Forgotten/overlooked Baits

[Avalonjohn44]

I have been orgnaizing my obnoxious amounts of fishing gear and stumbled on a little Flambeau tacklebox I probably haven't opened in years. In it were some baits that used to just kill for me when I was growing up, but got lost somewhere in the shuffle. Seems like there's a new bait or technique every time you turn around and another $200 to spend re-outfitting to accomodate the trends... I don't remember it being as 'complicated' as it is today.

Here is a list of what was in that tacklebox that used to be staples for me:

Sluggo's, Heddon Torpedos, Rebel Craw, Helgies, French Fry, Slider Worms, Rapala Countdowns, Mepps Fury, Large Kalin Grubs, Bang-O Lures, Silver Buddy, Johnson Spoon (gold, silver and hematite) and a ton of no-name ring worms, curly tail worms, etc.

I used to do great out of that single tacklebox back in the day. From shore, with one rod, a $30 shimano spinning reel and 10lb mono I had summers full of amazing days wading down the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers... Tons of 50 - 100 bass days (nothing very huge, but some days it was just fish after fist after fish...) I'm going to take just that box out this year, hop in the river and see how I do...

Bet I have more fun this year than the last 5 combined...

[Marty]

I'm sure that those lures will continue to catch fish. They probably became overlooked because of poor marketing and/or the explosion of "hot" new lures, not because of any deficiencies in attracting bites.

[whitwolf]

Manns Augertails......noname cycle tail worms..Faltfish...All these used to catch so many fish

[Hi Salenity]

My brother went fishing with me last weekend. He dug through my stuff until he found the Mepps spinners and said "I can work with this"

He went out and killed them with that thing! Nothing big but sometimes "it was bass a cast".

[bigbill]

The older lures is what i mainly still use today. I still use the mepps inlines plus the joes fly 1/4oz bass size too. Joe offers them in all colors with some brighter colors for cloudy and low light conditions. I'm also using the older colored crankbaits too. I refuse to mess with success. For the past decade and then some these older colors have worked and still continue to work too. I always say on a tought day just throw that lure we never tired before. The one we carried in our tackle box for many years. I would rather fish the smaller unfished bodies of water than be in a boat on a large body of water. I still get non stop action with the older colored lures. I was ready to repaint them but why if they still work....

Its not luck in fishing its skill, luck is at the casino. Bigbill

[WookieeJedi]

Those old Bang-O-Lures were special. Bagley's really made some good lures, I don't know how they managed to tank.

[hookset on 3]

Av John, man don't even get me going about Slug-gos and the rest of the Lunker City soft plastics.

I was fortunate enough to be in a bass club that the president was a friend of slug-go inventor Herb Reed.

We got to test them out before he went public.with the sale of the lure. If you rig them exactly how the instructions indicate, you will get that random darting action that makes them so deadly.

I like to use small lead or tungsten nail weights inserted into different sections of the slug-go and fish the mid-depth region.

They have been re-discovered by a new generation of basser, who eventually realizes there is no substitute for the original Slug-go.

[tboydva]

This is a bit scary, but just yesterday I was thinking about an old lure that we used on the very same waters (Shenandoah, upper Potomac - and the Cacapon River). It was called a floppy (rubrex - French lure). Seems like you can find them on ebay and it was a very popular lure in Australia (they made a saltwater model). These lures were made out of rubber and had an adjustable lip. We always called them "Mr. softy" (which in late middle age is something no guy wants to hear!). I moved back (from the West coast) to the region after years away in the mid-90s. Although the floppy was a memory even then, we had days with a fish every cast. Small Rapalas used to absolutely kill. Sadly, I think those days are over (unless the 7-9 year cycle is applicable to these rivers?). I've floated the Shenandoah and had single-digit days. Same for the upper Potomac. I keep thinking I should buy a floppy off ebay and see how it works now? Hard to toss out a "collector" bait though....

[retiredbosn]

I keep some inline spinners, old rapala minnow broke backs, etc in the boat for the tough days, seems many times the old standby's really catch fish when nothing else will. I think the fish are conditioned to lures, and many times the newest craze is thrown by every angler until the fish just start ignoring them.

[craww]

I have a 6 year old thats getting into fishing. He's taking a liking to artificials, but is not quite ready for plastics and such. We were in the boat awhile back and he wanted to throw an artificial. I looked in my small crank box and found a forgotten flatfish. I used to love to throw them as a kid. I tied him up and proceeded to watch him catch the fiestiest 3lber ever lol.

Some other lures for me are:

Broken back rapala

Slider grubs

daredevles

beetle spins

heddon dying flutter

heddon zara gossa

[smalljaw67]

Manns Augertails......noname cycle tail worms..Faltfish...All these used to catch so many fish

I have and still use th Augertails!!! In fact I have a bunch of discontinued Manns baits that fish haven't seen and when fishing gets tough I'm reaching for them. Manns Dragin' worms are incredible teamed up with shaky heads and the best is the Manipulator worms, not a better worm is made.

[grimlin]

I forgot how to fish the daredevil(smaller ones)....I used to use as a kid all the time.....Planning on buying a few and take them out on the river again this year.Although I got a feeling the pikes are gonna like this one too much. I still fish inline spinners though.Same with grubs....I used them last year and just caught the heck out of them.

[grimlin]

I have and still use th Augertails!!! In fact I have a bunch of discontinued Manns baits that fish haven't seen and when fishing gets tough I'm reaching for them. Manns Dragin' worms are incredible teamed up with shaky heads and the best is the Manipulator worms, not a better worm is made.

You can still find the augertail,draggin' worms and manipuator...Give me a PM and I'll tell you where you can find them. I don't think I'll be able to link the website here.

[Avalonjohn44]

Av John, man don't even get me going about Slug-gos and the rest of the Lunker City soft plastics.

I was fortunate enough to be in a bass club that the president was a friend of slug-go inventor Herb Reed.

We got to test them out before he went public.with the sale of the lure. If you rig them exactly how the instructions indicate, you will get that random darting action that makes them so deadly.

I like to use small lead or tungsten nail weights inserted into different sections of the slug-go and fish the mid-depth region.

They have been re-discovered by a new generation of basser, who eventually realizes there is no substitute for the original Slug-go.

That's awesome! I agree, there is nothing like a sluggo... This year I am going to experiment with carolina rigging them. Can't wait.

[Avalonjohn44]

This is a bit scary, but just yesterday I was thinking about an old lure that we used on the very same waters (Shenandoah, upper Potomac - and the Cacapon River). It was called a floppy (rubrex - French lure). Seems like you can find them on ebay and it was a very popular lure in Australia (they made a saltwater model). These lures were made out of rubber and had an adjustable lip. We always called them "Mr. softy" (which in late middle age is something no guy wants to hear!). I moved back (from the West coast) to the region after years away in the mid-90s. Although the floppy was a memory even then, we had days with a fish every cast. Small Rapalas used to absolutely kill. Sadly, I think those days are over (unless the 7-9 year cycle is applicable to these rivers?). I've floated the Shenandoah and had single-digit days. Same for the upper Potomac. I keep thinking I should buy a floppy off ebay and see how it works now? Hard to toss out a "collector" bait though....

I haven't fished the Cacapon river yet, but wil do it this year. I have fished the state park and that little pond is loaded with good LMbass. The Upper Potomac and the Shenandoah around harpers ferry are still crazy productive for me, even with all of the tubers and kayakers out there. Last year rock hoping with rapala glass raps we must have caught 60 bass btwn my brother an me in a few hours... I have to check out the floppy lure. I'll use it. Good thing about wade fishing is if you snag you can swim over to get it back...

[Raul]

Fishing has never been complicated, it´s us who complicate it, the roots of perfection are in simplicity, it´s much more important for you to know a bunch of techniques and rigging methods than having a big bunch of stuff that you never/seldomly use, also, there´s no such thing as "rules", nowhere is written like if it were a commandment that X lure should be rigged/worked X way, lack of creativity locks you down. Bass are no different now than they were 30+ years ago when I began fishing for them, I still catch them consistently with the lures I have from those early day, Sluggos , Torpedoes, Rat L-Traps, ribbontail worms, straight tail worms, curly tail grubs, French Fries & more still work as well now as they did 30 years ago.

It ain´t the arrow, it´s the indian.

[hookset on 3]

Carolina riggin' you say. I will tell you that in clear, highly presured lakes the move now is towards soft plastics with minimal action. They use a new technique that Jackall brought over from Japan, called I-Motion.

I-Motion is imitating bait fish that are slowly swimming along in a non threatened state.

I've used 4 inch slug-gos in a slit shotting set up, it's killer.

[Bankbeater]

I still like to throw my big-o's. They were the first crankbaits I used when I started bass fishing.

[Avalonjohn44]

Carolina riggin' you say. I will tell you that in clear, highly presured lakes the move now is towards soft plastics with minimal action. They use a new technique that Jackall brought over from Japan, called I-Motion.

I-Motion is imitating bait fish that are slowly swimming along in a non threatened state.

I've used 4 inch slug-gos in a slit shotting set up, it's killer.

I have too, very good technique... Also thinking about trying one of the small 3" on drop shot. It will be the year of the the Sluggo!

[gr8outdoorz]

Fishing has never been complicated, it´s us who complicate it, the roots of perfection are in simplicity, it´s much more important for you to know a bunch of techniques and rigging methods than having a big bunch of stuff that you never/seldomly use, also, there´s no such thing as "rules", nowhere is written like if it were a commandment that X lure should be rigged/worked X way, lack of creativity locks you down. Bass are no different now than they were 30+ years ago when I began fishing for them, I still catch them consistently with the lures I have from those early day, Sluggos , Torpedoes, Rat L-Traps, ribbontail worms, straight tail worms, curly tail grubs, French Fries & more still work as well now as they did 30 years ago.

It ain´t the arrow, it´s the indian.

It couldn't have been said any better! Well done Raul!

[WookieeJedi]

I must have missed the memo telling us to stop using slugs, I have never stopped fishing them.

[iceintheveins]

The old hula grub is an overlooked flippin' and pitchin' bait when a more subtle presentation is needed. Usually only lasts for a couple fish, but with some parasite clips and mend it you won't have to buy tons of packages.

I'm another who loves the sluggo. The fluke rocks and is better all around, but when the fish are shallower and turned way off, the dying sluggo will mop them up at times better than the fluke.

[Crestliner2008]

I still use the 3" Slug-go on my drop shot rig for smallies. Great lure!

[Blue Streak]

I have caught more river smallmouths up to three pounds on a Mepps spinner than any other lure, and in the small streams it is almost magic.

[outdoorsman110]

I have been orgnaizing my obnoxious amounts of fishing gear and stumbled on a little Flambeau tacklebox I probably haven't opened in years. In it were some baits that used to just kill for me when I was growing up, but got lost somewhere in the shuffle. Seems like there's a new bait or technique every time you turn around and another $200 to spend re-outfitting to accomodate the trends... I don't remember it being as 'complicated' as it is today.

Here is a list of what was in that tacklebox that used to be staples for me:

Sluggo's, Heddon Torpedos, Rebel Craw, Helgies, French Fry, Slider Worms, Rapala Countdowns, Mepps Fury, Large Kalin Grubs, Bang-O Lures, Silver Buddy, Johnson Spoon (gold, silver and hematite) and a ton of no-name ring worms, curly tail worms, etc.

I used to do great out of that single tacklebox back in the day. From shore, with one rod, a $30 shimano spinning reel and 10lb mono I had summers full of amazing days wading down the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers... Tons of 50 - 100 bass days (nothing very huge, but some days it was just fish after fist after fish...) I'm going to take just that box out this year, hop in the river and see how I do...

Bet I have more fun this year than the last 5 combined...

Lazy Ike's!!! My goto lure.