"bargin bin" just as good?

[basspimple]

so recently ive been "trial testing" numerous presentations.(shaky head, split shottin, jigs, ect) now, i dont have a huge budget to work with, and was looking for a cheap way to try em out, as buying a bunch of random plastics in every color of the rainbow is not an option. thus i turned to the bargin bin at the local wally world. what i discovered was a smorgasboard of lures that i thought i would never even think of buying, let alone using. but, alas, bein the cheap a** i am, i broke down and bought a couple of packs of em. i could never had made a better choice. now, like most of you br members, i am fairly brand biased. my qeustion to you is: how many of you do just as well with the "generic" brand of baits, or are willing to admit it? i hate to, but i do. :'( oh well, the fish dont seem to care

[roadwarrior]

Never.

My #1 suggestion to help everyone save money is to only buy lures/ baits that are highly recommended by people you know or trust.

Here is my suggestion for a "complete" tackle box:

Soft Plastics:

GYCB Senko, Fat Ika, Kreature, Kut-Tail & 8" worm, double tail and single tail grubs and Hula Grub. Micro Munch Tackle El Gordo, 3 1/2" Mizmo tube. Slug-Go. Roboworm, 6" Shakin' Zipper.

Top water: Zara Spook, Lucky Craft Sammy, Chug Bug and Cavitron Buzzbait.

Crankbaits:

0-2' Bomber Square A, Norman Fat Boy, Mann's -1

2-4' Bagley BII

4-6' Lucky Craft Rick Clunn 2.5 & 3.5

5-10' Rat-L-Trap, Lucky Craft LV-300

10-15' Lucky Craft LV-Max-500. New to me, Yo-Zuri Rattl'N Vibe

15-20' Norman DD22, Mann's 20+

Deep Mann's 25+

Jerkbaits:

Lucky Craft Pointer 128, 100 & 78 and Staysee 95 SP, Rapala Husky Jerk & X-Rap (4").

Jig & trailer

3/8 oz Evolution jig

Micro Munch Tackle 3/8 & 1/2 oz jigs

GMAN 1/2 oz jigs

Shak-E2 jig heads, 1/4 & 3/8 oz

GYCB Fat Baby Craw, Kreature, Flappin' Hog and Net Bait Baby Paca Craw.

Spinnerbaits:

Terminator (one chartreuse and one white), Ledgebuster 3/4 oz single willow blade

Small swimbait: GYCB Swimming Senko

Medium swimbait: Mattlures Baby Bass

8-)

[Aaron]

I always look in the bargain bins and usually end up buying stuff.  Two of my most productive lures have come out of the bargain bins at Gander Mt.: an orange and black crankbait and a white Gary Yamamoto jig.

For the most part I buy name brand stuff but I still get outfished by my friend that uses "generic" stuff from wally world.

Just use what you can, fish when you can, and have fun.

[Raul]

Wanna hear something from somebody that usually has more money to burn in tackle than brains ?

I own hundreds of bags of soft plastic baits in almost every color and the truth is that I don 't need all the colors, with only a couple: watermelon & green pumpkin you can catch fish most of the times; neither do you need a bunch of different baits, I swear to you that 80% of the time I catch fish with straight tail worms, used to fish with Jelly Worms but I traded them for Trickworms when I ran out of Jelly Worms. Add 5 inch grubs to your list in pretty much the same colors, a couple of bags of curlytail worms like Zoom 's SS-Utale and a pack of flukes and you are ready to go and catch some feesh.

The important part on a bait effectiveness is not how many types of baits you have or which colors you own, it 's  knowing many ways to rigs soft plastic baits and how you fish them.

I 'm going to quote Catt:

"Catching fish is between your ears, not between the folds of your wallet"

Even though I 'm a tackle junkie I must say that the sentence is quite accurate. If I knew back then over three decades away when I began the habit of purchasing tackle what I know now rigging methods and fishing techniques the ammount of tackle I now own would be a lot smaller, when I say a lot I do mean a lot.

[Infidel.]

"Catching fish is between your ears, not between the folds of your wallet"

Wow Catt. I like that (Even though the jig setup I posted on the other thread cost over $500). Someone should go post that that on Tackle Tour ;D

[bait__Monkey]

"Even though I 'm a tackle junkie I must say that the sentence is quite accurate. If I knew back then over three decades away when I began the habit of purchasing tackle what I know now rigging methods and fishing techniques the ammount of tackle I now own would be a lot smaller, when I say a lot I do mean a lot."  -Raul  

 

wat!

raul, u mi frend...dont talk lik dat...u mak me cry...

u got sum mor monie, yes?

i hep u, we go by sumpin.

[mike bat]

i always look in the bargin bins ,,, sometimes theres good stuff in there ,,, pluse i spent so much money on gear ( reels and rods ) i have no other way to baits ....  

theres good stuff in there ... i picked all my tru tungston outta a gander mt bargin bin ,,, as well as stone jigs ,,, manns cranks ,, spro cugging mino ,,, 10inch power worms ,,, the list gos on ....  ;D

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

so recently ive been "trial testing" numerous presentations.(shaky head, split shottin, jigs, ect) now, i dont have a huge budget to work with, and was looking for a cheap way to try em out, as buying a bunch of random plastics in every color of the rainbow is not an option. thus i turned to the bargin bin at the local wally world. what i discovered was a smorgasboard of lures that i thought i would never even think of buying, let alone using. but, alas, bein the cheap a** i am, i broke down and bought a couple of packs of em. i could never had made a better choice. now, like most of you br members, i am fairly brand biased. my qeustion to you is: how many of you do just as well with the "generic" brand of baits, or are willing to admit it? i hate to, but i do. :'( oh well, the fish dont seem to care

Absolutely, but it depends on the product.

Some things are just a basic rip off. like the Yamamoto stuff.  designed to be quickly replaced even, a marketing genius.

Unlike you, I am PROUD to not be sucked in to hype.  I WILL pay for quality, but I will HUNT for value.

Some bargain savers of mine are

*** plastics

Eagle claw hooks

Just about any rod above the Ugly stick level.

Ande line

My numbers and size speak for themselves.

Swimbaits are next, I'm hooked, unfortunately, there is no middle ground here,.....

[Boogey Man]

Bargain bin, that's debatable. Some times you can find good quality name brand lures on sale/clearance. I have bought some off brand soft plastics and done OK, but as far as hard baits like cranks, topwater, etc, the "off brand" is probably going to be a less quality lure as far as paint job, hooks and so on. But, that doesn't mean the fish won't bite 'em. Big thing is, have fun whatever you're throwin'!! Remember, the fish don't care what you pay.

[basspimple]

yea, i was talking about plastics. i dont skimp om quality when it comes to hardbaits. rapala is my main plug brand, awsome quality to price ratio, handle a lot of abuse and still run more true than any brand ive used.

[CRFisher]

if you're boatless and fishing rivers you can't go wrong with Wally world cheapies (Renegade, etc.), the lack of quality doesn't matter as sunken branches, rocks, and in my neck of the woods, sunken tires, bicycles and shopping carriages do a number on your lures.  The fact that the hooks will quickly dull and the paint wear off doesn't matter much, as the lures quickly disappear.  The cheapies still catch fish.  That being said, I'll only use the name brand stuff if I know the area and the likelihood of losing a lure is low.  

I noticed the cheap plastics actually hold up better as they have less salt and have not noticed a difference in bite and hook ratios.

[The Rooster]

I have bought some of the cheap hardbaits before.  Ended up giving almost all of them away cause they run crooked as a dog's leg right out of the box.  I tuned a few but my heart wasn't into fishing them.  Only ones I have now are the hard jerkbaits that float.  I can catch fish on those and they don't run crooked, but it doesn't matter cause the way I fish them they don't run at all anyway. Just get the snot jerked out of them or twitched softly on top of the water.  I have one I've caught so many fish on I figure it's paid for all the rest of them I gave away.  

Then I have a bunch of the Renegade twirl tail worms too.  Rarely used them and just recently I took them all out of my tacklebag to make room for Zoom U-tales in more colors. ;D  I did catch fish on them before though.  Just don't like them cause of the way they bag them up, sitting in the bags they are all bent up and come out with a permanent crook in the length of the worm that causes line twist so I don't use them anymore.  Zooms don't have that problem.  I'm a Zoom man now. ;D  

[JayDub]

Never.

My #1 suggestion to help everyone save money is to only buy lures/ baits that are highly recommended by people you know or trust.

Trying suggested baits will usually catch you some fish. BUT..

Use what YOU have proven to work, and don't let anyone else tell you any different.  If you try something that someone suggests, and it works, and you want to use it, then use that.  If you tried something different and found that IT worked and you liked it, then use it.  

The people who are one step ahead, who try something different, something other than the same thing THOUSANDS of anglers are using, will alot of times catch the most, biggest, and even win tournaments.

[The_Natural]

so recently ive been "trial testing" numerous presentations.(shaky head, split shottin, jigs, ect) now, i dont have a huge budget to work with, and was looking for a cheap way to try em out, as buying a bunch of random plastics in every color of the rainbow  :Pis not an option. thus i turned to the bargin bin at the local wally world. what i discovered was a smorgasboard of lures that i thought i would never even think of buying, let alone using. but, alas, bein the cheap a** i am, i broke down and bought a couple of packs of em. i could never had made a better choice. now, like most of you br members, i am fairly brand biased. my qeustion to you is: how many of you do just as well with the "generic" brand of baits, or are willing to admit it? i hate to, but i do. :'( oh well, the fish dont seem to care

Absolutely, but it depends on the product.

Some things are just a basic rip off. like the Yamamoto stuff.  designed to be quickly replaced even, a marketing genius.

Unlike you, I am PROUD to not be sucked in to hype.  I WILL pay for quality, but I will HUNT for value.

Some bargain savers of mine are

*** plastics

Eagle claw hooks

Just about any rod above the Ugly stick level.

Ande line

My numbers and size speak for themselves.

Swimbaits are next, I'm hooked, unfortunately, there is no middle ground here,.....

I love 'ya low budget, and you obviously aren't wrong (opinions can't be wrong  ).  You should be the ambassador of the low budget demographic  .  So you brought up the question...are Yamamoto baits ridiculously soft because they are trying to mimic the softness and action that only hand poured baits can achieve, or are they making them super soft to simply sell more product?  I guess it could be the latter, with Yamamoto getting miraculous stroke of luck when their super-soft baits that need constant replenishment actually out produced their injection molded, mass produced rivals.  I personally don't think Gary Yamamoto is that vindictive.  I think his marketing plan was simply to create the highest quality plastic baits out there.   I seek out the softest soft plastics I can find... I guess you could say I actually buy Yamamoto's because they tear easily  8-).    

On another note I am a sale junkie...no one on the planet hits Cabelas bargain cave more than I do.  I love a good sale, and that is the reason I have literally a few thousand bags of soft plastics.  I think the key is knowing when to spend the money and when not to.  JMHO of course  8-)

[Catt]

Having a mechanical and engineering back ground I tend to look at how a product is made regardless of price.

I'm a firm believer that you can either have bass in your live well or lures in you tackle box but you can't have both.

I am an absolute master at pinning plastic baits together with my hook to catch one more fish.

Price does not make a lure productive; I will take all your money with Wal/Marts Renegade Jigs or Renegade 6 hook tail worms.

[SimonSays]

Sometimes the bargin bins have great deals on yamamoto's and other brand name plastics.  My recent trip to Gander mnt produced bags on Mann's 4in Hardnose tubes .82 a pack!  in black/blue black/red and pumpkin!  Dead on colors for cheap.

So go bargain bin diving you might come up with some gold!

[Stringjam]

If you really want to save money - buy a lead pot and start pouring your own jigs and making your own spinnerbaits.  

You'll wonder why you ever paid so much money in the first place for all that stuff - - it's so easy a 5 year-old could do it.    

I pay a premium for crankbaits - because cheaper baits (for the applications I use them for) aren't even in the same league....and life's too short to use something that doesn't work right.  

There are a few exceptions (Cordell Spot, Storm Wiggle Wart, etc.)

[basspimple]

anyone ever use those riverside baits in the dollar bin at wal-mart? they really arnt bad baits. i bought out these 5 inch straight tail worms they had:

and they work! lol

[jvox]

If Berkeley or Yamamoto aint in that bin, LEAVE IT ALONE.

[Paul Roberts]

If you look through a fishing catalog you'll see hundreds, even thousands of concoctions developed to catch bass. Should tell you something -lotsof things work.

For plastic baits I'm not, at all, faithful to brand. Glad people are out there makin' stuff, but I can adapt a lot of plastics to do the trick. A few are hard to duplicate, like the density (Senko/Flash) or the buoyancy of some plastics (Trickworm). But most plastics are nearly interchangeable.

Hardbaits can be something else though. Many bargain topwaters and crankbaits are truly poor. I'm a tackle tinkerer so I may buy knock-offs, but often have to nearly re-build them to get them to operate really well.

Don't let the hype (and sometimes downright BS) get to you. View lures as tools and bend them to your will if need be. It what you do, rather than what the lure does, that often matters most.

As to the Yamamoto question: What makes Senkos and Ikas crumble is the amount of salt, which is integral to it's fast-sinking design.

I do find almost all plastic baits are too stiff out of the package, so I boil the important parts before I fish them. I want that worm to wiggle and I want those appendages to jiggle and I want those swimming tails to swim, even at very slow speed. I dip boil almost everything.

I am an absolute master at pinning plastic baits together with my hook to catch one more fish.

Me too! ;D

[The Rooster]

Dip boil??  You mean just dunk it in boiling water for a second or so??  Might have to try that one.  Does the plastic retain it's newly gained softness indefinitely or will it stiffen up again later on??  

[rondef]

I don't shop the bargin bins.  I usually only buy lures that have been recommended or ones I know produce results.

[hercdoc]

"When was the last time you regretted buying the best!"

[Chad.]

"When was the last time you regretted buying the best!"

Darn long time ago depend what you consider the best, i consider the best the most exotic expensive stuff. Which wont always catch you more fish

I got some strike king plastics form the bargain bin which was pretty good.

[Little Luey]

You can usually always catch a sale somewhere, and buy the brand name stuff, but as long as you are catching fish with the cheap stuff, who cares? bass don't know what you paid for the stuff!!