I must be CHEAP !!!

[Yaker]

To each his own,it doesn't bother me to see fellows flinging lures with million dollar rigs,but I've seen it aggravate the big spenders when a tournament is won by a couple country bumpkins using grandpas hand me down gear.

[WeaponX]

I don't want to tell you guys what I got for Christmas this year....but I agree, more expensive gear doesn't make you a better fisherman, but makes fishing more enjoyable.

[concreteman]

I have 2 shakesphere grahite rods I like them and they will cast a jig a mile.They are very light on the tip you can feel the bite well. I bought a st.croix rod its good but I cant say its better its just different there is a perception of quality that comes with price.

[Grainraiser]

My late dad taught me how to crappie fish. He grew up poor and learn to fish to put food on the table. I use to say any man who thinks needs a 60k truck to pull a 50k boat to catch a bass with a 300 dollar rod and 300 reel is not doing it to put food on the table. I learned how to crappie fish cane pole. We used a metal clothes hanger and black tape to make the eyes and reel for our spring time set-ups. I had a Johnson Century and he had his beloved Ambassador 5000 for crappie fishing any other time of year. Daddy used 20lb test for everything and only fished with minnows. He would laugh at me if he saw me using jigs today. He was a heck of a fisherman and supplied the entire neighborhood with fish in the freezer. I fish for enjoyment nowdays but I always remember his words when I see a bass fisherman casting $20 lures with a $600 rod and reel.

[wicklundrh]

None of us will ever see "The other side of things".

I know people that waste money on Corvettes. Notice how I said "waste money". It isn't my thing. What is the point? It won't go through the woods, pull a boat, or do anything that "I" do. But, it has a purpose or meaning to them.

The same holds true to the guy that buys a 80k diesel truck but doesn't have anything to pull behind it. Or the kid that lives in the city, has a fully lifted pickup truck that gets washed twice a week and has never seen off road use. In the end, it is their hard earned money. In their eyes, they are spending it, in our eyes, they are wasting it. Who are we to judge?

I've won tournaments in a $2500 dollar boat against people in 80k machines. If that is their thing, then that is their thing.

My point in this is that we will never be able to change others minds or interpritations of "why" we do the things we do. Why we purchase the things we purchase. Why do they sell $600 dollar rods? Because people buy them. Why does a boat that costed 70k last year now cost 90k? Because people will pay it.

If you really want to know the difference in a 30 dollar rod and a 600 dollar rod but don't want to pay the high costs, start building your own! Then you can "justify" in your own mind without paying the high cost from the store. Whats the old saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure"? Same goes true with everything else. One man's interpritation of junk is another man's interpritation of the best product on the market... For them