About Tackle Box Picks

Walk into a tackle shop or open a retailer's site and you face thousands of rods, reels, lines and lures. If you're new, or fishing somewhere new, it's hard to know which of them you need, and harder to know whether they'll work together.

Tackle Box Picks takes a different approach. Instead of a search bar, you answer a few questions about the fishing you want to do: the species, where you'll fish from, how experienced you are, and your budget. We recommend a complete kit for that trip, with one pick for each slot and a short reason it fits.

How we choose gear

Each kit starts from a set of rules written by anglers: line strength that suits the rod, a reel sized to the rod, saltwater-rated gear for saltwater trips, and hooks and lures sized for the fish you're after. We use software, including AI tools, to read product specifications from retailers and sort products into kits. A person reviews every recommendation and every description before it's published.

We pick gear based on fit, value and availability. We don't accept payment from brands to place a product in a kit.

How we make money

When you click a product and buy from a retailer, we may earn a commission. It doesn't change what you pay. Commissions are what keep the site free. The details are on our affiliate disclosure page.

Where we are now

We're building our first kits for five kinds of trips: freshwater from the bank, bass from a boat, trout streams, catfish, and inshore saltwater. The kit builder opens in early 2027.

Tackle Box Picks is run by Tackle Box Picks, based in Ohio, United States. Questions, corrections, or partnership ideas? Get in touch.