Cheap Effective Lures

[jhoffman]

I hardly think my tackle says look at me. My tackle is probably worth as much as my boat but the only one who knows whats in that boat is me.

 

Im with the quality guys. Sure you can get off dirt cheap with a $1 spinnerbait made in china that runs like garbage or you can order a north star for two dollars more, support someone who loves the sport as much as you do and the bait will actually run right and the skirt wont fall off day one.

[*Hootie]

So in your opinion, it runs like garbage. It catches fish. What is the ultimate goal? What am I missing? Is it supposed to maybe, make my breakfast also?

Hootie

[jhoffman]

The point being... is it really cheaper if you have to use 3 of them to every 1 good one or is it the same? I would rather run the good one then buy three junk ones to get the same amount of fishing.

[LgMouthGambler]

Zoom products for plastics is the best deal for me. Hard baits I load up when there is good sales.

[illusion258]

Personally, I think if a fish is gonna bite ,its gonna bite. It does not look for a $5-$15 price tag on the side of the lure before biting. I have caught bass off $1.50 lures I got on sale, when I lose the lure, it is no big deal rather than casting $5 a cast to get a snag and break line. I bought a set of 25 lures ,including 2 lure scents for $38 shipped off an ad I saw. Best purchase I made yet. I think the expensive lure companies catch more fishermen than fish just for having in your head that money catches more. No offense to anyone just my opinion when it comes to throwing out money in water, it gets expensive. 

[MCS]

Bomber lures or smithwick for cranks and jerk baits

Rebels for topwater

booyah for spinner/buzzbaits

Big bite bait, Bitters bait, and zoom will cover all your plastic needs.

 

I can't agree with the buy 1 nice bait, rather buy 3 or 4 of a cheaper bait in the same color or a couple colors and be able to fish it and loose it throwing it into the tight places and not worry if I am gonna lose my 15 or 20 dollar bait.

[*Hootie]

Personally, I think if a fish is gonna bite ,its gonna bite. It does not look for a $5-$15 price tag on the side of the lure before biting. I have caught bass off $1.50 lures I got on sale, when I lose the lure, it is no big deal rather than casting $5 a cast to get a snag and break line. I bought a set of 25 lures ,including 2 lure scents for $38 shipped off an ad I saw. Best purchase I made yet. I think the expensive lure companies catch more fishermen than fish just for having in your head that money catches more. No offense to anyone just my opinion when it comes to throwing out money in water, it gets expensive.

There ya go. You said it much better than I did. The lake I fish has lots of snags. I go knowing I'm going to lose a few baits. Just makes me feel better knowing it was a $2.00 bait and not a $15.00 bait.

Hootie

Thank you

[jhoffman]

A dose of common sense must come with where you decide to throw a $15 LC. If youre hanging up weedless texas rigs and you fire a LC crank into there well then I got no sympathy.

[*Hootie]

I got no sympathy.

None was requested......lol

Hootie

[Bankbeater]

Rooster tails have worked for me.  There are Beetle Spins, but I never have any luck on those.

[roadwarrior]

There ya go. You said it much better than I did. The lake I fish has lots of snags. I go knowing I'm going to lose a few baits. Just makes me feel better knowing it was a $2.00 bait and not a $15.00 bait.

Hootie

Thank you

If you fish from a boat, buy a lure retriever. I have only lost three treble hook lures in two years and those were due to

strong river current. I don't fish hard baits from the bank, but there is no particular reason for losing lures when you can

reach them with a retriever.

[bassh8er]

If you fish from a boat, buy a lure retriever. I have only lost three treble hook lures in two years and those were due to

strong river current. I don't fish hard baits from the bank, but there is no particular reason for losing lures when you can

reach them with a retriever.

 

X2.  I never bought one because of the price, but logic set in and I bit the bullet on a $15 one from Bass Pro.  I saved 2 LC 1.5s last year, and a SK Series 5 in the same trip.

 

That $37 in saved lures more than paid for that retriever. 

 

P.S.  I was fishing from a canoe at the time and have never tried the retriever from the bank.

[*Hootie]

If you fish from a boat, buy a lure retriever. I have only lost three treble hook lures in two years and those were due to

strong river current. I don't fish hard baits from the bank, but there is no particular reason for losing lures when you can

reach them with a retriever.

 

Actually you must be reading my mind. The past few days I've been telling myself, you've got to get a lure retriever

before fishing season starts. Even at $2.00 a lure, it adds up.

For the record, I do have and fish a lot of high end expensive baits. I was just having a little fun with jhoffman.

Hope I didn't make him mad.....

 

Hootie

[ww2farmer]

Lure retriever will do me no good, unless I can some how throw it in the water and knock the toothy bass turds in the head with it. 90% of the snags I get can be freed up by doing the bow and arrow thing with my line, or moving the boat around the back side and puling it out. I don't lose too much sleep over losing $6 Strike kings.

[Basslover730]

So far the cheap walmart spinners have worked as good as the expensive ones for me

[roadwarrior]

Well, experiment with a MegaStrike StrikeBack (on sale for 30% off) and you will change your tune.

 

http://www.megastrike.com/#!products/vstc2=strikeback-spinnerbait

[Ima Bass Ninja]

I will certainly be putting the above link to use , however back on the subject of cheaper alternatives I have $3 baits that i use regularly and is 4 years old. That's less than $1 per year. If I buy a $15 bait of the same design it would take 15 years to get that kind of value. Also if you are afraid to put the bait where the fish are due to how much it cost , then the extra money you spent is not doing much good. I completely agree that some cheaper baits are made just awful, but I also believe that there are other baits that are quality built at a lower cost.

[BassThumb]

The jig/grub and jig/tube are very cheap, yet very effective lures. 

[EvanT123]

I'd say look at ebay. It's been a gift and a curse for me. Gift because I've found some great deals curse because I keep finding them and spending money. You can get decent used cranks off there for less then a third of the price. I just picked up a pack of 25 gamakatsu hooks for a 3rd of the retail price. It takes time to find the deals on there but when the gf is watching her shows I'm ebaying.

[wnybassman]

If you fish from a boat, buy a lure retriever. I have only lost three treble hook lures in two years and those were due to

strong river current. I don't fish hard baits from the bank, but there is no particular reason for losing lures when you can

reach them with a retriever.

No pike or giant canvas weed mats?   You guys are lucky.

[bigbill]

Its time now to hit your local walmart for clearances and sales.  I'm still using the older bomber cranks with the old color patterns.  The red's,  the browns and greens still work great. Plus its the presentation too.

 

Don't forget a split shot rigged 6" black rubber worm is still one of the greatest bass lures.

[keith71]

Lets everyone remember that this kid is only 15 so ten or twenty bucks might be hard to come bye. Basslover I was in the same boat as you 25 years ago and can remember how hard it was to acuire decent tackle. I would get mine from working odd jobs,birthday's, holidays you name it. You'll be surprised how much you can get from a yard sale from time to time.Ive bought tackleboxes filled to the brim for 10 bucks or so. Good luck and im sure in a year or two you'll be wondering what to do with all this tackle you have acuired.

 

[Aluma-Bass]

I'd say look at ebay. It's been a gift and a curse for me. Gift because I've found some great deals curse because I keep finding them and spending money. You can get decent used cranks off there for less then a third of the price. I just picked up a pack of 25 gamakatsu hooks for a 3rd of the retail price. It takes time to find the deals on there but when the gf is watching her shows I'm ebaying.

 

That's exactly what i do haha!

[Avalonjohn44]

Cheap effective lures:

 

Havoc Baits by Berkley. I like most of them, can't beat the $3 bag of swimbaits. I found some at bass pro in Richmond VA for $.99 a bag. Limited selection but I got about 15 bags.  That's a lot of plastic for not much cash.

 

Inline Spinners - you can pick up Rooster Tail (or Mepps even) inline spinners for good price anywhere that sells tackle. Inline spinners still catch a ton for me.

Johnson Spoons - About 3 bucks a lure, and it will catch bass all year long. Other species too. 

Small bag of 3" Grubs - I can fish shallow creeks and ponds with a jighead and a grub and always catch bass, bream and crappie. A little bag of grubs should run you about 2 or 3 bucks for 20. Good deal.

 

Tubes and Craws - Same as above. A bag or two of tubes and or small craws on a jighead will not set you back much dough and will keep getting you bites all day long.

Bandit Cranks - Bandit 100 and 200 series lures outfish every other crankbait I have from RC1.5s to Rapalas to Megabass Griffons. They run from about $4.95 to $6 and walmart has a good selection.

 

Walmart Brand Spinner Baits and Buzzbaits - A dollar a pop and just as effective as the others. Just get used to carrying plyers to bend the wire back into shape now and again.

 

Walmart Yum value packs - on the bottom shelf for $1.96 a pack you can sort through the Yum Value baits box. It's full of bags of Yum baits that have been discontinued or were flawed or something. I find some good stuff in there often - Money Minnows, Money Craws, as well as Dingers, Ribbon tail worms and a ton of other stuff. Open the pack before buying. I have some bags that have oddly stiff worms as though the plasitc 'mix' was off...

 

Aside from that, you can always check the stores for Bargain Bins, Discontinued Endcaps, etc. Most Cabella's have a 'Bargain Cave', Most BPS's have a four sided display full of red ticketed reduced items. You have to keep a sharp eye out, some of these are quickly picked over, or set out of the way.

 

Also, while Cheap is nice, there are some brands I avoid no matter the price:

 

Matzuo America.  $2-3 cranks that flat out suck. They rarely run true and some are flat out 'un-tuneable'. Spend the extra couple of bucks on a Bandit.

Beetle Spins - I have never caught a fish on one. While only 99 cents or so for a rig and two 'beetles', I can't justify the cost. I know they work for some folks, just not me or my wife and kids. Maybe NW Virginia is the one place they don't work.

 

Mann's Cranks - Every single one I have owned has broken. On one, the chrome paint flaked off just by handling.  Flimsy, cheap and thin - buy a bandit or rapala instead.

 

Renegade Cranks - Walmart sells these, I bought a few but they all split in my tacklebox from the heat. Never had that problem with any other bait before.

[fowlskies]

I will certainly be putting the above link to use , however back on the subject of cheaper alternatives I have $3 baits that i use regularly and is 4 years old. That's less than $1 per year. If I buy a $15 bait of the same design it would take 15 years to get that kind of value. Also if you are afraid to put the bait where the fish are due to how much it cost , then the extra money you spent is not doing much good. I completely agree that some cheaper baits are made just awful, but I also believe that there are other baits that are quality built at a lower cost.

You took the words right out of my mouth.  Are there cheap junk lures, yes, but there are inexpensive very good producing lures just like the OP is asking about.  I have a few and lost a few $15 dollar baits and it sucks when you lose them.  I definately hesitate throwing my more expensive lures into areas I don't think twice of throwing my bombers or Cotton Cordell Super Spots.  So my "best" lures don't always get used in the best fishing areas.  

 

Also, we all don't want to spend as much as our mortgage on our recreation, don't get me wrong I love fishing as much as the next guy on here but I have other passions that cost money and a wife and three little girls that enjoy their yoga, dance class and their other interests that cost money.  It blows my mind the amount of money some of you guys spend, for me and my budget it would be far to selfish to spend that kind of money all on myself.

 

As far as a lure lasting you a lifetime...that is a bunch of bs.  Lures are not a thing bought for longevity they are bought to be thrown into nasty places where slobs, toothy or not want to hammer them.  Reels are an item to get longevity out of and you "spend your paycheck" guys sometimes have a valid point but I'm not looking for longevity out of my lure.  Besides I have Bombers that look better after yrs of heavy use than some of my rapalas in my box.