Money saving tricks, ideas, and homemade stuff

[adam lancia]

Cut your old senkos into 1/2" long chunks and stuff a piece into the nose of your tubes. It makes it much easier to t-rig them, especially if you use hooks with a spiral bait keeper like an Owner Twistlock.

Used gear is a huge money saver, especially if you like high end gear.

Same with mono backing on reels.

 

[WIGuide]

Use a section of tooth pick stuck through your jig trailer at the bend of the hook to keep it from sliding down. Saves a ton of money on trailers.

[DrMarlboro92]

If you are a bank Or kayak/canoe Fisher, go buy an 8ft long piece of 6" Pvc pipe, then order conduit carrier kits from Amazon for $50. stuff a bit of polyethylene foam in the ends, and many a strip across the bottom, and you now have a locking, extremely durable rod carrier for your truck under $100 instead of paying $3-500 for the exact same thing. 

One that everyone knows, is when your braid starts looking old and used, spool it into another reel. now you have new braid without having to go buy any more.

Do you like crank baits as much as I Do? If so you know that line test means a lot when fishing them. Buy a few spools for your reel, then spool them up with different test line and take them with you. now you no longer have to respool your rod when you need a few extra feet on the dive. this one costs a bit up front, but it saves money down the road. 

Find a fishing buddy who likes to fish as much as you do. That way, you can split costs on fuel. It's very useful for those of us who have to drive a ways to the lake. 

Buy some mend-it. You will keep soft plastics twice as long, and if you are as cheap as i am that trailer you cut 1/2 inch off of can now be put back together And used on it's own. 

Are you a big coffee drinker? save the grounds and once they are cool marinate your soft plastics in them (I've thrown a crank bait or two in there before as well). congratulations as you now have coffee scented lures without buying anything. 

[IndianaFinesse]

8 hours ago, the reel ess said:

 

 

I use a kayak. $600 vs whatever you can stand to pay for a bass boat that depreciates faster than a new car.

Or you could do what I did, for another ~$400 you could get a decent used 14 foot aluminum boat with a small outboard and a trolling motor, plus they often come with things like anchors, fish finders (mine came with two) bilge pumps, rope, etc.  It is way better than using a canoe or kayak like I used to, well worth the extra money in my opinion.

Oh, and those little motors don't burn squat for gas, my 9.9 hp motor only burns about half of a gallon per trip at most.

[burrows]

On 11/27/2016 at 9:32 AM, CrustyMono said:

1. Use backing to save line

2. Use line conditioner to save florocarbon

3. Use Yum Dingers instead of GYBs 

4. Use braid on spinning reels and tie leaders

5. Melt used soft plastics and use them again

6. Use a cheaper rod for topwater because you don't need sensitivity; therefore, you can get away with lower modulus blanks

#6 is the best tip.

[CrustyMono]

7 hours ago, DrMarlboro92 said:

Are you a big coffee drinker? save the grounds and once they are cool marinate your soft plastics in them (I've thrown a crank bait or two in there before as well). congratulations as you now have coffee scented lures without buying anything. 

Anyone else do this? I know that Strike King does this and it works pretty well.

[MIbassyaker]

It seems kind of obvious, but I haven't seen it mentioned (although basically the same advice as The Reel Ess' trick worm, er..trick): When you have 4"+ creature baits, fish them on a texas rig first. Then, once the nose gets torn up, cut off the first 1/2" and use as a jig trailer. I do this with Rage tail space monkeys and Zoom baby brush hogs all the time. 

And invest in a lure-retriever!!  It will pay for itself almost immediately.

[DrMarlboro92]

1 hour ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

And invest in a lure-retriever!!  It will pay for itself almost immediately.

Can confirm. I took my bucca shad out for the first time, got it hung submerged tree, and thanks to having my $5 knocker i came out  not being $50 even more broke. in fact thanks to this, the only bait I have lost this year was a rattle trap that snapped on the cast.... d**n nicked line. 

Edit: hell to even think about it... I've dredged up 3 rods this year with it. only one was mine... So score.

[Catt]

Some people call em Marsh Anchors or Cajun Anchors

Cajun's call em Throw Down Poles!

You can drill a hole & attach a shackle.

Or weld a nut on top

Vary the length to hold larger boats

Tie one end of the rope to the pole the other to your boat, when you wanna anchor simply throw it down kinda hard & you're anchored!

[the reel ess]

12 hours ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Or you could do what I did, for another ~$400 you could get a decent used 14 foot aluminum boat with a small outboard and a trolling motor, plus they often come with things like anchors, fish finders (mine came with two) bilge pumps, rope, etc.  It is way better than using a canoe or kayak like I used to, well worth the extra money in my opinion.

Oh, and those little motors don't burn squat for gas, my 9.9 hp motor only burns about half of a gallon per trip at most.

I have a bigger boat, just don't use it. That's a matter of opinion. I can load it by hand and put it in anywhere I like and it burns no gas, requires no battery and give me exercise. Plus I know that I catch more and bigger bass from it since I mostly fish smaller waters. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to have what you have for fishing a little bigger places. But for now there seem to be other toys I want more. If I did spend the extra, and I probably will one day, I'd get a better kayak.  It's my thing.

[scaleface]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Some people call em Marsh Anchors or Cajun Anchors

Cajun's call em Throw Down Poles!

You can drill a hole & attach a shackle.

Or weld a nut on top

Vary the length to hold larger boats

Tie one end of the rope to the pole the other to your boat, when you wanna anchor simply throw it down kinda hard & you're anchored!

Will this work in hard clay ?

 

 

I fish small conservation dept lakes more than my home lake {Mark Twain }     save tons of gas money and catch more fish and bigger fish . The one I fish the most has free boats . I hook up a trolling motor ,  depth finder , take some marker buoys  and fish it just like large reservoirs for a fraction of the cost .     

[Catt]

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

Will this work in hard clay ?

 

 

I fish small conservation dept lakes more than my home lake {Mark Twain }     save tons of gas money and catch more fish and bigger fish . The one I fish the most has free boats . I hook up a trolling motor ,  depth finder , take some marker buoys  and fish it just like large reservoirs for a fraction of the cost .     

Depends on the size boat, depth of water, & weight of the rod

Mine is a 3' × 1/2" stainless steel rod, it holds a 16' x 52" Alweld in 5-6' of water.

Any material rod works great, I've see em 6-8' long holding 18' bay boats.

 

[scaleface]

5 minutes ago, Catt said:

Depends on the size boat, depth of water, & weight of the rod

Mine is a 3' × 1/2" stainless steel rod, it holds a 16' x 52" Alweld in 5-6' of water.

Any material rod works great, I've see em 6-8' long holding 18' bay boats.

 

I have a 22 foot Lowe and need something to hold in 20 foot of water with a hard clay bottom . My fluke anchors do not dig in and they skip .

[Catt]

4 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I have a 22 foot Lowe and need something to hold in 20 foot of water with a hard clay bottom . My fluke anchors do not dig in and they skip .

20' of water is out of range for a throw down pole!

[J Francho]

8 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I have a 22 foot Lowe and need something to hold in 20 foot of water with a hard clay bottom . My fluke anchors do not dig in and they skip .

Get a couple of 15# mushroom anchors, or fill a big coffee can with Quickcrete, and stick a long eye bolt with two nuts and big fenders in it before it dries.Tie a rope to the eye bolt.  Done.

[Airman4754]

1. Buy high end gear used. It's out there. Be patient and save yourself a fortune.

2. Figure out a Senko alternative. At $1 a pop there are so many cheap and easy alternatives that only require minor tweaking.

3. Have a storage system that preserves your bait. I have plastics that are 30 years old that are still in perfect shape. 

4. Stick to four colors. There are like 82 colors of straight tail Roboworms. I think there are more Senko colors than that. If you're throwing a lipless 99.9% of the time craw, lava, and lava craw are going to catch the same fish. 

5. Regularly Scheduled Maintenance. If you have a boat replace your lower end oil, air filter, and fuel filter every year. Change your impeller every 100 hours or two years, etc. A couple hundred bucks a year to keep everything running will be much easier to deal with than replacing a power head or lower unit way before you were planning.

[lo n slo]

8 hours ago, J Francho said:

Get a couple of 15# mushroom anchors, or fill a big coffee can with Quickcrete, and stick a long eye bolt with two nuts and big fenders in it before it dries.Tie a rope to the eye bolt.  Done.

nice

i've used old window weights before. 3 rigged together with aluminum wire, or even duct tape, can weigh up to 25 lbs. wrap your rope around them and they stow easily in a small johnny.

[J Francho]

My buddy still uses window weights to drift for smallies.

[fishwizzard]

Assuming you guys have lead window weights, you would be far better off selling them to a bullet/jig caster and buying some thing cheaper to use as an anchor.  

[RB 77]

On 11/26/2016 at 9:12 AM, Glenn said:

Please share some of your money savers.

For example, instead of those nail weights for flukes and worms. I cut up lead core solder into different size pieces. You can also wrap solder around the hooks of a bait to add weight instead of buying suspend strips or dots

 

I do the exact same thing for a nail weighted presentation.

On 11/27/2016 at 7:49 AM, Jon G said:

always use backing on your reels.

Yup! Always...

[lo n slo]

58 minutes ago, Bunnielab said:

Assuming you guys have lead window weights, you would be far better off selling them to a bullet/jig caster and buying some thing cheaper to use as an anchor.  

the weights i've used were all made of iron but i do like that idea.

[jr231]

17 hours ago, Mosster47 said:

1. Buy high end gear used. It's out there. Be patient and save yourself a fortune.

2. Figure out a Senko alternative. At $1 a pop there are so many cheap and easy alternatives that only require minor tweaking.

3. Have a storage system that preserves your bait. I have plastics that are 30 years old that are still in perfect shape. 

4. Stick to four colors. There are like 82 colors of straight tail Roboworms. I think there are more Senko colors than that. If you're throwing a lipless 99.9% of the time craw, lava, and lava craw are going to catch the same fish. 

5. Regularly Scheduled Maintenance. If you have a boat replace your lower end oil, air filter, and fuel filter every year. Change your impeller every 100 hours or two , etc. A couple hundred bucks a year to keep everything running will be much easier to deal with than replacing a power head or lower unit way before you were planning.

How do you store your plastics ? 

[Airman4754]

20 hours ago, Yeajray231 said:

How do you store your plastics ? 

Bulk stuff in Ziploc freezer bags stored in a duffel bag. My ready to go stuff is in Plano 3700 boxes.

[slonezp]

Don't think I saw this one. When using braid on a baitcaster you can get twice the life out of it by putting it on a different reel. Once you believe the has seen better days, put the reel in freespool and tie the end to the spool of an empty reel and you can now fill the empty spool. All the braid that never saw the light of day is now on the outside of the spool and the well used line is on the bottom of the spool. 

[the reel ess]

Cinder blocks make good, cheap pontoon boat anchors. If you lose one you're out about 40 cents. On a really breezy day, use two.