# need help from local river fishermen



## fishercreekrick (Jan 19, 2010)

me and wife is opening new bait store 10 minutes from greenup dam.like to have some help with what you would like us to keep in stock for you.hope to be open in one week.


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## PhattyB (Dec 11, 2007)

I spent alot of time considering this before and made friends with Justin who runs Justin's Tackle just outside Huntington near Beech Fork Lake.

What I learned is... live bait is the key.

Minnows, shiners, nightcrawlers, leeches, goldfish, Israeli carp and shad. (You probably can't keep the shad alive.. so freeze them for cutbait)

If you're really serious for long-term... Buy lead molds and make your own sinkers/jigheads.. and make bigger ones. You can't resell pre-packaged things better than Walmart..

Selling tackle is hard for a baitshop because there is Walmart, Basspro and Cabelas that offer lower prices. What you need to concentrate on are popular baits. Keep only simple things that people will pay a little more for convenience factor of being right there. A variety of bronze hooks, snelled hooks, rubber worms and grubs in popular colors sizes (white, chartreuse, pink, yellow, smoke, etc.), crankbaits that mimic shad, some spinners.. you know what I mean.. stuff that you can re-sell eventually for profit without it collecting too much dust... your key is still live bait, remember 

Oh, and bait shops aren't for those that like to fish... you'll be selling bait on the great fishing days.. which is the advice I followed in not going thru with my idea.


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## fishdealer04 (Aug 27, 2006)

Phatty had a lot of great information there.

Having a steady supply of bait...fresh, livley, and the best frozen stuff....and keep it in stock. There is nothing worse than heading out to go fishing only to find out that the bait shop is out of something or the crawlers are small and half dead.

Tackle- there are so many different lures out on the market now. You want to have a decent selection but carry what works and what will sell. Don't just buy stuff because you can get it cheap...it is just going to sit in your bait shop. Find out what is working in that area and stock up on that. I have never fished Greenup dam before but I would assume having a large selection of jigs with twister tails for the sauger and hybrids, cranks and spoons for bass and hybrids. Also carry your normal terminal tackle and then dont forget about the cat guys. Dont buy the straw bobbers and paylake floats river guys dont use that stuff. Get nice j hooks and circle hooks and carry large sinkers. Buying molds and pouring your own is a good way to do that...but that takes time and that is something you might not have a whole lot of. There are a lot of local guys that pour and sell their own sinkers you might want to look into someone like that.


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## fishercreekrick (Jan 19, 2010)

thanks guys.i am going in the morning to buy 2 freezers and ariaters.hope to have bait wed or thurs.i fish and i know how frustrating it is to not be able to get bait.i will keep good fresh bait.need help with striper bait choices but all input is apr.never fished for them much.i always fished for wallie,sauger,crappie or musky.making jigs and sinker now.were going to be located up coal branch about 200 yards from 23.


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## PhattyB (Dec 11, 2007)

Stripers really like live shad, spoons and crankbaits. Colors for crankbaits can vary from white, grey/smoke/gizzard and even blue/silver sometimes. I wouldn't really concentrate too hard on appeasing striper fisherman because they generally lure fish (of which they'll buy from places that you can't compete on price/selection) and shad are nearly impossible to keep alive for a bait shop. Plus, it's way easy to castnet shad at the dam anyways, so most people that really want that as bait will do it themselves. However you'll be able to sell it frozen to catfisherman and the generally non-serious fishermen.

Some of the best lures to keep in stock would be white cranks, gizzard/grey cranks, silver spoons, plastic grubs. Various sizes for all.


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

You'll need to keep some Launcher weighted floats, Pencil Poppers so you can "load" them, leadheads , Bucktails,Soft plastics such as Zoom Flukes , sluggos and grubs, sinkers, skipjack rigs, cast nets & dip nets. But the best way to find out what you'll need is to get over to the dam and ask around. I'll be fishing before long now and it gets pretty frustrating having to drive to Ironton to get tackle. Best of luck and PM me if you need more suggestions. Don't forget the rods & reels


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## "Big" mark the shark (Jan 21, 2010)

Diet pepsi hot foods smokes ah ya beer and some live bait just jokeing lol


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## JLeephoto (Apr 12, 2008)

Maybe it goes without saying, but when I go into a bait shop, it's often as much about information on how to catch fish in those areas: what baits to use, how to rig them, current fish patterns, what's working right now, etc. That's something you have to offer that you just can't get from Bass Pro or Walmart. An open, friendly, and helpful relationship with your customers will be your biggest selling tool.


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## riverrat101 (Feb 20, 2010)

Keep your hours of operation!!! A lot of these shop owners are never open. I see a ton of money lost. It would be nive to see a shop open just before sun-up for once also. Having live bait on the river and someone who keeps their hours of operation would be to much to hope for! LOL! (at least in northeast Ohio)


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

Not sure what the regulations are but if you sell bait taken from the river it would kick BASS!


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## fishercreekrick (Jan 19, 2010)

thanks to everyone.we will keep good bait.we fish ourselves i dont like to buy rotten wormsor green liver ether.tackle box in ironton moved out of town was at his new store today.he is now in southpoint.we will be open this weekend


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## RiverRager11 (Mar 11, 2010)

As long as ur friendly and have the bait that works good in the area and some stuff that u cant find in any baitshop will help to bring in the customers.


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## BuckeyeFishinNut (Feb 8, 2005)

The bait shop I used to love here in Eastern Ohio that is now terrible changed for a few reasons. The owner died and he was a hell of a guy. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and was open all the time(not just when the weather was nice or was convenient for him). He always had quality bait in stock and carried the essentials for river fishing(hooks, sinkers, jigs,spoons, etc.). Now someone else is running this bait shop and its unreliable, the staff is unfriendly, and I no longer go there. I now make all my own sinkers and jigs, catch my own minnows year round, and stock up on thinks like twistertails, hooks, and other lures over the winter. 

Moral of the story, be reliable, friendly, and knowledgeable. If people know you will have quality bait year round and know you keep to your hours they will come to you for their bait needs. If your friendly and knowledgeable about the fishing conditions and whats working well they will appreciate the advice. Good advice on local conditions isn't something you can find at wal-mart, BP, or Cabelas. A good reputation will bring you plenty of cutomers, much more than what tackle you stock.

Jake


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## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

PhattyB said:


> Selling tackle is hard for a baitshop because there is Walmart, Basspro and Cabelas that offer lower prices. What you need to concentrate on are popular baits. Keep only simple things that people will pay a little more for convenience factor of being right there. A variety of bronze hooks, snelled hooks, rubber worms and grubs in popular colors sizes (white, chartreuse, pink, yellow, smoke, etc.), crankbaits that mimic shad, some spinners.. you know what I mean.. stuff that you can re-sell eventually for profit without it collecting too much dust... your key is still live bait, remember
> 
> Oh, and bait shops aren't for those that like to fish... you'll be selling bait on the great fishing days.. which is the advice I followed in not going thru with my idea.


I'm not sure what you meant by that last part. The wording is a bit confusing.

But anyway, about competing with Cabelas, Wal-Mart, and such: You can certainly sell a lot of pre-packaged lures if they are the "hot" items at the local spots. Remember that the river is one of the greatest lure-thieves ever. People will want to restock on hot baits when the bite is on and they lose their last spoon, swimbait, or yo-zuri to the river's many traps. You are hopefully the CLOSEST tackle shop to the river, giving anglers an incentive to buy from you mid-day, not just before their trips. Also, since we don't all carry iPhones with internet access, many of us don't know what the price is at those other places. Sure you can't sell Gulp! baits as low as Wal-Mart, but you can sell them, even with a reasonable mark-up, and people will buy them if they are being talked about. It depends on what the local reports are saying is successful and your ability to promote the items on your wall. 

You can cut your risk/cost of carrying these expensive prepackaged items by carrying only a few colors and sizes that match what's locally popular. There's no use carrying Electric Chicken Gulp! Gobies if no one uses them. For the Ohio River, minnow- and shad-style soft plastics from 3-5" in white, chartreuse, baby bass, and natural shad/smelt coloring are the standard. Same colors for grubs, etc. For hard jerkbaits, you might add some silver varieties and gold or orange. 

So start by carrying popular live and cut bait and the terminal tackle to make use of it (hooks, swivels, snaps, sinkers, etc). Find out what the popular lures are and start stocking them little by little. If you're successful, you can start getting creative with new color variations and whatnot. Even Wal-mart could lower their prices if they'd carry less junk, which we know then goes on clearance and still doesn't get bought. And we're all paying the price.


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## PhattyB (Dec 11, 2007)

What I meant about the confusing wording is simply that one the most beautiful, sunny, perfect fishing days... you'll be selling bait to those going fishing instead of being out fishing yourself. I guess you could have your wife cover


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## kyjake (Nov 21, 2007)

Don't know much about running a bait-tackle shop but one of the good selling items for you location should be 3'' twister tails and some 2'' ones.Would think about ninety percent of us use either white or chartreuse.
Jake


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## jkeeney20 (Mar 21, 2006)

Was up there in the snow catching stripers at greenup, only thing we were catching them on were the 5+" heavy storm swim shad...1st day was only one catching them...2nd day must have been 50 packs of them laying around with more people catching...case in sense, the hot lure of the week so people stocked up....my opinion...small to large swim baits, spoons, jig/grubs, some of the vibrating lures (vibes, etc...) and a few shad colored cranks. About the same as everyone else already said I guess.


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## fishercreekrick (Jan 19, 2010)

Bait shop will be open sat.will have live bait. Thanks to everyone for the help


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## bbrowwn7 (Nov 26, 2009)

where is your bait shop?


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## fishercreekrick (Jan 19, 2010)

our bait and tackle shop is located on rt.827 coalbranch rd. 200 yds from 23 about halfway between greenup and Lloyd ky


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## fishercreekrick (Jan 19, 2010)

we now have 3"-4"shinners,grubs,jigs.river is still up and muddy.was at greenupdam twice today handing out fliers people were catching sauger both times i was there.


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