From Flavor of the Month to Famous - List these lures

[scaleface]

39 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Sadly some of them are no longer made and I no longer have.

 Name a few . I might be able to help you out . 

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

 Name a few . I might be able to help you out . 

 

Berkley Power Bait Beast ~ 

and the Menderchuck  Magic Minnow ~ 

A-Jay

[primetime]

Famous-Salt Craw, Sluggo(a fluke), Senko, Rebel Pop'r, Rapala Minnow, Shad Rap, Bill Lewis Rattle trap, original SCUM FROG-Banjo Minnow(Not Joking) If they marketed that bait in BPS instead of on TV, the Lake Fork Magic shad, SPro BBZ, all the segmented baits that were selling for big dollars may have never been created. Also the concept of Nose Hooking soft baits was another Banjo Minnow exclusive which is now one of most popular ways to fish soft baits of all kinds.

 

The Colors of the Banjo minnow were wacky and any infomercial whether a fishing lure or a Kitchen Mop are always considered by most to be a scam, myself included. I remember a buddy of mine who purchased them and used them one day and he was new to fishing, but looking back, if he would have known how to set the hook on a moving soft bait, he would have caught alot of fish before putting it down for good. It didn't help we made fun of him and going back to the culprit was obviously too easy. The first Lake Fork Magic shad was a prettier Banjo Minnow with the new technology of salt etc.

 

 

 I would say the Power Worms or Powerbait/Gulp was a gamechanger for scent and Power Worms replaced almost everyones Culprit worms and mister Twister curly tail worms for about a decade. Gulp and Powerbait sell in all types of fishing, they don't market like they used to.

 

I would argue that any lure or bait that was in catalogs 30 years ago and is still in the catalog is a famous lure. Manns Jelly Worms, Norman Crankbaits, Cordell lures, Smithwick Rogues etc. First Suspended Jerkbait is a big deal, Rogues are never advertised, nor are the Devils horse etc which are copied every year, Many of the Prado lures are the same as they were 40 years ago.

 

 

To me the Ned Rig is kind of just a Take off of the Slider system, small baits have been used for years in different systems like a westy worm on a c-rig, but Elaztach is kind of a big deal, same with the chatterbait, Z-Man may be just as popular in 20 years since they came out with truly innovate ideas which is rare these days. 

 

I would argue the KVD square bills were not original, Cordell, Rebel, Rapala, dozens of others created square bills. Strike King makes great stuff, I fish lots of it, But they seem to be the best at marketing/Advertising/Sponsership. There are 100's of square bills and I doubt if you polled 10 guys you would get any group to pick one brand more than 50%. They Work great, but so do tons of other brands. 

 

Strike King has done a great job of selecting bait and lures for their line up that are a good mix and all pretty much work as good as the original stuff. The Red Eye shad is not a game changer but it is special. I give the flange idea of rage tail to Lake Fork as they had that much earlier on their flipping bait, other companies had soft baits that never made it with a similar design. They do a great job of having baits for everyone, and "Tweaking" other companies designs. The original Rage Bug was first Called the "River Bug" by KVD himself before it officially came out, then BPS had the river bug the same year. You can google River bug and strike king and find the connection. Granted they are 2 different baits, but without the flange it is a beaver. Many Bass Pro lures end up in top companies line ups. Especially the soft baits which is for obvious reasons.

 

If Lunker City were to decide to start advertising like crazy, start pushing new versions of the sluggo etc. Get Scott Martin to exclusively fish them, never speak a sentence without saying Lunker City on my Okuma TCS Rod and Okuma Helios Reel, they would blow up overnight. Remember when everything was "Riot Baits"? 

 

If KVD was offered more money by Pradco to fish Bomber, have a KVD Bomber best Crankbait, I would guarantee Bomber cranks would sell even better than they do today and really hurt Strike King.

On 7/14/2017 at 9:48 AM, gilkeybr said:

For Famous I would nominate the Rapala Shad Rap and the KVD 1.5.  Those seem to universally be supported by everyone!  The Wiggle Wart could also be considered for the famous list.

 

Another flavor of the month proposal:  Bill Lewis StutterStep.  I think spy baits like the Spinbait 80 could make this list also.

 

I don't think its ready to make either list, but I really like fishing my Pompadour Jr.  I know they aren't the first of their kind (Heddon Crazy Crawler and Arbogast Jitterbug came before for sure), but they seem to catch fish well

 

The Double Plopper would fall under the "Worst purchases i've ever made" category, in my opinion!

I notice Pradco seems to have all the Famous lures and Rapala the other....First Suspending Jerkbait, First Wake Bait, Spook..Heddon,Bomber, Cordell-Big O, Redfin, Smithwick, Rebel,Arbogast..Bill Lewis rattle chap is for sure a gamechanger but Heddon Sonic got there pretty early. Manns jelly worms, ou Creme worms, Salt Craws, Sluggo set the table for flukes and Senkos.

 

If you check out Bass Archives you will notice 99% of lures we think are originals were actually modified from lures made in the past that never made it due to marketing etc...

 

Culprit once had a punch skirt and a company actually had a chatterbait in the 40's.  Eagle claw had the Eaker Shaker which gave Z-Man guys the idea...Truly Original designs usually fail and are almost all the "Fads", especially the first go round if not enough money to get them in every angler's hands and magazine. Famous to me is a lure that everyone was using at the time. I have only seen a few in my lifetime. Right now everyone fishes some type of "Senko".

The stutter step is a good example of a Fad for sure, but is a copy based off the Mann's Pogo Shad. This could go on forever. 

 

I wonder what the next Original design will actually be. Even Glide baits were simply just marketed to Bass fisherman instead of Musky.

[Cgolf]

@primetime As for the Sluggo, without it the Senko might never have been born. The story I heard was Gary wanted a bait similar to, but with a different action than the Sluggo. Heck I have both and can't catch fish on either one.

 

One I haven't seen yet is the sassy Shad. That thing I think was the first soft plastic Swimbait. If Mr twister poured and sold the first curly tail grub, then they might be responsible for two of the top categories in soft plastics. If they weren't first someone correct me. 

[Catt]

[scaleface]

9 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

 

....and Pico Perch .