Forgotten Lures?

[MK49]

I have a few lures that I hadn't used them for years, and rediscovered them. Do you have any?

1. Heddon Meadow Mouse: I bought one around 1980 as a joke. Never really used it until about 15 years ago. Now, I know it's one of the best wake baits for me.

2. I've probably caught over 2,000 bass with lipless crankbaits in the past. But, I hadn't used them for about 10 years, until last month. I was fishing a shallow flat with topwater baits, and I didn't get a bite. It started getting windy, so, I started throwing a lipless crankbait. I just burned it with a few pauses. I caught about 8 bass in 30min. I was like "wow, I forgot about these lipless baits."

When I got home, I went through my tackle boxes, and found 6 lipless cranks (3 with rattles and 3 without), which I bought for $3 each 25 years ago. Nobody was buying, so they were on sale at a local store. I had never really used them, but I brought 2 with rattles and 2 without for the next fishing trip. Those without the rattles ended up catching about 60 fish in June. Unfortunately, I lost all of them by the end of the month. The ones with rattles do catch fish, but the ones without worked better.

3. Anyway, the water level dropped, and the point where I caught many fish in June got shallower and shallower, I started losing more lipless baits in trees. So, I had to find something I could burn and a bit more weedless. I tried scrounger heads with small bills, and fished the same way, burn and pause. It worked. I've used the scrounger for about 15 years. I used them every once in a while. But, now I think it's one of my go-to baits, just because I caught 4 fish in 6 casts, and 3 of them were over 4lbs. In the past, I never burned scroungers. Now, I know it's very effective.

Most people rediscovered some lures. Tell us about it.

[dragon1]

Love reading your on the water accounts, very entertaining!

Just an FYI, try snipping the bottom tang of the treble hook to minimize snagging the trees, or switch them both out for single siwash style hooks, back siwash with the hook point up top and the belly one with the hook point down.

[MK49]

Love reading your on the water accounts, very entertaining!

Just an FYI, try snipping the bottom tang of the treble hook to minimize snagging the trees, or switch them both out for single siwash style hooks, back siwash with the hook point up top and the belly one with the hook point down.

Thanks for the info. I already cut the bottom one, but never tried the single hooks. I might try that, but I have a feeling the hook up ratio will go down?

I caught over 60 bass on Lipless Crankbaits in June, and pretty much all of them were hooked on the front hook (and the tail hook, sometimes). I was burning them. The fish mush have hit them from the front or the side, I guess.

That said, last week, I was burning scrounger with Keitech Shad Impact as a trailer. I was getting bites, but they just bit the tails. I lost 4 tails in 10min. So, I slowed down a little, and I didn't get a bite. That was interesting.

[dragon1]

Love reading your on the water accounts, very entertaining!

Just an FYI, try snipping the bottom tang of the treble hook to minimize snagging the trees, or switch them both out for single siwash style hooks, back siwash with the hook point up top and the belly one with the hook point down.

Thanks for the info. I already cut the bottom one, but never tried the single hooks. I might try that, but I have a feeling the hook up ration will go down?

I caught over 60 bass on Lipless Crankbaits in June, and pretty much all of them were hooked on the front hook (and the tail hook, sometimes). I was burning them. The fish mush have hit them from the front or the side, I guess.

That said, last week, I was burning scrounger with Keitech Shad Impact as a trailer. I was getting bites, but they just bit the tails. I lost 4 tails in 15min. So, I slowed down a little, and I didn't get a bite. That was interesting.

If the bass are eating the bait "good", they'll have the front hook or the entire bait in their mouth...in which case the single larger siwash hookup ratio is as good as a spinnerbait bite. When they just bite the tail, the lure or presentation is not triggering a true feeding response or pure committed reaction strike, hence why they are just nipping the tail. Sounds like they want a tighter vibration and fast moving bait.

Have you tried different chatters/bladed baits with different weighted heads and blade designs and trailer combos?

[MK49]

Have you tried different chatters/bladed baits with different weighted heads and blade designs and trailer combos?

Thanks for the info. Yeah, they were really hitting the fast moving baits last month. The reaction bites all month long. Now, it's different. About 5 days ago, I was using a scrounger with a Keitech Shad Impact. I lost 4 tails of the Shad Impact in 10min, and I wasn't burning them, because they kind of stopped biting fast baits. Early morning topwater bite is better now, so it's all good.

I don't have much confidence in Chatterbaits. But, I did try a 3/8oz Jack Hammer and a 1/4oz Mini Max, when I started using the scroungers last month. The small bill scroungers were easier to burn, and when I started burning them for the first time, I caught 4 fish in 10min or so. So, I stopped messing with other baits.

Again, thanks for your feedbacks.

[slipperybob]

Well not exactly forgotten but just tucked away. It's those rebranded lures Rebel/Xcalibur/Mystic. They were sometimes a slightly improved paint pattern or design. Some were suspended versions created. Some were casting weighted so they do cast further with better control over their original Rebel version.

[MK49]

Speaking of "rebranded", when I bought those $3 lipless crankbaits 25 years ago, I also bought two topwater walking baits (same lure and same color) for $3 each. The walking bait became my favorite right away, unlike the lipless crankbaits, which took 25 years to find they were really good. Then, about 10 years ago, I found the same walking bait was sold by Gan Craft (Z Craw). Originally, it was sold by Specialty Tackle or somethin like that. I bought the Gan Craft version, and I found the rattles are a bit different. Other than that, they're the same lures. At least, somebody else keeps selling good lures, which is great.

I can't find (even used ones) the 25yrs old silent version of $3 lipless crankbait. And, I lost all 3 of them, which really sucks. I should have bought all the shop had for $3 each 25yrs ago. I also rediscovered a topwater walking bait made of balsa, recently. I bought it about 20yrs ago. It has a hand written company name and the lure name on it. I did a quick search, and found that the guy who was making it is no longer in business, and I can't even find a used one on eBay. I'm kind of afraid of losing it, so I started using a 55lbs braided line (which I normally use in Mexico), instead of my normal 12 ~ 16lbs line. I also have a wake bait from the same company, and I found PH Custom Lures still makes it (rebranded), but not the walking bait.

Actually, there are plenty of lures that I wish the company start making them again (Heddon and Daiwa, are you listening? ), or somebody else picks them up. Speaking of Daiwa, I don't have many Daiwa lures, but there are a few that I really like, and they're no longer available. When I went to Japan 30yrs ago, I picked up a Daiwa topwater lure. I really like it, so I bought 6 or 7 more over the years, mostly on eBay. I also really like a lipless crankbait from Daiwa, which was discontinued about 15yrs ago. Big companies like Daiwa probably don't sell lure designs to other companies, so I'll have to wait for used ones to pop up.

It really sucks to lose great lures that are no longer available, not even used ones. Maybe, that's one of the reasons why I use topwater lures more. Unless a fish breaks my line, I don't lose topwater baits.

[slipperybob]

One of my favorite "Forgotten" lure category is the subsurface twitch lures. The one's like the Rapala X-rap Sub Walk or Mirrodine Mirrorlure. Among the forgotten and no longer made are Storm Mad Flash Flutter Stick and Yo-Zuri Edge Trembler lures. These are not a first pick lure and they often do require more user imparted to effectively use them. These lures often fall in the scenario where fish want a lure that on the pause, sinks with style.

[DirtyD64]

More of a forgotten category, cause plenty of baits make this up, but single tail grubs are something I forget about and every now and then rediscover. I use them behind small FB jigs, swim jigs, or just on a jighead. They always produce, serve as a great trailer, and a great finesse bait.

For me the same goes for big ribbon tail worms. They still sell, and companies release new versions still, but you don't see people talking about them as much.

[MK49]

More of a forgotten category, cause plenty of baits make this up, but single tail grubs are something I forget about and every now and then rediscover. I use them behind small FB jigs, swim jigs, or just on a jighead. They always produce, serve as a great trailer, and a great finesse bait.

I totally forgot about the single tail grubs. When I was in high school in the mid 80s, I was #4 in a local tournament (I was the youngest there). I used those single tail grubs. I haven't used them since the early 90s. I should try them, when the fishing gets tough, which hasn't happened in this year so far. Last year, the fishing was really tough, but I didn't think about the single tails. So, thanks for bringing them up.

[DirtyD64]

More of a forgotten category, cause plenty of baits make this up, but single tail grubs are something I forget about and every now and then rediscover. I use them behind small FB jigs, swim jigs, or just on a jighead. They always produce, serve as a great trailer, and a great finesse bait.

I totally forgot about the single tail grubs. When I was in high school in the mid 80s, I was #4 in a local tournament (I was the youngest there). I used those single tail grubs. I haven't used them since the early 90s. I should try them, when the fishing gets tough, which hasn't happened in this year so far. Last year, the fishing was really tough, but I didn't think about the single tails. So, thanks for bringing them up.

For me they offer an alternative to the small swimbait craze. I still use a 2.8"/3.3" swimbait first when things get tough, but using a Zoom 3" Fat Albert works just as well. Culprit makes a worm called the Fat Max, the 7" and 9" are bigger profiles, but the newest 6" is like a mega grub. It has been a great lure I always forget that I have too.

[MK49]

Here's another one, Luhr Jensen PJ Pop. I used it quite a bit in the 90s, but hadn't used it for at least 12 years. I started a thread, Looking for a Silent Walking Bait. While reading the replies to the thread, I remembered the PJ Pop. I started using it again in the last 3 or 4 trips, and the PJ Pop worked very well.