Home Forums Fishing Freshwater And you thought the Rico popper was expensive

Was watching a fishing show where they were promoting a swimbait. Looked it up and it was $59 dollars!

I looked around and discovered there are other lures even more expensive. Who would buy one lure that cost up to $99???



Example: the 9" Triton Mike Bucca Bull Shad Slow Sinking Swimbait costs $99

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Tri...low_Sinking_Swimbait/descpage-TMBBS.html

Lures are sure getting expensive. You think that’s nuts should see the custom ones on eBay for $1,000. Honestly I don’t think they are going to work any better.

Yeah, the Swimbait game is crazy... I will admit I have about 10 different Rico's and some different swim/glide baits that probably cost close to a 100 each but not many. Damn mega bass 110 jerkbaits are my weakness lol..... I have about 25 of them and the think they are about 26 bucks each 🤦🏻‍♂️

In Minnesota the stores of all sorts do not have much for larger pike or musky that aren’t 20.00 or higher. Quite a lot between 30 and 50.00.

Some years ago Sweets dug into the primary residence insurance coverage. There wasn’t much for fishing tackle protection. Being a guide it has all added up big time over the years.
I was not happy but she made me spread everything out on the shop floor, multiple times to get it all, and she literally listed every lure, leader, tools, rods, reels, depth finders, nets, batteries, and on. Here list was what I figured at used price or price on package if it was in one.

I was flat stunned at the value tallied up. End of the day I was very happy we itemized for coverage purposes.

Fishing can be a crazy expensive hobby.

Osky

Funny cuz last spring my son in law bought a Mike Bucca bluegill swim bait. His friends teased him about its cost… I think $16-ish… but he caught his first-ever northern on it after maybe 10 casts, and then lost it to a northern that broke his line.

How do you put a price tag on your first pike… and I guarantee my SIL will remember a leader…

I just picked one up in rainbow trout cuz the northern in the river I grew up fishing has hatchery trucks dumping trout fingerlings every spring behind the dam I like to fish.

Tell ya what those MONSTER (190?) whopper ploppers are like $20 and based upon the luck I’ve had w/ the 130s I’m all over it…

If looking for a good lure for pike/Muskie it would be savage gears line thru trout. Ya it’s around $20 but works great got like 15 of them stocked up. Will have to run a leader as I lost one to a monster Muskie not running a leader and then lost another not running the right leader. Boy losing those lures ruined my day of fishing.

Those whopper ploppers were great here for about 2-3 years and then the fish got wise to em. So many people throw em now the fish just don't react like when they were new.....If I do get the off chance to fish a private pond in the summer though, it's the first thing I grab.

I've gone back to big walking baits like super spooks, vixens, and evergreen shower blows for most of my bass top waters..... would love to go up north and have one of those giant muskies EXPLODE on a top water though....considering I still pee my pants when a 13" bass does it I can only imagine 🤣🤣🤣

Is it a swimbait because if it gets hung up you are going swimming after it?

I've got plenty of lures like the ones in the pic under my user name that are selling for $200 or more.
I wouldn't pay that for them, but plenty of collectors are.

Flatfish?

No question, lures are getting expensive and the Rico at over $20 is a lot less than most of the swimbaits. I've got a couple of Ricos that were both gifts and a few years back I was convinced they were the best topwater popper I could get. I'm kind of changing my mind on that. The past two or three years we've done at least as well with the Rebel Pop R. IMO if you want a good surface popper the Pop R at about a third, maybe less, of the cost of the Rico makes a lot of sense.

Haven't bought a lure in nearly 20 years except rubber. I got over 1000 lures that I bought before then that still catch fish just fine. $6.00 is the most I ever gave for one lure.

Yes, and Kwikfish. Pre 2006 are very collectable.

Holy Sh-t Batman! Moved to fly fishing decades back but well remember climbing an overhanging sycamore when my $3.00 Jitterbug caught a limb on its first cast.

If the quotes above are not exaggerations, I'll be packing all four of my chainsaws and diving equipment if I go back to slinging gear.

Might just be cheaper to swing by a fish market.

Regarding poppers. The big deal with a Rico is its spitting action. You can duplicate it by grinding off some of the lower lip of a Pop R.( I tune them in my pool) The Zell popper now called Booyah Boss Pop works just like a Rico for about 1/3 the cost.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Booyah_Boss_Pop_Poppers/descpage-BYBP.html