For most anglers, a torn-up soft plastic fishing lure has one obvious destination: the trash.
After a bass has ripped the tail off a worm, a hook has pulled through a craw, or a lure has simply reached the end of its useful life, it is easy to toss it aside and reach for another one. And all too often, that lure ends up on the ground at our favorite fishing spots.
But what if that “trash” could become a new fishing lure?
That is the idea behind Throw Away Baits, a small fishing tackle company created by me, Cheap Angler, with a simple goal: take discarded fishing materials and turn them back into fishing tackle. Rather than treating used soft plastics and discarded lead weights as waste, Throw Away Baits collects those materials and gives them another chance to catch fish.
The Cheap Angler website describes the project simply: Throw Away Baits makes lures and weights from 100% recycled materials, while helping clean up local waterways by collecting discarded soft plastics and lead.
The Problem With “Throw Away” Fishing Lures
Soft plastic lures are among the most popular pieces of fishing tackle, particularly among bass anglers. They are inexpensive, versatile and extremely effective, but they are also consumable. A single fishing trip can leave an angler with a pile of ripped worms, mangled craws and half-eaten swimbaits that are no longer useful on a hook.
The problem becomes bigger when those lures aren't disposed of properly.
State fisheries agencies have specifically warned anglers not to discard soft plastic lures into waterways. Several State's Fish & Wildlife Departments have noted that discarded soft plastics have been found on lake bottoms and in fish stomachs and advises anglers to properly dispose of or recycle worn-out baits. Several YouTube Channels have been created focusing on diving riverbeds and lakes to collect what they call “River Treasure” that turns out to be mostly trash and old fishing gear. DALLMYD and Jiggin’ With Jordan come to mind first.
That creates an interesting contradiction for anglers.
Fishing tackle is designed to catch fish, but once it becomes damaged, the same material can become litter.
Throw Away Baits takes a different approach: don't throw it away if it can be used again.
Turning Old Baits Into New Ones
The concept behind Throw Away Baits is essentially a fishing tackle version of recycling.
Instead of starting with brand-new raw materials, used soft plastic lures can become the raw material for something new. Colors are separated, then all the discarded plastics are cut into small cubes or chunks, and melted down to be poured (or injected) into new molds of proven and tested designs. That also gives the baits something that mass-produced tackle can't necessarily duplicate: every batch has a story.
A worn-out lure that already caught several fish could eventually become part of another lure that catches several more.
The same philosophy applies to lead. Lead fishing weights are another piece of tackle that can easily become lost in the environment. Rather than allowing discarded weights to remain where they are lost, Throw Away Baits repurposes recovered lead into new fishing weights and jigheads.
The result is tackle made from materials that might otherwise have been destined for a landfill or left behind in the environment.
A Natural Extension of Cheap Angler
Throw Away Baits grew out of the same mindset behind Cheap Angler.
Based in San Antonio, the Cheap Angler YouTube channel focuses on bass fishing, fishing adventures, product reviews and finding ways to enjoy the sport without taking it, or the cost of it, too seriously. This project is part of my broader fishing adventure.
Throw Away Baits takes that philosophy one step further.
Instead of simply asking, “What is the cheapest way to make a fishing lure?”, the project asks another question:
“What can we make out of the stuff anglers are already throwing away?”
It's an idea that fits particularly well with the culture of bank fishing, because (let’s face it here) most of the trash and discarded fishing gear found comes from people fishing on the bank. A bank angler doesn't have the luxury of simply cruising away from a snag. Lost lures, weights and line are an unavoidable part of fishing around rocks, trees, brush and other structures. Sadly, it seems the majority of anglers are perfectly content just throwing it on the ground rather than holding on to it and trashing it when they pass a garbage can. Some anglers try to make a point of picking up discarded tackle they find while fishing, Throw Away Baits turns that cleanup mentality into something more tangible.
Recycling With a Fishing Rod
The idea isn't completely foreign to anglers.
Fisherman have long found creative ways to reuse tackle. Anglers routinely repair soft plastics, cut damaged worms down into smaller baits, use pieces as jig trailers, melt old plastics into new shapes and even make their own tackle. Some people even make decent money hanging around outside Calaveras or Braunig Lakes and selling their own home made lead weights.
It’s fairly common for online fishing communities to feature anglers who save damaged soft plastics and melt them down to pour new baits. There’s probably a hundred small brands in San Antonio alone that make custom soft plastic and even hard plastic lures.
What makes Throw Away Baits different is the attempt to turn that do-it-yourself philosophy into giving back to nature and protecting our local waterways from litter and pollution, even if it’s just a tiny bit at a time.
Why “Throw Away Baits”?
The name is deliberately ironic. The baits we use have literally been thrown away.
Cheap Fishing lures are commonly called “throwaways” because anglers lose them, tear them up or eventually discard them.
Throw Away Baits turns that idea around.
Throw it away and it may not actually be the end of the story.
A ripped plastic doesn't necessarily have to be garbage. A discarded lead weight doesn't need to be stepped on or kicked into the river. Both can potentially become the raw material for another day on the water.
There is something particularly fitting about a fishing company whose products begin with the leftovers of fishing.
The old bait becomes the new bait.
The waste becomes the tackle.
And, hopefully, the cycle continues with another fish on the end of the line.
More Than Just a Fishing Lure
Throw Away Baits isn't going to solve the fishing industry's waste problem by itself. No small tackle company could.
But that isn't really the point.
The project demonstrates a simple idea that any angler can understand: what we consider trash may still have value.
Keeping a bag or container in the tackle box for damaged soft plastics, picking up discarded tackle found along the shoreline, and finding legitimate ways to recycle or reuse those materials are small actions.
Multiply those actions by thousands of anglers and the impact becomes considerably larger.
For Cheap Angler, Throw Away Baits isn’t a money making scheme. It’s meant to inspire others to help clean up, and to experiment in seeing just how much life can be squeezed out of something that most people have already decided is worthless.
Because in fishing, “throw away” doesn't always have to mean throw it away.
Sometimes it can mean throw it back out there.