about it! Feel free to drop me an email or just post a comment below!
I hope this article helped! Thank you for reading!
John Paxton
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