Redington has released a bevy of rod-and-reel combo kits lately, hitting many of the price points that appeal to beginner anglers. It’s a market that’s increasingly saturated, and it’s tough to make something that stands out from the pack.

My wife was pulling overnight Grandma-duty and, left to my own devices for dinner, my thoughts turned toward bratwurst. I’d found a five-pack of the Johnsonville brand in the freezer a couple days earlier and they’d been calling my name in an oom-pah German accent ever since. I usually buy the brats made in-house at Sal’s, my neighborhood grocery store, where the sign out front frequently advertises “OUR BRATS—$2.99.” So how or why I’d come to purchase the pre-packaged Johnsonville variety was, like so much in life, a bit of a mystery.