Best Selling lures - a few surprises

1037 Views 21 Replies 16 Participants Last post by Andy Marquis, Jan 6, 2010

Tim Griffin

Discussion Starter · Jan 3, 2010

I do shop at Monster tackle a fair bit especially for the Daiwa stuff, and was quite surprised by their "best-sellers" list for 2009 (see here http://blog.monstertackle.co.uk/). Looks like maybe they have a different clientele to our other Jersey based retailer? So come on Mick, what do you think the top selling lures (top 5?) were for MrFish in 2009?

EDIT - sorry, should I have posted this in "Tackle Talk"? If so, please feel free to move!

1 - 20 of 22 Posts

jamo

· #2 · Jan 3, 2010

yeh I read monster tackles top 5 list and was surprised to, have been plugging with Dan from monster tackle a couple of times, really nice guy. Though nearly gave him a heart attack as he was testing out a new spinning rod for the company, the lucky craft rod which is just short of £400 and he passed it to me to check out. he told me to be careful with it ( he'd seen me the week before snap the tip off my sukan by mistake) and no sooner had he handed it to me I slipped on the pontoon which we where on and it ended up in the harbour floating off. Oops,

Mick Ward

· #3 · Jan 3, 2010

I wrote it somewhere else on here, but the Tide Minnows having so many sizes in the range were my best sellers, but as for a single plug it would be the Feed Shallow, then Patchinko, then Zonk. So I if I had to guess an order of them I would probably be right in saying;

Duo Tide Minnow 145 SLD
Duo Tide Minnow 135 Surf
Tackle House Feed Shallow
Xorus Patchinko
Megabass Zonk 120

Steve Lewis

· #4 · Jan 3, 2010

Reading that poll from Griff's thread and Mick's reply I have 7 out of the 10 mentioned, So thanks to Simon for the advice and his eye for all things shiney. Now that I have started to build up a collection I now need to start catching on them :lol:

Tim Griffin

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 3, 2010

Mick, sorry if I missed your earlier post on this one! Cheers for the update - shows a few gaps in my collection. As soon as I earn some money I'll be in touch re Z-Claws, DTMs and Zonks!

James Davis

· #6 · Jan 4, 2010

You know what Griff, mate? I'm not actually that surprised.

I think we sometimes forget that we are a very small band of merry men in the grand scheme of all things fishing.

Many anglers can't afford £10-20 for each lure (many can on mainland europe though, why is that by the way?)

Many anglers are stuck in the dark ages and refuse to even look/accept modern lure fishing tackle and techniques.

With the exception of the odd article and monthly adverts from Mr Fish, we don't read much about lure fishing in the press.

Some anglers have a real bugbear about any angler spending money on shiney plastic and top end rods. You only have to look on other forums to see hidden agendas. It's pathetic. I've said it before, the blokes who spend a few quid on tackle get condemned, but I've never read any bloke who buys more expensive kit take the michael out of a fisherman who uses £1 spoons successfully.

All in all and having said all that, it's about catching fish with whatever works for you. If it's a £2.50 popper from China or £15 shallow diver from Japan, it doesn't really matter.

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Dave Irving

· #7 · Jan 4, 2010

Very good points Bassorama,
I am sure the cash side of things is a big part of things, but I think that a huge number of guys out there plugging, Just don't know about the newer stuff. I still meet guys when out plugging that are shocked by some of the kit that IS available. Many had never heard of a tide minnow, Feed shallow, or even something like a Chase BW.
Normally end up writting a couple of websites on a bit of paper for them. One look at how they cast compared to Rapala J13, Or how shallow I can run them. They don't seem so bothered by the price.

Mick Ward

· #8 · Jan 4, 2010

That is all so true James, it still is a very small market in the UK, maybe it always will be, maybe it will catch on, it has in every other country in the world, well alot of countries at least. As you say, no one ever quibles about spending £20 on peeler crab, or £300+ on a zippy, century or cono, funny how so many anglers pounce on lure anglers for spending the same. And fluff chuckers think nowt of buying an Orvis or Loop for way more than a plugging rod or reel, its taken as a good purchase if you can afford it in fly circles. The thing that grinds my gears is when people always bark on about expensive kit not catching you more fish!! Man it makes me blood boil when some knob states that for the 1000th time. No one has ever said it would, no one has ever said you need it, no one is hounding you to your grave to purchase these finer things. We all have been either skint or have more important things to spend our money on.

There honestly is no quick buck or mass of money to be made in lure fishing in this country, and I think some green eyed people will realise that very soon. I spend a shed load of money on advertising, and do I get it back? Not really, I am still building my business, hoping that the penny will drop one day on the general angler out there and when it does they will remember that guy in Jersey has been doing this stuff for ages. Its like a constant pounding at the gates that will eventually break it down, a bit like chinese water torture I suppose. We will get there, or end up skint, either way it'll be fun and if I hadnt done it I would have always regretted not trying.

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Vidar Thomassen

· #9 · Jan 4, 2010

mrfishjersey said:
That is all so true James, it still is a very small market in the UK, maybe it always will be, maybe it will catch on, it has in every other country in the world, well alot of countries at least. As you say, no one ever quibles about spending £20 on peeler crab, or £300+ on a zippy, century or cono, funny how so many anglers pounce on lure anglers for spending the same. And fluff chuckers think nowt of buying an Orvis or Loop for way more than a plugging rod or reel, its taken as a good purchase if you can afford it in fly circles. The thing that grinds my gears is when people always bark on about expensive kit not catching you more fish!! Man it makes me blood boil when some knob states that for the 1000th time. No one has ever said it would, no one has ever said you need it, no one is hounding you to your grave to purchase these finer things. We all have been either skint or have more important things to spend our money on.

There honestly is no quick buck or mass of money to be made in lure fishing in this country, and I think some green eyed people will realise that very soon. I spend a shed load of money on advertising, and do I get it back? Not really, I am still building my business, hoping that the penny will drop one day on the general angler out there and when it does they will remember that guy in Jersey has been doing this stuff for ages. Its like a constant pounding at the gates that will eventually break it down, a bit like chinese water torture I suppose. We will get there, or end up skint, either way it'll be fun and if I hadnt done it I would have always regretted not trying.

Well said that man :clap: :clap: :clap:

Dicky Smith

· #10 · Jan 4, 2010

I went all 'old skool' the other day in the kayak and clipped on a chug bug.

Had a hook up on the 2nd cast but it came off, probably due to the rusty shite hooks :stupid:

Always used to catch really well on 'em though.

Oh, and well said Mick :clap:

Tim Griffin

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jan 4, 2010

Maybe that's true, in that not many are yet aware of the range of modern lures. I still have, and use, the Chug Bug and it caught me my PB so in no way am I looking down my nose at the lures on that list, just suprising given the modern surface and shallow running lures. I too have amazed a couple of chaps who have been fishing some local marks for years with the same kit. When one chap saw the Feed Shallow running just above the rocks his jaw dropped. It dropped further when I told him the price! So, what do we do? Keep the "secrets" to ourselves (not expecting Mick to approve this idea!) or strive to increase the readership of the forum and get more articles and photos published in the angling press?

Mike Kennard

· #12 · Jan 4, 2010

Maybe it is as much to do with his target market as anything. He sells a lot of a particluar lure because that is what he is trying to do. I am sure the target market for Rapala and the like is huge compared to Mick's intended market. Having said that I do buy a fair few Daiwa lures from Monster. They tend to be cheaper than the equivalents, some I believe are better some perhaps not. Just excercising my choice and my willingness to try something new and different. The more retailers we have, the bigger the market they can cover. No point in them all competing in the same space for the same people so diversity has to be a good thing. The frustrating thing is that there is still a huge amount of tackle available in Europe, US and Japan that we cannot get. yet?

Nick Phillips

· #13 · Jan 4, 2010

Griff said:
Maybe that's true, in that not many are yet aware of the range of modern lures. I still have, and use, the Chug Bug and it caught me my PB so in no way am I looking down my nose at the lures on that list, just suprising given the modern surface and shallow running lures. I too have amazed a couple of chaps who have been fishing some local marks for years with the same kit. When one chap saw the Feed Shallow running just above the rocks his jaw dropped. It dropped further when I told him the price! So, what do we do? Keep the "secrets" to ourselves (not expecting Mick to approve this idea!) or strive to increase the readership of the forum and get more articles and photos published in the angling press?

Nothing wrong with using the humble ChugBug or the even better tiny version,they are totally brilliant fish catchers and always will be.
I always carry a Bug with me in the box (more like boxes).

Keith White

· #14 · Jan 4, 2010

Lots of great lures from the past often get overlooked because of fashion.

Not all expensive lures catch fish and not all cheap ones do either.

The guys from Monster are sound, they have some great gear at good prices.

We get our Lucky Craft lures from them.

Mick is cutting edge which I like. However, when do you say...

The tideminnow, patchinko and zonk are old hat, time to move on ?
They are you know, much newer stuff available.

Each time you make a leap lure wise, you invest in a time trap. They will
always catch fish though eh ?

Hmmm, I'm of the opinion that Bass learn. We return alot of fish now and I reckon we'd
give up tomorrow if we knew how many Bass get to look at our lures and reject them.

Could going retro actually show something new, to the new fish ?

I'm still a big lover of balsa and wooden lures. Action wise, not alot comes close and
they are just so tuneable too.

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Henry Gilbey

· #15 · Jan 4, 2010

Mick has said some really interesting and completely correct things............plenty of people outside of "working in fishing" look at a market that sells expensive rods, reels and lures and straight away things "wow, there's a million to be made in this".

And most of the people working "inside fishing" know what it's all about. It's a business like any other.

We all love our bass fishing, and an increasing number of us love top-end gear - but as Mick says, it's a very small part of the overall fishing tackle market. How much will it grow ? Nobody out there knows for sure.

As Mick says, you still can't get away from the fact that lots and lots of anglers still attach no real value to a spinning rod - spend plenty on a top-end beachcaster, but never on "just a spinning rod". But things are a changing..............imagine if you had said ten years ago that keen bass anglers would be spending potentially £300 plus on a specialist plugging rod.

Mick Ward

· #16 · Jan 4, 2010

Here is an adage I always remember;

Lures are like fashion accessories, some are just fads and are great for a short period of time, some are classics that will always be used and will always catch fish.

What I do as a buyer of vast quantities of lures is look for a lure that does something different. I can, and have, bought hundreds of, say poppers, in the past. Now why do I prefer a certain popper over another? Usage, being an angler really helps. I loved the Rapala Skitter Pop, but although it is a classic I did find it tried to walk a bit and would tangle, therefore I went off it. I find the Feed Popper does what I want from a popper so I chose that. There was alure I used to absolutely love called a Cultiva Tango Dancer (Owner), now these lures caught us a shed load of fish, but once again they also were known as Tangle Dancers amoungst us. Then along came the Z-Claw, very very simular but doesnt tangle, so thats my choice now.

Diving lures; I need a few sizes and shapes and a few colours, a few silent and a few rattlers, these few of each in these add up to a few thousand lures, its like combinations of numbers. Man think about the numbers here, say lures of 80mm, 90mm, 110mm, 115mm, 120mm, 125mm, 140mm, 145mm, 150mm, 175mm and 200mm, in say 3 or 4 shapes, in say 4 colours, and silent or rattling, this is hundreds already, and then buy say 20 of each for stock, maybe 50 or 100 of the good colours. Then you will still get customers wanting co,ours and lures you dont have.....ahhhhhhh, retail, I love it.

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Mark Sleep

· #17 · Jan 4, 2010

Hi Mick, sorry for being a bit off topic, but do you still do the Megaflash?

Mick Ward

· #18 · Jan 4, 2010

Sleep1981 said:
Hi Mick, sorry for being a bit off topic, but do you still do the Megaflash?

Yes mate, in 2 sizes and 6 colours!!!

Andy Marquis

· #19 · Jan 4, 2010

It's sort of been touched above, but why do people want the latest Zziplex super stiff tourny casting whatsit when 80% of those people will never even get close to bending it in a way that makes it worth the money?? A local chap here swears on his zzippy whatever it is as it cost him £300 and then he straps the reel on it 4ft from the butt, his "back" hand is 2ft from the butt and does a 50 yards overhead lob. FFS... Why? Waste of good carbon that is!!

Pay £400 for a red rod if you can afford it and I would be surprised if it's not the other way round , i.e. 80% of people can use 100% of the rods abilities.

Hard to apply that adage to lures but you know what I mean right?

I'm not a top end rod man, no red rods or Zzipies, can't afford them. I use mid range spin rods and Fox Bass rods, for the money, they do an excellent job. that's my choice. When I have enough money i'm gonna have a problem though. Which one!!

Gary A

· #20 · Jan 5, 2010

FishingGuernsey said:
I'm not a top end rod man, no red rods or Zzipies, can't afford them. I use mid range spin rods and Fox Bass rods, for the money, they do an excellent job. that's my choice. When I have enough money i'm gonna have a problem though. Which one!!

One day Rodders, we'll be millionaires. Luvverly jubberly :lol:

Gary

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