Predatory fish will not expand more energy than the prey they are hunting shall provide. This would be diminishing returns. As anglers, we can learn from this self-preservation instinct. Why should we pay more money for a bait that will seduce the same quality fish as a another bait that costs significantly less?

For me, fishconomics is easy, select a bait that satisfies the following criteria:

• Made In USA
• Strong
• Versatile
• Catches Fish
• Value Priced

The first requirement, is my personal preference. The second, third, and fourth, are a must! The fifth, “Value Priced” is central to fishconomis. For example, I love to fish Danny plugs! Last fall I was in Saco Bait and Tackle for the first time. I was trolling through the shop, when BANG! A tasty yellow-over-white Danny plug for $17.00 caught my eye. Right next to this plug was another Danny plug for $35.00. Both were made in the USA, strong, versatile, and independently proven to catch fish. The latter had a better paint job than my truck and a prestigious reputation. But, the former had a higher “value price” and is hence a tenant in my plug bag.

I recently attended the annual Plum Island Surfcaster’s 2009 fishing show. The presentation by Zeno Hronin was worth the price of admission. Before Zeno’s talk, I had the pleasure of speaking to Ray Jussaume from Line Stretcher Tackle Company and Gene Bourque from Hogy Lure Company. The baits from these two innovative companies exceed the fishconomic criteria by a full cast.

The surface tension from Line Stretcher Tackle Company caught my attention immediately, given my fetish for top water baits.

The construction of this lure is the cause for its “bullet proof” reputation:

• Solid ABS Plastic
• Tru-wire techonology
• Strong, Penetrating Hook

In addition to surface tension’s construction, I also like its castablity and the wide spectrum of species it seduces.
The versatile hand-poured soft plastics from Hogy Lures Company are perfect examples of fishconomic baits. The beautiful thing about these baits is the numerous ways they can be rigged to adapt to different conditions, water depths, and structures: tandem, texas style (a.k.a. weed-less) or jig heads. The thing that hooked me was that the operation to rig a Hogy a la Steve McKenna (a.k.a. tandem) takes less than 5 minutes with the re-usable tandem Hogy rig!

During Gene’s presentation at show, I asked him “Are Hogy plastics bio-degrabable?”. He responded that they are made with a natural organic oil, which I have to imagine is more environmentally friendly than machine extruded petroleum based soft plastics.

The currency of predatory fish is energy. The currency of anglers is money. Spend your currency wisely, the fish are!