Tactical?

Marketing. A slightly different curvature, Black color.....and new. LOL....Not much more than that. Love the hooks though.
 
Cue the wave of new "flat black stealth fly lines". Designed to catch more fishermen than fish!
 
I guess I don't pay attention because I haven't seen more than a couple items labeled as tactical.

I wonder when they will make assault rods
 
Can we just stick with the word traditional?

Ron
 
It is silly.

But it is also not anymore ridiculous than a lot of the nonsense that is spewed about bamboo rods and other things FF related.

It's just on a different end of the spectrum.
 
Tiemco has had black hooks for quite some time. As has Partridge. The only thing different with the Orvis Tactical hooks is the Gape. Which is perfect for some pattern styles. But otherwise, its just another name for a new product being marketed.
 
"Tactical" probably got focus grouped along with "Competition" and "Euro Nymphing" and won out, but is synonymous.

I like the product lines associated with it. Long, light rods, tungsten beads, barbless curved point hooks, jig hooks. These products are great and I incorporate them readily. I'll fish any given product if it works and gives me pleasure.

The fact that the manufacturers have made a product category out of "Tactical" means they will devote time and money to product development, and that competition will yield more attractive price points. Consumers win. You already see this from lots of tapers in the long rods.

Is it all that different from "Traditional?" No. But it is at least a little bit different, and as far as the products mentioned go, better. You can pay just as much for standard Tiemco hooks as you do for the new styles marketed as "Tactical."

This board often laments the declining interest among younger anglers for fly fishing. These marketers are trying to answer that call. I am going to root for them and reap the rewards not just in new people but in better products.

I have seen far more silly sales pitches than this.

Last point. "Tactical" is even more hyped in non fly fishing tackle these days. Musky and Bass tackle are prime examples.
 
DGC wrote:
This board often laments the declining interest among younger anglers for fly fishing. These marketers are trying to answer that call.
Click to expand...

This is a good point.
For those of us old hands who are skeptical of fads, gadgets, and popular culture. . .it's worth remembering that younger folks and newbies may be attracted to our sport from a different angle.

Personally, I think the traditional approach to gear and fishing is more likely to attract at least as many (if not more) new devotees to FFing. Nevertheless, balance is always good and marketers can't be faulted for trying new methods, even if they seem faddish to us old timers.
 
Funny passage in one of Gierach's stories:

Gierach talking to a guy about technical fishing
Guy: What's technical fishing
Gierach: using tiny flies
Guy: Why didn't you just say so
 
You know those unsmiling guys in mirror shades...Covered head to toe in some waterproof material. They look like spacemen on the stream. (Even their cars look like little space ships). They spent a lot of $ on their gear. They nymph like robots. They've turned fishing into something like a job. It helps them deal with the guilt they have about doing any sort of leisure activity.
 
We are seeing the same thing in the hunting industry. Everything is tactical. It's nothing more than a marketing term for the new age. As long as the terminology is respectful of the species in which we pursue I have no problem with it.

Ron
 
Tactical...traditional...technical...who cares as long as you're having fun.
 
I don't know about tactical but there is a lot of EXTREME fishing and hunting. And after you smoked 'em (out of a tree stand over a food plot) or ripped lips be sure and high five or fist bump! On the way home you can stop at a convenience store that looks like a space station for some FLAVOR BLASTED Doritos.
 
Search the word "tactical" in Google or other search engine. Then click "Images."

What do you see?



 
Nah, Chicks in bikinis...with guns.
 
lol.

In the gun/knife/flashlight/etc. markets, tactical basically means "combat" or "military".

i.e. a gun is a gun. But a "tactical" gun is military styled and takes all kinds of accessories. An AR for instance. Despite there being no mechanical difference between said gun and one that looks like any ole hunting rifle (which gun ppl have been trying to explain to gun control ppl for ages in regards to "assault rifles")

A flashlight might light up. But a "tactical" flashlight is insanely bright for cops to use to clear entire fields with at a glance, or focused enough to blind someone, and quite often it connects to guns without the use of duct tape.

I guess since "tactical" is a marketing term to mean "designed for combat", I guess they're making the conceptual jump from that to "designed for competition"???
 
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