The plug builder doesn't get the $20 you pay at the tackle shop. He probably gets $12 (60%). Out of that he has to pay a 10% Fed tax and pay for materials (you don't get crok/spro swivels and triple split rings and hand tied bucktail tail hooks on the chinese plastics). If he sells direct he has to deal with the costs of attending shows/flea markets and/or packaging/shipping for mail order. If he's efficient he makes a profit.
If you're unhappy with the cost of customs and happy with the chinese plastic, stick with them. The chinese make great lures (however not all are that inexpensive. Good plastic is in the $10-15 range). If you happen to want a descent needlefish or a large swimmer or a canal size pencil popper, you're SOoL because the demand isn't high enough and they don't exist in plastic. The custom plugbuilders fill a need, and if you think the price is too high, build your own or do without.
The idea that the plugmakers manipulate the demand and price for their product and that that is unfair and makes them bad people is ludicrous. I guess you expect that Lexus for the same price as the Camry too. I bet you always buy your rods/reels at Walmart too and don't have a Lami custom wrap (or it's equivalent) in your arsenal
, because they're too expensive. Of course builders want a demand for their product that exceeds supply! Who wouldn't! It's great for the ego, if nothing else.
I build my own, trade a few, give a bunch to friends and catch a lot of fish on them (best fish this year, 75# SBFT on one of my needles this summer), and don't sell. I couldn't make a descent dollar with my production methods selling to shops. But I've seen most of the products by the current builders and am impressed with the work that went into them. In the right cicumstances, customs can be the only producers. The needle that I made and used for that Tuna was something that there is no plastic equivalent, and we had been trying everything in the tackle box to no effect. We have used the same needles on stripers to great effect when they wouldn't touch sluggos. Are customs worth the money? On some days they are priceless. You want one of my needle fish? And you thought $50 was expensive!
KarlF
When do I start saving money? I got more plugs than I'll use in a lifetime, and am already planning this winters production, and the cost of tooling and materials is more than I ever spent on lures.
