Cost of Fishing Soft Plastics vs. Hard Baits

[bladerunner]

Using Senkos instead of Dingers is not very smart... The action of the Dinger is better IMO. I usually get 4 fish on one Dinger. I'd say I use half a 4.99 pack in a day of fishing. I might lose one crank. I'd have to say its a tie except I love hardbaits and expensive ones at that - so I spend WAAAAAY more on cranks. But I fish plasics 50% of the time and cranks 50% of the time.

[vishus]

Using Senkos instead of Dingers is not very smart... The action of the Dinger is better IMO. I usually get 4 fish on one Dinger. I'd say I use half a 4.99 pack in a day of fishing. I might lose one crank. I'd have to say its a tie except I love hardbaits and expensive ones at that - so I spend WAAAAAY more on cranks. But I fish plasics 50% of the time and cranks 50% of the time.

I agree and disagree.

I often use Netbait's "senko" and do very well with it ($3.49 for 10), unfortunately they are only available in 5". BPS "Stick-O" aren't too bad, ($4.99 for 18). They are definitely tougher. I have even been using some local pours on stick baits with good success. Both work great, but there are some days the bass will only eat the original. on those days I throw a Yamamoto, but always prepare to go through a bag or two an outing...

[Steve Williams]

I'm probably the opposite of most folks in that I'll skip rattle traps under docks and overhangs, throw square bills into brushpiles, etc. without fear...I've probably busted the lips off more crankbaits throwing them under docks than most folks have broken on concrete walls.... The deal is most of the time if they hang, I can retrieve them and every once in a while, when the hang, a big one hits them.... If I'm tournament fishing, I may let them stay, but otherwise I can usually get them back. Deeper than that, I've got a couple lure retrievers that are money savers.

I lose a lot more money fishing plastics. You figure tungsten weight, hi-endhooks, yamamoto/reaction innovations/power team lures and you can get up to $2-$3 for a soft plastic lure in a hurry especially if you are punching 1 1/2-2oz tungsten weights..then its more like $10 a breakoff.

I'm still chunkin and windin and pitchin and flippin though... Cost of gas....$65, cost of 2oz tungsten punch weight.... $8 (with tax), cost of trokar punch hook....I don't even want to say, beaver.....$.50, 3lb and 4lb Toad with 15 minutes to weigh in on back to back flips culling 1lb'rs.....priceless.....

[Reel Old Geezer]

I rarely fish hardbaits anymore. At the end of a good day I will usually have the bodies of toads, worms, tubes, etc littering the bottom of my boat. I gather them up and sort them by color. When I have a day off from fishing I melt down these pieces and mold new worms, swimbaits, or jerkbaits from the remains. You can get really nice molds for about the cost of a pack or two of soft plastics, and you get some really innovative baits to try. I'm still using some molds that are 30-40 years old, and they've saved me a buck or two over the years - and caught lots of fish.