Do You Ever Retire A Lure?

[scaleface]

 

 

I did have a bomber 7a light colored baby bass crank that was the Mike Tyson of lures yrs  ago. I would retire it had I not lost it to "something"

C22

I had a Bomber Model A in Baby bass that had "it" . Whatever "It" is . It's also long gone .

[flyfisher]

I don't retire any lure.  The only one I wish i did keep was the first fly i tied that i caught a fish on but it is in a bush somewhere in the Shenandoah national park due to my poor casting skills at the time.  Other than that, I have memories and pictures and that is all I need.  

 

Now if i caught a state record bass or something i might retire it but at the same time, there is a good chance that it wouldn't even be hard bait anyways and not sure retiring a worm or a fluke really matters.

[C0lt]

I retire them to the bottom of the pond or to the tops of the trees sometimes. not willingly. 

[Felixone]

I haven't been bass fishing for very long.  However, when I first started I used a lot of gear that I inherited from my father.  These are the same lures I used to love digging through and "playing" with when I was just a kid.  Most of them are probably 30+ years old.  I loved catching fish with them as I felt it was a great way to honor his memory, and for getting me "hooked" on fishing at a very young age.  When I thought I lost one of them by being stupid (I thought I dropped it out of the kayak) I decided it was time to replace them.  Now that I have either replaced them with exact duplicates or similar designs I have packed them all away. As much as I loved catching fish on them I felt it wasn't worth the risk of losing one of my favorite things.

 

Now in regards to lures I have purchased those I don't care one bit.  I will throw them anyplace I think will catch a fish.  The only time I care about losing them is if I am bank fishing.  Even then it is more about the littering of lots of line, plastic, and metal.  What I do now though is cut the line as close to the water as I can, and then attach a cheap float.  I do this with the intention of going back with the kayak and at least fish out most of the line if not the lure too.  I have about a 50% success rate with this, but it does make me feel better.  When in the kayak I rarely lose lures except to tree fish.

 

Since I don't have anything you can't buy online or at a big box store I don't have to worry about discontinued models yet.  If I even run into that I might change my mind, but until then it is guns out.  Even the lure I caught my PB on still gets used.  If it was good enough for the last PB, it might just be good enough for the next.

[J Francho]

I retire swimmers that don't become players.

[Catt]

I retire swimmers that don't become players.

Uhh! No one wants to hear about your personal life!

[Cgolf]

Here is one of my retired bandits, smacked on a railing during the cast while shore fishing. The reason it didn't get trashed is it managed to still catch 4 fish all cracked. Bandits are tough as nails.

And for me it is a numbers thing, if I get a bait that lasts say 50 plus fish it may get benched, not sure. The usual lifespan for a crank on the river is on average 7-10 fish before it gets lost. Now that bandit got bought out, I am going to have wade in to get them. With Bandits I don't think I have had one that doesn't catch fish, some may just get through snags better.

[Bluebasser86]

Here is one of my retired bandits, smacked on a railing during the cast while shore fishing. The reason it didn't get trashed is it managed to still catch 4 fish all cracked. Bandits are tough as nails.

And for me it is a numbers thing, if I get a bait that lasts say 50 plus fish it may get benched, not sure. The usual lifespan for a crank on the river is on average 7-10 fish before it gets lost. Now that bandit got bought out, I am going to have wade in to get them. With Bandits I don't think I have had one that doesn't catch fish, some may just get through snags better.

Put some fingernail polish sealer on that crack and it should keep the water out and you can go back to fishing it. 

[C0lt]

I just retired the storm jerk bait I caught my pb on.

[Blues19]

My dyslexia is getting me, lol. I thought it said Retie. I would have looked like a goof if I responded to that. I would only retire a lure if it had a strong specific memory tied to it, like a BIG bass, a kids first fish, stuff like that.

[RSM789]

...I guess the only time I would ever do that is if I caught a world record on it or won a Classic with it, and I doubt that will ever happen to me.

Don't sell yourself short.  I envision you winning the 2026 Classic by catching a world record bass out of the Sabine River system of all places.  On a Senko, of course .

 

I keep a collection of retired lures in a brushpile in 10 feet of water about 20 yards off my brothers dock (That is a knock off of the Steven Wright joke "I have a large seashell collection which I keep scattered on the beaches all over the world. Maybe you've seen it.")

[Cgolf]

Today is a perfect example of why I retire a lure. In this case good fishing karma, I will take all I can get. I have been using some questionable power pro line and broke off a crankbait yesterday on a snag. It floated loose and I was able to wade in downstream and grab it.

Then tonight I snagged a large carp with the same lure and when lifting it out the line snapped leaving the lure in the carps back. The carp were thick tonight swimming in schools of 30 fish or more and I saw multiple schools. About 15 minutes later I snagged a carp with a softbait and as I was reeling it in I saw the Crankbait in the carps back. I was able to land it and get my Crankbait back. The odds of this happening were crazy low that I would re snag the same carp and land it, first carp I have landed on a soft plastic snag.