Garage Sales

[JT26]

Anybody go to garage sales looking for a good deal on fishing stuff? I always like finding old lures or even rods and reels in good condition for 5 dollars. Ive got Rapalas from women running garage sales for 50 cents before!

[AaronE]

A guy down the street was having a yard sale yesterday. Stopped in to look for stuffed animals for my dogs to play with and ended up buying a slightly used float tube for $20. Needs some work on the seat and have to find a support pole for it but a quick trip to Home Depot and Joann's Fabrics ought to fix both of those little problems.

I'm standing there talking him down on the tube price and my wife yells from across the yard - "Hey, they have some Japanese porn on DVD. You wanna check it out?" About 20 people stopped shopping and turned to stare at her. Now if I can only get her to like fishing, I'd be the happiest guy in Washington....

Taking the float tube out today for my first trip in it. Gotta get some supplies first. Love hitting yard sales!

[cavdad45]

Of course. Bass fishing is expensive. Estate sales have better stuff but tend to be over-priced. I got a cool little fish pole last year. It was not completely finished, but the guy gave up on a homemade pole after the really hard stuff was done. It is 11 feet long and real whippy. I took it bass fishing a couple times for kicks and usually rigged it with a splitshot worm and a 4" YUM dinger. Caught a lot of fish. The pole was so long a whippy that the spring action of the pole wore the fish out.
This winter, I plan to replace the eyes because they were cheap (probably from the dollar store) and I broke the welds on two of them. After replacing the eyes, I will finish the cork and do all the finish work. The pole is a blast to fish with.

[cavdad45]

Garage sales are also an excellent place to find vintage or antique lures

[mallard83]

My grandpa goes to garage sales every weekend that he can and has scored a lot of really good fishing gear. He is probably the best B.S.'er I have ever known and could probably talk a world record fish off of someone. Probably not, but he sure can talk up a good deal. For example, he got a 20 horse Mercury outboard in almost new condition for 25 bucks and a Sears 12' Super Gamefisher with a trailer for $300. He has also on numerous occasions gotten stuff for free, like rods, reels and lures just because he has great haggling skills. I only wish I could have the kind of bartering skills he does, but I don't. Another good place to try getting some deals is at swap meets. I collect antique fishing lures, and have gotten good deals at swap meets on various tackle. Swap meets are a lot of times held at fair grounds and old drive-in theater's. So if you want a good deal learn how to be a good haggler like my grandpa, or give a swap meet a try. Good Luck!