The easiest fishing tackle to buy as a gift is the stuff anglers use up and replace — jigheads, hooks, soft plastics and other terminal tackle. You do not need to become a fishing expert first. You just need to narrow down what kind of fishing they do and pick something useful from there.
Shopping for someone who loves fishing gets ridiculous pretty quickly. You know they fish. You know they are constantly buying something for fishing. And yet the second you try to buy them fishing tackle yourself, you are staring at a wall — or a website — full of hooks, jigheads, weights, colors and sizes that might as well be written in another language.
1/8 oz? 3/32 oz? 3/0 hook? Weedless? Hover hook? What happened to just buying the guy a fishing lure?
That is exactly why we wanted to write this guide.
First: You Don't Need to Know Everything About Fishing
Maybe your husband has been fishing his entire life. Maybe your dad has enough tackle to open his own store. Maybe your son starts talking about forward-facing sonar and you mentally check out somewhere around sentence three. Or maybe your wife, sister, daughter or friend is the one who loves to fish.
You do not need to understand every piece of their hobby. Think about your own interests — someone should not need to know every author you have ever read to buy you something for book club, and they should not need to understand mahjong strategy to buy you a great mahjong gift.
Fishing is not any different.
What Is a Jighead, Anyway?
Here is the simplest explanation: a jighead is essentially a hook with weight built into it. An angler typically puts a soft-plastic bait onto that jighead and fishes the combination together.
Jigheads are used for an enormous variety of freshwater and saltwater fishing — bass, redfish, speckled trout, flounder, stripers, snook, walleye, crappie and plenty more.
That is one reason we believe good jigheads can make surprisingly practical gifts. They are not just another piece of fishing-themed stuff. They are something anglers actually use.
Why The Upgrade Family Is Different
When we developed The Upgrade family of jigheads and hooks, the idea was not to create another ordinary hook with a chunk of lead around it. We wanted products that solved problems.
Depending on the model, that means features such as belly-weighted bait keepers, tapered noses, weedless configurations, stabilization features and designs capable of working with many of today’s popular soft plastics — including some of the increasingly popular TPE and ElaZtech-style materials.
That versatility matters for gift buyers. You may not know exactly which soft plastic is sitting in your husband’s tackle box. That is okay. We would rather help you find a versatile product than make you guess among 47 nearly identical options.
The Easiest Question to Ask: What Does He Fish For?
You do not necessarily need to ask “what exact jighead weight and hook size would you like for your birthday?” That pretty much ruins the surprise.
Instead, listen for something easier: what does this person normally fish for?
If they are constantly talking about bass, that is useful. If they are chasing redfish and trout around the coast, that is useful. If they are obsessed with forward-facing sonar, that is useful. If they fish everything they can possibly catch, that is useful too. From there, choosing tackle becomes much easier.
For the Freshwater Angler
Bass anglers can use jigheads and weighted hooks for everything from traditional soft-plastic presentations to newer forward-facing-sonar techniques. Depending on how they fish, that could lead you toward The Upgrade Jighead, the Upgrade Hover Hook or one of our weedless A.T.V. designs.
For the Saltwater Angler
If they are chasing redfish, trout, flounder or snook, versatility becomes extremely valuable. One day they are fishing a paddle tail. The next it is a shrimp imitation. Then they are fishing deeper water and need more weight.
That is one reason The Upgrade Jighead family spans multiple weights and configurations rather than forcing every angler into one presentation.
For the Angler Who Fishes Everywhere
This might actually be the easiest person to shop for. Look for tackle that crosses over between freshwater and saltwater. That is a huge part of how we approach product development at Ebb N Flow Outdoors — we fish both, and we do not believe every piece of tackle needs to live permanently in one little species-specific box.
What If I Still Have Absolutely No Idea?
Then do not guess. That is exactly why we are building Emily’s Picks.
Emily does not need you to know the difference between a 3/32 oz hover hook and a 3/8 oz jighead before you start shopping. That is kind of the point. We are creating a simpler pathway for someone who thinks: he loves fishing, I love him, please just help me buy something he will actually use.
And if you are the angler reading this? There is another strategy. Send her the link. We will not judge.
When you are buying a fishing gift for someone you care about, you are not necessarily just buying hooks. You may be buying a little more time doing the thing that helps them reset. For a few hours the phone can stay in the console, the calendar does not matter, and there is water in front of them with something swimming underneath it. That is a pretty good gift.
Fishing Gifts Don't Have to Be Complicated
There are enough decisions already. Work. Kids. Schedules. Appointments. Dinner. Family events. Who is taking whom where. Whether you remembered the thing you were absolutely certain you would not forget.
Sometimes you finally get to wine night, mahjong or book club and realize your brain has been making decisions since 6:30 that morning. Men are not immune to that mental load either — which is actually one reason many of us fish.
Frequently Asked Questions
What fishing tackle makes a good gift?
Versatile, frequently used tackle is usually a safer choice than highly specialized equipment. Jigheads, weighted hooks, soft plastics and other consumable tackle can make practical gifts because anglers continually use and replace them.
Are jigheads a good fishing gift?
Yes. Jigheads are used across numerous freshwater and saltwater species and can be paired with many different soft-plastic baits. Choosing versatile sizes and designs can make them particularly useful gifts.
What if I don't know what size fishing hook to buy?
Start with the species the person fishes for and the type of fishing they normally do rather than guessing at a specific hook size. A curated gift collection can also simplify the decision.
What can I buy a fisherman who already has everything?
Consider consumable fishing tackle they will actually use rather than another large piece of equipment. Even experienced anglers regularly replace jigheads, hooks, soft plastics and terminal tackle.
Can women use the same fishing tackle?
Absolutely. Fishing tackle is not inherently men’s or women’s equipment. The right tackle depends primarily on the species, technique, bait and conditions — not whether the angler is a man or woman.
The Bottom Line
You do not need to speak fishing. You do not need to know every hook size. And you definitely do not need to stand in a tackle aisle pretending you understand what all those little numbers mean. You just need a little direction.
That is what we are trying to build at Ebb N Flow Outdoors: better fishing products for anglers, and an easier way to shop for the people who love them.
Whether you are buying for your husband, wife, dad, mom, son, daughter, brother, sister or the fishing-obsessed friend who disappears every Saturday morning, we will help you narrow it down. Start with Emily’s Picks. We will handle the fishing part.
Keep Communicating.
— Dave Erdly | Founder, Ebb N Flow Outdoors
We will handle the fishing part. Shop Emily’s Picks →