Best "found" lure?

[BankBassing]

One fun thing about bank fishing, if you go to certain common spots, is you find things people have either cast off, snagged on a rock, or just forgotten.  The other day I was fishing and had current cause my crank bait to get snagged and broken off.  I walked 10 feet and found another, nicer looking baby bass style crank bait on the shore.  Any good stories about finding something someone else has lost or forgotten?  Do you still have it?  Catch any good  fish on it?  

[soflabasser]

Throughout the years I have found plenty of fishing lures that taught me what fishing lures people use in the locations I fish(soft plastics and hard plastic lures).Some of these fishing lures weren't that great, some where,but most where decent at catching bass.Its definitely worth picking up a lost fishing lure, since it can be your ticket to catching more and bigger bass in the locations you are fishing in.

[Torn Thumb]

Scored 3 black jitterbugs in one day at a small pond earlier this summer. Found a brand new scatter-rap on the bank. Found about 30 senkos and assorted worms with hook still attached after the pond lost alot of water. I also donated my share of squarebills this spring to alot of low hanging trees. We are even. I haven't fished any of the mentioned baits at all. I've also found 3-4 rebel pop-rs through the years and have replaced the trebles and fish them sometimes.

[Senko lover]

Nice condition Lucky Craft Kelly J prop bait.

[fishballer06]

I don't bank fish much, but one day I did walk up to a spot and found where some guy must have spilled an entire bag of Senkos onto the ground. I happily gave them a new home. 

[Smjunior25]

Not from the shore, but just the other day I was throwing a wacky worm and somehow had the hook get caught in the split ring of a kvd square bill that was in great shape. Couple years ago I found a fully rigged a-rig in a tree, which is not legal here in Iowa!!!

[Hog Basser]

I found a clear spook on the bank of an island on a lake where I was stopping to let my kid and dogs go to the bathroom.  Perfect condition, I threw it in my tackle box, but haven't used it yet.  

[IndianaFinesse]

I have found many lures, but the best ones are two kvd squarebills, an inline spinner (that thing has literally caught hundreds of white bass now, and it still works even after bending it back in shape many times), a suspending smithswick rattling rogue with upgraded treble hooks, a cordell redfin, a strike king buzzbait, and a booyah jig.  I have caught fish on all of them, and still own most of them.

[FordsnFishin]

The lake I fish often is a popular crappie spot.  While they aren't lures, I went ahead and started a bobber collection from all the guys who've gotten snagged this year.  Pretty well all are the good neon orange/lime thill bobbers. I'm up to around 20 now from this season. 

Funny thing is,  I don't even use bobbers.

[brotekind269]

A single Senko, Green Pumpkin. Long ago, just a few months of getting into the world of straight tail finesse worms. Back when I didn't see a point in paying extra for a "do nothing" bait, especially when there are so many cheaper options (an not spending countless hours watching youtube).

I held on to the Senko for a while before using it because even though I didn't pay for it, I didn't want to waste it. At a highly pressured pond, in the heat of the day, fishing a tree lay down from the bank. I probably hit the tree at least 25 times with a cheaper stick bait. On a whim, I decided to tie on the Senko to see a comparison with what I was using. Caught 2 bass from that tree. Now the Senko is one of the very few baits I am willing to pay extra for.    

[Ratherbfishing]

On one pond I fish, I found 2 zara spooks-one on the waters edge and one on "dry" land down from the spillway.  Somebody out there is minus two zara spooks.  A few weeks ago I picked up a ziplock bag from the waters edge and there were two crankbaits inside. NOT a great method for carrying baits on a windy day.

[GORDO]

There was an amazing bank fishing spot by my dads house on the Tennessee river. We would fish it all day every day from the bank. I would watch tournament anglers get hung there ALL THE TIME. My brother and I would run up to the house, grab flippers and goggles and go get the lures after they left! We got countless crank baits, jigs, terminal tackle and even a full rod and reel combo.

[WRB]

Most unusual "lure"  found was a spreader with 7 Optima 8" swimbaits at lake Castaic in the late '90's when the lake was being drawn down for dam maintenance. The rig was snagged in a oak tree that would be about 75'-90' below full pool. 

Tom

[Darren.]

By far, for me, a ¾ oz football jig that got stuck on a dock.

It was practically brand new, and my first intro to football
jigs. Caught me some nice bass on that. Still have it, to!

[fishblitzer]

I wouldn't say I found it as I quite literally stumbled upon it. Was out on the river one day and we were swimming with some friends. I went to sit on a log that was coming off the bank and into the water. Got a big ol' treble stook in my foot. It was a 6xd in about 2 feet of water. Someone took the phrase "grind the bottom" to a whole new level.

[OCdockskipper]

Most expensive usable lure I "found" was a Storm Arashi crankbait attached to the mouth of a big catfish that ate my swimbait.  He also had a football jig stuck in his side, so he had been busy breaking hearts & lines.  Changed out hooks on the Arashi & it was like new.

The lure I was happiest to find was one of my own.  I busted off a Strike King 3XD in a brushpile and then found it floating in the same cove about 5 months later.  I say it was mine because it had the red hooks I always switch too that I am pretty sure no one else on the lake uses.  It had some moss & gunk growing on it, so it had been underwater a while.  Not sure how it finally broke loose & floated to the top, maybe that catfish freed it.

.

[MassYak85]

I've found a ton in varying condition, but the three that stand out in my memory are a couple jitterbugs, an XCaliber lipless crank, and a KVD Sexy Dawg. 

The sexy dawg was a little challenging to get. I was in my kayak and I see it hanging from about 10 feet of line out of a tree. I had to stand up, grab my stakeout pole and reach up and snag the back hook and pull to snap the line. Almost went swimming but I got it. 

[IgotWood]

Funny story...My buddy and I a few years ago were surfcasting for stripers from a beach in Rhode Island. We were into some solid fish for about two hours.....well, HE was into fish.... It was a breezy night with an east wind in Novemeber. It was cold, and bitter, and the surf was up pretty good. He was fishing a large needlefish plug, and he was able to get it out beyond the breaking surf. I had a couple of lighter needles, but I couldn't cast them very well. He was catching fish on almost every cast for just about two hours. He hung up in the rocks and broke it plug off. Now that he lost the magic lure, the bite stopped. He left and walked down the beach a little bit. A few minutes later, I reeled up my plug, and saw his plug hanging off of it. 

Now I'M into fish! He came walking back when he saw my light on a few times and he noticed I was catching fish. It's the middle of the night, and you can hardly see your hand in front of your face. He saw me catch several big fish, and he wandered over to me asking what I was using. I turned on my light to show him. The look on his face was absolutely priceless!! LOL!!!! 

He let me continue to use if, but the bite died quickly. I told him I would sell it back to him when we got back to the truck. I teased him a bit about it, and gave it back before we went home. 

[Bluebasser86]

Recovering other people's lost baits is a hobby of mine. My best day was at Table Rock one day I found a Megabass Vision 110 Magnum, 4 Lucky Craft jerkbaits, a Pre-Rapala Wiggle Wart, a War Eagle spinnerbait, a Strike King spinnerbait, and a few other cheaper baits.

I found an H20 squarebill and a Lucky Craft RTO squarebill last Thursday. 

[Drew03cmc]

All I've found besides the ubiquitous soft baits is a Super Spook Jr in baby bass. 

[Turkey sandwich]

I've "caught" a pretty sizeable collection of Crankbaits and jerkbaits over the years ranging from inexpensive jointed jerkbaits to husky jerks, Long-As, Shad raps, fat raps, and several that I never bothered to identify.  Also, fishing a lot of rivers, I've managed to recover countless pieces of soft plastic and terminal tackle rigged every which way imaginable.  I feel like every other trip or so I'll snag into a line or branch attached to something.  I guess it's the River God repaying me for my own lost tackle and the garbage I regularly clean up on floats.

[iiTzChunky]

Never found any baits, but I'm constantly reeling in yards and yards of line, people seem to get hung up and just cut the line at the rod tip. 

I'm always bringing home lots of line from other people to recycle. 

[Brikon]

I found a Sexy Shad 6XD in the middle of the lake, with line still attached. Im guessing it broke off when someone got a birdsnest.

[king fisher]

In June 1976 I was 13 years old,  Camping with the boy scouts on a lake we accessed with canoes.  I had three bass lures for a five day camping trip.  We would canoe to a rip rap bank, then get out of the canoe and fish from shore.  We caught lots of bass but snagged lots too. On the second day,  I had just lost my Heddon sonic.  The last bass lure I had.  I was walking back to the canoe to get a crappie jig and bobber when I looked down and in the rocks was a Heddon river runt.  I fished that lure for the remainder of that trip, and every time I went fishing for the rest of that summer.  It was my only bass lure.  I snagged it many times, but managed get it back every time.  That Christmas I got some other lures including two spinner baits.  A friend and I were fishing from shore, on a small lake.  I loaned him one of the spinner baits. A purple tandem Colorado.  His first cast he hooked a big bass that snapped him off.  We continued fishing the same spot for an hour with no luck.  Then I caught the spinner bait he had lost.   I couldn't believe my good luck.  I put the spinner bait on and started catching fish. Ended up being the best bass fishing day of my entire life.  I still own that spinner bait, but have lost the river runt.  I always try  lures I find  as soon as I find them.  Hoping someday to get lucky again..  

[crypt]

caught a rod and reel that someone had lost in the Stick Marsh,attached was a bomber long-a . cleaned it up. used it right there and caught nice bunch of schoolies.still have it,and the rod and reel.