When you buy lures, do you buy a single lure in a particular color or multiple colors?

 

Also do you only buy one or get a backup?

 

Me, because my wife fishes with me, it’s at least a backup otherwise I’m handing the bait to her if it’s the hot bait that day?

And more times than not, it’s a couple of colors in said bait. 

Always multiples. If you're interested in catching bass, you will lose a lot of lures. If you're interested in keeping lures, you won't catch a lot of bass.

     I usually by one to give it a try.  First cast I catch a small bass.  The second cast I loose a trophy bass.  Third cast I loose the lure.

      When I get home the Bait Monkey is already sitting on the couch with catalog opened to the appropriate page.  I buy two of every size, and color they make.  I never catch a fish on that particular lure again.  I keep trying, if for no other reason than I wont mind loosing a couple instead of risking loosing the new lure I bought that is working that day.  Finally I give up and put the lure in the injured reserve box that stays home when I go fishing.  

I own at least 2 of everything I throw.

I've got maybe 3-4 duplicate lures, and those were acquired by accident....my budget is such that replacing one when I lose it is more feasible than having dupes of everything.

Multiples! Especially if they’re on sale. Sooner or later you will lose that bait unfortunately 

I buy one . They have to earn their keep before I buy multiples.

54 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I buy one . They have to earn their keep before I but multiples.

That’s kinda how I feel about it.  However, once it’s been established as a good fish catcher I would buy multiples. 
 

lately on eBay I’ve been buying 3 lure kits if the same color.  Most times when I win the auctions all 3 lures are the same price if the were regular priced in a store. 

95% of what I own could be considered backup lures!

 

 

                                           

I usually buy multiples, I stick to a pretty established pattern for colors, there are imitation colors, attractor colors, and reflective colors. One big help with having multiples is that you can order one, and fish the reserve baits while waiting for the UPS man to bring another one or two. My most productive baits I typically have 5-10 of or so.

If it's one that I like, I keep a few spares on hand in case of breakoffs. "Two is one and one is none" and all that.

Unless I know that particular lure is going out of production, I buy one at a time.

3 hours ago, scaleface said:

I buy one . They have to earn their keep before I but multiples.

Same. No reason to buy multiples at once unless you already proved they were effective.

 

I made this mistake with whopper ploppers. So instead of having one lure that doesn’t work, I have three. Ain’t making that mistake again.

You have to buy a dozen incase they discontinue that color or bait. 

Every bait that I have confidence in and has been effective, I'm beyond a back up.

Own dozens of Spinnerbaits, Jigs and jerkbaits.

 

If you're talking about a particular bait from a particular manufacturer then I may only have one single bait, especially crankbaits.

Being that I buy from A-Jay, I have at least a duplicate.

I have several backup lures that have proven themselves to do well in the places I fish.

I normally only purchase one or two new lures to try a season. For those, like scaleface, it's just the one until it proves it's worth. I have a big box of those.  Otherwise, my purchases are to replace productive baits that I've lost. 

Generally buy singles until proven.  At that point try to keep 3+/- on hand.  If its something REALLY hot I'll buy a dozen or more.

 

I try to stick to 4-5 general color patterns throughout the arsenal unless something calls for a specific odd pattern.  

 

I'd rather have 4-5 colors/patterns that I know work where I fish than buy one of everything.

I keep my backup lures at the store.  I just buy one, and if I lose it (and it was actually a good one worth replacing), I'll go buy another.  I drive by a quite a few tackle shops on my way to and from work every day, so it's not inconvenient.  And I almost always have something else on me that's close enough to what I lost to keep fishing the bite.  

 

I have a couple of spares laying around. 

 

Allen 

I will try baits in one or two colors I like. If they are fish catchers I will buy several more of them and maybe try them in other colors. If I find out a company has been bought out I really stock up on the ones I like. A lot of baits and colors have been known to disappear after a buy out.

20 hours ago, Log Catcher said:

I will try baits in one or two colors I like. If they are fish catchers I will buy several more of them and maybe try them in other colors. If I find out a company has been bought out I really stock up on the ones I like. A lot of baits and colors have been known to disappear after a buy out.

I'm not saying you're wrong.  In fact, I'm going through this right now with the Norman Fat Boy.  Part of me wishes that I had stocked up on these since there were one of my all-time favorite lures.  Part of me is thinking I should buy some on eBay for ridiculous prices.  But mostly, I'm just thinking that eventually I'm going to have to find something different and move on, so I might as well do it now.  

3 hours ago, Bankc said:

I'm not saying you're wrong.  In fact, I'm going through this right now with the Norman Fat Boy.  Part of me wishes that I had stocked up on these since there were one of my all-time favorite lures.  Part of me is thinking I should buy some on eBay for ridiculous prices.  But mostly, I'm just thinking that eventually I'm going to have to find something different and move on, so I might as well do it now.  

Pradco bought out Norman and Bandit lures. I had seen what happened to other bait companies they bought out. That is why I stocked up on favorite colors in both of those brands while I could still get them.