Ever have a lure that just "quit working"??

[jdw174]

I've got several that I swear are infested with poltergeists.  I had several ChugBugs that USED to pop and spit water like crazy....bass loved 'em.  Last year, NONE of them would work right.  They plowed water, wouldn't spit/walk/chug no matter what I did.  Out the door they went at a garage sale.  Likewise with a couple of Spooks.  I fished those a lot and like the 'Bugs, caught a lot of fish.  Last time I used them I had two that refused to walk a step.  Same rod/reel/technique, but they acted, well, WEIRD .  Anybody else ever see this?

[J Francho]

Usually the lure got cracked, and water got inside.

[SeanW]

Are you using the same line as well?

[deaknh03]

perhaps the line tie bent a little..

[KYntucky Warmouth]

sounds like you were using flourocarbon....I bought a mattlures jitterfish that I could not get any action out of the first time I used it, it just pushed water to one side.  Didn't think about it at first but quickly realized the line was the culprit when I fished it again on different line (80lb braid for muskie)

[Jigfishn10]

I have an old Spit-n-Image that made it's way down to the bottom of my tackle box that I ended up using this past summer. I remember the lure used to catch a lot of fish, but for some reason would walk a lick when I tried it.

What I noticed tho, was that the bait was sitting on the water flat with the tail barely in the water and not in the water at like 45+ degrees like it used to. What I found was that the ballast wasn't making it's way to the back of the lure.

[jdw174]

"Usually the lure got cracked, and water got inside. "

Nope, no cracks....dry as a bone.

"Are you using the same line as well?"

Yep, same copoly I've used for years.

"perhaps the line tie bent a little.."

Checked all of those too.  I guess it will remain a mystery :-?

[tholmes]

The Bait Monkey sabotaged them so you would go buy some new ones.

Tom

[Jigfishn10]

The Bait Monkey sabotaged them so you would go buy some new ones.

Tom

Problem solved! Good work Tom!

[Nick]

I had a topwater that absolutely crushed the smallies and it was a small sized Rebel Jumpin' Minnow. As I walked it I could hear that BB inside make a clacking noise 50 feet away. After a few hundred bass, that infernal internal BB became dust coated from constantly banging the interior wall of the plastic and became a very ordinary lure.  Sadly. most Jumpin Minnows are the devil to walk, and they are poorly balanced. If you can find a good Jumpin Minnow, have yourself a blast, at least temporarily. So maybe your topwaters lost their ability to talk like mine did.