Favorite economical bait from last year

[Munkin]

With all the talk about trying to save money on fishing lures I thought I would post of my experience from last year. Like a lot of people on here I am willing to spend large sums of money on bass fishing that I love but am always on the lookout for  deals as it makes me feel good.

On to my point of this story; for several years in a row I was just wrecking fish on a flick shake but with the Jackall worms being so expensive and more fragile than a senko I was looking for an alternative for non-tournament days. Having tried a bunch of different worms nothing was working half as good as the Jackall ones. One day I was in a liquidation store that had Zoom swamp crawlers on sale for $2 a pack. I thought to myself what do I have  to lose as I can just melt them down if I don't like them? What I found is a swamp crawler is softer than any other Zoom bait I have used but did not work well as a flick shake bait for me. With that said I completely wrecked fish on it as a shakeyhead worm, slider worm, and as a drop shot worm! That $2 pack of worms helped me win two club tournaments, accounted for 3 out of 4 of my best days numbers wise and the kicker is I still have 11 of the 25 worms left in the pack. In short this bait has made it into the permanent rotation with me and if you are looking for a low cost worm to cover a lot of different situations look into it.

 

Allen

[hawgenvy]

Grubs

[ww2farmer]

Just about every pack of plastics I buy can be classed as an "economy" brand...............$2.99 Berkley Havoc, and Yum baits. I do splurge for $4 packs  of Berkley Powerbait stuff at Walmart. LOL

[tbone1993]

Zoom chunks, speed craws, and trick worms have caught me an ungodly amount of bass this past year. 

[WI_Angler1989]

4" kalins lunker grubs in a variety of colors. I got them at $2.99 and $3.49 last year. The last super long, assuming the tail doesn't get stolen by a crappie. I've had grubs survive a dozen smallmouth and a few pike easily.

[buzzed bait]

war eagle spinnerbait.... unlike plastics, they don't break down or get lost as easily.  they can be found at a couple walmarts around and they flat out catch fish.

[EvanT123]

Academy pistol minnow. I caught so many dang fish on that thing. I was so mad when I lost it and had to go back to the gunfish I have. 

[Preytorien]

I'd say mine was probably the Z-Man TRD used as a Ned Rig. Z-Man plastics are notoriously tough, and with the hook keeper that's added to the Shroomz head the TRD is almost impossible to lose. Some of mine would barely creep up the shank so I put a dot of glue on it and that held it tight. I have yet to lose one from even my first pack. So I'd consider that pretty good.

[Fishin Ethan]

It was a frog in a Dicks Sale Bin and it cost $1.50. Last year it absoulty tore it up for me and got so many hits the body of the frog ripped up. I'm not sure the company and would love to buy it again.

[blckshirt98]

The new Yum dropshot baits (Sharpshooter/Kill Shot/Warning Shot) are all amazing dropshot baits and economically one of the best at 15-30 cents per bait.

[Mike L]

10 hours ago, buzzed bait said:

war eagle spinnerbait.... unlike plastics, they don't break down or get lost as easily.  they can be found at a couple walmarts around and they flat out catch fish.

Ditto 

I changed to these at the start of tournament season and it was one of the best decisions I made. 

 

Mike 

[Deleted account]

Most H2O hard baits are fish catching bargains.

[Scarborough817]

pit boss 

[jlperkins]

My son bought a pinkish red crankbait out of the sale bin for $1.99, I laughed and made several not so nice comments, After the first trip I had to apoligize, The rod with that crankbait always makes it in the boat even when he doesnt go.

[Spankey]

I'm pretty addicted to Gary Yamamoto/Kinami kut tail worms but found Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops versions of Cut tails to perform very well. I try not to be cheap but I like doing the comparison like yourself. You can buy one bag of every color BPS has for $15. What do you have to loose. 

[dropshottah]

Bass Pro Shop Teaser tubes..I killed smallmouths all summer long with those

[budgetbassin]

This past year, I really liked the Cotton Cordell Super Spots for $3 and Big Bite Baits Trick Sticks for about $3.

[Cgolf]

NetBait Slim shake worm got used a lot last year and the thing was tough as nails. Very similar to the swamp crawler, but maybe a bit more durable. Both are excellent baits. 

[tander]

On 3/11/2016 at 6:53 AM, Preytorien said:

I'd say mine was probably the Z-Man TRD used as a Ned Rig. Z-Man plastics are notoriously tough, and with the hook keeper that's added to the Shroomz head the TRD is almost impossible to lose. Some of mine would barely creep up the shank so I put a dot of glue on it and that held it tight. I have yet to lose one from even my first pack. So I'd consider that pretty good.

^^^^ This, Z-Man baits are tough. One TRD will last all day and then some.

[Bluebasser86]

Pit Boss, TRD/Zinker but that's been the same for the last few years. 

[IndianaFinesse]

Z-man trd for sure.  They are only four dollors for a pack of eight, and I have never got any of them to torn up to use.  I have caught sixty fish on the same trd before finally breaking off on a snag, and Ned has reported over two hundred bass on a single trd. 

[snake95]

Several produced well for me in the last 12 months.  

The standout had to be the Rapala crankin rap.  They seem to be on clearance all over so maybe Rapala is discontinuing them.  Have caught on just about every swimming depth they offer.

Others on my list include:

- Cotton cordell big-o and spot "knockoffs" from the bargain bin at Walmart

- Bomber shallow A squarebill

 

[Bankbeater]

I like the BPS Stik-o.  They hold up a lot better than Senkos.

[Scott F]

2 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

I like the BPS Stik-o.  They hold up a lot better than Senkos.

Have you noticed that they used to put 20 Stick-Os in a bag. Then there were 18, and now there are only 16.

[S. Sass]

2 hours ago, Scott F said:

Have you noticed that they used to put 20 Stick-Os in a bag. Then there were 18, and now there are only 16.

Not to change the subject but a lot of stuff has done this. Sliced cheese has cut back on slices and numerous other things sold by the number. I read a article last year that listed a long list of items that the price hadn't changed but you quietly got less.