Do you stock up on any baits during the "off Season"?

Hobious · January 05, 2024, 08:51:31 AM

I try not to. but this year, I gathered up a few things that I couldn't buy when fishing was going hot and heavy.

I am going to clean out gear I don't use anymore and find some high school fishing team to send it to. I don't need to buy #925 Senkos for the forseeable future.

I hate hoarding. hate it. but I do enjoy having a good bait during the warm months. kinda nice I got to take advantage of a few year end sales to get them.

I think that new Scooper Frog is gonna catch some fish in the spring!! it is non-existent at stores all year long. BOOM! every time I see a live frog in the water, it is not on the surface, but swimming underwater. the Scooper does that.

Smallie_Stalker · January 05, 2024, 09:01:05 AM

Not anymore. I have several lifetimes worth of baits already that either hardly get used or have never been out of their package.

I live in the Northeast, so winter is usually spent on things like cleaning reels, changing out trebles and tinkering with baits and things of that nature. Basically getting stuff ready for next year.

Since I wasn't able to fish at all in 2023 I don't even have to do any of that this winter. Looks like I'll finally have some time to catch up on my reading and maybe pickup one of my guitars again once in a while.

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Donald Garner · January 05, 2024, 12:16:09 PM

Sometimes I will but here lately I haven't. On the real cold days I might go out into the garage and do an inventory / clean out the soft plastic boxes.

FlatsNBay · January 05, 2024, 07:26:38 PM

I pretty much have streamlined my tackle and got rid of a lot of the stuff that I had in bulk that I dodn't use anymore. There's no off season in Florida so I will pick up a lot of my soft plastics when I catch them on sale and stock up.

topdsm0138 · January 06, 2024, 04:50:09 PM

(In Spartan's voice) "This Is S. FLORIDA!!" What is this "Off-season" you speak of good sir?!..

We buy baits year round here and they vary from season to season and from body of water to body of water.

As for the Central to N Fl guys, you can't go wrong with terminal tackle.

Sent from undisclosed location. -Tiller Mafia

Capt. BassinLou · January 07, 2024, 12:53:45 PM

We don't have an off season, and I'm always stocking up, can't help it.

fishingram24 · January 15, 2024, 07:08:57 PM

My kids give me Academy gift cards for my birthday, Dec.31, so I usually stock up on plastics with them but I've been browsing the web site for a few weeks and haven't bought anything yet. I have more now than I will use in my lifetime as far as baits are concerned.

chrisD46 · January 23, 2024, 11:55:18 AM

I'm always looking for a good sale on baits and lures I use the most .

T-Rig · January 24, 2024, 10:02:54 AM

Yep, this time of year I like to go to Walmart and Academy Sports + Outdoors for markdowns on fishing tackle to clear it from the shelfs for the new stuff. Recently picked up 10 bags of Yum Dingers for 1.58 per bag.

coldfront · January 25, 2024, 10:42:47 AM

yes. certain times of the year, some things are more readily available. I make sure to have sufficient quantities before the time I need/want them.

nothing sux more than wanting a very specific color, size combo and not having it.

it's a very limited few baits that fall into this category for me. most of them are 'soft baits'.

JDDogs · January 26, 2024, 08:24:51 AM

Quote from: coldfront on January 25, 2024, 10:42:47 AMyes. certain times of the year, some things are more readily available. I make sure to have sufficient quantities before the time I need/want them.

nothing sux more than wanting a very specific color, size combo and not having it.

it's a very limited few baits that fall into this category for me. most of them are 'soft baits'.

That
A lot of stores near me do not stock a decent supply of soft baits, that I (and fish) like. In summer, many are difficult to find locally. It's a 100+ mi round trip to get to a store that has Stock and variety this time of year. I stock up on-line most of the time, I get exactly what I want and shipping is much cheaper than fuel. But, if I see a bait I use a lot, locally, and the price is not half bad, I'll grab it.

Princeton_Man · January 26, 2024, 09:45:38 AM

I'm getting more disciplined, but I still accumulate a fair number of baits during the cold months. New baits occasionally, but the tried and true favorites are sometimes harder for me to pass up. Before Bo James' untimely Heavenly journey, I probably acquired on average a couple hundred dollars worth of NuTech jigs every Winter. In spite of being very difficult to loose, I truly thought I never had enough.

I have a 21cft refrigerator in my garage that has more soft plastics and fishing line in it than venison and beer, plus a 4x6 pegboard full. I soometimes clean out the lockers on the boat in Spring and donate some to kids or college fishing teams.

Since getting into Ham radio, I don't have as much money to spend on baits.