Where do you go???

[stevensinks]

My son and I have getting most of our lead at junk yards. We have been getting it for what ever the market price is for scrap lead. Lots of the time its 25 cents or less. I only saw ebay mentioned once. I get lots of stuff there. 30 years ago when I started I got almost every thing at Cabelas but as said above they just don't much any more.

[eriksat1]

I like captain hooks because I can get the red 90° Matzu sickel jig hooks in size 8,6,4, can't find many places that have all the sizes I like. Mainly the size #8 hooks

[musicman]

I scanned over 80 sites in the past year to find the least expensive cost per blade for a size 4 Colorado spinner blade painted in chartreuse on both sides. I probably missed another 80. Hagens won that battle. I might have beaten them elsewhere but my direct negotiations with China on alibaba fell through as they stuck with their minimum of 500. You can order any quantity from hagensfish if you don't mind the dollar per line item penalty.

Best source for beads (regular hole craft beads) I found to be beadtin.com, but their 5 mm choices are few, then ebay
For minnow-shaped beads and eyeball beads, go to walleyesupply.com
For wedding ring beads, it's northwestbaitandtackle.com
For metallic beads, shop around.
For "fishing" (smaller diameter hole) beads, start at hagens but look around

For folded clevises and quick change clevises, I go to lurepartsoline.com
For line, I check ebay , bassproshop and fishusa.com
Swivels, hooks, floats - it's hagens again.
Blades - start at hagens, luremaking.com (Canadian exchange rate makes them competitive) then Jann's for your standard blades. Then go from there to the other 75 sites depending on what you like and are willing to spend. Some sites, the custom artistic efforts in the painting / design of the blades are unbelievable. Reelbait.com and rockislandsportsgov.com worth a mention as well, the latter refunding any excess postage charges. I will not share my favorite blade designer artists of which there are about 7 or 8, but if you look around, you will find them. And look for Canadian sites as well. ( have one favorite now in my top 3).

My one piece of advice on blade shopping - if you are spending more than fifty cents on a blade, make sure before you place your order, you are happy with what is on the back of the blade. If they don't or won't tell you, expect it to be nickel and make your buy decision as if it were nickel. The top end sites not only tell you what is on the back, they usually show you.

I have shopped amazon.com and bought maybe once or twice on there, but cannot recall any good deals recently. I found aliexpress.com to be somewhat dysfuntional. Might have just been me and my old age.I gave up and never bought on there.

Tie-Fast Knot Tying Tool - I did buy that off of amazon.com
Bead Board - Micheal's
Plastic trays to hold all of the above - Michael's and Harbor Freight
4" x 4" zip lock bags - box of 100 or 200 - Wal-Mart (smaller ones not always in stock)

Here, in order, were the top 10 sites for the shopping test.
1. hagensfish.com
2. reelbait.com
3. jannsnetcraft.com
4. rockislandsportsgov.com
5. proluresonline.com
6. (TIE) anglersworkshop.com and lurepartsonline.com
8. walleyesupply.com
9. (TIE) luremaking.com and barlowstackle.com

[musicman]

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I was recently able to find really good deals on Amazon on bulk purchases of both wedding ring and eyeball beads since this last post. Remember to check ebay and Amazon before you buy in bulk if budget is a concern. Otherwise, I would recommend we all try to support our favorite small businesses.