Observations from the bps spring angler catalog

[Bluff-Bassin]

I never thought I'd see the day when you could buy a lucky craft crankbait cheaper than pretty much any spinnerbait in the entire catalog aside from booyahs. I understand why luckycraft has been forced to reinvent itself at a lower price point. The market is flooded with good square bills at the 6-9$ price point.

What I absolutely do not understand is why spinnerbaits are so high. It's basically the same materials as a jig minus a fiberguard and plus two metal blades. Yet most jigs you can get for 4 bucks. I'm to believe the extra blades explain an extra 3 to 5 bucks!?  I get it, they are worth what people will pay for them. It's just surprising given how they really haven't changed much as far as how they are designed and made in the last couple decades. As a whole most hard baits seem to be coming down yet spinnerbaits and buzz baits are on the rise  

Maybe that is part of the reason I don't throw blades all that much and I see a lot of people turning to swimbaits instead. 

 

Am am I missing a hidden cost in spinnerbaits aside from the ole "fishing is just getting more expensive" or "as long as people keep buying them they'll keep raising the price"

[Jerry Rapp]

you said a lot there grasshopper.

[dtrs5kprs]

The spinnerbait thing is the same issue as ammo. Skyrocketing metal prices, especially the gold blades.

Factor in the demand for ball bearing swivels (unnecessary, by the way), and demand for baits in upscale packaging and you have crazy spendy spinnerbaits.

When they started creeping up in price a couple of years ago I had the same thoughts. Then I had to reorder some gold willow blades. Yikes. Hadn't ordered for several years. I almost reached my expiration date.

[bfishn]

20 minutes ago, dtrs5kprs said:

... Skyrocketing metal prices...

 

Gold has hung in there pretty well, but the more common metals have been consistently falling for over a year;

 

[dtrs5kprs]

13 minutes ago, bfishn said:

Gold has hung in there pretty well, but the more common metals have been consistently falling for over a year;

 

But consistently higher than when we were all buying $3-4 spinnerbaits.

[Ham]

And prices tend to stick when they go higher. The market has shown we will pay 6-8 bucks for a spinnerbait so most spinnerbaits are 6-8 bucks now. I won't need any for a while.

getting the Spring BPS catalog doesn't excite me like it did 20 years ago. 

[fishinwrench]

2 minutes ago, Ham said:

The market has shown we will pay 6-8 bucks for a spinnerbait so most spinnerbaits are 6-8 bucks now. I won't need any for a while.

I wouldn't bother making them unless I could sell them for 7-8.00+

[dtrs5kprs]

51 minutes ago, Ham said:

getting the Spring BPS catalog doesn't excite me like it did 20 years ago. 

Same. Nothing special, nothing is on sale. Guess it not a spring sale catalog anymore. Do enjoy seeing more products than in the Master catalog, but am confused as to why the can't just include all in one.

If you don't buy blades you won't notice the increase in that particular component. More than double, and it is not just the gold in play. Lots of blades are stamped from brass, or brass plated. Couple of major suppliers list their blade prices as estimates in their print catalogs, with current pricing online or by phone. Same issue that makes the under spins so pricey.

[Mitch f]

55 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

I wouldn't bother making them unless I could sell them for 7-8.00+

You hit the nail on the head! 

if you want quality, you gotta pay for it. Someone will always do it cheaper

[fishinwrench]

Well yeah.  Unless you've got some slave labor action going on you're not gonna be doing it for long selling spinnerbaits at 3.50 a pop.  Too many steps involved.  Your cheap competitors will be short lived.