I don't hear anyone talking about comparing the cost of a specific home made Salmon lure with the cost of store bought lures. Has anyone added up the cost of their fishing stuff and compared the cost of the fish they catch to the cost of the fish in a supermarket?
The last edible fish I
caught was in 1998.
And the only fish I have caught since was a little 1.5" "Pumpkin Seed". (I can't remember the proper name - they look like a blue sunfish and like nearly-stagnant, very shallow water.)
I'm not doing too well in the cost effectiveness department...
However, I raised channel catfish as a hobby when I lived in Florida. They were quite cost effective, at about $1/lb after all expenses* (breeder price, food, water, electricity, water filtration, tank maintenance, etc). The best part was that you had a fantastic conversion of food to fish weight: 1 pound of food (~$0.30/lb) yielded about 7/8 lb of fish -- as long as you didn't over-feed and waste it.
But, those catfish were just like my cast and swaged bullets. I don't do it purely to save money. I do it mostly because I enjoy it. But, if I can save money while having fun... well, why not?
*(I bred indoors, in tanks. I really miss those fish. They never peed on the rug, puked on the carpet, chewed on my shoe, scratched up my recliner, barked at visitors, dropped dead mice in the hallway, licked my legs after a shower, or took off down the street because they saw a squirrel 40 feet up a tree.... They just turned themselves into food, as long as I took care of them.)