How many product types should a first range carry?

Fewer than most first ranges do. The commercial risk in a first order is not choosing the wrong type - it is choosing six types and stocking one form of each, which leaves nothing to sell to the customer who liked the first one. Pick two or three types and cover more than one form inside each.

Should I start with freshwater or saltwater?

Freshwater is the larger and more forgiving entry, and saltwater is the segment that grew in 2025 - it reached a record 15.5 million US anglers. The commercial difference is not size, it is the specification: saltwater hardware needs a named corrosion standard on every metal part, which is a real cost line and a real claim you have to be able to support.

Is a low MOQ type always the better first order?

No. In our sample, the lowest MOQ floors sit on the highest unit values - 20 pieces on rods that run to US$132.55, 100 pieces on hard lures. A low MOQ reduces cash on the shelf but it does not reduce risk; what reduces risk is covering more than one form inside a type you have chosen.

How do I use the price bands to choose?

Look at the width of the band rather than its position. A narrow band (hard lure, 1.7x) means the type is one product with a stable cost, so the decision is specification. A wide band (spoon and spinner, 19x) means the type is a bucket, and the first thing to do is find out which row you are actually buying.

What did the trade reward in 2026?

At ICAST 2026, soft plastics took both soft-lure categories, the urchin form took two more, and electronics went to live sonar. That is a reading of what the trade found interesting, not a sales forecast - and it should be treated as a shortlist of categories to examine rather than a list to copy.

What should I not stock first?

Anything where the form is ambiguous and the unit is unclear. If a category's own listings mix per-piece and per-bag pricing, a first order placed from it is a first order placed without a comparable price. Our own VIB type has exactly this problem, and it is the reason that page leads with the unit rather than the price.

How to Choose Which Lure Types to Stock

The type is a shelf decision; the form is the product decision

Our catalog is filed by type - twelve of them, from soft lures to fishing accessories. A type is a good unit for planning a shelf. It is a bad unit for placing an order, because a type name can cover several moulds that share nothing but a word.

The number that tells you which is which is the width of the band, not its position.

Type	Sampled listings	Reference band	Width	What it means
Hard lure	6	US$1.85-3.20	1.7x	One product with a stable cost. The decision is specification, not price.
Metal jig	5	US$0.97-2.01	2.1x	Same: a lead body and a finish. Differentiate on weight and hook.
Minnow	6	US$0.37-3.17	8.6x	Length, section count and color count are three different products.
Soft lure	6	US$0.20-3.85	19x	Four moulds under one word.
Spoon and spinner	6	US$0.31-6.00	19x	An assembly against a stamping, plus per-bag units.
Octopus skirt	3	US$0.08-2.80	35x	Three builds, distinguished entirely by the head.

Wide bands are not volatility. They are category failure - several products filed under one name.

Consumables follow visits; durables follow people

The US participation data is the background a first range is launched into: 57 million anglers in 2025, down from 57.9 million, while outings rose 3% to 918 million. Headcount fell and visits rose.

That split decides what a first order should be weighted towards:

If you sell	Demand follows	What that means for a first range
Soft plastics, hooks, terminal tackle	Outings	The segment that grew. Consumables are replaced, so a customer returns.
Rods, reels, hard baits	Headcount	The segment that was flat. Higher unit value, longer replacement cycle.

For most first ranges the honest weighting is towards consumables, with one or two durable types carried as the reason a customer visits at all.

What the trade rewarded, and how to read it

At ICAST 2026, soft plastics took both soft-lure categories, the urchin form took two more, and electronics went to live sonar. That list is a shortlist of categories to examine, not a forecast - it is a design judgement by retailers and press, not a sales figure.

Two categories from that list are developed enough on this site to act on: urchin baits and live-sonar lure design.

A workable first-range shape

Pick two or three types, not six. Use the width table above: start where the band is narrow enough that you can specify the product.
Cover two or three forms inside each type. This is what the wide-band types are for - a fork-tail and a paddle-tail are two products to the same customer.
Weight towards consumables, because they follow outings and outings grew.
Check the MOQ floor against your cash, not against the unit price. Rods start at 20 pieces because the unit value supports it; the cheapest hooks need 2,000.
Decide whether saltwater is in scope, because it changes the hardware specification rather than the product list.

Where to go next

Starting a private label lure brand
How to read a catalog - which field decides the price in each family
Reference price bands
The Chinese tackle industry - which cluster makes which family
Send a specification

How to choose which lure types to stock