$7 Lures

[WestCentralFisher]

I've been working from the same giant tackle box for pretty much my whole time I've fished, 25 years or so. It was my Grandpa's originally, and over the years I occasionally added lures here and there, but mostly just deployed what I needed into one of those little clear tackle boxes and put it back when I was done. As a result, I had a pretty serious backlog of tackle, and outside of soft plastics and terminal tackle, rarely had to buy too much in one go. For that reason, I haven't tracked the cost of tackle too closely.

But I've been fishing quite a lot the last two years, and haven't done much replenishing. Today, while prepping for an upcoming multi day float trip on the North Fork of the White, I figured out I was down to my last Rebel Craw. I know next to nothing about the North Fork, but I won't go on any Ozark stream with less than 3-4. On a river with both trout and smallmouth bass, they're especially dynamite as a generalist lure to catch both. 

Or maybe I will! It turns out these things cost $7 a piece now. At first I thought my tackle store was just ripping me off, but no. I looked it up, and that's just the going rate. Pretty much all the rebel/rapala crankbaits are in the same range. Are people really paying this much for lures? Goodness. At least rooster tail spinners are still a reasonable $2.49. I grabbed a handful of those and just one more deep diving craw. Two will have to get me through.

Rebel Craws have always been my go to Ozark stream lure, but I think I'm gonna have to move on from that. Gonna be a whole lot of Ned rigs for smallmouth going forward (though I'll skip bringing them on the North Fork, since both of our planned floats include parts of the Blue Ribbon section) and rooster tails for trout. Or I'll need to buy goggles and a snorkel to retrieve the craws when they get hung up on the bottom. 

[nomolites]

Look up some hard glide baits or Megabass suspending jerk baits……that $7 will seem more like a bargain priced item.  Toys cost more I guess.

Mike

[Al Agnew]

It's kinda funny how many people complain about the price of lures, and swear they won't buy a $7 or $15 lure...yet they use soft plastics all the time, just as you're saying you'll use a lot of Ned Rigs.  Think about it.  A package of the average soft plastic, with maybe 10 in the package, costs as much as a lot of lures.  And how many of those 10 soft plastics will you go through in ONE DAY?  Not to mention...how many jig heads and hooks and sinkers will you lose in a day? How many packages of soft plastics and jig heads and other terminal tackle will you go through in a year?  

How many hard baits do you lose?  If it's a topwater lure, you probably won't lose but one or two in a year if a fish breaks them off.  If it's crankbaits, probably a few more...how many of those Rebel Craws did you lose last year?

The point is, you'll probably spend a lot more on soft plastics than you would have if you'd used nothing but those $7-20 hard baits, all the while thinking you're saving money.  I just checked, and one of the swimbaits I tend to use a lot, the Keitech Fat Swing Impact, sells for about 70 cents apiece.  If the swimbait bite is on, I will go through a dozen or more of them in a day, plus losing one or two of the jig heads I put them on at about the same price, if not more, apiece.  That's a good $10 it cost me in one day.  But if it's a day when deep diving crankbaits are the ticket, I MIGHT lose one or two of them at $10 or so apiece, and if it's a topwater day, I almost certainly will end the day with the same one I tied on that morning.

[WestCentralFisher]

2 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

It's kinda funny how many people complain about the price of lures, and swear they won't buy a $7 or $15 lure...yet they use soft plastics all the time, just as you're saying you'll use a lot of Ned Rigs.  Think about it.  A package of the average soft plastic, with maybe 10 in the package, costs as much as a lot of lures.  And how many of those 10 soft plastics will you go through in ONE DAY?  Not to mention...how many jig heads and hooks and sinkers will you lose in a day? How many packages of soft plastics and jig heads and other terminal tackle will you go through in a year?  

How many hard baits do you lose?  If it's a topwater lure, you probably won't lose but one or two in a year if a fish breaks them off.  If it's crankbaits, probably a few more...how many of those Rebel Craws did you lose last year?

The point is, you'll probably spend a lot more on soft plastics than you would have if you'd used nothing but those $7-20 hard baits, all the while thinking you're saving money.  I just checked, and one of the swimbaits I tend to use a lot, the Keitech Fat Swing Impact, sells for about 70 cents apiece.  If the swimbait bite is on, I will go through a dozen or more of them in a day, plus losing one or two of the jig heads I put them on at about the same price, if not more, apiece.  That's a good $10 it cost me in one day.  But if it's a day when deep diving crankbaits are the ticket, I MIGHT lose one or two of them at $10 or so apiece, and if it's a topwater day, I almost certainly will end the day with the same one I tied on that morning.

Well, I did the math on this before posting the original topic. I'm not totally sure I'm correct, but there is maybe a bit more thought that went into it than you're assuming. To show my work:

For Ned rigs, I generally use Zoom green pumpkin worms. Those are about $6 for a 20 pack. I have a pretty much endless supply of the jigheads on hand right now, but I can buy 20 for another $6. It comes to $9.00 total cost* for a pack of 20 worms, if I assume that about half the time I have to change out a worm, I lose the whole set up. Even on floats where I've primarily fished Ned rigs, and fished hard all day (and that has happened a few times on the Big Piney and Jacks/Current) I can't remember ever using a whole pack in a trip, or really even coming close. But I've definitely lost multiple Rebel Craws in a single day. That's not necessarily typical; I fished the same one for two days on the Eleven Point last year, caught a ton of trout and smallmouth on it and had no issues. Then the next trip on the Little Niangua, I lost several in a few hours. But I would definitely say I am much more likely to lose one Rebel Craw in a day than go through an entire pack of plastic worms in an outing. Given the similar cost, on a per trip basis, I'd have to say the Ned is more economical in the short run. 

Now that doesn't factor in that until recently I was effectively fishing Rebel Craws that may well have been a decade old, which is hardly likely with plastic worms. So in the medium to long run, the math could flip. But spending money that I need to allocate to gas money, campground fees, and canoe rentals on absurdly expensive lures isn't fully a long run type problem, either. 

*To make sure I wasn't just out of touch on pricing and remove bias, I googled the prices and just used the first reputable result that came up. But those prices are at least reasonably close to what I'm actually paying. For things like jig heads I'm just buying the cheapest ones of the appropriate size I find.

I suspect a lot of our different perceptions here is that it sounds like you're purchasing soft plastics that cost much more individually. I don't doubt they work, or that you're catching more fish than I am (to be fair, not primarily for that reason), but it simply isn't feasible for me to use soft plastics that are the better part of a dollar per unit. I always am working off a budget, so I have to analyze each cost against what it actually adds compared to less expensive options. It's little use to have a fully stocked tackle box at the expense of actually being able to go on trips to the rivers I want to be on. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

What size rebel craw do you use?   One of the advantages of living in the burbs is garage and estate sales.   I’ve bought so much stuff unbelievably cheap it’s ridiculous.   I just bought a 16’ pole tree trimmer that sells at Lowe’s fir 89.99 for $10.   I see fishing tackle all the time.  

[Quillback]

Tackle Warehouse 4th July sale is still on.  They have Rebel Craws at 20% discount off the $7 regular price.  Bomber cranks at TW are $3.99 regular price, there is a whole bunch of Bomber models to choose from.  I bet you could find some that will work for your stream fishing.  $50 order gets you free shipping.

Sadly, nowadays $7 for a crank is about as cheap as they get with the exception of Bombers.  

 

[BilletHead]

1 hour ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

What size rebel craw do you use?   One of the advantages of living in the burbs is garage and estate sales.   I’ve bought so much stuff unbelievably cheap it’s ridiculous.   I just bought a 16’ pole tree trimmer that sells at Lowe’s fir 89.99 for $10.   I see fishing tackle all the time.  

   Yeppers garage sales is our go to.  Our last one Pat found a pair of Ariat fat baby boots. Brand new. The lady said they just don't fit my feet. Pat asked nothing was marked. Lady said five bucks. Pat said what? She repeated that price. These retail depending on store for 65 to 95 dollars.  There are so many other things we have found and if it's cheap and we know someone who can use it we buy it and gift it to them. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 hour ago, BilletHead said:

   Yeppers garage sales is our go to.  Our last one Pat found a pair of Ariat fat baby boots. Brand new. The lady said they just don't fit my feet. Pat asked nothing was marked. Lady said five bucks. Pat said what? She repeated that price. These retail depending on store for 65 to 95 dollars.  There are so many other things we have found and if it's cheap and we know someone who can use it we buy it and gift it to them. 

My daughter graduated from college and moved into her place and aside from the couch and bed she furnished it completely by thrifting.  She buys lots of high end clothes for work that way too.  

[WestCentralFisher]

4 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

What size rebel craw do you use?   One of the advantages of living in the burbs is garage and estate sales.   I’ve bought so much stuff unbelievably cheap it’s ridiculous.   I just bought a 16’ pole tree trimmer that sells at Lowe’s fir 89.99 for $10.   I see fishing tackle all the time.  

Hmm, really good idea. Never would have thought of that. I mostly use the Teeny Craws if trout are among the species targeted, but I have used pretty much all sizes available, situation dependant. 

[Quillback]

1 hour ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

My daughter graduated from college and moved into her place and aside from the couch and bed she furnished it completely by thrifting.  She buys lots of high end clothes for work that way too.  

When I lived in Washington, my next door neighbors were professional garage sale goers.  Every weekend they'd hit the sales.  They'd buy stuff, then turn around and resell it at a profit at their own garage sale.  They knew antique glass and table ware too.  Some of that stuff can be resold for $$ but you have to know what to look for.

If I drive by one and see some fishing stuff, I'll stop and check it out, but I never find anything I want to buy.  

Once a year Bella Vista has a garage sale weekend.  Lots of garage sales, streets get clogged with parked cars, cars driving around all over the place.  I hate it, I'm always glad when it is over.