Cost per Leech?

[JewellOutdoors]

Has anyone ever thought about the cost of baiting your hook? Every tap you hook that leech or crawler - what is it costing? Curious if anyone ever does the math on this.

[Trouthunter]

senko = buck a fish

[BobT]

When you start pricing your baiting by the specimen, do you suspect that it might be time to reconsider your methods?

[croixflats]

It gets prety spendy. I charge myself $98 an hour for labor and shop time bait is extra. I still come out ahead even after paying for the bait as time on the water is priceless.

[opsirc]

Has anyone ever thought about the cost of baiting your hook? Every tap you hook that leech or crawler - what is it costing? Curious if anyone ever does the math on this.

afraid if I stop to consider what it cost, I would give up fishing.

[pegleg]

If you are worried about the cost of leeches, don't even think about figuring out the cost of redtails every time you bait your hook. At $8 or $9 per dozen it gets pricy especially when the bait dealer actually counts them and by the time you start fishing half of them might die on you.

[paul pachowicz]

how many times do I have to tell ya, fellas!!!!! Never,EVER,count the money you spend on a hobby!!!!

[paceman]

Amen Paul!!!!!!!!!

[Dan189]

nice....I might go take a loan for a new Pro-V!

[wayne123]

I do think about this. It is not so much the cost of the bait I use but the cost of bait that is wasted. I have a limited budget for fishing so if I save on bait I can buy more other things.

I used an areator this winter for the minnow bucket in the garage. With that going the minnows seem to last for ever.

Each year I say I am going to gather my own night crawlers but never do. I live near a golf couse. I figure one night walking in the rain I can easliy get a months worth of night crawlers.

Anybody have a good way to keep minnows alive tied to the dock for a week?

[JewellOutdoors]

I agree with those that say - don't get too hung up on what you spend on your hobby. My family has been in the live bait business for years. Primarily in Leeches. I am attempting to bring an online store front this year. I hope to break down for customers what leeches and crawlers cost as it pertains to the dozen, and per each time you bait the hook.

For example, if you buy a pound of medium leeches, and there are roughly 205 in a pound, at $22 per pound, it runs about $1.29 per dozen, or $.11 per leech. I figure it might help people make a buying decision if they're comparing prices, or calculating adding on some new equipment.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

I'm sure that would help a lot of people, well done.

[Sandmannd]

Na, I don't price my bait by each that I put on my hook. I'm more concerned with getting a fish. Now yea, when an eye takes my 80 cent redtail, I'm hoping another is coming along that I can snag.

[mainbutter]

I don't price bait per baiting on the hook, but by a day on the water. Most of the time I keep my bait costs per day of fishing around $1-2 when fishing freshwater. I don't price per baiting of my hook because I don't find that information useful, only the amount of $ for amount of time on the water.

This differs from how I price other fishing gear. Lures, tackle, etc. is always priced in two ways:

1) if I'm going on a trip to canada, price is not much of an issue, only how much I can fit in my boat bag

2) if I'm just going on my usual annual/semi-annual generic store trip, I spend only gift money from birthday and x-mas.

[Tom7227]

if you want to try to keep the minnows you can do it easily in an aquarium at home. Garage sale special, hook it up, let the water get cleared out and toss them in. You can feed them a bit with some flake food and they'll last a long time. Trouble is I think there's rules about taking minnows off a lake and then re-using them. CVS concerns.

[snoozebutton]

how many times do I have to tell ya, fellas!!!!! Never,EVER,count the money you spend on a hobby!!!!

I agree but my wife usually adds it up for me.

[TonkaBass]

Originally Posted By: paul pachowicz

how many times do I have to tell ya, fellas!!!!! Never,EVER,count the money you spend on a hobby!!!!

I agree but my wife usually adds it up for me.

nuff said.

[Jordyn Kaufer]

Well,

For Crawlers, its about 10seconds of time picking him from the back yard and for leeches, i dont know!

haha

[broken_line]

bait is free for me! haha crawlers are in the yard or garden, leeches are in the sloughs, minnows are in the D ditches, rivers ponds, craw dads are in the lake and waxies are on the road kill!

[andrew chadwick]

To keep your miinnows alive sink the bait bucket in deeper water, preferably out of the sun. use a rock in the bucket.

[JeffB]

Don't worry about the cost of bait. Fishing is a really cheap hobby as long as you don't count the cost of boats, electronics, rods, tackle, gas, beer or licences. And you get a lot of free fish to feed the family.

[metrojoe]

Has anyone ever thought about the cost of baiting your hook? Every tap you hook that leech or crawler - what is it costing? Curious if anyone ever does the math on this.

No, and probably never will. I do have money budgeted for fishing each month. It's in the "What ever it costs" column.

[cold one sd]

I haven't done the math, but I figure my walleyes run about $150 per pound before they are cleaned. I wish I liked Lobster better, because it's a lot cheaper.

[New2TheFly]

The frugal fisherman will probably purchase leeches at $0.11 each over minnows for $0.80 each. However, on opener if he was told by everyone he knows that you cant catch a cold with leeches, you can bet he'll be reaching for the minnows.

[mrklean]

haha i dont ever want to know what my hobbies will cost me per pound or hour

[JewellOutdoors]

I hear you there. Lord only knows how much I drop on new bow hunting equipment every year. Still, I think if people know they could save a few bucks on live bait - they'd consider it in their purchase.

Bait shops do have an advantage over many types of retail though - as they are fewer and further between, and usually located close to where you're going to fish! No time to price compare!

[WaveWacker]

I hate to do it but $9/doz redtails=$.75/baiting.

So I go with the sentiments stated above...the price of bait for experiences fishing are PRICELESS!!

[opsirc]

if you are worry about the price of minnows and leeches and keeping them alive, its time to go plastic, at lest they don't died off.

[JeffB]

I will say I buy my crawlers from my kids. I give them 2 bucks a dozen and bought them a big crawler crib. Its a little easier to pay the bait bill when you know your kids worked for it. I also buy a few frogs from them.

[tweedlap]

The real spendy stuff is x-wifes. What do you think they cost per pound?

tweed