how much did you spend this year on going after mr lmb?

[fishhugger]

i'm just wondering what guys spent in pursuit of the bass.........  boats, various specialized rods or lines........lures, of course....  whatever.... i'm a cheapo and don't fish that much.  so i spent less than $200.  my fishing is within a half hour of my house, or at most, an hour.  i'm a bankie... just a bankie.

[WRB]

0$ for Mr all my goes to the fat lady.

Tom

[A-Jay]

I fish mainly for smallmouth,

Always from a boat & never from shore.

Either way, 'what I spend' annually is on a need to know basis.

Lets just say that it's something less than the National Deficit

but more than a pack of gum. 

A-Jay

 

[Bankc]

Probably around $400.  But that includes licenses and registration fees (around $60), gas going to and from the lake, probably about $30 in lures, and a $75 inflatable PFD (on sale). 

 

That's a lot less than most years.  But it was a rare year where I didn't need to buy anything expensive.  I also bought a 5-year state fishing license two years ago.  And I didn't do much driving this year, mostly sticking to the two closest lakes near me.  I've also discovered that I have more lures than I'm willing to use in a given year, so I pretty much only replace lost lures anymore.  Though I might pick up one or two new ones to try.  This year, it was a Lake Fork Flutter Spoon. 

 

So yeah, it might actually be less than $400! 

[GreenPig]

 Just over 3K so far, if we're talking gas, rods, reels, line, lures, etc. But I'll break even as I didn't join my 2 deer hunting leases at 2K and haven't bought any news guns. So really I've saved money.😁

[F14A-B]

I upgraded a bunch this year or should I say updated.. I usually do every 3 to 4 years. About 4k. 

[MIbassyaker]

I fish from a kayak, shore, and wade, almost always close to home.  So no long-distance trips, no boat to pull, gas-up and and maintain.  I suppose I spent somewhere in the mid-hundreds considering total tackle, gas, misc. accessories, license, and occasional usage/launch fees.  Didn't buy any new rods or reels, so that kept it down.

[Catt]

What I actually spent or what my wife thinks I spent?

 

Slow year, probably a couple grand. 

[DaubsNU1]

If you would have asked for my 2023 fishing budget...it would have included this purchase...

 

 

This year's budget is considerably less.

 

I did gear up for a Canada pike fishing trip, so I'm thinking that skewed the budget for 2024.

 

If you are asking for specifics....

 

 

: )

[padon]

i havent broken it down and i really dot want to thin about it but probably 2 to 3 thousand.

[Spankey]

Pretty light year for me this season. No new rods or reels. Bait Monkey didn’t take too big of a bite out of me. Most of the baits and terminal tackle I want to replenish or try for the first time in the upcoming season are a winter project to get together. 
I replace a lot of mono and CoPoly during the season but I buy them in bulk spools so that I don’t need to constantly purchase 330 yd spools from Wally World. There are huge savings when you buy line in bait shop size spools. 

I’m fortunate to live fairly close to either the lake or river. Drive time is well under an hour. Truck gas, outboard gas and oil might be $250 - $300 for the season. Maybe less. Nice seeing fuel prices dropping. 

I made the mistake a few days ago of touching a St. Croix Victory 6’10” MLXF. I think I’ll buy that rod next season. I fish two of those series rods now. Most likely put a Shimano Marivel or NASCI on it. 
It costs to do things you enjoy just try not to put yourself out of family and house obligations. Always something else necessary out there. 
 

[Mobasser]

I really didn't spend much. I've already got so many baits. I did but new line.

[Gera]

At the beginning of the year, someone posted a thread asking how much would you be spending on tackle this year. I confidently said cero as I was planning to use all the crap I had purchased the previous years and never used. Not only I failed soon after, I'm still finding crankbaits on my car's door pockets I bought early on the season that again were forgotten an unused. 

Even worst. I almost never fish crankbaits. 

 

On the positive side, I do believe this has been my lowest spending year in a while with only a few hundred spent. I call that a success. 

 

[king fisher]

I plead the 5th

[Fishingmickey]

18 minutes ago, king fisher said:

I take the 5th

I'll take the 6th, 7th and 8th. 

FM

[padlin]

I think we just did this but roughly $300 or $400, not counting gas for the truck.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I try to keep to a weekly/monthly budget.     I don't feel too irresponsible spending $50 weekly/$200 monthly.     

 

The number one thing that drains my fishing budget is soft plastics.    If I'm catching them on hard baits, I'm not really spending much money.   

 

I identify as guy who has a 2024 Bass Cat with a 300R, and spends thousands a month on LMB though 🤣

 

 

[T-Billy]

I spent less on bass fishing this year than any year in the past decade. Dropped a few grand on muskie gear though. 🤦‍♂️😂 

[Jig Man]

I spend very little on baits because I make most of mine.  I only had one custom rod built.  I’ve probably spent about $200 on hooks and other supplies.  My big expense is boat and truck gasoline which is about $50 a trip and I go twice a week.

[MediumMouthBass]

I saw where the market/economy was heading early. Inflation/price gouging was high on gas, cars, homes, certain foods, but most things were still priced normal, i figured it would go bad with everything.

But right then fishing gear was absolutely insanely priced with how extreme the sales, deals, and promos being offered were. It truly was a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

 

I spent way to much on baits, tackle, hooks, weights, rods, reels, kayaks, line, sun shirts and hoodies, as well as fly tying materials along with jig making stuff. I usually only spent less than $100 per year but there were several websites having sales including gift card promos, like for example Midway and Omnia had some deals that were practically buy $500 worth of certain brand reels or rods and you got $500 back in gift cards. Tons of shops online had sales that were frequently 25% 50% 75% and sometimes even almost giving them away for free (line baits and tackle).

Example i got Lews rods and reels from midway 50% off with the GC deal, Several Shimano and Daiwas for the same off Omnia, Several times got certain odd colored hardbaits for say they cost $5-8, id get them for $1.75-3. I bought, and i bought in bulk. Soft plastics and terminal tackle were pretty much the same across a few different websites, sometimes they were the good colors and sometimes the weirdest colors you could imagine. Then with the Midway $275 St Croix rods giving you $200 back in gift cards i had to do that too. Tackle Warehouse had the Daiwa Aird X rods normally $55 but if you bought in bulk they would get lower and lower. I bought over a dozen and probably got each one between $27-33 a rod. Dicks sporting goods had several events with Yum, Zoom,  Strike King where it would be buy 3 baits get 3 free.... Bait WRX had some holiday sales that would stack on top of already severely discounted clearance items. And then when DSG near me closed their Field and Stream they were selling fly tying materials 75% off.

And then DSG wanted to clean house with the SLX's awhile back, saw a post on the latest sale thread here they were selling them for $40. Called every store near me and only one store had 1 single reel remaining.

 

 

 

I got sucked into the sales, its like a timeshare. I refuse to buy anything now. even if Jackhammers were selling for $1, i couldnt care. Bought so many reels in the wrong hand retrieve, rods that are nice, but i prefer my Aird X's more, to many crankbaits, jerkbaits, and various other soft and hard baits i cant stand using, and tons of line from different brands when i only use YZH...

Reason i wrote all of this is because no matter how good a sale is, even if its truly a once in a lifetime deal. Spend nothing but the exact amount it will cost to get only what you will need. It got to the point i thought hmmm you know what? If i were fishing and this bait got stuck in a tree ill probably need 15 extras because they will be over 100% more expensive to buy next time. And while that is correct now, the baits will just collect dust.

 

But that was 1-2 years ago, this year so far (since January) i have spent probably only $20, the rest was with spent with remaining gift cards i had. And out of curiosity i checked the places i ordered from several hundred times, and their sales are an absolute joke, its like 10% off. If even that. Everything in the fishing industry is now MSRP for the most part, although there may be a good or great sale here and there, but thats how it used to be almost daily, for the whole year.... Not anymore, the economys water flooded into everything.   If i had to pay todays prices, i would just fish with a stick that has sewing line, and use a hook from a soda can with a worm.

 

I started an LLC, got a business name, and am starting the process of setting everything up to sell off the overflow of stuff i bought, but the main thing will be tying flies and selling them.

Did i spend more money than i should have? Yes and no. I couldve lived in Vegas for half a year, but instead im doing what i love, meeting and talking to good people that love fishing (all types of species not just bass, sorry) and im working for myself, not some jerk in corporate America. I work when i want, go on vacation when i want, and fish when and as long as i want.

[Craig P]

I see that my wife created an account here under the alias fishhugger. Sorry dear, the answer is still, and will always remain, the fifth. 

[GaryH]

2 hours ago, king fisher said:

I plead the 5th

Beat me to it….

[gim]

Waiting for @NorthernBasser to respond here. 😂

[crypt]

4 grand so far this year give or take 10 grand.............

[whitwolf]

I haven't really thought about it. I probably won't.  If I had to guess it was more than $1.00. 😀