Greedy bait shops

Has anyone else had issues with bait size, quality, and price the past few years? Price goes up and size is going down. This made me laugh way too hard yesterday (see photo). I asked if it was a typo and was told no. I wished them good luck on selling them and walked out. 90% of the suckers were 3-4" with maybe 3-4 that may have been 7". This was always known as "northern mix" and would be $8 a dozen at multiple shops. The others shops changed suppliers (much smaller minnows) or dont carry them anymore. I also saw a sign listing medium shiners for $9 at a different shop. I asked if that was a typo, and again was told no. Even fatheads are $2.50-$3 for small and $4 for large at a few locations.

SE WI seems to be the worst of the areas I fish. Central WI I can get medium shiners for $4 and I'll get 14-15 of them. Northern MN I can get the same suckers for $8-$10 a dozen (same price I was used to) and fatheads for $2 and get way more than a dozen. Maybe it's time to start growing my own minnows in a friends old fish farm ponds. 

Wow, one of the last small businesses that I would ever criticize as greedy would be a bait shop owner. Minnow and sucker prices have gone way up for them over the past few years and they have to pass that along.  These guys are working extra long hours and are not making a killing in this business. geez

ulbrian. has it right  the great gas gouge started late 74 if memory serves maybe 75 when it hit $1.59 and up from there

I will bet that it costs a lot more to run a bait shop in SE WI,versus up north.Plus most bait shops charge what the market will bear.

The VHS thing is what started it all.Willowcats used to be about 3.75/doz.Now you are lucky to find them for less than 18.00/doz.And that is in less than a 10 year span.

"Back in the sixties gas was a buck and a quarter a gallon"

No it wasn't.  Your numbers are a bit off there.  The average cost in 1960 for a gallon of gas was 25 cents.  In 1970 it was 36 cents.  Far cry from a buck and a quarter per gallon.  

If you notice, most bait shop owners live behind or above the store , and that being convienient isn't the only reason.  With gas stations and Walmart selling bait and tackle there's a lot of competition. buy your gas and beer at BP, jeans and shirts at Walmart and fishing supplies at a bait and tackle store.  Otherwise, your friendly , knowledgeable tackle store owner will end up working in Walmart sporting goods or cabelas.

The increase in cost is due to increases in the cost of raising bait fish and then the cost of shipping them. Remember it costs to raise the grains that they feed them while rearing them. Rent on farm land, fuel costs, and on and on. Same with spikes and wax worms. My friend owns a bait shop. I saw the letter Robinson's  sent him informing him of cost increases. As was stated before. You do not own a bait shop to get rich. Now a days with plastics and Gulp out there. Most bait shops are just getting by. Most are money losers. Think of what it costs them to carry an inventory of terminal tackle, lures, jigs etc? Most just hang on a wall collecting dust. My friends shop closed down all summer as one or two customers a day does not pay to even turn on the lights. Open 6:00 am - 6:00 pm. That makes for a long day and even longer week. He reopened for winter. As receipts have shown him that is when he makes a small profit. 

Back in the sixties gas was a buck and a quarter a gallon  and minnows were three dozen for a buck. Todays prices are called inflation. Ain't no one in business not going to pass increased costs along, that includes bait suppliers and bait dealers.

Nuff said! 

I think if you were to try raising your own minnows you'd quickly find buying them is more economical. Would you run to your buddies farm pond, cut a hole in the ice, and dipnet out a dozen minnows everytime you needed bait?

Nevermind the whole part about that being illegal anyways....

Good topic. I noticed when I was in SE Wisconsin that a dozen shiners were 9.99. Up in Vilas here they are around 7.50 or so. Same size. Suckers were the huge disparity. 15.99 for a dozen in SE Wisconsin and up here last year at least they were 7.00 for that size. Not sure about this year. 

Is it easier to get bait up here, thus cheaper? Is the rent or land price lower, thus the cost isn't passed onto the customer as much as high land value SE Wisconsin? I don't know. Sometimes it is greed. Other times there might be more factors at play. But, for sure, bait up north is cheaper by a big margin. 

I personally know a guy who runs a bait shop in large town is west central WI.  Well large for west central WI. 

Bait stores are a dying thing.  There biggest money looser is minnows. I live near Alma WI.  We have had bait store after bait store go out of business over the past 30 years.  There hasn't been one there now for about 4 years.  There is no money in bait. 

To tell you the truth many guys don't use minnows anymore.  30 years ago during summer fishing I'd buy minnows every time I'd go fishing.  Today I might buy minnows a couple times else I just use plastics.  In winter I can keep minnows alive usually for a month.

Unfortunately minnow prices are going to continue to climb and bait shops are going to continue to go out of business.