The Found Lures Thread

[HaydenS]

1 minute ago, WaterOtter said:

Another question since folks have been so great about answering questions ...

What's up with this lure I found a few weeks ago?  It's a G-Ratt Pistol Pete in green perch, a beautiful lure.  But this one has an orange streak on the head (I think it's a sticker, but it might be extremely precise and thick paint) and circular stickers that seem to be on it to protect it from the hooks.  Both are perfectly placed and adhered.  I don't see these features on lures online.  So is it a customized lure, an previous model year, a prototype ... ?

Great find!  Might be a colored suspend strip?

[WaterOtter]

And while we're at it, I haven't been able to identify this frog.  It has an old vibe to the paint, and the large gap to the tail suggest lower end ... but it looks like a a fun lure.

7 minutes ago, HaydenS said:

Great find!  Might be a colored suspend strip?

That's a good thought, but I don't think this is thick enough, and it conforms to the shape better than I would think lead or adhesive metal would do ...

[HaydenS]

35 minutes ago, WaterOtter said:

And while we're at it, I haven't been able to identify this frog.  It has an old vibe to the paint, and the large gap to the tail suggest lower end ... but it looks like a a fun lure.

That's a good thought, but I don't think this is thick enough, and it conforms to the shape better than I would think lead or adhesive metal would do ...

Thats a bass pro shops bubblin toad.  In cold toad color.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-xps-bubblin-toad

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, WaterOtter said:

Another question since folks have been so great about answering questions ...

What's up with this lure I found a few weeks ago?  It's a G-Ratt Pistol Pete in green perch, a beautiful lure.  But this one has an orange streak on the head (I think it's a sticker, but it might be extremely precise and thick paint) and circular stickers that seem to be on it to protect it from the hooks.  Both are perfectly placed and adhered.  I don't see these features on lures online.  So is it a customized lure, an previous model year, a prototype ... ?

The orange is likely a tracker or tracer sticker. Popular with big bait guys so that when you pause a big glide bait you can see that bright sticker in case it moves while it's supposed to be sitting still. The other stickers are likely to protect from hook rash. Most guys don't worry about it too much but some get really worked up if their bait gets worn from use. 

[Choporoz]

I have used a A-Rig exactly one time.   Lost it on 3rd or 4th cast.  Vowed never again.   But I pulled this rig up a few weeks ago and it is rigged and ready, so, I will probably have to see whether it works.

[WaterOtter]

Last weekend I went to a park with a very large lake and poked along several miles of shoreline that I've never searched before.  I spent most of 5 hours in the shoreline pockets that weeds and trash blow into.  I picked up 31 lures (and plenty of trash), but most of the lures were "pop-ups" that were originally trapped underwater and had to rust off their hooks to free themselves up, and most of them had been in the crud for months.  Anyway, hardly any shiny lures, but lots of jack-pot thrills nonetheless as I pulled in one lure after another (I guess I averaged one every twelve minutes, but it felt like one after another!).

 

Here are two unusual lures that I would love to have someone identify.  I haven't done much cleaning on them yet.  The red one hasn't lost its second hook mount, it never had one.  And the eyes are definitely looking up, like it was looking for someone to pick it up.

[Bluebasser86]

The firetiger one is a Berkley Frenzy Diver. 

[WaterOtter]

So one of the things I love about lure hunting is the problem solving.  (Almost) every lure poses a challenge of some sort - how do I get that Yo-Zuri crystal minnow down from way up there - it must be 40' up in that tree??!  How do I get that Rapala jointed minnow out of that tangle of vines in this current? How do I get that Super Spook from that far into that tangle of vines, bushes and thorns? How do I get that Googan Squad zinger unstuck from that log that far beneath the surface without it dropping into the depths?!  I've watched some lures for weeks while I slowly turn the problem over in my head.  (answers: 24' extension pole with custom tip while climbing a low tree and finally pulling the tangle of line below the lure; pruners with lively, acrobatic kayaking; kayak and pruners and an 18' extension pole held about 30 degrees while threading the pole carefully in and out of the morass; by holding the lure with a 36" magnetic pickup tool while carefully working at it from the side with my paddle blade)

 

But now I'm mulling a new challenge...  I'm on a business trip to Ohio and I was scouting for local hole-in-the-wall fishing spots when I spied a telephone line going across a river which has 3 different tangles of lures, each with at least 6 lures, including crankbaits, poppers and whopper ploppers.  Now, I have always just said no to lures on power lines, but I know the top set of wires are 3-phase electric and dangerous, the next ones are probably lesser electric and dangerous, and then the two bundles of loosely slung wires further down the pole have got to be telephone and cable or data wires, and it's the lowest bundle of 3 wires, about 10' above the water, which has all the lures.   And they are a little too far over the river to get without going into or onto the river ...  Hmmmm, how best to discretely get them while ensuring my safety? ...

 

[Bluebasser86]

There's a couple power lines on the lakes I fish that are loaded with lures. They're not important enough for me to risk my life to retrieve though. 

[HaydenS]

11 hours ago, WaterOtter said:

How do I get that Googan Squad zinger unstuck from that log that far beneath the surface without it dropping into the depths

You can just leave this where it is.

 

I wouldn’t be messing around with power lines, not worth your life. 

[Chris Catignani]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

There's a couple power lines on the lakes I fish that are loaded with lures. ...

That's being used for schooling bass.

"Now...if you ever see one of these...RUN!"

[king fisher]

13 hours ago, WaterOtter said:

l hole-in-the-wall fishing spots when I spied a telephone line going across a river which has 3 different tangles of lures, each with at least 6 lures, including crankbaits, poppers and

Identify which make model and color of lures are on the line.  If a bass jumps out of the water and eats one, buy all of that lure you can find, and tell the Bait Monkey to go away for life.

[fin]

On 11/2/2021 at 8:56 PM, WaterOtter said:

I'm mulling a new challenge...

Man, I thought I had a problem. You got it bad. There’s been many times I’ve looked back after retrieving a lure, thinking to myself, “I can’t believe I just did all that for this stupid lure”.

 

There’s no way I would consider messing with those wires over the water. Even though that wire is probably not carrying power, there are lots of things that could go wrong, and you might not foresee one of them. Just think how stupid you would feel in the ER, or how embarrassed your family would be at the funeral.

[WaterOtter]

I appreciate the concern for my wellbeing!  Like I said, I like to mull these ideas over during dull moments.  (I went back and confirmed the low wires with the lures are communication wires, and I found they are chopped off below the anchor on the pole, but it's still a terrible idea to muck around near power wires and people should not.  From the number of lures on the line (20+), some barely hanging on, it's clear that a lot of people agree that we should avoid messing around near power lines.)

[QED]

Had to climb up a tree to obtain these.  The notable thing about this discovery is that these are lures of the size and type that I would buy.  Since these were hung up on a tree, the lures only suffered modest sun discoloring but otherwise are as new.

[Bluebasser86]

Had to start a second 3700 box for baits I've found this year, filled the first one up, and it's not even the good time of year for finding them yet ?

[Bluebasser86]

Some of my finds from the last couple trips. Also found a 90 plopper and Arashi squarebill when @HaydenS was with me that I gave to him.

[WaterOtter]

On 11/13/2021 at 12:10 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

Some of my finds

Very nice!  Do you have good stories on how you found and retrieved the two rattle trap lures without hooks?  They must have been submerged.

[fin]

The only times I find lipless crank baits is during low water or when they're hanging in trees.

 

There's a few pretty ones there, @Bluebasser86. I envy you. My lake has quit producing lures for some reason. Maybe because of other people lure-searching.

[WaterOtter]

1 hour ago, fin said:

The only times I find lipless crank baits is during low water or when they're hanging in trees.

Me too usually, that's why I'm curious about the two without hooks. 

One of my favorite rattle trap finds ... I once saw a white curly thing on the bottom of the lake next to a chunk of wood in 20" of water, and I reached in and grabbed it.  When I looked in my hand I said to myself "cool, a rattle trap."  Then I did a double take - this wasn't white or curly!  I looked down and the thing was still there, so I reached back in and pulled up a white curly tail on a lead head.

[Bluebasser86]

7 hours ago, WaterOtter said:

Very nice!  Do you have good stories on how you found and retrieved the two rattle trap lures without hooks?  They must have been submerged.

I remove the hooks off of baits I find if they need to be replaced, just gets rid of the risk of a hook ending up somewhere it doesn't need to be. The RES was in a tree and had hooks that were removed. The dingy Rattle Trap came up in a mess of fishing line that was snagged with a crankbait during the retrieve and was already missing it's hooks. 

My finds from my day on the water this weekend. 

[fin]

Actually, I do have one lipless story, @WaterOtter. I may have told this one before. I was walking the bank when a guy in a boat just off shore asked me if I saw a lure laying around on the ground where I was. He said it was a big gold lipless. His line had snapped or his knot slipped, I don’t remember which, and the lure went flying into the woods. He said he thought he saw where it landed and he pointed me to the area, but I couldn’t find it. It didn’t help that it was in the fall and the ground was covered with gold leaves.

 

I passed through that area pretty often, and every single time I had to look for that lure. Sometimes it was just glancing around as I walked by, sometimes I would stop and look around. I was haunted with finding that ‘golden’ lure. I don’t remember exactly how long it was before I found it, at least more than a year before I found it laying right about where he said it was. It must have been covered with leaves. It was a gold Booyah 3/4 ounce lipless in perfect condition. I still have it, I hardly ever throw it, partly because gold has never been a productive color for me, and partly because I just don’t want to lose it.

[BassHRL119]

I love this thread. I found this crankbait back in August in about 8ft of water. I was cranking a point and I snagged a line and ended up pulling in this DT20.
 

 

 

Now I ride my jet ski around looking for lures. Found a few way up in trees that I cannot get to. My lake is down now, I plan to take my Onewheel and ride around the shoreline looking for lost lures this weekend. 

[WaterOtter]

The lakes around me have quit producing lures too, or at least the trees and bushes have.  It was a very weedy summer, which blocked most bank fishing spots, and when the weeds finally cleared it coincided with a large and sudden drop in temperature, so not many people are stopping by to cast a line.  So, I've been poking along the shores looking for pop up lures.  Today was an exceptionally beautiful day, and I had a really exciting find - a Heddon Meadow Mouse!

[king fisher]

 From all the pictures on this thread, I have to assume some people are even better at finding lures, than I am at loosing them.  I'm not so lucky.  I never find lures on the water.  I find all my lures at stores, most of the time their not even on sale.