Baits to buy with $150

Does Rienckes have those blanks in stock for spoons? I would love to make a bunch!

Baits to buy for 15 dollars. Homemade spoons.

Keep an eye on Craigs for guys cleaning out there basement or boats. Ive saved a lot doing this. Get your main set of tackle this way then buy a spoon, plug or fly here and there. I still spend money on duplicates of what caught fish, but my initial cost was alot lower to start. Watch out, it gets contagious. $150 now and hundreds to thousands later.

We have coyotes for $4 each and a ton of stuff on clearance. Also for first time buyers we do a special pricing. send me a message

Jim

Well, i feel I got a start on this anyway. I picked up 6 pro king spoons on sale for $3 each and 4 - "0 Coyotes" for $8 each. I'm in no real rush, but I'd like get a little at a time. As far as flies go, I see a lot of Howies. Is there any trick to the SIZE? What about squids? I can see how they might look good.

If you go to The Bait Box in Port Jim (the owner) will be able to set you up with the go-to baits and what is working. He really runs a great little business and is extremely helpful. In Port though the usual go-to baits include the 8 inch Pro-Troll white/glow flasher with a bull-frog fly or aqua fly usually always fair well. Also a "bloody nose" spoon made by moonshine spoons is a good bait. If you stop by Jim though he will be able to show you whats best for your money. Good Luck

Thanks guys...Please keep the opinions comming. I'd like to hear different opinions.

Pro King spoons in both the regular and magnum sizes work well for us. Two patterns that are usually top producers have purple or green in them. Purple/black with glow ladderback, green/black with glow ladderback and green/silver flash regularly put fish in the boat. The "Kevorkian" pattern (google it) also works well.

Other spoons that have their place are blue/silver Northport Nailers, Monkey Puke, and the Dolphin which has a few variations. Again, google these and you'll see the color patterns. There are always new patterns that come out every year that have some sort of nickname. I'm sure they work but many are developed to catch the fisherman as much as the fish. If I could only run one single spoon off of the boat, it would be the first pattern I mention above, the purple/black glow ladderback.

As far as dodgers and flashers, there are so many on the market now. We've just stuck with the plain old Luhr Jensen Dodgers in the "0" size which are about 8" in length. Since the lake has become so clear, we find that the duller finishes produce more fish. The polished bright ones put off too much of a flash and we think that they scare the fish more once the sun comes up. They make one that is sort of a silver/pewter color and is in a satin or almost tarnished finish. This gives off more of a glow than a flash. Pair those with a tinsel fly in blue, green, glow or purple with a leader no more than twice the length of the flasher and you're good to go. It took me a while to lessen the length of my leaders but the salmon like the action of those flies when they're getting whipped around by the dodger. We usually run our dodger/fly set ups off of our dipseys and angle them away from the boat. They out-produce the riggers when the fish aren't way down deep.

This is just what works for us. Good luck and good fishing.

Im sure youll get a thousand different opinions on this but heres what I would do. Since the midsummer patterns have officially set in, I would start with getting a half dozen flashers or so. I prefer coyotes but to each his own. Pick a brand and go with it tho. I would stay away from running one coyote, one spin doctor, one protroll, and one dreaweaver, etc. Pick a brand and go with it. Theyre all good, but having only one kind helps you dial things in. (Find the right speed, color, lead length etc.) If you have all different stuff out there, you dont know if it was the brand, color, speed, direction, lead or what that caused the bite. Just one less variable when you run just one brand. Next, I would go out and get some fly building materials. Hooks, 50lb mono, beads, fly material. (All available at reinke bros.) And they are fairly easy to make. (youtube it) Flies are expensive and get chewed up fairly easily. Look at the ones on the shelf and try to mimic some. (LBB and naughty leprachaun are good for me). That should take care of your core rods (riggers and dipsys). For the boards, spoons are obviously the go to but dont shy away from some brads cut plugs. They seem complicated but really arent. ITs all explained on the package and are nice to throw out later in the am or when nothing else is working (Seahawk, blue hawaiian and mountain doo have all been good for me). I would wait on the jplugs til later in the season, but some will disagree with me on that and i have caught fish on them as well this time of year, but they shine later on for me. You should be able to pick up a pretty decent arsenal with 150 but i guarantee that will just be the beginning. Watch the boards for whats working recently because it changes frequently and dont be afraid to try something different. It shocks me what these fish want some times. Best of luck to you out there and be safe. Welcome to the addiction!

Go on Ebay/craigslist your money will go way farther. I would get a mix of colors and brands of spoons and flasher/flies make sure you get some good glow stuff. Good colors are green, oarange and blue. But it changes hour to hour day to day.

Does Port have any stores like the Angler's Ave or the Wharf? If not, just take a ride to Sheboygan and tell them your deal. They will set you up. That is how I would do it. Mrt.