On Oct 17, 4:00 pm, "Joe Haubenreich"
wrote:
Buying habits strongly reflect regional preferences. Few anglers are really
analytical thinkers -- may 15% at most. For the most part, fishermen keep
their ears and eyes open to learn what other people are using to catch fish
and then buy those lures for themselves. They are trend followers.

For that reason, when a particular soft plastic bait, spinnerbait, jig or
crankbait is reported to have caught a big fish or many fish, that
particular lure is swept off the racks by eager buyers. You will do well to
recruit some of the leading guides and tournament anglers in your area --
the trend-setters, innovators, and early adopters -- as your store's
Prostaff. Provide them with discounts on their purchases, perhaps, or
provide some other incentive. In return, they can advise you on what is
"hot" locally. They may also be trend-setters, although that is a difficult
thing to predict.

I suggest you buy a copy of Malcolm Gladwell's books _The Tipping Point -
How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference_ and _Blink - The Power of
Thinking Without Thinking_.

I could name some excellent soft plastics that I am confident would catch as
many or more bass than any soft plastic in the tackle shops around you. If
you stock them and your customers buy and use them, they would be delighted.
For example, GoTo Baits (http://gotobaits.com/) offer soft plastics with
excellent quality, better than average productivity, much better durability,
and vastly better value than Yamamoto or other big-name brands. But if you
were to buy them and put them on your racks, since they have no name
recognition in your local market, they might just gather dust.

If you, your clerks, and your Prostaff use and promote them as
high-performance, high-value lures that local bass haven't grown accustomed
to, and that will give the few anglers who know about them an edge, then you
can drive sales. And the fact that you would carry something that few other
shops in your region do would be a good marketing point.

I go in a lot of small mom & pop tackle shops, and I can tell immediately
which ones stock products desired by tournament anglers and people looking
for an edge on the water. The shop owners stock plenty of the big name
brands, but they also lay in some "special" lines for their regulars and
visitors in the know. And that's how they position them, too.... If someone
walks in and knows exactly what they want and see it on the Zoom or Berkley
wall, then everyone is happy.... But if someone comes in and asks for
advice, the clerk or shop owner can say "here's what most people are
throwing, but the secret weapon of some of our best anglers is this right
here...."

Even though I've seen that pitch fifty times, it still works on me when I
walk into a tackle shop by an unfamiliar lake. It did two weeks ago on
Guntersville. I went in to buy some plastic frogs (having unwisely used up
all my Watermelon Red GoTo Bait frogs in practice), and I found some that
resembled the patterns I wanted. The shop owner commented that those were
indeed popular, but that he and his son (who guide on the lake) preferred
another brand. Guess which ones I walked out of the store with?

So.... here is what I think bass anglers will expect you to carry your
sto

5" and 7" stick baits like the Yamamoto Senko
Frogs
3-inch Teaser Tubes
3", 3-1/2" to 3-3/4", and 4" Tubes
4", 7", 10" Worms
Finesse worms
Drop-shot baits, like the Wiggle lure*
Crawfish (large and small)
Jerk baits/shad bait like the Zoom Fluke
2-1/2" and 3-1/2" fat, curly-tail grubs
4-inch craw worms
Creature baits like Water Wizards, lizards, Brush Hogs, Sweet Beaver

Some national names you will want to consider: Lunker City, Zoom, Yamamoto..
most of the ones you can find on the BPS Website.

*Consider stocking the entire SpecTastic line of products, too.... your
customers will thank you for it.

Joe
--
Secret Weapon Lures
Tackle systems engineered for innovative anglers
--------------------------------------------------------:~ 0")))
Subscribe to our mail list for intel briefings and
chances to win free tackle every month athttp://secretweaponlures.com
Better designs = better performance = better results

"Sprattoo" wrote in message

oups.com...
Sorry to post so much right away, but I am pretty new to many of the
hot soft plastics out there, and the new shop... and our bass pro
catalog seems to be filled with choices that I was never able to order
before.

If you all could pick your top 3 favorite soft plastics for next
spring what would it be? Make and model?

We are practically interrogating all our bass customers for some help
in ordering plastics next spring, and i don't want to just fill the
shelves with cheap junk. I have one or two customers will to help so
far, but I would like a little education before relying on a couple of
guys.

I like the looks of some of the yamamoto samples i have seen, but also
heard they fall apart easily after just a few pitches or a couple of
fish. Have heard good stuff about wacky rigging Yums, but only from
one or two guys.

Any help in the bass field would be appreciated. Can anyone suggest a
good site or two to help educate me? Over the past few years i have
all but set aside my baitcaster for my flyrod.
Would like to pick it back up next year.

Lloyd Mhttp://www.mainetackle.com

Glad mentioned Goto Baits. I was going to sugegst maybe asking Randy
to do a line of private label for you.