Super User bigbill Posted October 26, 2017 Super User Posted October 26, 2017 Do you think the lure manufacturers are pricing themselves out of business? Let’s face it maybe they don’t know the age range of there best customers? To me it would be from 10yo to 25yo. Youngsters are were the meat and potatoes of the business. Think about it one adult who fishes(dad) vs how many kids he has. I think the kids fishing out number us adults. I’m not sure of the ratio. But it’s pretty high. I went and purchased some new baits today at $9/$12 each. I said to myself how can the youngsters afford this? I see custom painted baits on the auction sites within this price range. Why settle for a plain colored bait. Even my bombers look better color wise for $6. Why don’t the bait manufactures target the area where the most buyers are age group wise? we see so many new baits fizzle out sooner than they should over the rest. Do you think there not selling because there priced too high. im retired but still try to save a buck here and there. I’m still above the $0.99 cent meal at mcdonalds. I feel bad for the younger crowd who just wants to fish. i found some nice looking affordable baits on an auction site made in Japan. I was surprised they weren’t made in China. Either way they looked good. But you have to wander your way through some stuff to find a good bait. sorry for the rant. 3
Super User Koz Posted October 26, 2017 Super User Posted October 26, 2017 Sure, you can spend a ton of money on lures, but hooks and soft plastic baits are cheap. There are also Beetlespins and a bunch of spinner baits for $1.99. Fish in my area aren't snobs - put the right bait in front of them at the right time and they bite I get what you're saying, but you don't have to spend a ton of money to catch fish. I think a lot of us get that mentality that we need just one or two more of the latest and greatest baits to round out our tackle box (kind of like "just one more cast") when we'd be just about as successful sticking to a few basics. But compared to my 11 year old's baseball gear fishing is cheap. But he does chores and odd jobs for neighbors year round so he can treat himself to lures or whatever else he wants. 2
Super User slonezp Posted October 26, 2017 Super User Posted October 26, 2017 Have you priced live bait recently? Lures are a steal. 7
BuzzHudson19c Posted October 26, 2017 Posted October 26, 2017 I can agree to an extent. Some stuff is over priced. A great example is plastics. As a rule of thumb I buy the cheapest plastic that works. I could buy Senkos, but I buy Dingers. Zoom makes awesome plastics for half the price of some competitors. Frogs. I have a spro poppin frog that has caught 50+ fish. So sure it was $12, but it holds up so well it was worth the money. Now hardbaits can be a crap shoot. There is some really good middle tier stuff that flat out works great. Strike King makes a lot of great stuff at reasonable prices. Same goes for Booyah. I don't spend more than $10 on a crank or jerkbait. Now all this being said, whether a lure company prices itself out of the market is entirely up to them. This is capitalism and something is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. If their sales drop, they need to come up with a new business model or they will die and another company will take their market share. As far as the youngsters it can be a good thing. I remember when I was probably 10 years old wanting to buy a bass colored jointed shad rap. I just wanted that lure so bad. I would work mowing grass, cleaning my uncles auto shop or whatever I could to by tackle. It helps kids learn the value of money and work. 1
Super User bigbill Posted October 26, 2017 Author Super User Posted October 26, 2017 Me too I worked that sameway raking leaves, cutting grass, selling my lunch at school to buy fishing stuff. It probably taught us good work ethics in the process. im incharge of my grandsons toys. I got him his first dirtbike at 5yo. For $200. At 7yo he’s almost ready to move up to the next size. I don’t mind.
ClackerBuzz Posted October 26, 2017 Posted October 26, 2017 you're right and it's not just lures. but the next 10 years we're gonna see a retail reckoning which will put a smile on ur face (thanks mainly to amazon). 1
Super User scaleface Posted October 26, 2017 Super User Posted October 26, 2017 28 minutes ago, slonezp said: Have you priced live bait recently? Lures are a steal. When I was a kid I sold night crawlers 10 cents a dozen . 1
Super User slonezp Posted October 26, 2017 Super User Posted October 26, 2017 1 minute ago, scaleface said: When I was a kid I sold night crawlers 10 cents a dozen . They're $3-$4 a dozen around here 2 1
papajoe222 Posted October 26, 2017 Posted October 26, 2017 If you look at the market as a whole, the cost of lures hasn't increased, proportionally, any more than rods, reels and other tackle. Even a spool of Stren or Trilene has increased in price around 35%. A lot of that has to do with advertising costs, but another reason is the average wage of that same target group you mention has gone up along with the younger one's parents. Live bait costs, on the other hand, fluctuate based on supply and demand. It was a rotten year for Canadian crawlers. Will we see crawlers at $2 or $2.50 again? That is a lot more likely than seeing a crankbait go from $7.99 back down to $5.99. Many of those lure companies moved their production out of the country only to raise prices anyway. 1
Super User Deleted account Posted October 26, 2017 Super User Posted October 26, 2017 19 hours ago, bigbill said: Do you think the lure manufacturers are pricing themselves out of business? Let’s face it maybe they don’t know the age range of there best customers? To me it would be from 10yo to 25yo. Youngsters are were the meat and potatoes of the business. Think about it one adult who fishes(dad) vs how many kids he has. I think the kids fishing out number us adults. I’m not sure of the ratio. But it’s pretty high. I went and purchased some new baits today at $9/$12 each. I said to myself how can the youngsters afford this? I see custom painted baits on the auction sites within this price range. Why settle for a plain colored bait. Even my bombers look better color wise for $6. Why don’t the bait manufactures target the area where the most buyers are age group wise? we see so many new baits fizzle out sooner than they should over the rest. Do you think there not selling because there priced too high. im retired but still try to save a buck here and there. I’m still above the $0.99 cent meal at mcdonalds. I feel bad for the younger crowd who just wants to fish. i found some nice looking affordable baits on an auction site made in Japan. I was surprised they weren’t made in China. Either way they looked good. But you have to wander your way through some stuff to find a good bait. sorry for the rant. Old folks always think everything is too expensive. It's the mirror image of why young people think a year is a long time. That being said, tackle manufacturers spend a lot of time, and $ marketing their products, elastic and inelastic demand, purchase history analytics, and all that good stuff. They are not in the business of selling cheaper lures, they are in the business of making $.
j bab Posted October 26, 2017 Posted October 26, 2017 If you need more affordable lures just buy h20 xpress, done
Stephen B Posted October 27, 2017 Posted October 27, 2017 Agreed, the cost to the manufacturer is being transferred to the consumer. The tackle shops and manufacturers don't make a lot of money off of them.
Super User NHBull Posted October 27, 2017 Super User Posted October 27, 2017 Compared to the cost of bullets......my other hobby........lures are cheap! 3
WCWV Posted October 27, 2017 Posted October 27, 2017 Me too NHBull, I started casting my own boolets years ago, thinking of trying to start making some lures
Super User Scott F Posted October 27, 2017 Super User Posted October 27, 2017 23 hours ago, bigbill said: Do you think the lure manufacturers are pricing themselves out of business? Let’s face it maybe they don’t know the age range of there best customers? To me it would be from 10yo to 25yo. Youngsters are were the meat and potatoes of the business. Think about it one adult who fishes(dad) vs how many kids he has. I think the kids fishing out number us adults. I’m not sure of the ratio. But it’s pretty high. I'm not sure if your estimate on the average age of fishermen is based on real numbers or just your own observations. From my observations, young guys in the age range of 10-25 are not fishing, they are playing video games. Few of my friends who have kids that age can get them interested in fishing. To stay in business, manufacturers have to make a profit. Once companies saw that anglers would buy expensive lures like Lucky Craft at $16 each, they knew they could charge higher prices and we'd pay up. As long as we keep buying $10 baits, that only cost pennies to produce, Rapala and others are going to keep selling them. If sales fall, so will the prices. 1
BuzzHudson19c Posted October 27, 2017 Posted October 27, 2017 36 minutes ago, Scott F said: From my observations, young guys in the age range of 10-25 are not fishing, they are playing video games. True. I have friends in the 30-40 yr old range that this is true for as well. In a way I'm like "great more room on the lake for me." Same goes for hunting. Not as many new comers to the sport.
papajoe222 Posted October 27, 2017 Posted October 27, 2017 3 hours ago, NHBull said: Compared to the cost of bullets......my other hobby........lures are cheap! I roll my own now and have both better and cheaper to shoot with
Super User Spankey Posted October 27, 2017 Super User Posted October 27, 2017 When I was a kid my buddy and I growing up use to work a guy's farm. He actually was the person who taught us how to trout fish. He was retired and was always ready to go to the tackle shop. We always had the right stuff. I still have some of my stuff from 45-48 years ago. Some things like CP Swings, Panther Martens, Old Mepps, creel, metal stringer, bait boxes. I still trout fish but that stuff is set aside. Sort of sentimental. I enjoyed growing up when I did as a kid. Stocked trout were bigger back than also. If I were to keel over tomorrow my two grandsons would be set for life with all my stuff.
HookRz Posted October 27, 2017 Posted October 27, 2017 Don't forget a big part of that price goes to promote the pro that promotes the baits to people that buy them!
Super User NYWayfarer Posted October 27, 2017 Super User Posted October 27, 2017 My motto is go cheap on plastics and expensive on hooks. A bag of Yum Dingers and some Gamakatsu hooks is all you need. With hard baits that I get cheap I will switch out the treble hooks with better quality ($) ones. Fishing doesn't have to be expensive but going too cheap will cost you in the long run. 1
Super User DogBone_384 Posted October 27, 2017 Super User Posted October 27, 2017 Cost of lures? I bought a stripped down work truck this Summer whose sticker price was nearly what our first house cost. Our daughter is looking @ $20k a year for college and $400K for a house after she graduates ..... Most lures aren’t that expensive. We’re simply getting priced out of everything.... 1
MoBassRaider Posted October 28, 2017 Posted October 28, 2017 If you’re looking to save money don’t forget about the bargain/clearance bins. Places like Bass Pro and Academy always have a selection of lures at heavy discounts and when they do I stock up.
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted October 28, 2017 Global Moderator Posted October 28, 2017 It's pretty easy to fish for really cheap. I used to fish with a combo I bought from Wal-Mart and lots of Renegade plastics, jigs, and cranks. Had a pretty good assortment of baits and a couple rod combos, probably 200-300 bucks into all of it. I've got individual baits that cost almost that now. Don't get into swimbaits if a $12 bait is pricey to you. I have swimbaits with almost $12 in hardware on them I also have given up most diving crankbaits, so that's a big chunk of savings there. If you know the websites to looks at, you can get baits for really cheap, as long as you're not real worried about colors or brands. 2
Super User scaleface Posted October 28, 2017 Super User Posted October 28, 2017 One doesnt have to spend a ton on fishing lures with all the info on the internet . Even deep diving crankbaits . You can buy a few to cover every depth . If you get a Berkely Dredger in every size then you have 8 to 22 foot covered . My Long Lipped cranbaitk fishing this year consisted of all the Dredgers , a Wiggle Wart , Deep Wee R and a Fat Rap . 1
pondbassin101 Posted October 28, 2017 Posted October 28, 2017 On 10/26/2017 at 9:22 PM, Scott F said: I'm not sure if your estimate on the average age of fishermen is based on real numbers or just your own observations. From my observations, young guys in the age range of 10-25 are not fishing, they are playing video games. Few of my friends who have kids that age can get them interested in fishing. To stay in business, manufacturers have to make a profit. Once companies saw that anglers would buy expensive lures like Lucky Craft at $16 each, they knew they could charge higher prices and we'd pay up. As long as we keep buying $10 baits, that only cost pennies to produce, Rapala and others are going to keep selling them. If sales fall, so will the prices. Lemme just say, I'm fourteen and I live and breathe for fishing. My friend is also fourteen, and hes the one that got me into fishing. I can't really get a job right now, so even a $10 lure really cuts into my savings. I've gotten like 90% of the baits I have rn from LTB and my 3 setups have come from either the flea market here, FFO, or ebay. I understand that everyone has to make money somehow, but why should I have to pay $15 for a single lure.
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