Sold Out

Sold out! Out of Stock! We don’t know when this item will be back in stock. Finding saltwater fishing tackle and gear has become almost more difficult than catching fish! Have you been online lately? It’s crazy, there is very little inventory available. You can’t find saltwater fishing supplies or gear anywhere but the online stores keep sending out their emails.

The other day I got an email from another prominent tackle shop touting a great sale on terminal tackle. When I went online to shop almost all of the most popular sizes were Out of Stock.

Better start your springtime shopping now

I’m here to warn you, start buying your summer fishing gear now. That is if you can find it. Everything seems to be sold out, on backorder, out of stock, or in short supply. I’m finding it very difficult to find a lot of my go-to fishing gear. Popular lures that fill every tackle box, terminal tackle that’s a must, different weight braided lines in various colors, etc. are all really hard to come by right now.

I know a lot of guys who usually hold off on purchasing their summertime fishing gear until at least later in the spring. It doesn’t do much good sitting in a box on your shelf in the basement in the middle of winter. I, on the other hand, can’t wait. I use the slower winter months to recondition my reels and purchase my new gear for the next season and get it all set up and ready to go as soon as we can put the boat in the water.

Sold Out but it’s On sale!

This has to be the most frustrating thing of all. Every day I’m getting email after email tooting huge sales. Sales on fishing reels, 25% off terminal tackle, 30-40% off braided fishing line, but when something catches your eye, no pun intended, you click on the link but there’s no stock for any of the most popular sizes, shapes, colors, etc. Don’t you think that someone in marketing should talk to the warehouse or purchasing to see what they’ve got in stock before sending out the promotional emails?

I got this one email for a great sale on Daiwa Salt Pro SP Minnows. This is pretty much a go-to in every saltwater tackle box. There are 32 color options in the 6″ sinking lure size. Of those, only 8 were available. Another email come through for Shimano Tekota Level Wind Reels. None of the reels sizes were in stock.

It’s taking hours to research different sites when it used to be a quick visit to only a couple of stores. If I’m lucky, I find maybe a couple of items from one store but the rest of the supplies that I need to complete the setup aren’t in stock. This means that I have to order from multiple suppliers which in turn means that I don’t qualify for free shipping from any of them.

Trolling Set Up

Here’s an example, I’m trying to purchase two new trolling rods with reels and braided lines. I’ve selected the new Hogy Perfect Trolling Rod: Parabolic Action, 5’6″ Medium Heavy. I was able to get two of these on sale at a great introductory price.  I went back to order a couple more but they were already sold out. I’ve always been a fan of Captain Mike’s Hogy gear and I wanted to give his new trolling rods a try. I figured I would pair these as suggested with a set of Avet JX Reels and an 80 lb. braided line.

Hogy doesn’t sell either the reels or the braided line but that shouldn’t be an issue, right? After all, Avet Reels are fairly popular and an 80 lb. braid should be a snap. Wrong! I wasn’t able to find the JX reels that I wanted in stock anywhere.

I ended up getting Avet SX G2 5.3 Single Speed Reel from Tackle Direct. There were only 4 left in stock if you’re interested, you better hurry. I purchased the braided line from another vender. I like to color-code my braided lines so my 50 lb. is green, less than 50 is red and usually, anything over 50 is blue but I had to go with red. It’s all that was available and I had to purchase the braided line on a 1,500 yd. spool. Much more than I will need to fill these two reels but I guess I will end up using it eventually. But now I have the extra color red and blue so that throws my color scheme out the window.

Will we have to resort to handlines?

Now, I understand that Covid created a lot of supply issues. Factories were shut down and so many people were working from home but we’re over two years into this. When will the supply lines start rolling again and when will my terminal tackle be back in stock? One would think that with the backlog of orders and pent-up demand that the factories would be running 24/7 but like everywhere else, I’m guessing that they just can’t get the labor. What have we done? Can we ever get things back online?

I don’t know what the answers are or even how to fix it but we’ve got to do something pretty soon. I’m wondering when things will start to return to normal. At this rate, we will be going back to handlines and weaving our nets. You can jig with pretty much a stick, some line, and a jig made out of an old soda cap and a hook.

Look, I understand that fishing is probably pretty far down on the list of things to fix since Covid pretty much broke everything but it’s important to me.

Final Thoughts

I’m not blaming the sold-out or out-of-stock conundra on the online tackle stores. They can only sell what they can get for inventory. I’m sure that it’s just as frustrating for them. That’s why I haven’t given any specific links or examples to anyone’s website. Believe me, I could have filled the page with link after link and example after example. But, for the love of all that is sane, please stop sending out emails for sold-out items!

Okay, thanks for letting me rant! If you’re planning on being on Cape Cod this summer, plan a day trip with us on St. Pete Sport Fishing. We would love to have you aboard.

Until next time,
Tight Lines and Smooth Seas