Tackle can mean both kit and beard.
Chambers definition of beard:
beard
n the hair that grows on the chin and cheeks of a man's face; the tuft on the lower jaw of a goat, seal, etc; a fish's barbel; an awn or thread-like spike as on the ears of barley (); a tuft of hairs; a barb of a hook, an arrow, etc; the gills of an oyster, etc; a woman who escorts a homosexual man to give the impression that he is heterosexual ().
vt to oppose resolutely or with effrontery; to take by the beard.