$$$ Saving Ideas

[the reel ess]

I'll freely admit I'm a cheapskate when it comes to fishing. I don't spend as much as I probably should on fishing tackle and I'm always on the lookout for ways to save money whenever possible.

What are some of your money saving ideas? Here are a few of mine:

I don't buy $100 rods for reaction baits or topwaters because sensitivity matters less than weight and durability.

I've bought a Johnny Morris reel off Ebay for $50. Had to send to BPS for $18.95 to repair, but that's a JM reel for $68.95.

I usually kayak fish. No electronics. 

Berkley Big Game 15# mono! Sold by the pound and cheap enough to change a couple times a year.

I use cheap mono line for backing for reels that have braid (I don't skimp in braid, but you can reel it from one reel to another, then you're using the unused end of it)

I started wire tying baits with cheaper skirts so I don't lose them often.

When using a T-rigged soft plastic craw, after one side gets chewed up at the head, flip the bait over on the hook and catch another one.

[Fishing Rhino]

You want to save some serious bucks?  Use elaztech baits for shaky heads and when rigged, put a drop of super glue where the bait buttons up to the weight, or slides over a holder.  You can use it 'til you lose it.  You may have to glue it again if the bond fails, but the bait is indestructible.  Not even a toothy pickerel  can ruin it.

I use the four inch finesse worm in coppertreuse, or PB&J on a 3/16 ounce shaky head (Spot Remover where lead is legal, and Vike tungsten where lead is not.  I glue everything that is rigged on a weighted hook except for wacky worm rigs.  It may be Fat Alberts, Rage Tail menace, craw, Yamamoto Flapping Hogs, etc.  The baits will last much longer and will not slide on the shank of the hook.  They will get torn up, but will last much longer if glued.

[FloridaFishinFool]

So glad this forum is NOT T,T! Over there it is the opposite and how much can some guys spend on art to hang on the wall and NOT fish with it!

Like you I want to save money on gear and tackle.

I visit pawn shops on a regular basis looking for rods and reels and sometimes find tackle boxes full of tackle for less than $20 usually. I have purchased some $200 custom rods this way for less than $15 each.

Garage sales and even estate sales have been good to me over the years. My first custom spiral wrapped rod came out of a garage sale for like $3.

But I gotcha on the Johnny Morris reels. I have repaired and modified reels for more than 30 years. So what I do is look for broken reels needing parts and repairs. My first Johnny Morris reel cost me like $5.00 for the reel and less than $20 for the parts. So $25 on my first JM. I recently picked up another one for $15 again missing some parts, and I am waiting on the parts from Bass Pro as I write this. So another JM for under $25.

One man's broken junk is another man's treasure! Thanks guys who don't repair reels! And rods too!

And a side note on those Johnny Morris reels, there are specific models to buy and models to avoid! You can download all of the JM manuals and schematics from the Bass Pro website. Once you have these you can compare the guts of each reel. So the only models I will purchase are the ones with triple carbon fiber drag washers and avoid all the models with a single drag washer that is not carbon fiber.

Another Bass Pro reel secret is that some of the now discontinued Rick Clunn signature reels are identical inside to the JM reels! Most of the internal parts are identical. Same reels, different exterior basically. But, there is really only one model to buy. Bass Pro shorted some of the RC reels and they only come with magnetic brakes, but there is one model that has both magnetic and centrifugal braking and triple drag washers, but not carbon fiber. I simply switch them out with the carbon fiber. Piece of cake! And on my Rick Clunn reel I leave the drag dry so I can lock that drag down for pitching and flipping while the JM reels I lube the drag and use them for spinners and crank baits. Oh, and those RC reels are much cheaper than JM reels and no one wants to bid on them hardly as compared to fighting for a JM reel in a bidding war!

And, Bass Pro did not make a Rick Clunn lefty in the 7:1 speed that I know of for the series I want with dual braking. No problem! The gears from a JM will fit right into the Rick Clunn. Problem solved.

I walked into a thrift store one day and found a nice 7' top of the line Bass Pro spinning rod made from IM-8 graphite and bought it for $2 because some of the guides were broken. Took all of 3 hours to remove and replace all the guides with titanium oxide guides and I've been using it ever since. A sweet deal!

One of my local bait and tackle shops routinely buys tackle out of estate sales and then resells it in their store. I can go in there and buy all kinds of name brand lures for $1 each, or $2 each. Bags of rubber worms for a $1.

I save money buying a lot of rubber lures in bulk. Rather than hit Walmart and get a bag of zoom lures that come in like 8 or 10 per bag for $3-4, I go online and locate bulk sellers and buy like 50 or 60 rubber swimbaits at a time for $10 with free shipping type of thing.

To save money on line, this may cause some controversy but oh well... when I began using braid line I paid the price for power pro coated with teflon poison that quickly wore off on my hands and into the water. Next I paid the price for sufix. Good line no doubt, but way over priced.

Today I buy bulk rolls of cheap Chinese braid line without any poison teflon coating. My average price is like $20 for 1500 yard roll. And guess what? I have been using this line for 2 years now and I don't lose fish.

I did some research on braid line 2 years ago and I went to the plastics industry who makes the PE gel spun fibers and I discovered there were only 12 companies in all the world who even made gel spun fibers used in all braid fishing lines. There are a couple in America, some scattered across Europe, but by far the most gel spun plastic fibers are made in China. So what happens is various line companies buy these gel spun fibers and then do their own weave and processing and then sell it for top dollar, some other companies just buy the already woven fiber line and then do a finishing processing on the line and also sell it for top dollar.

I made the decision one day to skip all those top dollar high priced line companies and just try out the cheap Chinese line I read online here in America all these fishermen complaining about it, so I decided to give it a try and see if it was as bad as I read about and I was pleasantly surprised the line was not as bad as some make it out to be. And I have been saving a ton of dough over the last two years using Chinese made braid line ranging from 8 pound test up to 50 pound test and never had a problem with any of it.

It is kind of humorous to know that some of those American fishermen who would complain about the cheap Chinese braid line are actually buying it themselves from Walmart marketed under another brand name and paying much more for it!

Let's see... A roll of power pro for one reel's worth of line at Walmart is what $12 to $13? I can spool a reel with chinese line for a $1. I can do without the teflon poison too power pro uses for their finishing processing to make their line special. So I would not exactly call chinese braid line a cheap knock off since in the plastics industry about half of the gel spun capacity in all the world is coming from China. They can make it as well as anyone else and do! And they can weave it too.

Oh, and for skirts... I hate them! I am not going to lie. Playing around with skirts gets old real fast. So I looked around for an alternative and found a yamamoto lure, a soft rubber molded bait that has the skirt molded as a part of it! And in the dark waters I fish here in Florida where you can't see your hand 6 inches below the waterline, there is no way any fish can see it 6 and 8 feet down either, so they don't care as long as they think they can eat it, it catches fish! And no more skirts to play with!

 

[roadwarrior]

No need to downgrade or buy Chinese knock-offs, Another alternative is simply having the discipline to buy tackle ONLY when it is on sale. Over the years the majority of my rod and reel purchases have been from BassResource.com members in our Flea Market. Some of my most recent scores are McSticks on sale at Academy for $4.98, Tatsu for half price and Siebert Outdoors jigs for $1.75. 

[scaleface]

I also buy  used and new  lures at various second hand / antique stores.., .Theres one crankbait no longer made that I highly covet . I found a couple a few years ago lost one but still have one . I like fishing small lakes with small craft . I rigged a depth finder on an old trolling motor bracket , so I'm ' one of the few anglers to fish these waters with eyes under water . I save 50 to  100 dollars a trip when I leave the big boat at home . 

[EricTheAngler]

I buy most of my stuff at walmart, the flea market on here or on sale. I also use big game 12# on my baitcasters, so I can afford to buy lures. But the line works well for my use and Its dirt cheap.

[Evan K]

Like @roadwarrior said, just have the discipline to wait for a good deal or shop around. I agree that there's no need to buy cheap Chinese knockoffs- just be judicious and careful about what you spend and buy quality stuff when you do.

[Cgolf]

With a kid in college now, I am really watching and waiting for sales. I also got lucky with Coke rewards, I have been saving points there for a while now and they are offering Walmart gift cards as rewards so I am getting them to replace the ancient line on some of my reels and will get some tackle with the left over proceeds. The biggest thing I did was look at the gear I have and decided what I really needed for next year and am trying to keep my expenditures to just those items. Impulse buying has got me in the past, and a lot of times I have found those baits that I had to have are sitting in a box and were never used. 

[the reel ess]

40 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

So glad this forum is NOT T,T! Over there it is the opposite and how much can some guys spend on art to hang on the wall and NOT fish with it!

Like you I want to save money on gear and tackle.

I visit pawn shops on a regular basis looking for rods and reels and sometimes find tackle boxes full of tackle for less than $20 usually. I have purchased some $200 custom rods this way for less than $15 each.

Garage sales and even estate sales have been good to me over the years. My first custom spiral wrapped rod came out of a garage sale for like $3.

But I gotcha on the Johnny Morris reels. I have repaired and modified reels for more than 30 years. So what I do is look for broken reels needing parts and repairs. My first Johnny Morris reel cost me like $5.00 for the reel and less than $20 for the parts. So $25 on my first JM. I recently picked up another one for $15 again missing some parts, and I am waiting on the parts from Bass Pro as I write this. So another JM for under $25.

One man's broken junk is another man's treasure! Thanks guys who don't repair reels! And rods too!

And a side note on those Johnny Morris reels, there are specific models to buy and models to avoid! You can download all of the JM manuals and schematics from the Bass Pro website. Once you have these you can compare the guts of each reel. So the only models I will purchase are the ones with triple carbon fiber drag washers and avoid all the models with a single drag washer that is not carbon fiber.

Another Bass Pro reel secret is that some of the now discontinued Rick Clunn signature reels are identical inside to the JM reels! Most of the internal parts are identical. Same reels, different exterior basically. But, there is really only one model to buy. Bass Pro shorted some of the RC reels and they only come with magnetic brakes, but there is one model that has both magnetic and centrifugal braking and triple drag washers, but not carbon fiber. I simply switch them out with the carbon fiber. Piece of cake! And on my Rick Clunn reel I leave the drag dry so I can lock that drag down for pitching and flipping while the JM reels I lube the drag and use them for spinners and crank baits. Oh, and those RC reels are much cheaper than JM reels and no one wants to bid on them hardly as compared to fighting for a JM reel in a bidding war!

And, Bass Pro did not make a Rick Clunn lefty in the 7:1 speed that I know of for the series I want with dual braking. No problem! The gears from a JM will fit right into the Rick Clunn. Problem solved.

I walked into a thrift store one day and found a nice 7' top of the line Bass Pro spinning rod made from IM-8 graphite and bought it for $2 because some of the guides were broken. Took all of 3 hours to remove and replace all the guides with titanium oxide guides and I've been using it ever since. A sweet deal!

One of my local bait and tackle shops routinely buys tackle out of estate sales and then resells it in their store. I can go in there and buy all kinds of name brand lures for $1 each, or $2 each. Bags of rubber worms for a $1.

I save money buying a lot of rubber lures in bulk. Rather than hit Walmart and get a bag of zoom lures that come in like 8 or 10 per bag for $3-4, I go online and locate bulk sellers and buy like 50 or 60 rubber swimbaits at a time for $10 with free shipping type of thing.

To save money on line, this may cause some controversy but oh well... when I began using braid line I paid the price for power pro coated with teflon poison that quickly wore off on my hands and into the water. Next I paid the price for sufix. Good line no doubt, but way over priced.

Today I buy bulk rolls of cheap Chinese braid line without any poison teflon coating. My average price is like $20 for 1500 yard roll. And guess what? I have been using this line for 2 years now and I don't lose fish.

I did some research on braid line 2 years ago and I went to the plastics industry who makes the PE gel spun fibers and I discovered there were only 12 companies in all the world who even made gel spun fibers used in all braid fishing lines. There are a couple in America, some scattered across Europe, but by far the most gel spun plastic fibers are made in China. So what happens is various line companies buy these gel spun fibers and then do their own weave and processing and then sell it for top dollar, some other companies just buy the already woven fiber line and then do a finishing processing on the line and also sell it for top dollar.

I made the decision one day to skip all those top dollar high priced line companies and just try out the cheap Chinese line I read online here in America all these fishermen complaining about it, so I decided to give it a try and see if it was as bad as I read about and I was pleasantly surprised the line was not as bad as some make it out to be. And I have been saving a ton of dough over the last two years using Chinese made braid line ranging from 8 pound test up to 50 pound test and never had a problem with any of it.

Oh, and for skirts... I hate them! I am not going to lie. Playing around with skirts gets old real fast. So I looked around for an alternative and found a yamamoto lure, a soft rubber molded bait that has the skirt molded as a part of it! And in the dark waters I fish here in Florida where you can't see your hand 6 inches below the waterline, there is no way any fish can see it 6 and 8 feet down either, so they don't care as long as they think they can eat it, it catches fish! And no more skirts to play with!

 

Dude! You're a wealth of knowledge.

I have one of the Rick Clunn baitcast reels from BPS, bought off the website on clearance. The drag WON'T lock down. It has the 7:1 ratio and only a magnetic cast control, but it casts a country mile. I use it for reaction baits with trebles and topwaters because that's an instance where you would want a little more free drag anyways. The thumb bar has never worked great on it either. I have wondered if RC was ashamed his name was on that reel.

My local pawn shop wants newer-than-new prices for all its old beat up tackle. I wonder if I'm supposed to haggle with him, but the only time I tried with gun, he told me to go to Academy and buy it.

[FloridaFishinFool]

6 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

I have one of the Rick Clunn baitcast reels from BPS, bought off the website on clearance. The drag WON'T lock down. It has the 7:1 ratio and only a magnetic cast control, but it casts a country mile. I use it for reaction baits with trebles and topwaters because that's an instance where you would want a little more free drag anyways. The thumb bar has never worked great on it either. I have wondered if RC was ashamed his name was on that reel.

My local pawn shop wants newer-than-new prices for all its old beat up tackle. I wonder if I'm supposed to haggle with him, but the only time I tried with gun, he told me to go to Academy and buy it.

So you have one of the RC models without centrifugal brakes, and more than likely you also have an RC model with a single drag washer too, and in the RC reels Bass Pro used some white plastic looking drag washer I doubt if it is teflon, probably something cheaper than that.

But yeah they made RC reels right handed with the 7:1 speed, but on the paperwork I got from Bass Pro it shows they did not make a lefty in the series I want in 7:1 speed, but it did have triple drag washers, but 3 of those cheaper white plastic type of washers which I quickly replaced with carbon fiber.

I also noticed that Bass Pro shorted 2 bearings in the handles and only installed 2 out of 4 handle bearings and instead put in a cheap white plastic bushing which I also quickly swapped out with some ball bearings. Now my RC reel has everything the JM reels have. Virtually no difference except the nice shiny exterior JM has and my RC is an unpleasant purple! But I don't care. I ain't no reel pimp! My rods and reels do not have to match color-wise. Not into that sort of thing. I'm strictly a function over form guy.

And as to the pawn shop situation, it sounds like you are dealing with a small independent mom and pop owned type of shop and they do want top dollar, but try some national franchise type of pawn shops- and haggle like hell! Cash talks!

[Cgolf]

One other thing I have found is that I catch a ton of fish on my ugly sticks. I have a few 100$ sticks, but the ugly stick stays in the truck all season so I can stop and hit some shore spots on the way to and from work. Not saying the expensive sticks aren't great, but some cheap solid products are out there. Saying that I bought some cheap graphite rods once and had the tips break on the cast, so I have tried to stick with uglies for budget fishing. 

[the reel ess]

Almost forgot. I got a  7' MH Falcon LowRider rod from a co-worker who needed $ for a motorcycle build for $50. It's technically the "heavy crankbait" rod, but I use it for T-rigs and last season for frogs. It's by far the most sensitive rod I have and I have the $50 Johnny Morris reel on it. That's probably $250 worth of combo for $100.

 

I use Lightning Rods, bought on sale for the lures that don't require sensitivity like lipless cranks spinnerbaits because they're light and durable. I have 3.

 

[the reel ess]

10 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

So you have one of the RC models without centrifugal brakes, and more than likely you also have an RC model with a single drag washer too, and in the RC reels Bass Pro used some white plastic looking drag washer I doubt if it is teflon, probably something cheaper than that.

 

Check your PMs

[roadwarrior]

7 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

Virtually no difference except the nice shiny exterior JM has and my RC is an unpleasant purple! But I don't care. I ain't no reel pimp! My rods and reels do not have to match color-wise. Not into that sort of thing. I'm strictly a function over form guy.

With all the options available today, at virtually every pricing point, there is no reason to sacrifice beauty for function.

 

 

[the reel ess]

The most rip-roaring deal in spinning reels I have ever come across is the Pfleuger Trion. $40 all day, every day, everywhere it's sold. It's a tad heavier than the next model up the line, but I believe all the running gear is the same. Smooth, doesn't twist, works well with braid, and great drag. I'll buy another when the old BPS Viper reel wears out (if it ever does).

[imagine29028]

Only buy tackle that works in your water conditions. No need for 10xd if youre a bank fisherman or fish shallow water. 

Know a few solid colors of lures and stick to them. All the different varities of colors dont matter to a fish. All those Flecks and flakes dont matter!!!

Custom painted lures are a way to throw money in the toilet. Those catch fisherman, not more fish. Think a 5lber looks at a crankbait and can see the custom painted gills??? Cmon ya'll....these are little fish with little brains. They react to things in their environment. 

Once you find something that works (rod, line, soft plastic, etc) STICK WITH IT!!!! Buy it in bulk...stop experimenting. 

my $0.02 

[RedHeadAngler]

14 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

The most rip-roaring deal in spinning reels I have ever come across is the Pfleuger Trion. $40 all day, every day, everywhere it's sold. It's a tad heavier than the next model up the line, but I believe all the running gear is the same. Smooth, doesn't twist, works well with braid, and great drag. I'll buy another when the old BPS Viper reel wears out (if it ever does).

For $30 dollars I also thing the Shimano sienna is an awesome deal. I have the 500fd n my ultralight ugly stik elite for trout and panfish and I have the 2500fd on a 6 foot medium ugly stik lite for a travel rod. They are incredibly smooth and pretty solid I would recommend it to anyone looking for a low priced quality spinning reel.

[Master Bait'r]

Money saving tip #1:  Block BR, 'that auction site' and all international storefronts from your browser haha

 

Really though, elaztechs whenever possible and mend-it for all the other soft baits.  Plastics are often overlooked in terms of expense, but the longer they last the less they cost.  One would be wise to squeeze every cast possible out of a bait before you retire it.  I throw all my broken plastics in a ziploc bag and go through them when I get home to see if anything is salvageable, there always is.      

 

In terms of hard goods like rods and reels I enjoy having nice things so I patiently watch and wait until I can find a really good deal on something.  I'm honestly not willing to skimp on any link in the rod-reel-line Holy Trinity so I have to make up ground elsewhere, be it a reel that needs repair or one that has a bit of age, etc.  I am pretty much maxed out for rod slots right now too, so I have to sell something to get something and rolling the sale money into the purchase of the next item helps take some out-of-pocket sting out.    

 

Also I've recently developed a way to help my passion pay for itself.  I originally got a cheap aluminum boat for the simple fact that I couldn't afford a bigger better one.  I've been a custom metal fabrication guy pretty much my whole life, so it obviously ended up turning into a project that spiraled into an actual long-term plan after I experienced nonstop positive feedback everywhere I brought it.  Long story short, in the past year I've started plucking cheap but solid aluminum boats off CL and stockpiling them over the winter.  Come spring I will have a couple fully rebuilt like the one I made for myself (shown below) so I can sell them, reinvesting the cash threefold:  a ~5hp or less gas motor for my boat shown below (I want to Quabbin seal it this year), a new kayak and at least one more project boat to rehab and flip to keep the work/gear/cash/fish/rinse/repeat flow alive.  See, I may not *have* the money for much of what I want, but with hard work and some determination I know I can work my way into where I want to be over time and that's important to remember.  Having a side gig does help compartmentalize the cost of fishing though too.  My PayPal is almost like my ghetto fishing/business account lol.

 

 I mean, who wouldn't want one of these little guys?    Full custom configuration too, imagination and money are the only limiting factors for a buyer.    

 

 

So yeah, it's all about examining your strengths and developing a plan to get where you want to be.  There's always a way, even if it requires a lot of effort, time, research and planning.  Anything worth having is worth earning though IMO.  I don't mind spending dough because I like nice things, but I do need to feel like I got a good value before I will spend my hard earned cash, that much I will say for sure.  

[the reel ess]

When I use a Zoom Trick Worm T-rigged, as I do more than any other worm, after a few bites it gets torn on the head. Bite off a half inch and re-rig it. I believe I get more bites on the smaller one and the action is better if you're jerking it, no pun intended.

[the reel ess]

3 minutes ago, Master Bait'r said:

 

 

Awesome!

[Racerx]

35 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

The most rip-roaring deal in spinning reels I have ever come across is the Pfleuger Trion. $40 all day, every day, everywhere it's sold. It's a tad heavier than the next model up the line, but I believe all the running gear is the same. Smooth, doesn't twist, works well with braid, and great drag. I'll buy another when the old BPS Viper reel wears out (if it ever does).

Yup!  I love my Trion.  I have 3 kids, all going to Catholic school, and the oldest is about to go to college.  I can't afford high end gear. I have the Trion, and Shimano Sierra, a Pinnacle Matrix Signature, hell, even an in-house Walmart spinning reel for $15 that works amazingly, all on Either Berkley Cherrywood Hds, or Field And Stream Inferno rods. I'm doing this for fun, not tourney money, so how can I justify dropping serious bucks on high end gear?  Simple:  I can't.

[the reel ess]

6 minutes ago, Racerx said:

Yup!  I love my Trion.  I have 3 kids, all going to Catholic school, and the oldest is about to go to college.  I can't afford high end gear. I have the Trion, and Shimano Sierra, a Pinnacle Matrix Signature, hell, even an in-house Walmart spinning reel for $15 that works amazingly, all on Either Berkley Cherrywood Hds, or Field And Stream Inferno rods. I'm doing this for fun, not tourney money, so how can I justify dropping serious bucks on high end gear?  Simple:  I can't.

I have an UL Academy Sports brand Tournament Choice spinning reel that works like gangbusters for $19.99. I fish one pond that only has small bass and big bluegills in it and I always take that combo there.

[roadwarrior]

37 minutes ago, imagine29028 said:

Know a few solid colors of lures and stick to them. All the different varities of colors dont matter to a fish. All those Flecks and flakes dont matter!!!  Once you find something that works (rod, line, soft plastic, etc) STICK WITH IT!!!! Buy it in bulk...stop experimenting. 

WHAT? 

Blasphemy!

Sometimes neither color nor profile are important, but sometimes they are critical. 

[FloridaFishinFool]

40 minutes ago, Master Bait'r said:

I've been a custom metal fabrication guy pretty much my whole life, so it obviously ended up turning into a project that spiraled into an actual long-term plan after I experienced nonstop positive feedback everywhere I brought it.  

I may not *have* the money for much of what I want, but with hard work and some determination I know I can work my way into where I want to be over time and that's important to remember.

 

 I mean, who wouldn't want one of these little guys?    Full custom configuration too, imagination and money are the only limiting factors for a buyer.    

Wow! I do the same thing! I also use to do metal fabrication and working on aluminum boats is a breeze! Someone gave me an old 1973 AlumaCraft with a shattered transom because they used a 60hp outboard on a transom rated for a 20hp. So he gave me the old boat for free. I spent an entire winter overhauling it and customizing it, but I added a yamaha 25hp 4-stroke outboard that is a perfect match for the 14 footer. Here is what it looked like before and after:

For a free boat, a few modifications and presto! Instant bass fishing boat on the cheap and it can take me to where many fiberglass boats can not go because they draft too deeply and will ground out when this one keeps on going and going. I can go all day on a gallon of gas too. And I added a rectifier/regulator to the outboard and now charges the trolling battery as I run it. That cost $25 and was well worth it.

I used no wood in this overhaul. But one difference between your boat and mine is that front deck. I used all plastic and aluminum. That front deck is all aluminum angle framing, but covered in expanded foam PVC plastic sheeting in 2 pieces with hinged access to below where the batteries and fuel tank are stored out of the way under the front deck. I wanted an open floor in the boat without lots of obstacles.

I only used an 1/4" aluminum plate under the casting seat and raised it up another 1/4" to match the thickness of the plastic decking I used to keep weight down, and the plastic decking was a 1/3 the price of an all aluminum deck. In this next photo you can see how I extended the casting deck back another foot by using some custom made L brackets I hand hammered to fit this boat and used all aluminum hardware. Stepping up and down on the deck is solid now and I am not stressing those weak old seat rivets which would eventually tear out of the thin hull. My extension method hanging the rear of the casting deck from the upper railing takes all of the weight with ease and is not dependent on the hull for support back there.

In total I spent maybe $1500 on it- including the 4- stroker, but it is like new and takes me where ever I want to go for freshwater fishing.

I did add a Lowrance dual scan sonar with GPS and mapping...

Aluminum boats do save money, and are cheaper to maintain over the long term. It may not be as nice as a fiberglass boat, but it is more important to me to be able to go into places to fish that fiberglass bass boats simply can not go!

[the reel ess]

11 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

WHAT?

Blasphemy!

Sometimes neither color nor profile are important, but sometimes they are critical.

Better to have the wrong lure in the right location than the opposite. Then selection and color comes into play.

 

I use Trick Worms a lot. I have bags full of the natural colors like watermelon and pumpkinseed that never get used. The bubble gum, limetreuse and methiolate are always in need of replenishing.

I used to buy a chrome, firetiger and natural shad color of every hardbait. Now that I fish a place where the main forage is gold shiners, I buy only gold shiner or gold chrome.

Color matters even less for topwaters. Fish simply don't care what it is. They MUST KILL IT! I caught two Saturday on a black spinnerbait with a huge black Colorado blade. I don't know what that resembles, but they bit it.