Sand Lance Spoon

Andrew, great looking product which I have to have. PM me your email and order details. I love the fact you are linking some of the proceeds to enhancement. all the best. DAJ
 
Try not to put a dollar figure on what you think should be donated back into fisheries. Use a % instead. After all the grunt work, you want to make as much profit as you can. Thats just business. Giving away 20% of something that you might only see 10% profit from makes no sense. If you use a 10% profit margin as the norm, and you arent to concerned about how much money you make off of them, I think a donation of 5% would me more along the lines of what you should be looking at. If you produce 25000 of them, sell them for $10, thats $250,000. 5% of $250,000 is $12,500. Thats a bunch of money back into the fisheries program of your choice with you still making a bit of profit as well.

Great design by the way. Im not from the coast but for as many times as i get out there a year, id buy a couple as well.

Ps, where can I get some sitka stickers?
You're right that my suggested donation was high, but I was looking at the potential market and costs involved and maybe I was being overly generous with what the donation should be.:eek: Definitely I would like Andrew to make a profit and a serious one so that he can establish a terrific home based business in an industry he obviously has a passion for. It would also be great to have another local manufacturer making products just for the B.C. market. In saying that, I don't think I was far off in my estimates for values. Koho Killers run about $7.50 each at most smaller tackle shops and "wholesalers". The store price has been stepped on at least twice, once by the importer and a second time by the retailer. Koho Killers are 25% smaller, so at $10.00, Andrew's Sand Lances makes sense as a comparable product and a fairly competitive price. As sell direct business, with no wholesaler or retailer, advertising costs bourne by Sport fishingBC and very little or no incremental overhead, these spoons manufactured in a small "cottage-style" business plan are likely to be somewhere close $4.00 a piece to make and that includes all labour, stamp costs, manufacture and materials (and I would suggest that that is a very high cost estimate). Doubling that to $8.00 a piece would generate a 100% profit and still allow for a healthy donation to local salmon enhancement. If I am way off base, I will have no problems standing corrected, but I do have a bit of a background in manufacturing and Asian Imports.

I would also not expect Andrew to reveal his business plan nor his actual costs, after all, its his business and as the risk-taking entrepreneur he deserves any and all profit he can generate. I simply looked at the present market for an off-shore product and put together an estimate of what would be competitive and what would makes sense as far as tugging on the heart strings (donation) in order to make a marketable product. One thing Andrew will also have to be aware of is the limited time frame he has to work with. Don't think for a minute that the tackle distributers will ignore any product that comes into the market and makes an impact. Too much of an impact and the importers will have a China copy in the stores in a matter of months to compete with it. Given a prefernce and an established local manufacturer I will choose the local product, but availability has to be convenient. Mail order can work very well for a product like this and would be my initial plan if I was the owner.

Good luck Andrew, I really hopes this works for you and I will support you in your endeavour with my business when you have it ready for market. Looks like a terrific product.
 
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Thanks for all of the great feedback folks! Some great insight there and the $10 price range seems to make sense will all factors considered and what I had in mind.

I am going to do a batch of 200 that are dedicated to SFBC members....because I very much respect you guys both for your fishing skills and love for the resource and way of life that it brings.

NO NEED to flood in the 'reserve X amount for me'....no time to deal with a list of sorts. I will think of a way so that anyone interested can get in on the first batch. And considering that I have not perfected the art, etc, they will be at a very much reduced price with the expectation that I get some good feedback.

Anyways, thanks for all of the support. I was expecting a bit more abuse guys. You're getting soft...

Could be a long night of pounding metal tonight!

Ap
 
He said no list… Hhahhaha keep one side stainless! Although glow is nice, personally fish a lot shallower during the summer months and having that metallic flash seems fishier to me during these shallow months!
 
Bud, you know from all our time together that I'm good for some feedback/abuse.

Welded ring on the front is important IMO.

Stainless or plated brass are the only finishes I'd be trolling. No copper or raw brass IMO.

Paint vs sticker is a tough one. Really depends on stickiness of sticker and cost comparisons.

Hook preference will be different from one to the next. Drop the price and the hook. include a list of suitable hooks for the spoon (based on size and weight)

Having an eye is a must!



Still waiting on my samples bru......
 
Just a noob question...but what size of hook is it designed for and how does a bigger or smaller hook change the action?

And can you change the Sitka sticker to have a tree and a guy with a fishing rod?
 
Just a noob question...but what size of hook is it designed for and how does a bigger or smaller hook change the action?

And can you change the Sitka sticker to have a tree and a guy with a fishing rod?

A bigger hook is heavier and acts like an anchor and dampens the action of the lure. This is all relative to the speed the lure is moving through the water. Pick the hook for the size of fish you are going for, and then tweak the bend slightly to match the water speed. If it is going to run alongside anchovies, you'll need more bend to produce good action and less when running high speed or high current areas. This is really up to personal preference of course.

And have had that suggestion regarding the logo a couple times. I actionally did one 10 years ago like this, I'll dig it up.
 
Great looking spoon!.....one question:- I notice you are tying direct to a split ring up front.....no issues with that?

Always been leery of doing that myself.......

Hey Seafever,

Why Leary of tying directly to the split ring? I use palomar knots and have no issue with slipping. Going around 2 rounds go the ring I would think would add to the strength also. Anyways, I'm interested to hear your concern.

Like Dave S said, welded ring on the front would be nice, but not necessary IMHO and would add to cost.
 
I'll take a dozen or so just to support your cause, Andrew! Great initiative. If I had a say on colours I'd say double glow on one side.
 
I tied to a split ring once... Forget if I landed a fish and it broke on the second or if it was the first fish that snapped me off.

There may be ways to do it such as a polomar knot tied in the perfect spot but I wouldn't recommend tieing to a split ring my experience was the fight caused the line to pinch in the ring and snap. I probably tied it wrong but so will lots of other anglers.

Good luck with your product who will have their spoon available first? The race is on
 
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