Dollarama Gear

[grubman]

So I went into the Dollarama to get some windproof lighters and looked at the fishing gear. The one nearest me got in alot more stuff this time. A few cranks that look good but I have my doubts about it's quality. I picked up 2 packs of their hooks of various sizes, 90 in a pack. They look like siwash. When I opened it the first hook I took out looked like it was barbless. Which is not a bad thing, less injury to the fish, but when looked closer there is a barb only it's very very small. It should be small enough to stay on but not harm the fish too much. When I took out a #6 hook it too had a very small barb, great I thought easier to remove when if I get a fish on them. These are chrome/nickle plated. I find the barbs on most other hooks from Gamagatsu or Mustad too large and causes alot of damage to the fish and sometimes too difficult to remove. I know, use a pair of pliars to pinch the barbs down, I don't normally carry a pair with me as I use a hemostat to remove hooks. These Dollarama might be good hooks, they seem sharp, I can stick it onto my fingernail and it will hold.

Just when I thought Dollarama just sold cheap junk, I have to try them out and test it's fish catch and release ability. They look promising. Does anyone else have a review of fishing gear from Dollarama? I have not seen anything at Everything For a Dollar or Dollar Tree yet.

 

[Dugger]

.... that is fantastic that you take notice of the barbs AND take time to pinch them to cause less injury to fish! I have been preaching this for years, I pinch every barb and I wish every angler would take more notice of barb size and even then I wish more would pinch down their barbs. Some day hook manufacturers will pay more attention to the barbs they crank out (pun intended). I have yet to see a "fishing show" that tries to educate anglers ion barbs. Most of these programmes I find are still "caveman rips in largemouth from weeds to loud metal tunes".

.... but that, alas, is a different topic

I also think anglers will start to rethink how they feel about generic tackle. Tackle manufacturers simply do not seem to understand it is a harder world out there economically and continue to take advantage of us passionate anglers who shell out the big bucks for something that can be lost in minutes

did i say Bass Pro's Laser Eye Static Shad yet? lol!!! what an awesome cheap plug!!!!

Good on ya, Grubman!

 

[grubman]

.... that is fantastic that you take notice of the barbs AND take time to pinch them to cause less injury to fish! I have been preaching this for years, I pinch every barb and I wish every angler would take more notice of barb size and even then I wish more would pinch down their barbs. Some day hook manufacturers will pay more attention to the barbs they crank out (pun intended). I have yet to see a "fishing show" that tries to educate anglers ion barbs. Most of these programmes I find are still "caveman rips in largemouth from weeds to loud metal tunes".

.... but that, alas, is a different topic

I also think anglers will start to rethink how they feel about generic tackle. Tackle manufacturers simply do not seem to understand it is a harder world out there economically and continue to take advantage of us passionate anglers who shell out the big bucks for something that can be lost in minutes

did i say Bass Pro's Laser Eye Static Shad yet? lol!!! what an awesome cheap plug!!!!

Good on ya, Grubman!

Thanks Dugger
I bought some Gamakatsu hooks and I noticed that the barb was almost as big as the point of the hook. That's insane almost butchery to any fish. Why do you need such a huge barb?????

On my last outing, I "hooked" a baby LM, the hook went around the gill but it was not bleeding. I had trouble removing the hook partly due to the huge barb. After several attempts at getting my 1" grub out, I decided better to just cut the lure and work it out of his mouth. Finally, I was able to save the little guy and he swam away. So what if I had to retie my lure or even lose it. At least he was set free safe and hopefully I'll catch him when he's a hawg....lol. But the barb kept getting in the way. I'm on the look out for oversized barbs and I'm going to look over my current stock to pinch or grind them down with my Dremel.

Great point Blair.
All hooks will dull very quickly being so sharp. I usually check them when I hit rocks or even Zebras, they can damage hooks and line.

Seems like the manufacturers are afraid that if you lose your fish with their hook you may not buy them in the future, so put the biggest barb on it.
Skill in fighting a fish and you won't need it, keep your line tight at all times, wear it out and you'll be landing the fish without the aid of the barb.

 

[NADO]

Are they $1 per pack? You gotta wonder how they can produce quality hooks at those prices? I find the most important factor to watch out for in cheap hooks is the quality of the metal. Sure some of the quality hooks are insanely sharp, but even the lower end hooks are sharp enough. When I first started out I used to buy spoons at a store called KW Surplus in Kitchener which is a thrifty store that sells everything you can think of at incredibly low rates. These spoons had great action and I even caught some Walleye on them. After I lost a few pike to the weak hooks being bent straight I decided to never cheap out on hooks again, just not worth it!

 

[odoyle]

cant complain all to much about the stuff from dollar rama ....... you pay for what you get really ...... and if u happen to catch a bunch off a small minnow lure ....... All the power to ya ....... i recently checked out a few different dollarama stores( i drive a straight truck all around southern Ontario) and Ive found the best store for was up in aurora @ 404 in the wallmart plaza ..... they had a really nice large selection of fishing gear ........ back to catching fish on the dollar store stuff ......

i head up to pefferlaw to do my fishing on the weekends and we landed 2 decent pikes bunch of small mouth and a bunch of ballzie sunfish lol they also have there spinners which ive also caught a few off of .... all in all .... if they are hungry they will bite

purchased the 1" hooks your speaking of and noticed as well the barb was large but like i said i don't expect ANYTHING from dollar store stuff .... especially to last ..... if u do ... its a bonus i think ...

none the less Happy Fishing !!!

 

[salmotrutta]

I've had costly Matzuo hooks break in half while steelheading after just a couple fish.

I've never had one of those Dollarama hooks break.

At 90 pcs per dollar, it's no wonder their entire stock is often cleared.

This is a case where "you get what you pay for" doesn't apply. Those hooks are a great deal.

 

[NADO]

Must be government subsidized…..

 

[kaministiquia]

I read about the Dollarama fishing tackle on OFF...I decided to have a look and ended up buying some plugs,spinner baits and spinners.... I haven't had a chance to try the stuff yet but it sure looks good enough to me how can you go wrong for a dollar....After all there's a lot of snags up here! ;-)

 

[aznsynaseter]

ive used there spinners and have caught lots of walleye and bass the hooks on the other hand tend to rust if they stay wet I just buy raven specailist hooks size 6 i use it for every type of fishing has never let me down yet

 

[Dugger]

... this is a great topic, I am going to explore further how to be a "Frugal Angler".

I smell a tv show "The Frugal Angler" problem is there'd be no sponsers, just Dollarama :blink: :mrgreen:

 

[salmotrutta]

Yup some of their spinners are right on par with Mepps.

 

[fishermandan420]

if you fish beads for trout/salmon its a good place to get pegs. use silicone bbq brush bristles. you gotta get the ones with the skinny bristles they have a few colors too. they also work to peg worm weights . the bass popper at DR looks like a storm chug-a-bug

 

[rocheleauc]

if you fish beads for trout/salmon its a good place to get pegs. use silicone bbq brush bristles. you gotta get the ones with the skinny bristles they have a few colors too. they also work to peg worm weights . the bass popper at DR looks like a storm chug-a-bug

Make sure to get the black ones, I found the red ones are too skinny for some of the bigger beads I have.

 

[fishermandan420]

i have red, black, green and yellow. all stop 1/3 to 1/2 up the peg before you have to pull, but i havent tried them on any 12s. lots of manufacturers with different dies i guess.. make sure to cut them off, if pulled off sometimes they stretch and dont work.. i try to cut them with a thin membrane holing them together . easier to deal with in the cold, it can be hard to get One with cold hands

 

[CarpChris]

I've used a few of the Dollarama cranks, some of them have a bit of an odd wobble but

I have gotten some decent smallies and a couple pike on them though.

as for the Mako hooks they sell there, I fished them and lost a couple fish on them.

may have been a bad batch i bought, but i was able to snap them with my hands.

Cheers

 

[Kasim Baluch]

There is one dollorama at 403 and erin mills that in hidden in the suburbs but they have a small selection but to my opinion ,they work!

Bought 1 crank bait that caught me a smallie in parry sound at night but was still fun!

 

[fishermandan420]

i was at one by colossus and they had some northand slurpies for 2 bucks

 

[grubman]

Are they $1 per pack? You gotta wonder how they can produce quality hooks at those prices? I find the most important factor to watch out for in cheap hooks is the quality of the metal. These spoons had great action and I even caught some Walleye on them. After I lost a few pike to the weak hooks being bent straight I decided to never cheap out on hooks again, just not worth it!

You are right, I just took a pair of pliars to the bigger hook and it is softer metal then bronze. Looks like they won't handle that trophy you're after. I would'nt use these for Texas, Carolina or deop shotting. Look at Salmo's comment.

cant complain all to much about the stuff from dollar rama ....... you pay for what you get really ...... and if u happen to catch a bunch off a small minnow lure ....... All the power to ya ....... i recently checked out a few different dollarama stores( i drive a straight truck all around southern Ontario) and Ive found the best store for was up in aurora @ 404 in the wallmart plaza ..... they had a really nice large selection of fishing gear ........ back to catching fish on the dollar store stuff ......

i head up to pefferlaw to do my fishing on the weekends and we landed 2 decent pikes bunch of small mouth and a bunch of ballzie sunfish lol they also have there spinners which ive also caught a few off of .... all in all .... if they are hungry they will bite

purchased the 1" hooks your speaking of and noticed as well the barb was large but like i said i don't expect ANYTHING from dollar store stuff .... especially to last ..... if u do ... its a bonus i think ...

none the less Happy Fishing !!!

They really do work!!! Awesome tip on the store. They'll be sold out now......lol.

I've had costly Matzuo hooks break in half while steelheading after just a couple fish.

I've never had one of those Dollarama hooks break.

At 90 pcs per dollar, it's no wonder their entire stock is often cleared.

This is a case where "you get what you pay for" doesn't apply. Those hooks are a great deal.

for 90 hooks I think if they were brand name I would have paid upwards of $30.

ive used there spinners and have caught lots of walleye and bass the hooks on the other hand tend to rust if they stay wet I just buy raven specailist hooks size 6 i use it for every type of fishing has never let me down yet

MichaelAngleo mention he used them and that he noticed a problem with them spinning, I guess he got a bad one or he has to fine tune the blade. Yeah if the hooks and the split ring are no good then replace them. Thanks for the tip.

... this is a great topic, I am going to explore further how to be a "Frugal Angler".

I smell a tv show "The Frugal Angler" problem is there'd be no sponsers, just Dollarama :blink: :mrgreen:

LOL

Yup some of their spinners are right on par with Mepps.

Yeah and if you tie your own flys then tie up a treble and replace the original, BANGO, Dollaramepps...lol.

Make sure to get the black ones, I found the red ones are too skinny for some of the bigger beads I have.

Great tip.

i have red, black, green and yellow. all stop 1/3 to 1/2 up the peg before you have to pull, but i havent tried them on any 12s. lots of manufacturers with different dies i guess.. make sure to cut them off, if pulled off sometimes they stretch and dont work.. i try to cut them with a thin membrane holing them together . easier to deal with in the cold, it can be hard to get One with cold hands

Great tip.

So far we got YEAHS for some of the hooks, spinners, and spoons. How about the hairpin spinner, crank bait and the swim bait. My local store does not have a great selection so I don't know what other lure they may carry. Oh how about their gummy worms? Anyone tried them?

Thanks all for your tips and responding.

 

[analasco]

Thanks for posting this Grubman - I never knew Dollarama was such a boon for lures! I just went to the one in Aurora (thanks Odoyle!) and got about $30 of gear fro less than $6 after tax. I ill be going back. I got some Slurpie soft bait perch - I left y'all two bags so hurry up!

 

[FishingNoob]

.... that is fantastic that you take notice of the barbs AND take time to pinch them to cause less injury to fish! I have been preaching this for years, I pinch every barb and I wish every angler would take more notice of barb size and even then I wish more would pinch down their barbs. Some day hook manufacturers will pay more attention to the barbs they crank out (pun intended). I have yet to see a "fishing show" that tries to educate anglers ion barbs. Most of these programmes I find are still "caveman rips in largemouth from weeds to loud metal tunes".

.... but that, alas, is a different topic

I also think anglers will start to rethink how they feel about generic tackle. Tackle manufacturers simply do not seem to understand it is a harder world out there economically and continue to take advantage of us passionate anglers who shell out the big bucks for something that can be lost in minutes

did i say Bass Pro's Laser Eye Static Shad yet? lol!!! what an awesome cheap plug!!!!

Good on ya, Grubman!

Lolz I search this on the bass pro website and guess who has the first review.... check it out: http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-XPS-Lazer-Eye-Hardbaits-Static-Shad/product/45149/125731