When is enough

[bassbass]

I know many of us say we have a lot of baits but how many actually count or counted there baits? I have never but recently did.

Is a hundred or two hundred enough? Let say an average of $100 for one hard bait, that is 10K per 100 baits.

Just wondering what others think.

Also how many OG's feel that there are many more bait makers and more baits being produced to keep up with demand, which is great but I personally see more baits with issues lately then before. With good money being spend but having paint issues, weak hardware, tails and eyes falling out, etc.

Thanks,

Brian

[Bass_blaster]

I’d imagine I’m quite a light weight in terms of bait count but I also only get to fish once a week if I’m lucky. A lot of guys fish more and also get to fish at night which I don’t so other counts will be way higher than mine. 
 

In terms of freshwater swimbaits and in particular hard baits, I’ve probably got about 40-50 or so. I regularly use about 15 of them or so. I split my time with fresh and saltwater so that’s enough for me in terms of numbers but I continue to compile baits that I’m really excited about. As I purchase more high dollar stuff I unload some of the others so I don’t see myself ever getting up to or past maybe 100 hard baits. So for me I think ~100 will be plenty. 

[MattGbaz]

I think this is a really interesting topic. I personally only like to have a handful of baits on hand. For me this means I need a bait to cover each situation that could be thrown at me. I do not need 47 different gill glides or 30 different rats but 1-2 different gill glides and 1-2 rats. When I have too many baits I just get caught up in its the baits fault whereas in reality im just not in the right spot, timing, positioning, etc. 

[Fried Lemons]

Part of the reason I switched over to full time swimbaiting is that I wanted to get away from the mindset from conventional fishing that I needed boxes full of baits for every conceivable situation. I never own more than 10 different baits at a time although I will buy multiples of a bait that has proven itself to me. That is enough to cover every pretty much all of my fishing situations. There are a lot of baits on the market now but I feel like many of them don't really bring anything new to the table.

[S33z3r]

I feel like you will do the most damage on the baits you throw the most. Unless it's absolute garbage, the baits you throw most will get you the most bites. The more bites you get on a bait the more you throw it, which grows your confidence and you end up throwing it more. So I keep it simple. I like to buy nice baits but I tend to throw the ones that work for me the most. 

[chefchris]

35 minutes ago, MattGbaz said:

I think this is a really interesting topic. I personally only like to have a handful of baits on hand. For me this means I need a bait to cover each situation that could be thrown at me. I do not need 47 different gill glides or 30 different rats but 1-2 different gill glides and 1-2 rats. When I have too many baits I just get caught up in its the baits fault whereas in reality im just not in the right spot, timing, positioning, etc. 

Well said and spot on. 

for me, I think I’m at like 30ish total hard baits (not including the baits I’ve made) 12 of those are cl8 baby possums, 2 bubba crackers, 2 slammers, and like 14 assorted hard baits mostly gill/trout/perch profiles, then a bunch of soft baits, but again, it’s mostly real preys, wcz and beast coast creeps. Lots of duplicates in the soft baits.

I have it pretty much narrowed down to what works for me and where I fish. I like having backups at home of my go to baits but no need for me to have a 10-20K collection of swimbaits when I mainly throw 6 baits. 

I still try new baits all the time to see if they’ll fill a niche or spot in the line up, very few have made it into the needed baits realm. 

I think it’s like everything else and I was guilty of it when I got into swimbaits. Seeing guys catch dds on giant 316s (baas, freestyles), Deps 250s, plus a ton of others I grabbed all kinds of baits I never threw for risk of losing them or rarity reasons. 

now all the baits I have are what I consider “disposable” I’ll throw them into the worse possible areas and whatever happens happens.

mike working class video “consider it gone” is what every new guy into swimbaits should watch and live by, even the ogs could benefit I’m sure. 

I think most of the new builders are more concerned about making “slaps” and apparel before making baits that have been tested and proven or even caught fish. 

good topic @bassbass

[Mossypumpkin]

The deeper I get into baits, the more I realize there is a bait for every situation. The fish weren’t biting? Wrong. You didn’t present the right bait at the right place at the right time. Example: when the alewives were piling up to leave the lakes this year a bullshad 5” and a fritter were the only baits I could get bit on. 6” bullshad or shad color slammer wouldn’t get a sniff. You want to be able to always catch fish, learn when and where you need what baits....and have those baits on hand. I have roughly 190 between my slammers and hudds. Not sure how many baits total. When I have 1000 baits it’ll be a fraction of how many I want. 

[bassbass]

All good replies.

But lets put this out there.....

You only need a few that catch fish, TRUE but let's say you fish 5 to 8 pounds, in time the bigger fish will get used to these baits and the bite will slow down, so do you sell them and buy others.

Chris I hear you on losing some rare baits. When I first started I was afraid and had leaders on top of leaders not to get bit off, then it was like tie it on and send it...no pain no gain and I have lost many baits.

Also agree on selling the extra stuff and hype it up.

Jesse yes I also feel you need many different types of bait to capitalize on what they are going to hit.

[MattGbaz]

I cant remember who I heard it from but I though this was a cool idea. Find your confidence bait and when none of them can get bit or you got on a cold spell, go out and buy some experimental baits that are completely different to what your fishing and see if they work for you. If they do keep em, if not sell them

[S33z3r]

I mean let's be honest. If you catch a fish on.. Let's say... A phoney shad glide. If you threw a hinkle or a hph or a kgb etc. would they have still bit? I think probably. I'm sure the different actions have something to do with it but I think the timing and retrieve and positioning and all that have a lot more value. Not that the bait doesn't matter but the angler is the one who needs to make it work. Seems like a lot of hype baits get fished more so there's an illusion of them working better than others. Of course sometimes the bait makes the difference but in my opinion, there are so many variables that one wake bait vs the other or one glide vs the other isn't as important as what you are doing with the bait. I hope that makes sense, it's beer o'clock good topic

[Jstew75]

I feel as if I am to the point that I have enough lures and I am around the 30 Lure mark (I have 27) I have had some awesome lures and there are a few out there that i would like to try but that's all it is they wouldn't really fill any void in my lineup. I have learned not to buy into the hype and fish the lures that i like and consistently catch fish on. i feel like once you get so many lures you mainly just end up staring at them on the wall i bring the same 10 baits with me everywhere i go.

BGC: wake shad, shallow diver shad, 7" shad glide, 9" shad glide (that i just picked up) and a Bluegill crank down. 

UFO: Two SS Swimmers ones purple and the other is green

Bull shad: 8" in slow sink 

Rats. A brown Sneaky rat and a Reckless Rodent  

These baits to me help me cover every scenario I've ran across in my waters and i rarely skunk my other baits are in the boat but the listed ones are on the deck. These days before I buy a bait i really think to myself what role it will fill in my lineup don't get me wrong there are a lot of lures that have been released lately that I WANT to have but I tell myself that I don't need them I feel like there are two classes of swim baiters those who fish and those who Flip. 

 

~Stew

[bassbass]

Yup that is very correct...if the fish are bitting, they will bit most glides or what ever bait, but if they are not, the guy controlling the bait may be able to get them to bit by working it.

Stew I really need to do like you said...do I really NEED that bait.

[David Cindrich]

I have given away or sold the majority of my baits. I know fish about 4 brands of hard baits and 4 different brands of soft baits. A hard lesson for me that I learned. If you find something you use and like. Buy enough to last you a lifetime. Either the maker will stop making them, or change the design. 

[Jon P]

What I try to do is to have enough baits that I don't have any blind spots. That my tackle is "all-encompassing" of any situation or bite that I might face. Which is pretty simple to say, but becomes a pain in the ass when nearly every body of water I fish is wildly different and changes throughout the season. Large part of the reason I need to get back into bait making.

[azsouth]

@bassbass @chefchris @Mossypumpkin All good points!! I think people in general don't realize their strength and weakness in the fishing style.... therefore don't know what they need in their line up. As mentioned in prior posts above learn yourself before you buy 100+ baits. As you understand the swimbait and yourself better then expand your game.

I have been in the game for quite a while and still don't have 50+ baits. I am not faulting anyone for buying so many baits.

Basically know your strengths and know your weakness and buy accordingly to work on your game!