budget hardbaits?

[Bassboss]

Fishing around rod sure can loose you a bunch of crankbaits, and jerkbaits!

On my first few outings I lost 5 baits in about 3 hours. I can tell already this is gonna get expensive! The river is pretty shallow, so 0 - 4' divers is what I'm looking for. Under 4.50! Not looking for any particular construction, (wood, plastic, rattles, w/o rattles, ect.). Just a good shallow crank and, minnow bait like the rapala original! That rebel value minnow looks like a solid bait to me, anyone use it?

Thanks for any help.

[MIbasser]

Buy a lure retriever. Problem solved.

And what is "rod"? Never been snagged on that before......

[BigBassin144]

Bandits. Not expensive enough to keep you from fishing rocks, weeds, and wood. A great selection of colors. The 100 series is what you want. Oh, and they're nearly indestructible.

BB

[MallenManson]

Agree on the Bandits for sure. Also, while BigB doesn't like the suspending version, I love the floating version on the BPS Nitro Minnow.
3.99 normally if I remember right, but they go on sales fairly often.
They come in 2-3' and 3-5' diving depths.
I like Chrome Clown for Smallies and Silver Shad for Largemouth.
Last February, the Vegas store had all XPS baits 25% off. Maybe there's a store near you that will do the same

[BigBassin144]

Originally Posted by MallenManson

Agree on the Bandits for sure. Also, while BigB doesn't like the suspending version, I love the floating version on the BPS Nitro Minnow.

haha, as long as the floating one floats better than the suspending one suspends, it should be ok.

BB

[Jrob78]

If you have a Dicks up there in the frozen north, you might check for Matzuo and Excalibur baits. Not XCalibur, Excalibur. They often have them on sale 2 for $4 and I think the regular price is $2.99.

[MallenManson]

Originally Posted by Jrob78

If you have a Dicks up there in the frozen north, you might check for Matzuo and Excalibur baits. Not XCalibur, Excalibur. They often have them on sale 2 for $4 and I think the regular price is $2.99.

MC Sports sells Matzuo pretty cheap as well

[WaffleJaw]

The Matzuo baits are really good for the money...Dick's usually sell them 2 for 5 (Like Joe said).. Good running baits and the suspending baits suspend really well.

[bassboogieman]

Check Bass Boat Central for their LURES FOR SALE forum. I just saw a box of cranks (around 28 lures) sold for $45 shipped. They have a lot of stuff move through there, from individual baits to lots. Some good deals can be found.

[Imgoodatwhatido]

H2O....if you live near an academy sports

[Jrob78]

Originally Posted by Imgoodatwhatido

H2O....if you live near an academy sports

My first thought too but he's in Wisconsin.

Sammy, if you want some H20 baits let me know, I can hook you up. They are all under $4, TX has a sales tax and you would have to pay shipping.

[lilmule]

Ebay for H20 and Born to fish,do min bid and often get them

[3dkicker]

See if you can find some Norman Mad N's discounted. Bomber Fat Free Fingerling also runs shallow and are under $4. 1/8 oz Speed traps run 5' and you can find them discounted. Rebel Wee R is another to think about. I don't like the new colors so I'd look for the old ones at a flea market.

Throw them on 17-25lb test and you shouldn't lose many.

[Marty]

I was also going to recommend Dick's for the Excalibur sales. Bomber and Norman are two good brands that come to mind that are modestly priced by crankbait standards. And maybe some private label brands are worth looking into as well.

[bamabassman]

Sammieboy.........do you get a BASS PRO SHOP flyer? I got one today, it has xpz hardbaits kit (5 lipless cranks) for $15.99 and kermy kit (5 frogs) for 19.94. They both look lie ood products. Different colors. Try to see if these are in their online sale.

[islandbass]

You can always make them.

[MallenManson]

Originally Posted by islandbass

You can always make them.

Or get them on the cheap from someone who does

[Bender]

One that I didn't see that I use a lot of are Manns Baby 1-. I can't remember how much they cost but I think they are in that range. Because they are so shallow running I very rarely lose them and they come in a lot of colors.

I'll second the lure retriever too. I'm not sure how well one would work from shore but you can make something to try. Just get a big sinker (6 oz+?) and cut the line tie so that it will slip over your line. Tie a piece of string to it so that you can bounce it off your lure when it slides down there. I bought a BPS one with the chains on it and I don't think that the chains have ever helped, but it has paid for itself many times over.

[walkeraviator]

My buddy just got into fishing and has been using the Bass Pro hard baits out of their $2 bin. I was skeptical til i tried one of their crankbaits and was fairly impressed. He managed to catch decent fish out of a nearby lake that is well known for being very hard to catch fish in. I think is mostly because the BPS cranks have a little different action than other cranks. They have a whole lot more roll like a jerk bait. And this gave the fish somethig different to look at.

[dave0943]

Hey guys,
I just crawled out of the woods, been hunting. Took a beautiful 7 pointer nearly 186 lbs. Passed up quite a few. At my age I'm always snoozing in the blind. I bought a set of Cabela's Dig it cranks. Nice colors for 19.95 in a six pack. They have sets of 6 in about 6 or 7 different types and running depths They have jointed, lipless as well. The Digits run from 2-8 ft. Caught more than a few LM and SM on them. A friend told me about them. I plan to buy a set of each type. I give up quite a few to the river each year and with these it doesn't bother me much. Give them a try. Pretty decent quality for the money.

[Marty]

I'll second the lure retriever too. I'm not sure how well one would work from shore but you can make something to try.

I used to spend countless hours fishing from shore in part of the Erie Canal, that was extremely and ate crankbaits like crazy. So I bought a couple of lure retrievers.

My personal experiences and opinions:

I never got a lure back with a conventional retriever, one that features a heavy weight sliding down some line. My conclusion was that these are intended to be used when the lure is straight down, not at an angle as is mostly the case from shore.

Then I shelled out $25 for a 20' metal telescoping retriever. It was a little clumsy to use, but very effective. The fishing died there after a while so I just used the retriever for a few years. Being a compulsive record keeper, the retriever was no exception and it was successful on 58 of 66 attempts, paying for itself more than 10 times over.

I can't offer a guess on how it would work on other than rocks, such as tree branches.

[walkeraviator]

Yeah, we keep one of the telescoping pole lure retrievers in the boat as well... but only goes out to about 12 feet...

[WaffleJaw]

Where can I can find a metal retriever pole?
Did a google search but all that came up was robot porn?


Never mind I found some.

[BigBassin144]

haha, robot porn!

Did I mention Bandit 100 yet?

BB

[MO3N]

OVERSTOCKBAITS usually has some cheap hardbaits.