Thread: Minnows

Funny. I have only been ask for reciet at melvern. Twice this year (only been there 4 days.

Originally Posted by ragnar

Funny. I have only been ask for reciet at melvern. Twice this year (only been there 4 days.

I have been checked on Melvern at least 4 times in the last 2 years and not once did they ask for a receipt for my bait. Actually I have never been asked to show my bait or provide proof of purchase. Every time I am checked they ask for registration, life jackets, fire extinguisher and if any alcohol is on board. Not once have I been checked for bait or creel limits/ lengths.

I have never been checked at melvern period

I buy fathead minnows by the pound to stock my pond every year, sometimes twice a year. I think the last bunch was about $12 per pound. I have purchased from 2 different fish farms. When I ask them how many are in a pound they estimate about 700-800 depending on the size. The minnows I get are medium to small size compared to what we get at the bait shops. We have kept out a pound and put them in an aquarium to use for crappie. Their estimate seems pretty accurate on numbers. The reason the bait shops don't sell by the pound is that minnows are extremely profitable. Do the math 700 divided by 12 X 2.80 = $163.33. Not a bad return on a $12.00 investment.

Originally Posted by Piker

I buy fathead minnows by the pound to stock my pond every year, sometimes twice a year. I think the last bunch was about $12 per pound. I have purchased from 2 different fish farms. When I ask them how many are in a pound they estimate about 700-800 depending on the size. The minnows I get are medium to small size compared to what we get at the bait shops. We have kept out a pound and put them in an aquarium to use for crappie. Their estimate seems pretty accurate on numbers. The reason the bait shops don't sell by the pound is that minnows are extremely profitable. Do the math 700 divided by 12 X 2.80 = $163.33. Not a bad return on a $12.00 investment.

thank you very much

Your numbers are just a little skewed. There are lots of factors in play in retail sales of any widget including bait. You can start with equipment, areators and tanks for each species sold, neither of these items is cheap by any means. Then there is the cost of upkeep on these items, then u can throw in some labor involved and if you're doing it right to make a buck the labor is more intensive. Then you can throw in some facts that not every single minnow will be alive to sell due to natural death, disease or whatever a hundred different maladys decides to greet you with. Now you can throw in whatever paperwork the state and feds decide you need to keep records for then you can throw in utilities to run your store like electricity and water and tempature controlled devices. Don't forget too add the mortgage payment on your building. At the end of the year here comes more paperwork time and labor from the state and feds as the tax man cometh As in all things retail the prices will be what the market will bear. If the bait business was so profitable there would be hundreds if not thousands of places in each town selling bait. I wonder how many on here that are selling widgets of some sort are profitable if you give them away? If you are selling bait legally and own the above mentioned items your profit margin of 163.00 vs cost of 12.00 can quickly become a shrinking violet.

All great points and true. But the question was why don't bait stores sell minnows by the pound. They have to make a good margin on some items to cover all the costs you pointed out. I don't mind supporting them.

Bait shops are not set up to handle that kind of volume. It would be a logistical nightmare. It sounds like since you buy them by the pound, there is already a source out there. Post the source up under bait shops on here and Blackdog and others will know where they can buy their minnows by the pound, that's what networking is all about, fishermen helping fishermen. Everyone should be happy that the mom and pop bait shops are still around to serve the majority of minnow users, especially those who neither have the means and ways to keep that kind of volume around.