# Price of Soft Plastics?



## GMansfish (Sep 5, 2009)

When I go into the large tackle shops, it puzzles me the prices they charge for soft plastics. Over Fourteen dollars for moulded piece of goop? Four or five years ago they about seven to eight dollars a pack, hiked up 80 or so percent, way over inflation.

Surely that they could bring the price down, the companies involved are ripping Aussies off. If we don't complain, they lap up the profits. I have almost given up the use of plastics(leftovers in fridge) and can not see the value in them, if you try say two colours for 1 trip, thirty dollars gone. 
Hard bodies or bait for me, unless they put a money back guarantee if I donut. :twisted:

Who else see's it this way. Any shop owners want to put in there say or manufacturers.


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## SharkNett (Feb 20, 2006)

You can buy kits to make your own which work out much cheaper.
Have a couple of friends who do it and are very happy with the results.


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## IceManDude (Nov 21, 2006)

not all plastics are that exy... look around for those that have heaps in a pack for around the $10 mark. i could recommend a particular brand that has great value for money ;-) ;-)


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Yes I often baulk at buying them. I don't go for the super-dooper scented name brand ones for the reason....maybe that's why I'm not catching fish.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Anyone onto cheap SP's from overseas? Particularly interested in Z-Man or Snapbacks. I have bought some HB's in USA that retail here over 3 times the prices available here (Gerard Harvey quit winging!).

Trevor


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## Marty75 (Oct 23, 2007)

Gulps are $6 a pack at BigW and squidgies are $4.50 from Kmart, thats not too exy is it?


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

kayakone said:


> Anyone onto cheap SP's from overseas? Particularly interested in Z-Man or Snapbacks. I have bought some HB's in USA that retail here over 3 times the prices available here (Gerard Harvey quit winging!).
> 
> Trevor


trevor i have some snapbacks
they are very rubbery as they are made from a different material
they ARE tougher, but they only have scent on the outside and every pack i've ever found has been garlic scented
they do work though, and if you are targettting toothy fish, you will get a bit better milage than std SPs

I also introduced the process of homemade SPs to the UK fishers
and some of them have really taken it on board
its a bit like fly tying
you start convinced you'll save money but in the end its cheaper to buy them
but you'll be limited to what the manufacturer feels is the best colours, sizes, scents etc

try a certain auction site for different SPs from japan or the us
you may have to buy a few packs but it does work out cheaper and you'll have access to a big range
i should also add here - try and support your local tackle shop as well!

Nick


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

hmm double post that's never happened before

Anyway I'm sure y'all heard me the first time


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## GMansfish (Sep 5, 2009)

Gee
In the country tackle shops the pricing, at bloody can't fish and others tickleworld etc, maybe hiked up versus the city. Have seen the big glups at over thirteen dollars.

Yes the pricing of fishing gear in general could be the heading.

But as I said the plastics seem to be over the top, like what are made of to be worth the price, whale blubber, shark fin or just gelatin with additives. I have caught more bream on white bread than glups. May be lack the touch for plastics. But the bread is so cheap and kids can go thru a loaf for two dollars.


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## rino88 (Sep 10, 2011)

IceManDude said:


> not all plastics are that exy... look around for those that have heaps in a pack for around the $10 mark. i could recommend a particular brand that has great value for money ;-) ;-)


I bought a Damiki Vault 42 and took it down to Hope Island (QLD) for a cast around the rock walls and boats.......something grabbed it and took off! Not sure what the hell it was, but it sure wasn't stoping...it now owns my lure too :shock:

My 2 cents now put in :lol:


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## mangajack (Jul 23, 2007)

I have been looking at making my plastics for a while now, just cant find the raw plastic of the snapback / Z-Mans to pour my own with.
Looking at making similar to the Gladiator Smash Baits in 70 and 90mm and possibly the 130mm too.
Or some 4" walleye minnows sorta thing in the super plastics.

Anyone know the name of the raw plastic and if it is pourable or injection only?


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

mangajack said:


> I have been looking at making my plastics for a while now, just cant find the raw plastic of the snapback / Z-Mans to pour my own with.
> Looking at making similar to the Gladiator Smash Baits in 70 and 90mm and possibly the 130mm too.
> Or some 4" walleye minnows sorta thing in the super plastics.
> 
> Anyone know the name of the raw plastic and if it is pourable or injection only?


the snapback stuff is not plastisol
its actually extruded at high temp and pressure
its not a DIY jobbie sorry


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

GMansfish said:


> But as I said the plastics seem to be over the top, like what are made of to be worth the price, whale blubber, shark fin or just gelatin with additives.


I think ambergris is what you're thinking of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambergris

lovely stuff


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Marty75 said:


> Gulps are $6 a pack at BigW and squidgies are $4.50 from Kmart, thats not too exy is it?


I buy those too but, assuming there are 7 in a packet, they work out to around .50c to $1 a pop. The cost of a jighead is around $1 on top of that and, depending on what you're fishing for and how many bites you're getting, you can be changing the plastic every second strike without catching a fish.....or is it just me?

I use both hb's and sp's and like both but I've never considered sp's to be a cheaper option to a hb as they are sometimes made out to be. I often catch dozens of fish on a hb and use it every second day for a month for a cost of up to $25. I'm not sure how you work that out but with jigheads at $9 a packet and and the plastic at not much less it doesn't take long to come up with a similar cost over the same period.....horses for course I guess and, like others have said, I think most of us view fishing as a leisure rather than a business activity.

Each of us sends a message to the supplier when we shop, make sure you're sending the message you want. If you don't want the expensive stuff don't buy it and eventually the market will adjust. Collectively we prefer to spend less on most fishing gear and that's why we're seeing the cheap Asian made stuff on every shelf. The expensive stuff is still there for those that want it but it's no longer all you can buy.


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## CanuckChubbs (May 2, 2010)

My mate introduced me to Z-Man soft plastics. He bought the prawn pack from BCF for $10-$14. On the days outing he used just one prawn from the pack to land flattie, salmon, and a jewie. I tried to rip it up but they were extremely stretchy and hard to pierce. Worth the money.

http://www.zmanfishing.com/cms/


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## eagle4031 (Jan 29, 2010)

SharkNett said:


> You can buy kits to make your own which work out much cheaper.
> Have a couple of friends who do it and are very happy with the results.


where can we get these kits??


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

eagle4031 said:


> SharkNett said:
> 
> 
> > You can buy kits to make your own which work out much cheaper.
> ...


lurecraft.com
janns netcraft

both in the us


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

I refuse to pay full price for 'brand' SPs. I stock up whenever I visit Big-W and K-Mart (rarely now I live on the coast). They are generally half the price of local tackle stores.

I know. I'm not supporting my local shop in doing this. This used to worry me but not after a recent incident.

I was in my nearest big chain tackle store and the staff were discussing department store fishing sections. "I never see anyone shopping in them" one said. "I do" I piped up. I buy Squidgies for $4.50 and Gulps for $6.50. "Really? We can'y buy them for that. That's hardly fair."

Maybe not, I thought to myself. But this is coming from a shop that found out a local guy near me opened up a tackle store in my small town. They visited him, said they weren't happy, then proceeded to ring all of their big brand suppliers and told them not to stock him. The suppliers then came to his shop and took away all of his shelf stock. It's a bgit rich for them to complain about lack of a fair playing field. Needless to say, that chain store will NEVER get any of my business again. How's that worked for them?


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

I'm not going to name and shame as I have no independent proof, only the word of my local tackle shop owner. However, he had no big name reels in his store, nor any big name soft plastics. I'm not saying these brands withdrew. It's just an observation I made that prompted him telling his story.


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## Oldkent (Sep 6, 2011)

Hi all,

Long time reader, first time poster..

I recently won a few auctions from Grays Online for Slam baits (http://www.graysonline.com/). I have no idea how they compare to the major brands as I don't fish half as much as I'd like to, but I seem to have done OK with them thus far when I have made it out.

I bid and won 3 x auctions at $9 each (each auction was 20-24 packs of 3, 4 and 5 inch with 6-8 per pack), and ended up paying less than $20 for delivery for them all (they bundled), so it was less than $50 for around 450 baits, or about 11c each. Got a nice spread of colours as well in each size.

No affiliation with any company, but thought I would throw my 2c in.


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## Nativeman (Sep 6, 2005)

I use Slider Grubs mostly, sometimes I am tempted and buy gulp, but more than often I throw them out as the leak everywhere no matter where I store them. I have at times bought the original squidgee plastics that first hit the market years ago, you can pick them up at Kmarts and Big W's for $4 sometimes but the qty in the packet is small.

I have found the 3"slider grub to be the best, I cut them down to smaller lengths if fishing for bream or small bass. I think there is 15 to the bag and if you hunt around you can get them for around ten dollars, watermelon and muscadine are the best colours...I did buy a shipload of them direct from the states about 5 years ago and bought them for $3.20 a packet, don't know if they still ship to Oz...but they are great for native species especially on Betts spinners or rigged on a single jig head,

I have heard horror stories where customs have confiscated plastics on entry into Australia in recent times so I have not been game enough to buy some again but really I have enough plastics here to sink a battle ship....I will never use them in my lifetime...

Cheers


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

I think that the disparity between the price of SPs at stores like BigW, and specialist tackle shops really is a disgrace. To use dirty old Gulp as an example, there's something wrong when the local tackleworld charges $12+ for a packet of 5" jerk shads when you can get exactly the same thing at BigW or Target for $7.

I have to admit to being a sucker for quality Japanese plastics like Ecogear Grass minnows - which IMO are too expensive to buy domestically ($11-13 for a pack of eight) but can be had for $7-8 online. The trouble is once you get used to the quality of the Japanese stuff it's hard to go back.


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## Nativeman (Sep 6, 2005)

Squidder said:


> I think that the disparity between the price of SPs at stores like BigW, and specialist tackle shops really is a disgrace. To use dirty old Gulp as an example, there's something wrong when the local tackleworld charges $12+ for a packet of 5" jerk shads when you can get exactly the same thing at BigW or Target for $7


Jason you can say the same about Fireline, most of the time an even twenty at Kmart or Big W yet tackle shops including BCF closer to thirty.


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## punchanello (Oct 6, 2011)

I'm a fan of the Damiki line of plastics. Generally the prices are comparable to most other brands but they usually come in bigger pack sizes so there's somewhat of a saving there. They are tougher than your Squidgies and much more consistent in terms of colour and shape. They don't fade or run the way Squidgies do either.

The MGrub is my go to plastic on tough days and the Monstermiki's are Bream slayers.


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