The holiday season is upon us, which means Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and the rest of the holiday shopping season is here! Similar to your other favorite retailers, you can expect to see deals on fishing, hunting, and outdoor equipment. As you plan your shopping for yourself, friends, and family, here’s a few tips about how to maximize your budget when it comes to purchasing fishing gear this year.
Stock Up on the Tried and True
As anglers, the ideas of new baits entering the market is always fascinating. Whether it’s the hottest crankbait, latest electronic, or this season’s “must have” in your boat or tackle box there is always something to attract our attention. However, when we set out on our favorite fishery, we often find ourselves reaching for our favorite baits too.
“Every year I tell myself I’m going to experiment with different baits, different colors, different techniques, whatever it may be,” says Nick Harrington, Owner of Lip Ripper Fishing. “Then every year I find myself in my favorite spot with my favorite baits because that’s where my confidence is, and ultimately I just want to catch fish.”
This means that when your favorite bait, color, or size is on sale, it’s a good idea to stock up.
“On Lake Sharpe in particular I have one crankbait box that sees probably 95% of the work,” elaborates Harrington. “I have four of each individual color in there at all times, plus another box of backups at my house. You aren’t taking off a bait that’s catching fish, so you better make sure you’re stocked up.”
It’s a good idea to take an inventory of the baits you have, and even if you feel like you’re mostly stocked up, if your favorite bait goes on sale it’s a good idea to grab a few more. This is a good way to maximize your budget and know you’re purchasing something that you’re ultimately going to be hitting the water with.
“I think as anglers we all want to be using the latest and greatest baits and technology, but the fact is having your confidence baits is something to be proud of,” continues Harrington. “When you’ve put in the time on the water to find baits you know are going to catch fish, it’s just simply a good idea to have at least one of these on at all times.”
Expand Your Color Selection
One way to add to your tackle box in a positive way is expanding on your color selection of your favorite baits. This means you’re adding baits you know can catch fish, and opening up additional opportunity to produce extra bites out on the water.
“I think color is one of those elements that you can experiment and have some fun with, but still know you’ve got a legitimate chance to get a bite,” states Harrington. “If my confidence is in a #5 Flicker Shad, I’m more likely to try a different color knowing that my model, size, and profile is all correct.”
Light and water conditions provide a major influence in color selection, and these conditions can change several times throughout the day. This means staying on top of these changing conditions means staying on top of the best bite.
“As the sun rises and sets, wind picks up or dies down, and cloud cover changes, the light conditions are constantly changing in the water,” details Harrington. “This means that what colors are showing up best in the water, and thus attracting fish, are going to be changing too.”
Adding a mixture of brighter and more natural colors expands the opportunity to have the best color for the conditions, and also travels to new fisheries well too.
“When I’m somewhere new, finding fish is my top priority, that means I put on baits I know catch fish,” expands Harrington. “However, once I’ve found those fish, dialing in the best colors is what turns a good day into a great day. That’s when I start reaching into my tackle box to see what my options are.”
Once the confidence baits are fully stocked and color selection is expanded upon, that’s when it’s time to start experimenting with new options.
Find the Best Deal on the Latest New Baits
Each year, new baits continue to hit the market, and each year they’re always promising to be the latest and greatest way to catch more fish. The key for the budget conscious angler is testing these baits themselves, while not wasting their money on baits they’re never going to use.
“I am personally always naturally skeptical of new baits, but there’s a few factors I look for when deciding which ones I want to give a try,” admits Harrington. “Similar to expanding my color selection, I look for baits that have many of the same characteristics of my confidence baits.”
These characteristics include brand, profile, color, and action.
“A great example this past year for me would be the Berkley Money Badger,” explains Harrington. “Flicker Shads are one of my favorite crankbaits, which naturally gives me confidence in Berkley’s brand as a whole, and I can select colors I know produce in the Flicker Shad to give me even more confidence.”
The main difference between the Flicker Shad and the Money Badger is the action, as the Flicker Shad features a more subtle action whereas the Money Badger is a wider, more aggressive action.
“The profiles of the baits are pretty similar, the Money Badger does a bit better job emulating a white bass in my opinion, but as a whole you’re working in that shad profile category,” expands Harrington. “The action is the big difference maker here though, and I do feel the Money Badger gave me a stronger option when fish were aggressive particularly as water temperatures warmed throughout the summer months.”
As these baits catch fish, they will often find themselves becoming confidence baits as conditions dictate. This leads to even further expansion into new categories, which further increases versatility on the water.
“My confidence in the Money Badger led to me trying the Shallow Money Badger, which quickly became a true favorite bait of mine,” continues Harrington. “It was actually in Custer State Park that I put this bait to the test, and when I caught numerous rainbow trout plus largemouth bass, northern pike, and bluegill I knew we had a good one.”
This success led to the Shallow Money Badger quickly becoming a favorite for casting scenarios, including on the Missouri River for walleye.
“I’d always thrown a #7 Rapala Shallow Shad Rap for fall walleyes from shore, but after fishing the Shallow Money Badger as successfully as I did I couldn’t take it off,” admits Harrington. “I think that’s the natural evolution we go through as anglers. The Shallow Shad Rap is still an amazing bait, it’s been my top producer for over a decade, but I was literally hooked on the Shallow Money Badger this year.”
Balancing keeping the confidence baits stocked up, expanding the color selection of these confidence baits, and finding the right opportunities to try new options is the best way to maximize your fishing budget while also staying on top of the best bites.
“Holiday deals are a great way to stock up on your favorite baits at a discounted price, find new options to try, and give us all a reason to reorganize the tackle box for the sixth time this winter,” concludes Harrington. “If you stay true to your confidence baits and add new options where it makes sense, you’re going to both maximize your budget and success on the water.”
Holiday Fishing Gear Shopping Tips
- Stock up on your favorite baits that are on sale;
- Expand on color selection for your existing favorite baits;
- Look for new baits that have similar characteristics of your favorite baits; and
- Shop the best deal on new baits to minimize your financial risk of trying something new.
Learn More About Fishing Gear
If you’re looking to learn more about fishing tackle, and find Nick’s confidence baits, check out our Getting Geared Up page! This features tackle profiles, the best ways to fish them, and more info about making sure you’ve got the best gear every time you hit the water!
Case Study: Blue vs Purple on Lake Sharpe
This summer on Lake Sharpe we took advantage of a mid-summer day to test if color selection truly mattered when it came to trolling crankbaits. Fishing a Blue vs Purpledescent Rapala Shad Rap head-to-head, we saw that, at least on this particular day, color selection did indeed make a difference for total fish caught!
Images Courtesy Waygood Brand Co
Images from this article are courtesy of Waygood Brand Co. For brands that live outside the lines, Waygood Brand Co offers photography, design, and other branding services for businesses big and small!
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