Cheap A ## bait shops

[captain54]

I always buy the bait because I live the closest, I give it or share it with friends.I'm not a cheap person.But my point is I'm fed up with tight a## bait shops,24 waxy's 1.30 plus tax, always 1 or 2 dead ones,never got 24 in cup all winter,spikes"mag" some cup look great other all saw dust,1.30 plus tax, crappie minnows 1.25 a dozen and THEY MEAN A DOZEN "12".I asked for 12 dozen fat heads last week and it took the owners girl 20min. to count to 144.  I buy more bait at this dive than most people,there are two other bait shops that are 15 miles round trip away that give you a fair deal with minnows and there grubs are bigger and alive.Any other anglers run into CHEAP A## BAIT THIEVES.

[scansy]

There's a local shop about a half mile from a popular lake who is like that.  Counts out every minnow and if one extra sneaks in, nets it back out.  And, he's right on the road to this lake - it gets fished hard.  And on the weekends he opens at 8:00 !!!  Hell, half the guys are out for two or three hours already.

But near my family camp is a place we buy bait.  A dozen minnows is a big scoop full.  We buy three dozen, but get 60 or 70.  And the bait is always lively.  So there are good shops too.

[John_BZ]

the bait shop i go to is sort of like that. depending on who is in there i may get only 1 dozen per the dozen i buy. somtimes if i buy one dozen i get 60 minnows. i never complain because i have been taken care of more than ive been f'ed. all depends who is there.

[empty hook]

I always buy the bait because I live the closest, I give it or share it with friends.I'm not a cheap person.But my point is I'm fed up with tight a## bait shops,24 waxy's 1.30 plus tax, always 1 or 2 dead ones,never got 24 in cup all winter,spikes"mag" some cup look great other all saw dust,1.30 plus tax, crappie minnows 1.25 a dozen and THEY MEAN A DOZEN "12".I asked for 12 dozen fat heads last week and it took the owners girl 20min. to count to 144.  I buy more bait at this dive than most people,there are two other bait shops that are 15 miles round trip away that give you a fair deal with minnows and there grubs are bigger and alive.Any other anglers run into CHEAP A## BAIT THIEVES.

I have no compliance the bait shop I go to is the best one I have ever been in.  The owners are supper friendly and don't charge to much for bait that is lively.[Tackle Box] I even get my bait there when I fish other lakes,just get it a day sooner.

[blaster22077]

JIM'S BAIT SHOP
Howard PA
he has cheap minnows and other stuff and it is a 7 day week 24 hr self serve.
It is the only one that i know of

[crayfishbob]

I own a baitshop. Usually when someone asks for a dozen minnows, I dump like 18 to 20 in. The trouble is that when buying minnows at $5.00 to $7.00 a lb and giving deals, you might as well not even bother with the whole business. I counted and figured out what I get per lb. If I was counting each minnow, I get between $24 and $27 per lb. Not too shabby. So be generous and give like two dozen. Now the price is $12.00 and shrinking fast. Some inevitbly die, and there's always one or two disasters every season, plus overbuying for those rained out holiday seasons. Look at this year: we got ice in late Janurary in upstate NY. Try to justify renting a building at $500.00 a month when there was no ice ! Then get dumped with 7 to 10 feet of snow two weeks after ice formed.

As far as the long wait and count, it must have been a new employee. Try to consider all aspects of whats going on before losing your temper.

Instead of complaining about bait counts, I would be praising the baitshop owner for patiently waiting for you to come through the door. ( believe me it gets lonesome ! )

[hunters08]

I always buy the bait because I live the closest, I give it or share it with friends.I'm not a cheap person.But my point is I'm fed up with tight a## bait shops,24 waxy's 1.30 plus tax, always 1 or 2 dead ones,never got 24 in cup all winter,spikes"mag" some cup look great other all saw dust,1.30 plus tax, crappie minnows 1.25 a dozen and THEY MEAN A DOZEN "12".I asked for 12 dozen fat heads last week and it took the owners girl 20min. to count to 144.  I buy more bait at this dive than most people,there are two other bait shops that are 15 miles round trip away that give you a fair deal with minnows and there grubs are bigger and alive.Any other anglers run into CHEAP A## BAIT THIEVES.

order it (spikes and waxworms)from the online bait stores has always been fresh for me 1000 spikes for 10 bucks free shipping,and net your own minnows and use them in the lake your fishing(VHS).Most bait shops net there own minnows crayfishbob does.I dont know what he charges but i know others charge like they paid 5-7 dollars a pound and they were right beside me netting them to sell to you!! And if it takes 20 minutes to get bait,new employee or not i'm walking my a## out and driving the extra 15 miles from that day on.just my .02

[captain54]

CrayfishBob,I'm not asking for 24 minnows when I buy a Dozen but it would be nice to get 3 or 4 extra per dozen.( and I've never bought a dozen in my life,more 5 dozen or more)Do you sell dead waxy's and spikes to your customers? Are you a tight a## bait dealer too? As from as me thanking him for being there,your something else! Put the shoe on the other foot Bob.Would you like drop $20 or more a week for bait and get treated sooooo well.I never complained to the bait shop owner ever once, plus he OPENS at 9 o'clock and is closed on sunday. Probable the same hours you keep.

[Tim Hanford]

I used to manage a tackle shop in SC PA and the owners had very high prices on live bait.  This is what we charged and customers rarely complained.  Customers didn't complain because we were the only shop for nearly 15 miles. I personally felt we were way overpriced on live bait but we sold more and more of it each year so what do I know.

Fatheads - $1.99/12
Rosey Reds - $2.49/12
Small Shiners - $2.99/12
Medium Shiners - $3.99/12
Large Shiners  $4.99/12
Pike Shiners - $10/12
Wax Worms/Meal Worms/Spikes - $2.49/25 or $11.99 per 250
Nightcrawlers - $2.99/12 or $4.49 per 24
Red Worms - $3.99/25
Nitro (Green) Crawlers - $3.99/12

Now you do have to take into account dead loss in the summer months, electricity to run the AC to keep water cool in summer (water temp over 70 and they die real quick) and electricity to run air pumps, time to clean the tanks every week spring through fall.  But we still made a large profit on live bait after all expenses were figured in.

One owner gave you 12 minnows per dozen and counted carefully.  The other owner would give one or two extra per dozen.  I personally took good care of our regular customers with their minnow counts per dozen.

[buttlesdog]

I gotta take the bait shop owners side. I think selling dead bait or less than a person paid for is BS... BUT!!! You try making a living selling grubs and minnows for $1.39. What do you think his profit on it is? 30 cents maybe? Local bait and tackle shops face pressure today that they never faced in the past. For one thing, there's walmart, for another there is this thing, the internet. Do you buy all your tackle at the tackle shop? Or do you buy your tackle elsewhere and rely on the local guy for bait only? Be honest.. you know you buy your big ticket items elsewhere like everyone else does, usually on the internet or some big bargain place like Walmart, Kmart or The Sports Authority. Point is, local guys are drying up and going out of business, or barely hanging on and probably running into debt as they do so. Cough up the buck and change, talk to the guy, let them know your concerns, dont be surprised if they tell you their problems, and be prepared to listen to how they have a lot bigger problems then your 3 dead grubs...

All that said, I support my local shops. Try and hit them all and buy the big ticket items from them too. I find i fyou tell them you need a deal to fit your budget, they will work with you. And sure, sometimes you get burned, thats the nature of the business when people sell small live animals. Same thing happens in pet stores. Its just the way it is with little animals kept in small places for long periods of time. But the other side is worse. If you had no local bait shop, had to order everything from the internet, ... AND!! Good luck getting any advice on local fishing at Walmart of Ebay...

[dollartrifecta]

try 15 bux a dozen for pike shiners......not gonna mnetion any names...but that redic

[Rat-Man]

Coming soon--- NO BAIT SHOPS AT ALL.---

[HUNTER16]

The closest bait shop by me has a real gem working there.  He's an old man whose shop is attached to a beer drive-thru.  Only time I was there my son (9 yoa) was with me.  I asked for 3 doz bass minnows and he counted each one BY HAND.  He used the dip net to get them out of his tank.  Picked them out of the net w/his hand and dropped them in my bucket one at a time like he was counting pennies.  After watching this painful event, I asked him how much his waxes were.  He replied, "Money is no object."  I said, "Whose money, mine or yours.  I saw you rubbing the scales off my minnows.  Never mind on the waxes, I'll just take the minnows."  By the time I got to the lake  (15 min away) there were 3 floaters.  Before you ask, I had just replaced the styrofoam liner in my bucket and the water was from his tank.  When we left the guys shop, my son said "Dad can't we get our bait somewhere else?"

[buttlesdog]

Ok, rereading my post, maybe I was a bit too absolute in my reply. There are certainly bad businesses. But the point is, if someone charges x for y amount of bait. Then you should get y. Not y+2 or yx2. And the local bait shop is in fact becoming an endangered species. All the internet deals are great for fisherman, but maybe not so great for fishing as a whole.... time will tell. Didnt mean to attack captn 54, or any others who deal with bad businesses, just trying to say that the whole industry is hard pressed right now to make a buck.

[crayfishbob]

Yes, I catch my own bait. I am also in the red because of VHS testing. With three weeks left of possible ice, I hope to just break even. I would not dream of not being open on sundays, and counting minnows.

[JJ]

CrayfishBob,I'm not asking for 24 minnows when I buy a Dozen but it would be nice to get 3 or 4 extra per dozen.( and I've never bought a dozen in my life,more 5 dozen or more)Do you sell dead waxy's and spikes to your customers? Are you a tight a## bait dealer too? As from as me thanking him for being there,your something else! Put the shoe on the other foot Bob.Would you like drop $20 or more a week for bait and get treated sooooo well.I never complained to the bait shop owner ever once, plus he OPENS at 9 o'clock and is closed on sunday. Probable the same hours you keep.

Ok, I tried to bite my tongue, but here's my 2 cents. Have you ever said anything to the one person that could do something about it, the bait shop owner. You were very quick to jump down crayfishbob's throat, he was only trying to give some insight from a seller's perspective; You know, the shoe on the other foot. You lost all credibility at that point and started sounding like the rest of the complainers on here.

[SPARKYICE]

I gotta take the bait shop owners side. I think selling dead bait or less than a person paid for is BS... BUT!!! You try making a living selling grubs and minnows for $1.39. What do you think his profit on it is? 30 cents maybe? Local bait and tackle shops face pressure today that they never faced in the past. For one thing, there's walmart, for another there is this thing, the internet. Do you buy all your tackle at the tackle shop? Or do you buy your tackle elsewhere and rely on the local guy for bait only? Be honest.. you know you buy your big ticket items elsewhere like everyone else does, usually on the internet or some big bargain place like Walmart, Kmart or The Sports Authority. Point is, local guys are drying up and going out of business, or barely hanging on and probably running into debt as they do so. Cough up the buck and change, talk to the guy, let them know your concerns, dont be surprised if they tell you their problems, and be prepared to listen to how they have a lot bigger problems then your 3 dead grubs...

All that said, I support my local shops. Try and hit them all and buy the big ticket items from them too. I find i fyou tell them you need a deal to fit your budget, they will work with you. And sure, sometimes you get burned, thats the nature of the business when people sell small live animals. Same thing happens in pet stores. Its just the way it is with little animals kept in small places for long periods of time. But the other side is worse. If you had no local bait shop, had to order everything from the internet, ... AND!! Good luck getting any advice on local fishing at Walmart of Ebay...

bless you buttlesdog !!
i couldn't have said it better myself !!
i get my bait at a place where guys have said for years they get ripped off.
i always get a bucket full of minnows- but i always buy a couple jigs, or sinkers, or bobbers, i'll pick up a rapala or a sutton spoon on occasion, and i've bought several rods and reels there over the years, and my merc. outboard. i buy my bullets there,too.
and i talk to the guy about what his neighbor, walmart, is doing to small businesses like his all across the country.
his prices on lures are very close to walmart, and he has what the local fish are hitting, not what some weinie in corporate purchasing thinks looks cool.

ALWAYS support local businesses of ALL types !!!

[Pail Rider]

ALWAYS support local businesses of ALL types !!!

You betcha, I'd rather pay a little more to help the little guy out than to give it to a large chain store.

[jigmasterjr]

either way no one is forcing you to shop at their store, if their the only one around and you have to go their for bait so what quit b***hin or fish with artificials, i dont complain when i stop at the grocery store and get ripped off buying everything they sell, or for that matter  any store  and buy stuff made in china and taiwan for pennies on the dollar that im paying for it, its called good old american greed and it destroyed america, so why not give your money to the local guy not the corporate tycoon even if he's making a small percentage off it 'guys gotta live ya know'

[grizzwald660]

very good post. maybe some people will see the other side. i've been to both types of bait shops. our guy here is fair. but he still needs to make a living as do you. remember this it sounds easy to have a business and make money. and the people i bought from that counted their bait were always there even if it was 6:00am. and from the looks of there vehicles they weren't getting rich. had to be something they enjoyed doing. my hats off to the little guy out there fighting coporate america. wow honey i've got a new job for us sitting at the kitchen table from 6 am to 9pm waiting for a few customers everyday. "were in the money were in the money"

[esox slayer]

CrayfishBob,I'm not asking for 24 minnows when I buy a Dozen but it would be nice to get 3 or 4 extra per dozen.( and I've never bought a dozen in my life,more 5 dozen or more)Do you sell dead waxy's and spikes to your customers? Are you a tight a## bait dealer too? As from as me thanking him for being there,your something else! Put the shoe on the other foot Bob.Would you like drop $20 or more a week for bait and get treated sooooo well.I never complained to the bait shop owner ever once, plus he OPENS at 9 o'clock and is closed on sunday. Probable the same hours you keep.

So what you're saying is that you'd like the dealer to give you 1 and 1/3rd dozen for every dozen you ask for??

I buy my bait at a couple local bait shops up here.  It would be "nice"..no make that "great" if they gave me the equivalent of "buy 3 dozen, get one dozen free" when I went in, but it doesn't happen.  They always make sure I get at least 1 or 2 extra minnows in my "dozen", but once in awhile that doesn't happen either, no big deal to me.  If I wanted 1 1/3rd dozen minnows each time to the bait shop, I'd tell them thats what I wanted.  I'm content with my usual bakers dozen minnows but sure as blazes don't get on a rant if it doesn't happen.

My guess is that you've never tried operating your own business before and had to deal with such trivial things as accounts payable, inventory loss, competition, utility bills, being a slave 24/7 to the store, etc.....just MY rant for the day....Esox

[Reel Wet Ride]

You know, I don't think I've met one rich small baitshop owner. Not one. I, like almost everyone else, go there for all of one reason, bs a little, ask where, how deep, what on, and buy bait. No lures, no nets, nothing that he/she might actually make decent money on. So you know what I do, I buy what they sell me, if a doz. minnows is 12, and I wanted 14, I ask for another dozen and happily hand over my money.

I'm a small business owner, and I deal with numbers a lot bigger than 3 or 4 bucks, and I'm not even breaking even after 2+ years. Do I cry, no. Do I whine, no. Am I about to complain because I go to a bait shop 4 times a year and spend a grand total of 20.00 and the guy/girl behind the register isn't "hooking me up", not even close.  So do as others have suggested, switch places and make a living or think about if they weren't there at all.....Well then, you'd have nothing to complain about would you?!

[buttlesdog]

bless you buttlesdog !!
i couldn't have said it better myself !!
i get my bait at a place where guys have said for years they get ripped off.
i always get a bucket full of minnows- but i always buy a couple jigs, or sinkers, or bobbers, i'll pick up a rapala or a sutton spoon on occasion, and i've bought several rods and reels there over the years, and my merc. outboard. i buy my bullets there,too.
and i talk to the guy about what his neighbor, walmart, is doing to small businesses like his all across the country.
his prices on lures are very close to walmart, and he has what the local fish are hitting, not what some weinie in corporate purchasing thinks looks cool.

ALWAYS support local businesses of ALL types !!!

Sparky - Indeed, we share the same views, and I would argue... we "get it". Some of these guys are clowns... crying over $1.39. Im new to ice fishing, I got 6 rods, a strikemaster hand auger, an ice scoop, and some glo-jigs and grubs for around $230 when I went to stock up this year. The guy was happy to make the sale. I was thrilled its so damn cheap! I live near saltwater here right outside NYC. I spend that on gas some weekends just to putz around looking for fish. I wonder if some of these guys are sporting $300 power augers, $350 vex 8's, and still have to ask where the fish are while they moan and groan about the price of rice in china...

If we dont support these guys, they will find something else to do... I frequent 2 places, one for salt water, one for fresh. Both are owned and operated by Vietnam Vets. Guys who walked in jungles waiting to get their ass shot off to serve their country. Both have told me they dont know if they can do it much longer. That guys come in with the setups they buy at walmart, and want line put on for 3 bucks, then want to know where to find the fish. The saltwater guy sends them on wild goose chases, the freshwater guy tells them the same place he tells everyone else which is the same place all the walmart shoppers fish anyway, you know, that fished out lake the real guys laugh when they pass and see the walmart guys drowning minnows.

Support your local baitdealers folks,  it beats paying whatever you have to pay to get your grubs shipped from god knows where, and wont people cry double loud when half their bait shows up dead and there isnt a person to take it up with, just a reply to email address...

[projoe]

u think a dozen one the money is bad i have had shops wen i ask for 3 dozen they give me 2 and a half one time i countd how many he put in and we he went to give me my bucket back i told him he needs to give me 6 more and i had to count them out putting them back in his tank and showd him. i think he was doing this alot becaeu he gave me the bait for free and wen ever i go in to the shop now he gives me a dozen more then wat i ask for

[zamboni]

I am not even going to try getting in the middle of this, but remember one thing about bait shop owners-I think 9/10ths of all bait shop owners run the place and work there by themselves, one day closed a week sounds good to me. These guys sell bait all day and don't even get a chance to go out and fish themselves? They should be able to go out and have a day off. I used to help run 2 businesses, I wasn't the owner, but I worked 6 days a week, 11 hour days, it sucks. In order for them to get their days off, they'd have to pay someone $10 an hour to run their shop, would they sell $10 worth of stuff an hour to turn a profit, very doubtful.

[esox slayer]

The whole idea of getting "3 or 4" free with each dozen is ludicrous.

I don't get 16 eggs when I buy a dozen,

I don't get 15 2x4's when I order 12,

why should I, or anybody else for that matter, expect any different from a bait shop as opposed to any other "by the dozen" purchases??  Esox

[InSearchOfPerch]

The bait shops around here in the dakotas for the most part buy wholesale minnows by the gallon not the pound...and It is ALOT less than 7 bucks a lb.  You dont buy retail from them by the dozen...its by the scoop...2 bucks a scoop..one of those little yellow plastic scoops.  You get about 30 crappie minnows or about 20 large minnows for the 2 bucks.  I agree about the euro's and waxies...order online...save alot.  I got 2000 Euro's for 16 bucks.  compared to 2 bucks per 30, not bad.  If I go into a shop and they start counting minnows instead of selling by the little yellow scoop...im out.  Counting is for shiners and chubs.  There are plenty of baitshops around and If I knew my competition sold by the dozen, I would change to sell by the scoop...the coupla bucks you lose per day will be made up by the 100's of dollars in tackle and munchies, rods, reels, etc. you are taking away from the clown down the road counting minnows.  I think this is a regional experience of buying from shops that sell by the dozen and by the scoop.  Around here no one sells by the dozen and no one would go there if they did.  In essence its not alot different..when you compare 12 minnows for $1.25 to a scoop for $2.  A scoop might include 30 percent more minnows or so but the price reflects the difference....the big difference is no one is killing 5 minutes counting minnows and a scoop is a scoop...meaning a scoop minus 3 minows is still pretty much a scoop....a dozen minus 3 minnows is a rip off.

[mattmull10]

Lol i wasnt going to post on this but i'm a jerk so here it goes.  When you goto the butcher and ask for 3 lbs NY strip do you get 3.5lbs or 3lbs?  When you go and buy sandwhich meat and ask for 1lb turkey, .5lbs of roast beef and a pound of provolone do you get any extra in their??

Before i moved i went to the same local bait shop in NY and you know what once in a while a dozen was 16 or 5 dozen was 70 but would I ever think less of the shop because she actually gave me the 5 dozen i asked for??

This has got to win an award for dumbest thread of the year. 

[ice dawg]

Where I buy bait in South Dakota they are $1.25 for a scoop and if you get a card from the bait shop they are $1.00 per scoop and they punch the card for each scoop purchased. When the card has all ten spaces punched you get a free scoop. I did have minnows and red wigglers counted out by hand when I lived in Colorado though.

[ice dawg]

Lol i wasnt going to post on this but i'm a jerk so here it goes.  When you goto the butcher and ask for 3 lbs NY strip do you get 3.5lbs or 3lbs?  When you go and buy sandwhich meat and ask for 1lb turkey, .5lbs of roast beef and a pound of provolone do you get any extra in their??

Before i moved i went to the same local bait shop in NY and you know what once in a while a dozen was 16 or 5 dozen was 70 but would I ever think less of the shop because she actually gave me the 5 dozen i asked for??

This has got to win an award for dumbest thread of the year. 

Yup, Now the butcher is in the bait business. lol I remember when my dad would buy weiners out of the meat case at the butcher shop and when you bought a pound they always weighed out a pound and threw another weiner in the package. I think this comes from the old "bakers dozen" where you would get 13 donuts or rolls instead of twelve. The guy at the baitshop that I go to sells wax worms two dozen to a container and he always has  28 worms in them.