Hard body jointed swim baits, particularly glide baits have exploded in popularity in recent years since their arrival from Japan on the west coast 10-15 years ago.

 

I have noticed in searching for higher quality handmade glides made by small companies the trend of them being “sold out” of certain colors or altogether.  I realize the supply chain issues from Covid hit Asian countries especially hard, but this seems to be a consistent pattern across all manufacturers.  

 

Are they creating artificial demand by making less of them? It sure seems that way, but I don’t know about the supply chain.
 

 

 

Lots of them are a small operation. Some of them are working in there garage. Some have full time jobs as well. Some of them  can only make so many at a time. If it’s a well known proven bait it will sell right out, with a announced drop. 

The hourly wage to pay someone to paint them and put them together if not made in 3rd world country would probably break mom and pop.

Not a carreer big money job with paid health care and vacation days, just a hey can you lend me a hand this weekend type job.

A few years ago, I spoke to a guy at a very famous Musky shop and was asking who was buying those $100 musky baits. He told me that the guy who made them couldn’t keep up with the demand so he kept raising the prices and they still sell out. 

Custom knives are often like this too. There's a lot of demand, and so the price stays high. And the capital to scale up the business to meet the demand is a bit out of reach for many small businesses. It takes a lot of skill, so it is tough to hire out the work and still have money left. Often there's just enough margin to make a decent living but only if you sell direct... it's a labor of love.

 

 

I doubt that they are underproducing them on purpose.  If they were then they wouldn't be able to ship new ones to the shops as they sell out, and they would have to store the manufacturing materials somewhere when not using them.  Same problem with inventory.  If the makers only ship a few baits at a time then they'll  have to find a place to store all the baits until they ship.

You've just summed up modern economics my friend.  My you be happy in the nihilism and endless depression this realization brings.  

I know a couple of guys that make pretty popular swimbaits. They make them in their shops/garages by themselves or with the help of a couple people. Making a batch of 50 baits is a 2 week to month long project. When they do a "drop", they sell out in less than 5 minutes despite being priced at $140-$160 each. 

 

They're not underproducing them, they just can't keep up with demand with their small scale operations. 

That would be a terrible business decision.  While it's true that some companies will artificially create scarcity to increase demand (De Beers is notorious for this), it makes no sense for a smaller manufacturer in a crowded market to do this.  For this strategy to work, you have to have the market cornered and not have a viable competitor that your customers could go to instead.  

 

Much more likely is that the demand has outpaced supply.  And scaling up to meet demand is exponentially more difficult for a small company to do than a large company.  As you noted, these swim baits have exploded in popularity, as has the boutique bait market.  

On 12/5/2022 at 10:41 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

I know a couple of guys that make pretty popular swimbaits. They make them in their shops/garages by themselves or with the help of a couple people. Making a batch of 50 baits is a 2 week to month long project. When they do a "drop", they sell out in less than 5 minutes despite being priced at $140-$160 each. 

 

They're not underproducing them, they just can't keep up with demand with their small scale operations. 

 

This is the answer.

 

Allen

On 12/5/2022 at 7:41 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

I know a couple of guys that make pretty popular swimbaits. They make them in their shops/garages by themselves or with the help of a couple people. Making a batch of 50 baits is a 2 week to month long project. When they do a "drop", they sell out in less than 5 minutes despite being priced at $140-$160 each. 

 

They're not underproducing them, they just can't keep up with demand with their small scale operations. 

 

51 minutes ago, Munkin said:

 

This is the answer.

 

Allen

X2 and well said @Bluebasser86

I don't know the answer, but I cleaned out my garage yesterday and have quite a few swimbaits (maybe 30 or so) that I have collected over the years that I will never use.  I don't use swimbaits.  If anyone wants to trade for some regular 'ol crankbaits ...shoot me a PM. 

Would you sell?

What are they? I have a huge box of assorted baits.

On 12/3/2022 at 5:42 PM, Kdizzle said:

You've just summed up modern economics my friend. 

  agree.  i think my economics professors very first sentence in class revolved around supply/demand.  

There are the laws of supply and demand, and there are the modern practices of creating artificial scarcity, and controlled obsolescence.  

 

If a business does't have the capital to scale up production that's one thing, but price gouging what you have and cutting production on what you still have to produce is another.  

I agree.  I was just reminiscing my professor's first sentence in his first lecture.  

 

it did get more complicated after that..but his first sentence.

 

there was others.  built in obsolescence..and maybe more applicable to this topic, "prestige pricing"

Wow a conspiracy theory about baits? I didn't know Alex Jones was a bass fisherman from Ohio.

18 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

I agree.  I was just reminiscing my professor's first sentence in his first lecture.  

 

it did get more complicated after that..but his first sentence.

 

there was others.  built in obsolescence..and maybe more applicable to this topic, "prestige pricing"

 

 

I thought you were being one of those "well actually" dudes.  Sorry lol

hahaha..no.  I got a "C" in the class.

Not a conspiracy theory, maybe wild speculation lol? I was obviously wrong but just trying to understand.

I was just messing with ya. I see this continued supply chain issue in alot of things. Big problem at the start was getting the necessary supplies to make the products..now it seems to be more of a manpower issue as tons of businesses are very understaffed. I ordered a chemical pump at work several months ago...the one that was on back order took 9 or 10 weeks to get. Pretty stupid.

I own a couple of poles, one spinning and one casting reel. I make most of my own baits. But... some of you guys are crazy. On facebook when I post a bait I get a bunch of guys saying 'how much?' I don't sell them just make one once and awhile for myself. And some guys pull up in their bass boats and they have hundreds of baits onboard. Some a slight variation of color  of the same bait multiplied by 30.  So, I think it's fishermen that make the shortage, not the bait companies.