Sunday, November 19, 2017

Black Friday starts Monday

Today's newspapers are stuffed with circulars for early Christmas season sales. For decades, Christmas shoppers looked forward to the day after Thanksgiving - known as Black Friday - when retailers offered massive discounts on certain in-store items. A few times I was part of the mayhem, waiting overnight in long lines for the chance to buy a laptop or camera at half price. In recent years, the big discount "day" has spread over a week. A few of the specials are still reserved for Friday, but not nearly as many.

For fly anglers, price protection rules pretty much prohibit discounts. The best bet to find a great bargain on fly rods or reels is to look at house brands like Bass Pro and Cabelas. For example, Bass Pro has their Hobbs Creek Limited outfits on sale for $69. This includes a 9-foot rod - either 5 or 8 weight - with a fully-machined, anodized reel, spare spool, and travel case. While the number of rods, reels or outfits on sale might be extremely limited, there are a lot of fishing accessories marked down. These range from bags to fishfinders to filet knives to waders.

For kayak anglers, it's much the same as with fly anglers. Don't expect to see any kayaks on sale, but the list of accessories and tackle items is pretty much unlimited. Also, discounts on action cameras - including the GoPro - are being advertised.