Fishing Gear

Buyer's Guide

Top 5 Braided Fishing Lines

Braid gives you almost no stretch and far more strength per diameter than nylon. Inside the category, strand count decides how it casts, and that single fact should drive most of the choice.

Buyer's Guide

Top 5 Circle Hooks

A circle hook rotates into the jaw hinge as the line comes tight, without a strike. That is why so many agencies now require them, and why the fish you release actually survive.

Buyer's Guide

Top 5 Fishing Pliers

Pliers decide whether a hook comes out of a fish quickly or slowly, and how much of your hand is involved. In salt the only question that matters is whether they still open next season.

Buyer's Guide

Top 5 Fluorocarbon Leader Lines

Fluorocarbon's refractive index sits far closer to water than nylon's, it sinks, and it resists abrasion. That is why the last three feet of most serious setups are fluoro.

Buyer's Guide

Top 5 Monofilament Fishing Lines

Mono stretches, and that is the point. It forgives a hook set that was too hard and a drag wound down too far, and it is cheap enough that you will actually keep it fresh.

Buyer's Guide

Top 5 Spinning Reels

A reel earns its price in drag and corrosion resistance, not in bearing count. These five cover the range from a first freshwater reel to one that will survive a season in the salt.

Buyer's Guide

Top 5 Best Freshwater Fishing Lures for 2026

The best freshwater lures on Amazon — pre-rigged swimbaits, bladed jigs, glide baits, and topwater frogs that arrive with hooks attached, reviewed for bass, pike, walleye, and trout.

Buyer's Guide

Top 5 Best Freshwater Spinning Rods for 2026

The best freshwater spinning rods on Amazon for bass, trout, and panfish — reviewed for sensitivity, durability, and value, with specs, pros & cons, and a buying guide.

Buyer's Guide

Top 5 Best Saltwater Fishing Lures for 2026

The best saltwater lures on Amazon — pre-rigged swimbaits, bucktails, and metal jigs that arrive with hooks attached, reviewed for stripers, redfish, snook, and mackerel.

Buyer's Guide

Top 4 Best Saltwater Inshore Rods for 2026

The best saltwater inshore rods on Amazon — spinning, casting, and combo picks reviewed for redfish, snook, and trout, with specs, pros & cons, and a buying guide.

Shimano

Shimano Stradic FM Spinning Reel

One reel, every water — freshwater lakes to inshore salt.

Penn

Penn Battle IV Spinning Reel

Full metal body, carbon drag, built for the jetty.

Sufix

Sufix 832 Advanced Superline Braid

Seven Dyneema fibres and one GORE fibre, woven round.

Rapala

Rapala Original Floater

Balsa, hand-tuned, and still the reference minnow.

Gamakatsu

Gamakatsu Octopus Hooks

A short shank, an up-eye and a point that stays sharp.

THKFISH Carbon Fiber Fishing Net

A rubber-coated net on a handle that reaches the fish.

Stream & Lake Water Thermometer

The one piece of kit every spawn article on this site tells you to carry.

Fishoholic

Fishoholic Polarized Fishing Sunglasses

Turns bed-spotting from guesswork into looking.

Big Eyes Crappie Jig Heads

Sixty bare heads in five colours, so you tie what the day wants.

Thill

Thill America's Classic Float

Fish a bed at twenty feet as easily as at two.

FishTrip

FishTrip Inline 5X Strong Circle Hooks

For bait sitting still in a cavity — and for releasing the big ones alive.

Egg Patterns & Beads

The presentation every spawn article here points you at — fished below the redds, not on them.

Shakespeare

Ugly Stik GX2 Spinning Rod

The rod that survives the back of the truck.

St. Croix

St. Croix Triumph Spinning Rod

Where a rod starts feeling like a tool rather than a stick.

Daiwa

Daiwa BG Spinning Reel

An aluminium body at a graphite-body price.

Pflueger

Pflueger President Spinning Reel

A sealed drag on light line, which is the whole trout argument.

KastKing

KastKing Sharky Baitfeeder III

A second drag, so a fish can take line with the bail closed.

Seaguar

Seaguar Blue Label Fluorocarbon Leader

The last three feet, where the fish makes its decision.

Berkley

Berkley Trilene Big Game Monofilament

Bulk mono for surf, catfish and cheap tough leaders.

Strike King

Strike King KVD Square Bill Crankbait

The bill shape that lets you crash it into cover on purpose.

Mepps

Mepps Aglia Inline Spinner

A blade that turns at almost any speed.

Johnson

Johnson Silver Minnow Weedless Spoon

A spoon you can drag straight through the salad.

Soft Plastic Jerkbait (Fluke Style)

A dying baitfish, and nothing more complicated than that.

Saltwater Bucktail Jig

Deer hair, lead and a hook. It has outlasted everything.

Football Jig for Bass

A head shaped so it does not fall over on rock.

Ned Rig Mushroom Jig Heads

The finesse rig that catches fish when nothing else will.

Gamakatsu

Gamakatsu EWG Worm Hooks

The wide gap that makes a Texas rig actually hook up.

Replacement Treble Hooks

The cheapest upgrade you can make to a lure.

Berkley

Berkley Gulp! Alive Shrimp

Scent that actually leaves the bait and travels.

Berkley

Berkley PowerBait Trout Dough Bait

Built specifically for stocked trout, and it is not close.

Long Nose Fishing Pliers

Reach, so your fingers stay out of the mouth.

Braid Scissors

Because nail clippers do not cut braid.

Waterproof Fishing Headlamp

A red mode, and both hands free.

Waterproof Tackle Trays

Rust is a storage problem, not a hook problem.