Fishing for beginners - tackle shops

Actually Catching Something.
Advice for Parents of Young Anglers

Fish Suppers for Sailors
A guide to fishing for yachtsmen.

Why is everything in the tackle shop so complicated?

Fishing tackle is designed to catch anglers — not fish.

90% of the tackle trade's profits are made from the anglers who catch 10% of the fish. This is an oft-quoted and completely unfounded figure. My personal estimate is that 95% of the profit is made from the anglers who catch just 5% of the fish. These are the ones who read the angling magazines. Being cash-rich and time poor they attempt to buy success.

Which suggests that 95% of the fish are caught by people who use simple tackle but learn to use it well.

The tackle shops also sell the tackle that catches most of the fish, it'll be somewhere near the back in a dark corner...