Being the semi frugal individual that I am. OK so my wife calls me a tight-ass. 
I am always looking for good ideas on how to same a few $. If you have any good ones let me know.
A very simple one that I have is when I am rigging with a bullet weight for flippin and I also use a bead, I find the beads in the sewing departments. Many colors and sizes to choose from. You also get about 1,000 of them for a buck.
Let hear yours
Thanks
The only thing I do to truely save money is to only buy items I know are tried and true. I always buy quality equipment as to maximize the return on investment. I only fish St Croix rods and Shimano reels for this very reason. I’d rather have half as many rods that are twice the quality. Not that I buy the most expensive, I just choose things that I know I will get my money out of.. I have been fooled one to many times by the “banjo” type fads.
Jc
I think that you found another one. Taking that beutiful daughter of yours out after whitebass and getting her hooked on fishing will save thousands of dollars in the future. No fancy dresses or video games. Will hopefully just want to go fishing. Then she will marry a rich fisherman with a brand new Ranger boat and all of the fixings. Heck, he’ll probabally have 2. You will never have to spend another dime on fishing stuff because your son in law will take care of you. You will then be the ultimeate lesson for everyone. Take a kid fishing.
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I have been fooled one to many times by the “banjo” type fads.
hey now jeremy, in certain situations, that darn banjo minnow can catch me fish when nothing else i try can (including ringworms and superdoos) 
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anyway, the best way i’ve found to save money is to buy all my fishing gear in the fall. that way it’s all on clearance and a better price than it would be in the spring. also, i try to stay away from all the gander moutain’s and cabela’s out there. fleet farm and (dare i say it) wal-mart sell the same stuff but for a better price. 
and if you’re really ambitious, take a sat. moring and go garage saleing (or have your wife do it) . i statred out with a tackle box full of rapalas that i bought at a garge sale for 10$. it was a great deal. you do have to look pretty hard to fined quilty sometimes though. 
You are right, I see they caught another sucker.
jc
Hey Jake………I’ve played the “clearance game” since 1998 and fall can be good but the REALLY good deals come pouring in around Feb/Mar. Reason is that ice fishing is wrapping up and they need to get that stuff gone and they’re also beginning to stock up for the new season and all the discontinued stuff gets slashed to make room. There’s other times too where there’s just too much of an item and they want to reduce the “on hand” stock.
I know dept. stores can vary in their prices (Stillwater and Hudson WalMarts often have different prices) but in my area, most WalMart’s are actually more expensive for buying line or high demand lures like Rapalas. Hudson Fleet Farm is cheaper than Hudson WalMart and Galyan’s is surprisingly, often, cheaper than either one for the retail price of these given items. However, they usually don’t have much in the way of clearance sales so the trip isn’t always real beneficial. Gander can have some EXCELLENT closeouts so don’t ignore them! They also tend to have a better selection than regular dept. stores so you’ll get lures you can’t get anywhere else. And yes……………they may be “cheap, junky lures” but Rivereyes and I both laughed ourselves sick one day because we reduced ourselves to using “things we’ve never used before………..ever” and couldn’t keep the fish off of them! It would’ve never happened had I not gone into a Fleet Farm, Gander Mountain, or Galyans and got lures for 30%-80% off that WalMart has never carried.
Like I said, it varies from area to area but this is what my experience is here.
Another place to look for good price per lure is in the tackle box catagory of Ebay. I’ve seen some incredible deals happen that way and a good way to discover that “secret lure” that somebody else used a lot and is no longer available anywhere. I got a quintet of rattle cranks that consistantly pull fish when used that I obtained that way. Paid about 35 cents a piece when averaged out and four years later, I STILL have no idea what they are or who made them! All I know is the action is good, true, and they’ve all produced fish!
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You are right, I see they caught another sucker.
uff, that was a low blow. 
Don’t fish!!!!!!
Too Funny, I won’t mention whom purchased the Bill Dance electronic clicking jigs @ $40 bucks a pop..
jc
Don’t fish…. I am not sue that would be any cheaper, I hear the cost for mental illness is quite expensive.
jc
JC, Well Put!!!
Wollybugger, You are right about my daughter (I hope) By that time she gets to be the marrying age I will need all the finacial relief I can find 
At that point hopefully dad can find another fishing partner…My guess is this will not be to hard cause I got two boys 2yrs. and a 5 month old following right behind her.
Again, thanks for the comments about her. Our dad time is really a great time for me! 
Mountain Man may be on to something here. I always figure that everytime I go fishing somewhere, that it will cost at the very least $25-30 per trip. Food, gas, lures, beverages, etc. This does not include the price you pay for the rods, reels, line, etc. So if you look at the price of fish in a supermarket, or fishmarket, or even Sam’s Club. I figure I can feed my family for around $10.00. So, if it was only for the food, I would be way behind. Of course, all of this assumes one thing: I NEED TO CATCH THEM FIRST! Don’t count your filets before they’re caught!
Steve
Still A Kid – Sounds like we frequent the same places for bargains.
Gander Mtn. – especially watch the “Hot Buys” in their flyers. I’ve picked up a couple quality reels in the $100-170 range for 60% off.
Another place to check out is Fisherman’s Factory Outlet – the Berkley outlet store in Spirit Lake, IA. You can find lots of great buys there on rods, line, Powerbait, and occasionally reels – as in $.10-50 on the dollar. They also have a website, but the deals aren’t nearly as good as in the store.
Last but not least, the Cabela’a Tent sales if you don’t mind large crowds!!
Whenever possible buy in quantity and share the cost and product with buddies. Amazing deals to be had by buying this way.
A good example for me from a recent purchase…. the aberdeen hooks I like to use rigging can be had for $1.80/8 pack @ Fleetfarm… which is actually a good price on that quantity. 100 cost me less than $12. Add $4 for shipping and it’s a big savings on an item I use daily.
i will second or third some ideas already said. 1. only buy what you use, it took me a while and i needed to resist sales on certain baits that were cheap but never used, it seems crankbaits were the hardest lesson. I have a rotation of about 5 types of crankbaits i use, when you find them on sale buy as many as you can and share, like james said. Also, i would rather buy a weird off color crankbait that i use on sale as opposed to a color i like on a crank that i have no confidence in. In my opinion, color is the least important element in a crankbait, so a person can find sales on over stocked colors, recent example– husky jerks for 2.99 all blaze orange, i bought 25, they work just fine .
Let’s see if I could keep each day out down to $25 or $30 dollars I would feel great, Already get most of my stuff from sponsors at at least a discount. My wife says I can’t stop fishing because to much time at home causes divorces and they are a lot more expensive than fishing. Can’t figure her out. Complains like the devil when I have a slow week guiding or don’t cash a check in a tourney and the next day at sunrise she asks me why I’m not out fishing , “It’s Your Job You Know” am I a lucky man or what.
But seriously the only way for me to save much more money is to quit. Maybe when I die Hold on a second my will says cremation and spread my ashes of the back off the Clements fishing barge….so I will still be baiting the fish LOL 
OH WELL it won’t be so expensive any more.
The guys are right though there are times when closeouts and things like them really add up. Taylor Tackle just brought on their Rattlin trappie generic about a year ago and until then I was racing around all over the place watching for deals. If your not familiar with what TT has done they have purchase major brand bodies, and had them improved in many cases with better hooks and the like and then sell them for 2.99 through outlets like ACE Hardware, Tristate Bait and Tackle, and a ton of other places including their own Captain Hooks Bait and Tackle.
Another thing that can really add up is the tackle hobbyists. I’ll bet tons of us here make something from scratch and would love to save somebody else a ton and help pay our costs. Len down at falling rock makes some things, Dale Radliffe used to pour bell sinkers, etc.
I’ve beem taking back my empty beer cans lately..I can’t afford not to drink
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