Bargain baits

[livemusic]

Have you found any bait/lure to be a bargain relative to others?

 

I have always thought Zoom had good prices; I use a lot of flukes and they're priced well and go on sale often.

 

Today, I bought a jointed swim bait, bluegill color, H2O (something) brand at Academy and the appearance of the bait is outstanding (sure looks like a bluegill to me!) but yet to be seen as for action; I will try it today. But it was 'only' $5 and I thought that was a bargain. Is the H2O (something) brand Academy's own?

 

Of course, I suppose what matters is what catches bass, lol, and price could be good even if it seems expensive! One that comes to mind there is Yamamoto Senko. I'm still looking for one that catches as well and is cheaper!

 

What have you found?

[MN Fisher]

Just now, livemusic said:

Is the H2O (something) brand Academy's own?

Yes - it's their home brand.

 

Another: Jawbone is a Field&Stream/Dick's Sporting Goods 'house brand'. The bass in my avatar was caught with a Jawbone spinnerbait.

[roadwarrior]

3 minutes ago, livemusic said:

Of course, I suppose what matters is what catches bass, lol, and price could be good even if it seems expensive! 

 

Senko, Fat Ika, Menace, Cut-R, Space Monkey, Baby Rage Craw, Gitzit and Berkley's Flat Worm

all fit in this category for me.

[king fisher]

I do not have any experience with the H2O Bluegill, but have used most of the H20 crankbaits.  I have had success with their medium diving Model M, and  Crank D.  The H20 Square bill works as well as any plastic square bill I have tried at half the cost.  

[Munkin]

Best lipless crank I own was from a $0.99 bargain bin at Gander Mountain. 

 

Allen 

[Skunkmaster-k]

The h2o jointed swim baits look fantastic in the water. I don’t know if the fish think so , yet . My wife got them for me for Christmas .

[K1500]

I used to get sucked in by the off brand or bargain bin baits. The. I would also buy some nicer baits and I realized that I almost always tied on the high end baits, so I mostly stopped buying bargain bin stuff. That being said, I have some H2O Express stuff that works just fine. On the other hand, I have never found a spinner bait or in-line spinner that was even close to the name brand stuff. 

[Log Catcher]

I have some of the H2O squarebills. They have fantastic paint jobs on them. Wish I could get out and use them more. Also agree with Zoom being a good value for the price.

[livemusic]

Update on the jointed, bluegill color H2O Express swimbait... yesterday was a very strange afternoon in that I got skunked. Zero fish to the boat and had several strikes (t-rig, weightless senko and the swimbait) that I am mystified as to why I didn't land a one of them. Like, six good bites.

 

As for this swimbait, I threw it quite a bit to get a feel for it. I quickly got a strike but it got off without me even seeing what it was. Later, this was a surprise because this was cast to open water off a point and I am surprised a big fish was out there but I got a strike that was an obvious big 'un and that fired me up! But the fish got off without me seeing it and a few seconds later, same cast, I assume it was not the same fish because that big one I had on definitely felt me bigtime because the fight was on. I assume it was a second giant. And this one, I saw this fish because it came to the surface (it was only 3-5 ft deep) and you know what happened; it threw the bait. Dang it! I figure this bass was six to eight pounds.

 

I do not think these treble hooks are big enough. I noticed it soon as I unpackaged it but I was thinking maybe the manufacturer knows what they're doing but I think they're too small. Now, I have to figure out a treble hook to install. I hope whatever I install does not mess up the action.

 

Mind you, this is my first jointed swimbait but the action looks very cool!

[Kyle S]

Good luck with your H2O express swim baits @livemusic. I've seen them online and almost purchased a handful of them to try but just never pulled the trigger. I WISH there was an academy near me.

[Spankey]

Soft plastics alway are somewhat of a bargain with the amounts per bag. Some of the higher dollar crankbaits never go on sale. Catching places like TW with some of their sales make buying some of the pricier cb’s a good deal. 

[Jaderose]

I like the BPS Stik-O's as much as the Senko's.  Pretty much the only thing I get at Bass Pro anymore but they work and I don't see much difference in the action

[galyonj]

3 hours ago, livemusic said:

I do not think these treble hooks are big enough. I noticed it soon as I unpackaged it but I was thinking maybe the manufacturer knows what they're doing but I think they're too small. Now, I have to figure out a treble hook to install. I hope whatever I install does not mess up the action.

 

I love H2O Xpress hard baits (the Rattlin' T is fantastic and a staple in my gear), but their hooks leave a little something to be desired.

 

I think you're fine going up to a #4 treble on that swimbait without it messing anything up. That lure's big enough that I doubt they'll affect the sink rate or action in the water very much if at all. I like EWG trebles, but you are, of course, free to do what you like.

[livemusic]

1 hour ago, galyonj said:

 

I love H2O Xpress hard baits (the Rattlin' T is fantastic and a staple in my gear), but their hooks leave a little something to be desired.

 

I think you're fine going up to a #4 treble on that swimbait without it messing anything up. That lure's big enough that I doubt they'll affect the sink rate or action in the water very much if at all. I like EWG trebles, but you are, of course, free to do what you like.

 

Do you know how I can tell what size treble hooks are on the bait? Does the hook get larger the lower the number? Which is counter-intuitive.

 

How can you determine what size to use other than just wing it and experiment? Is there any method to this?

[dgkasper58]

rebel pop r in bone.  Like $2 off the shelf at those big department stores.  Caught 100's if not 1000 of fish (again hook quality not great).

 

Update: Just googled the price of these things and they are up to $5?  Wow I missed that price increase.

[galyonj]

30 minutes ago, livemusic said:

 

Do you know how I can tell what size treble hooks are on the bait? Does the hook get larger the lower the number? Which is counter-intuitive.

 

How can you determine what size to use other than just wing it and experiment? Is there any method to this?

 

It's just like any hook sizing, yeah. A #4 is bigger than a #6, etc, til you get to the 0/ sizes.

 

Academy's website says that lure has #6 hooks on it, so I'm going by that.

 

I don't do a lot of size changing so much as I change the brand and type of hook with most of the lures that I would change them on (I like Gamakatsu, but that's because I haven't had reason to try different brands). For most moving lures like that I think you can change to just about anything either a size up or down without upsetting the lure much. With jerkbaits I'm a little more careful with sizing.

[DitchPanda]

I love zoom...probably my favorite soft bait company. They make almost everything..and for the amount you get the prices are more than reasonable. Another bargain are Mr twister phenom worms...20 curl tail worms for $3.

[jgordon]

I also enjoy the H20 Express and they have nice hooks on them as well the crankbaits.  Now the spinner baits aren't the best I bought couple and not huge fan of them.  Academy hands down in my area has more selection than the local Cabelas. 

Also the bait used in my profile pic was a yum dinger black and blue.  My Pb came off zoom fluke as well. 

[WRB]

Bargain lures usually have bargain hooks and random performance. Buying name brands on sale or between $6-$7 for name brands is a bargain imo.

If you like a specific soft plastic bait go direct to the mfr and buy 100 pack to save $$

Tom

 

 

[Black Hawk Basser]

Z-Man stuff.  Dozens of fish on one bait?  That's a bargain.

[K1500]

8 hours ago, Spankey said:

Soft plastics alway are somewhat of a bargain with the amounts per bag. Some of the higher dollar crankbaits never go on sale. Catching places like TW with some of their sales make buying some of the pricier cb’s a good deal. 

I like Senkos and Keitech better than the off brands, but based on fish per dollar, I don’t think any of the soft plastics are a ‘bargain’. I have hard baits that have caught 50+ fish in a single day, and will continue to do so until I lose it. Most soft plastics tear after a few fish. It seems like the soft plastic I like is less durable than some of the off brands, but a $10 jerk bait that catches fish year after year nets out to be cheaper than bags and bags of plastic. That being said, I don’t mind spending money on any of it if it will catch fish for me. 

[Mobasser]

You can get some good bargain baits at Wal Mart also. Beetle Spins at less than 1.00 per pack. Creme Scoundrel and other Creme soft plastics at good prices also.

[Bluebasser86]

I've got some Duo Rozante KO's that I bought for $3.50 each that fish really close the original. Tearing the fish up on them yesterday without having to worry about losing them was nice. 

[Spankey]

15 hours ago, K1500 said:

I like Senkos and Keitech better than the off brands, but based on fish per dollar, I don’t think any of the soft plastics are a ‘bargain’. I have hard baits that have caught 50+ fish in a single day, and will continue to do so until I lose it. Most soft plastics tear after a few fish. It seems like the soft plastic I like is less durable than some of the off brands, but a $10 jerk bait that catches fish year after year nets out to be cheaper than bags and bags of plastic. That being said, I don’t mind spending money on any of it if it will catch fish for me. 

I believe I have to agree with you. I have cranks and jerkbaits I’ve been fishing for years (and still buy more). 
 

I don’t know much about bargain bin baits because I don’t often see them around. I’m more inclined to look for a quality bait(s) on ale at a good price. 
 

My only bargain bin bait over my life time that I can say I bought and has worked great was a Lucky Strike 5” black ribbon tail worm. Bought a few 

bags because they were black, down to just a few worms left. Have never seen those plastics again.