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Posts: 119
| It seems as if musky lures are trending up in price all the time. I'm not sure if this phenomenon is a master plan from bait makers or the intelligence of musky anglers as a whole is going down. For example, I saw a nice looking dive and rise lure on MFM the other day and inquired about a price. The dude who was selling them wrote back "$150 for regulars and $175 for magnums." I'm sure barfighters are good lures but goodness gracious guys, I think its time to wake up. Some gliders and bucktails are going for outrageous prices as well. My question is - where do we draw the line? |
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Posts: 1668
| A plain hook and worm caught fish for a long time and I suspect still would. So, the basic is hook and sinker all the way up to the moon as to what people will pay. I don't blame the manufactures, hell they wanna take the time to R&D these things God bless 'em. My problem will be when walking past one of their booths if they stick a gun in my ribs and force me to buy one. Then i'll have a problem.  |
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Posts: 119
| I hear what you're saying, Brian, but can't you agree that regardless of R&D and production cost (in 99% of the cases) the lures are over priced? Now I agree with you about bait makers, I'm too lazy to do it myself and as you said, god bless their souls haha. But my takeaway is this: I think these guys are vastly overvaluing what their man hours are worth because that is what we are ultimately paying for. I have no problem supporting local, and small batch lure makers, but anything nearing $100 bucks is ridiculous in my opinion. |
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Location: Aurora | "we" ? |
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Posts: 119
| I'm using "we" describing musky anglers as a whole. And if your simple and understated reply suggests that you aren't in the category who pay outrageous prices then I say bravo, sir. I'm in agreement. |
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Posts: 8719
| Ain't no "we" in this equation. The day I spend more for a lure than I'd pay for a rod or a reel, you may as well put me in a home, because I'll clearly have lost enough marbles at that point where I'm a danger to others out on the water!
Can;t blame 'em for trying though. There are obviously enough anglers out there willing to pay that kind of money for the magic lure that's going to but multiple 40# fish in the net in a place where 30# is a pipe dream....
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Posts: 1668
| As a manufacture would you rather sell (6) lures @ $25 each or (1) @ $150?
Why would anybody buy a $200,000 Rolls Royce when a $10,000 Kia will do the same thing?
Edited by Brian Hoffies 1/18/2018 8:06 PM
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| we buy and use tools. Snap-on wrench, $100 . craftsman wrench, $20. Both get the job done and have the same warranty.
why buy one over the other? could be fad, status symbol, marketing, confidence, word of mouth, who has them, etc...
lures are tools. some cost more than others for the same reasons with similar results (for the most part). |
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Posts: 1529
| we build every day. keeping cost at a decent level can be a challenge..i do know chewed lures catch more fish then fancy paint jobs.. sometimes egos,s and guys with lotsa of money ,create there own 200.00 issues lol. |
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Posts: 1080
Location: Aurora | mnmusky - 1/18/2018 8:05 PM
we buy and use tools. Snap-on wrench, $100 . craftsman wrench, $20. Both get the job done and have the same warranty. Why buy one over the other?
Cuz Sears is open on Sunday and you can get a replacement when you need it. |
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Location: E. Tenn | There are still Sears stores that are open?? |
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| Sidejack - 1/18/2018 10:01 PM
mnmusky - 1/18/2018 8:05 PM
we buy and use tools. Snap-on wrench, $100 . craftsman wrench, $20. Both get the job done and have the same warranty. Why buy one over the other?
Cuz Sears is open on Sunday and you can get a replacement when you need it.
ACE hardware not sears. They are usually locally owned franchises. C'mon man, help your neighbor and some sell bait. |
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Posts: 3136
| I miss poolsides,,,I would spend $100 on a dive rise "IF" I could test drive it, see the wiggle/roll and if it gets down where I want it. |
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | There is a trend towards high end boutique baits. If you can build a beautiful bait, get some huge fish caught with it and better yet by someone who is hero worshipped, you can name your price and sell alot of them. It is a 100% mental game. |
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Posts: 105
Location: Jane Lew, WV | As long as people are paying the price, I would keep making baits and selling at that price point. It's come and go, a volatile stock. We saw it with Lake X topwaters, Dadsons, Shums, and now BarFighters. There are a few bait makers that are taking advantage of the pricey barfighters and creating their own spin-off, still making a fair return on it I believe. Where I am not as keen on paying top dollar for baits, Jon down the lane may be all about it. To each their own, I didn't work for your dollar so I can't tell you how to spend it. |
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Posts: 1668
| We should accept personal responsibility and not blame the builders. Nor should we look towards the government or anybody else to suppress prices. |
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Posts: 155
| There are plenty of $8 to $20 baits available, if you don't want to pay $150, then don't. The high priced ones are basically custom, small batch baits that guy's are making in their basements. They are not widely available so guy's pay more for them, who cares....
Trying to say there is some "master plan" is laughable.
Also, don't forget, 10% of all bait makers sales go straight to the government in the form of Excise Tax, that is one reason for the climb in prices.
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Posts: 330
Location: SE Wisc | As long as the names cool and it’s shiny I’ll pay whatever. |
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Posts: 1220
| I’m not going to name the guy (for pretty obvious reasons) but I went to his seminar maybe twenty years ago and he said the fancy lures were made to catch the fishermen. He was the best known (maybe the best altogether) musky guy then, and some probably still think so. While I’m not going to argue that, or say the lure guys don’t deserve their money, I really sort of think if all your baits were painted black, you might catch as many fish. Honestly, the only thing that has sort of always bothered me is that when someone really innovates something new and effective, the copycats send it off to China and cut the guy’s legs off at the next years shows. Knowing that’s about to happen makes a guy get his money while he can, and I don’t blame him. |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | I can only speak to the lures made by my buddy Shawn Mahar aka Hoser. Most of the foolishness is in the secondary market. I gladly pay $100 for a hand made lure or $140 for a Fatty. How many hours do you think goes into going to pick up clear western cedar cutting to dimension turning on a lathe cutting the face drilling for wire bending the hook hangers wiring it through adding the lip sealing with 2 coats of epoxy sanding painting the pattern 2 more coats of epoxy. Not making a lot of money ( but doing what he loves and getting the satisfaction of people all over North America catching big fish on his lures. ) I only buy one maybe 2 lures a year ( this year a replacement for a favourite left on bottom) and I know that it will stand up to a fight with the QUEEN should she ever cross my path. |
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Posts: 1668
| I don't think anybody is arguing that a lot of work go into these baits. These guys who build them and get premium prices good for them! My point is it's all personal choice. Nobody is making anyone spend huge money on a bait. It's personal choice, plain and simple. |
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Posts: 7010
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | You can, but you don't have to....$150 for a bait? Let's see...
9" weighted suick: $24
Cisco Kid 1800 sized: $18
Magnum Pro Dawg: $24
Suick Weagle: $27
Phantom 7.5": $23
Bite Back Bait Double 9: $18
Bomber Long A Mag: $9
$143 and I'd guess that you could probably catch a fish nearly anywhere with that lineup and I did try to make sure I can be effective in any season. Yeah, it would be great to have a big diving trolling bait, but long line that Kid and you're close. Would it be great to have a pounder in there? Hell yeah, but you're close with the mag. I love the Lake X topwaters, but if I have to pick one topwater, I'm going weagle. Etc etc.
My point is you don't HAVE to spend $150 on a bait to catch fish. But as long as there is a segment of the muskie fishing population that will buy baits at this price, there will be baits sold at this price. If no one bought the high end baits for these prices, they would no longer be sold at this price. Pretty simple.
And if you don't want to spend $143 for 7 baits, try the BST board here, lots of good deals. Go to a swap meet, they're popping up all over the place, FANTASTIC deals on used gear at these. Join one of the many facebook pages where muskie people are buying and selling. Some good deals there, too.
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Posts: 833
| It's called supply and demand. If enough people will pay $150 then the Bait Maker should charge that much. The key word there is "enough". What is enough to a small guy is probably different than to someone like Drifter.
This comes up all the time with baits, reels, rods, boats, you name it. The answer is spend what YOU are willing to spend. However, don't get mad that someone else is willing to spend more and therefore what you WANT costs MORE than YOU are willing to spend. If nobody could afford to spend $500 on Tranx, it wouldn't cost $500. OR... there wouldn't be a reel of the quality of the Tranx. In that respect you should be happy that some are willing to fork out the $$$ for the hot new thing. That means businesses will keep making the hot new things and the overall quality of our toys will continue to improve.
Basic Economics |
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Posts: 1080
Location: Aurora | miket55 - 1/18/2018 11:39 PM
There are still Sears stores that are open??
Lots of um, Mike.
You should really git out more brah.
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Posts: 300
| Plenty of less than $30 dollars to keep me in the game. Agreed with what Brad stated above: basic economics. And he hit on the best part. All it does is make every other lure manufacturer have to step up their game and produce a better product. |
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Location: oswego, il | What i am shocked to read in this thread is that we are looking to the government to surrpress bait prices??? |
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Posts: 718
| Oprah will lock prices down... |
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| I can't believe there's not a "Dive & Rise" yet that isn't named the "Stockbroker" |
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Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
How many of you can remember the days of buying Mepps Muskie killer tandems for $7.95 and Suicks for $12.99?
Oh how times have changed...and prices with them...
Steve |
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Posts: 1668
| I can also remember weighing 175 lbs and driving a 1967 Ford Galaxy. Oh, and having hair. |
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Posts: 3136
| First job in high school $1.10 hr,,work 40hrs take home $34 |
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | It's Obama's fault. |
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Posts: 155
| It all comes back to Global Warming...I mean Climate Change |
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | I spend my Wife's money the way she tells me to spend it... Case closed. |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | VMS - 1/19/2018 11:53 AM
Hiya,
How many of you can remember the days of buying Mepps Muskie killer tandems for $7.95 and Suicks for $12.99?
Oh how times have changed...and prices with them...
Steve
And gas at 25 cents a imperial gallon, bread at 18 cents you needed help to carry $20 worth of groceries and a man was raising a family on $50 a week. The house I first came home from the hospital to my Dad paid $3200 ( not a typo ) recently sold for $900,000. I told my granddaughters I paid more than 4 times more for my last pair of work boots as I paid for my first car.
Remember a nickle chocolate bar and penny candy. In Canada we no longer have pennies.
Edited by horsehunter 1/19/2018 1:16 PM
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Posts: 1529
| I was there horsehunter. those good days are long gonzo..3 candies for 1 cent. .
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Posts: 1184
| Brian Hoffies - 1/19/2018 10:56 AM
I can also remember weighing 175 lbs and driving a 1967 Ford Galaxy. Oh, and having hair.
Cool. I also drove a '67 Ford Galaxy 500. 390 cubic inch V8, factory 8 track stereo, and hydraulic door locks. Thing weighed more than a full sized heavy duty truck, today.
On the original topic, for me, it's about are you collecting lures or fishing with them. If you are into collecting lures, then paying a premium for a special, hand crafted lure, that you really like, is all good. That's what collectors do. I'm just not going to throw something very expensive, into the lake. Plenty of lures under $40 that seem to catch enough fish. If fact, I probably have more fish on lures under $20, than over. |
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| River2Stream - 1/18/2018 6:55 PM I think these guys are vastly overvaluing what their man hours are worth. Really? That's insulting. Would minimum wage be acceptable to you for a lure?
Edited by MRichardson 1/19/2018 3:24 PM
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Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Has this run its course and is now Basement material?
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Posts: 1668
| Slamr - 1/19/2018 3:41 PM
Has this run its course and is now Basement material?
Hey, you're the boss. I think it's OK yet. You are going into the weekend so there won't be much "work" action here anyway. |
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| barfighter paintjob are not really nice,it chips.if you ask me it don't even worth 25 bucks,now if you talk about lee leviathan that's another story.it move and look like a 125$ lures |
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Posts: 1080
Location: Aurora | VMS - 1/19/2018 10:53 AM
Hiya,
How many of you can remember the days of buying Mepps Muskie killer tandems for $7.95 and Suicks for $12.99?
Oh how times have changed...and prices with them...
Steve
I wanna say i remember when they were even cheaper than that.
I also remember sitting on the floor at the bait shop, sifting through suick after suick, looking for ones that had the line tie in the right position, weren't warped or had a twist in them, and with hook hangers that lined up somewhat.
It's been years since I've been asked to leave a bait shop..
~sigh~ |
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Location: Latitude 41.3016 Longitude 88.6160 | happy hooker - 1/19/2018 7:00 AM
I miss poolsides,,,I would spend $100 on a dive rise "IF" I could test drive it, see the wiggle/roll and if it gets down where I want it.
I miss pool side demo of Baits
Please Bring back the Bait Tank at Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis Expo’s |
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Posts: 1201
Location: E. Tenn | Sidejack - 1/19/2018 9:38 AM
miket55 - 1/18/2018 11:39 PM
There are still Sears stores that are open??
Lots of um, Mike.
You should really git out more brah.
I just don’t shop at Sears, and have seen a lot of shuttered stores in my travels. I’m away from home 210-245 days a year..
And that map is a 500 mile drive from end to end.
Edited by miket55 1/20/2018 11:22 AM
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Posts: 8719
| I think the short answer is we screwed ourselves by buying into the hype of lures (most now forgotten) that we were convinced were the golden ticket for catching tons of giant muskies. We paid $30 for a whatever, even though the $7.99 hunk of wood with hooks caught just as many fish. But everybody had that $7.99 hunk of wood, so it was nothing special. But our new whatever? Fish have never seen them before! And this and that guide uses them! And look at all those giant fish pictures! I gotta have one! Wait, $50? Well... Okay!
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Location: oswego, il | I can remember when Hughes rivers made their way to chicago and we thought 40 bucks was alot for a musky bait. |
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Posts: 1080
Location: Aurora | miket55 - 1/20/2018 11:10 AM
I just don’t shop at Sears, and have seen a lot of shuttered stores in my travels. I’m away from home 210-245 days a year..
And that map is a 500 mile drive from end to end.
I hear ya and they're slowly closing or downsizing around MN as well.
I bet if they brought Roebuck back they'd start killin it again.
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Posts: 4266
| It's not just muskie lures, everything fishing-related has sky rocketed in the last decade. I can't really fix blame on any one party because I see increases everywhere. People thought it was ridiculous to pay $40 for a Hughes River, then watched them climb to $100 because other people were willing to fork out the cash. You can try to sell anything for a price that you determine, but finding someone to pay it is the trick. You have to draw the line for what you will pay. |
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Posts: 213
Location: FIB land | Well I just looked up Hughes River baits, now I don't feel so bad / guilty about indulging in a SuperNatural. LOL |
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Posts: 556
| I like to support the small basement bait builders also... Nice to have a different assortment of lures than I can buy off the shelf... BUT-- I will not spend a $100 on a lure no matter what.. Way to many guys out there building quality lures for $25-$50.... If someone else wants to spend $100+ on a lure-- I am also fine with that,,, to each their own and I stay out of it... |
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Posts: 452
| 500 dollar reels, 400 dollar rods, 70,000 dollar boats, 200 dollar baits. All are the top of the line, and probably better then they have ever been before. Out of my league personally, but If I had unlimited funds and more time to use them maybe. |
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Posts: 67
| It's pretty simple , if you don't want to spend big dollars on a Bait ,,,,,Don't , but to say that baitmakers don't deserve to get maximum dollars for their baits is well silly ,,,,, how much is your time worth |
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Posts: 718
| Speaking of Sears, if they would have gone totally online with the full on Amazon approach 5 years ago, they might be alive today. |
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Location: SE, WI. | miket55 - 1/18/2018 11:39 PM There are still Sears stores that are open?? YES! There is a Sears, tool and hardware store Open on HWY Q in Germantown, WI. They recently replaced a few tools for me there that were Craftsmen! JD
Edited by jdsplasher 1/22/2018 12:21 PM
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Posts: 255
| capitalism allows the market to dictate: if they sell high, sell em. If you not like to pay much, find a way to make em, trade em, buy used. You may not prove anything to anybody on here, but you can share your viewpoint. All I know is that I am never sad a bait gets bit or mauled. |
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Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Bondy - 1/22/2018 11:38 AM
Speaking of Sears, if they would have gone totally online with the full on Amazon approach 5 years ago, they might be alive today.
I was at Sears 5 years ago...we were online then, too. Sears lost, and continues to lose because the name no longer resonates, the labeled product lines (Kenmore, Craftsman, Diehard) have lost quality, pricing does not beat competitors who offer a better shopping experience and better customer service. And the question of that kills Sears (for anyone under the 70 yrs old + demographic) is customers ask themselves "Why would I shop at Sears versus Amazon, Home Depot, etc. etc. etc". |
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Posts: 441
| I agree with horsehunter! There is a lot of time and energy that goes into making a homemade bait. They are not doing it for the money, they are doing it for the pride and love of their hobby. If you don't want to spend that kind of money, then stick with the mass produced, baits!
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Posts: 265
Location: Manitowish Waters WI | I call it the Musky Flee market effect. Since the rise of musky pages on social media and the fisherman catching lures prices have skyrocketed. A mention of a hot bait that catches fish for you and a couple of guides boasting on social media and a new $100+ bait just went into stardom. It's just the way it is when a large group of fishermen believe the lure catches the fish, not knowledge or skill. Don't expect it to come down in price or end. Over the last couple of years it has only expanded. |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | My perception is that with the high priced Basement Baits out there that perhaps can justify their cost due to Supply & Demand and their "artistic, hand crafted value" has allowed the Mass Producers to inflate their prices as well. An injection molded bait that should have a pricepoint in the $15-25 range is now selling for $25-35 range because the consumer has become numb to the cost of musky lures. I thought the whole point of commoditizing a lure was to drive cost DOWN... at the sacrifice of some artistic or hand crafted value? |
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Location: Elk River, MN | jlong - 1/22/2018 3:46 PM
My perception is that with the high priced Basement Baits out there that perhaps can justify their cost due to Supply & Demand and their "artistic, hand crafted value" has allowed the Mass Producers to inflate their prices as well. An injection molded bait that should have a pricepoint in the $15-25 range is now selling for $25-35 range because the consumer has become numb to the cost of musky lures. I thought the whole point of commoditizing a lure was to drive cost DOWN... at the sacrifice of some artistic or hand crafted value?
I think a contributing factor to the last few posts is the "introduction" of the raffle sites that have exploded in popularity.
Can't sell your bait for $80, just put it up for raffle, 10 spots @$8 each. You'll fill those raffles all day.
Guys getting stoned to death for trying to sell baits for $250 started turning to raffles and nobody blinks an eye. |
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Posts: 67
| Yup , it's the guides fault , they run high quality baits and then share that info and Bam the prices go up ,,,,,,Really are you kidding me , Maybe they share what works ( for them ) because they want others to be successful , not everyone is selfish and keeps all the info to themselves , and if a client catches a personal best on a custom lure do you not think they may want the same bait . It's supply and demand and the supply can be limited due to the fact high end baits are hand made , tested and proven by most quality baitmakers . it all comes down to what you have faith in , no one group controls the price market and in my opinion a lot of the customs are priced under market value that is why you see them going for much more in the aftermarket |
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| cant sell your $80 bait for $80? raffle it for $120... 12@$10
the sheep flock to it. amazing |
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Location: Elk River, MN | Trophyhunter1958 - 1/22/2018 4:42 PM
Yup , it's the guides fault , they run high quality baits and then share that info and Bam the prices go up ,,,,,,Really are you kidding me , Maybe they share what works ( for them ) because they want others to be successful , not everyone is selfish and keeps all the info to themselves , and if a client catches a personal best on a custom lure do you not think they may want the same bait . It's supply and demand and the supply can be limited due to the fact high end baits are hand made , tested and proven by most quality baitmakers . it all comes down to what you have faith in , no one group controls the price market and in my opinion a lot of the customs are priced under market value that is why you see them going for much more in the aftermarket
Definitely not the guides faults. It's literally their job to provide information and teach clients about whats working and how to catch fish.
It's a booming market and with the aftermarket values skyrocketing people will slowly bring their prices up. Especially when popularity rises and the availability of baits isn't able to keep up the prices will naturally rise. Simple supply and demand. Someone catches a fish and wins a tournament on a certain bait? Everyone finds out and wants it. |
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Posts: 392
Location: KY | "Can't sell your bait for $80, just put it up for raffle, 10 spots @$8 each. You'll fill those raffles all day. "
Is this even legal without being a charitable or not profit organization? |
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Posts: 1636
| Some of the high priced lures are a work of art.
There are a lot of people who buy lures to collect and put up on a shelf to look at.
I believe the high cost is worth the builders time for some of the higher priced lures.
Think about how much money some paintings go for.
With that being said... in response to the original post - I'm buying a Suick instead |
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Posts: 430
| I'm finding this post totally entertaining and to believe that people really believe in what they are preaching is even better. |
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | Millennials have definitely ruined everything, just like every generation before them. |
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Posts: 4
| One could add boat prices to this list but I think that could be a different topic on it's own. But as we are talking about lures. The custom guys keep the supply low and demand is still there. So a bait starts at $80 then guys are willing to may $20 more, then that is now the standard, then $20 more to get in front of the line. Then it's $60 VIP ticket to get into a show before everyone else. Soon the dowel prices at Home Depot will be $5 vs $3 and all the dive and rise will bump to $400.
the downside to all of this is I am looking at making a popular bait. After finding the right people\products, this bait is at a fraction of the cost. |
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Posts: 4
| Was just thinking about this. When can we start to lease muskie baits and then when should we get insurance for them. |
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Posts: 1080
Location: Aurora | Just throwin this out there but does anyone know if it hurts or helps the manufacturer/maker when their baits are all "out of stock" online about a month before show season? |
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Posts: 1
| Hi guys, I'm new to the forum and this is actually my first post. I can see both sides and points of view on this but have my own to add and consider.
I build bucktails part time for a big name company and felt compelled to chime in on this. My baits tend to go for a fair price, some of them have gone for as much as $200 in charity auctions and silent auctions at shows. Do I feel bad about that? Hell no! My marabou baits have anywhere from $25 to $40 worth of materials in them and generally the bigger models have about 3 hours of labor into them. They may not be made of wood but the total labor+materials is likely similar. I'd love to produce a lesser quality version for $30 but do you really want another Mepps MK or do you want a bait that will withstand anything you or the fish can dish out and last forever with a lifetime warranty on craftsmanship? I guess I could replace the powder coat blades for off the shelf laquer, replace the 6-9 linear feet of marabou with 3" of it, add a drop of epoxy to cover the threads instead of a full double mirror coat and probably build it in 20 minutes instead of 3 hours. I refuse to do this though as the quality of my bait is #1 for me. Fishable art by talented craftsmen is just that, a work of art that may work just as good as a made in China knock off but hopefully gives the owner a sense of pride in that he/she has a one off, quality item that supported a fellow american/canadian! To me, running baits made by talented guys such as Shawn Maher, Sean Howard, Ben Mageau or Evan Schoss to name a few is just like the feeling of pouring myself a glass of Highland Park 18, smoking a Cohiba or wearing a designer suit to work. I could get by with the Chivas, the 711 stogie or the Winners store suit but the feeling just isn't the same...
As for the limited quantities made. They're made by humans in their basements, mostly part time. Not by injection moulding machines and robots! Hell yeah they're in demand and in limited amounts. As Trophyhunterl said, if you don't like it, don't buy them!
Cheers everyone, this site is great and I'm happy to finally be contributing! |
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Posts: 718
| I think guys that are making high dollar baits, or at least baits that are pushed in the high dollar range because of limited quantities, are making less than minimum wage on them. Try making a wooden bait and after buying the wire, lips, and the parts and then actually make the shape then paint and add multiple coats of clear coat etc and you will soon see that at 50-80 bucks a crack they are lucky to make anything if you factor in the time spent to do it all. At Bondy Baits we now mostly use an injection machine and with all our baits under 30 dollars, and using domestic parts and shop, employees etc I think you would be shocked at how little profit we make per bait. Just speaking the truth. |
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| The time it must take to build a wooden bait has to be substantial. Everything from securing the materials, set up, shaping, finishing, etc. all takes time. Mass produced baits can be made cheaper because of economies of scale and the equipment that allows to be purchased but there still has to be profit or the business closes or at least that product is not longer made.
I do woodworking for a hobby and people will see a table or something else I have made and say, "you could sell those". Yeah, and make about a dollar an hour. I already have the tools, space and so forth, but there is still very little profit to be made.
I really wonder sometimes if a lot of folks understand basic economic principles, things like gross and net for instance. |
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Location: Sun Prairie, Wisconsin | T.Carlson - 1/19/2018 7:18 AM
There are plenty of $8 to $20 baits available, if you don't want to pay $150, then don't. The high priced ones are basically custom, small batch baits that guy's are making in their basements. They are not widely available so guy's pay more for them, who cares....
Trying to say there is some "master plan" is laughable.
Also, don't forget, 10% of all bait makers sales go straight to the government in the form of Excise Tax, that is one reason for the climb in prices.
It's simply supply and demand...if the batches are small and the demand is high...price goes up. Simple as that.
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Posts: 452
| Baits are tools to get a job done. Depth, Speed, Color, Action all play a factor. Some tools like snap on and matco cost more. If you want to spend your kids inheritance on high dollar baits and chase the next hot lure craze by all means, go ahead. I will see you at the swap next year and gladly pay you pennies on your original dollar. |
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Posts: 32789
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Since 2000, inflation has added a major amount to pretty much everything. Cost of living has increased, and wages have too, although that stat hasn't kept up as well. All of that increases the amount we pay for everything.
$10 bait after inflation overall? Around $17 with the increases in margin necessary to pay higher overhead these days. Boats and motors have increased about on that same scale.
Then add in the cost of making baits almost impossible to damage until they are flat out used up, a new deal in the last decade, and you have the rest. It was expected the paint would wear off a lure after some fish were caught 18 years ago, now it's expected you should be able to bounce a lure off a rock and not see a serious chip. Plastisol lures have to have crazy harnesses built in so they don't get destroyed by 3 fish. And so on.
A new truck in 2000? Ford F150 base was mid 16K mark. Now it's near $28K.
I used to fill up my car from near empty when I was in High School for around $10 with premium fuel (had to have it, my '64 Chevy Carryall had a few modifications). Taxes raise all sorts of Hades too. |
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Posts: 2228
Location: SE, WI. | Whether it's a basement lure builder, or a mass produced bait, THEY ALL PROVIDE A SERVICE TO YOU! Start to Appreciate Services Available! They are there for you. It's your option to buy or not! BUT! If that Service goes away, then you are stuck building your own. Then, you would know what it in-tales, to build something you never had to before. Case in point, I have Not been a jerk bait fan for about 30 years. These jerk baits going for $150-$200, I have no interest in. BUT, that jerk bait fisher that likes jerks, will probably partake. The baits might be worth it, but I won't Dis the maker, nor belittle the price they ask. I have zero clue what they put into it. Back in the 80's, early 90's, used to fish bass tourneys and musky...Used a bait called a Fandango. Cost was $2.99 for 3. I preferred the price $73.00 for 100 tails from Whopper stopper Fliptail. It was a kind of creature, Caught tons of fish on them. Won fist full of $$$$ in tournaments on them. Went through about 6-8 and outing. I thought the price was outrageous at the time, but the fun I had catching every specie of fish on them was worth it. Was glad the company was there to supply my addiction. Later, Molds disappeared, dried up....then had to start pouring my own. Appreciate the bait makers, and any business for that matter, that makes your life easier!!! JD
Edited by jdsplasher 2/2/2018 1:31 PM
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Posts: 155
| Muskies only eat baits that are over $80 now so... |
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| I think that the baitmakers deserve every penny that they ask for. I have no idea how expensive it would be to buy all the equipment needed to make wood baits but I'm guessing it's quite a bit. Then all the materials needed on top of it. Then add in the time spent building, sealing, priming, painting, epoxy etc. etc. You would have to make a lot of baits to make any profit. Don't forget the added time of trying to sell, then package, and then ship. |
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Posts: 1080
Location: Aurora | X2 on the above plus, don't fergit to add design, testing, and band-aid expenses. |
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Posts: 718
| Look into the costs of musky bait sized aluminum molds, design and cutting. |
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Posts: 222
| And I could have bought bar fighters for $30 back in 2014 and I didn't. Boy was I stupid. Could have gotten rich. 
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| it's a strange market .the last funny thing that i can recall were the famous pre roi depthraider, manta,and of course the barfifgter.no 1 could predict the price of the bar would get that high,specially for a very ordinary paint job that is also chipping to stay polite.but hey it's their money,the only thing i can do is laughing not at the sellers but the buyers.i guess they are sure 40pounders come with their treasures lol |
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Posts: 612
| $30 $35 tops otherwise they can keep it. Depth-Raiders, DDD's, Phantoms, spinnerbaits, Mepps, etc. plenty out there that work for $(15 to 35) why pay more. |
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| because after that you can go here to drop name like barfighter to sound cocky lol |
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