The Old timers

[Mobasser]

Myself and an older friend that I fish with have decided to do this just for fun. Along with our usual plastic worms, were going to fish an older topwater bait at first light, on our morning fishing trips. So far, between the two of us here's what we've come up with: Heddon Lucky 13, South Bend Bass O Reno, Heddon Dying Flutter, Original Rapala floating minnow, Smithwick Devils Horse, Arbogast Hulla Popper , and Heddon Chugger Spook. We're getting together at my house tomorrow night to replace any rusted or damaged hooks. Even though many of these baits are still available, all of ours are antique lures, some decades old. We're fishing them on our standard , modern bass tackle. This should be fun. It's kind of an experiment for us, to see if the older baits still work as well as they did years ago.            We both tend to think that even though there's been huge improvements in bass lures over the years, the best designs were invented decades ago.                  So, this Saturday morning, if it's not pouring rain, it's in with the old, and out with the new! I'm looking forward to it, and it should bring back memories for both of us.              For us, fishing is about catching fish, but having fun too. If we can make that happen, we're both happy....

[river-rat]

I'm still catch fish on the following topwaters some of which have been out of production for quite some time

Whopper Stopper Hellraiser

Rogers Lures Hawg Hunter

H&H Lures Skipjack

 

Smithwick Devils Horse

Hub's Chub Rattalur

Johnny Rattler

 

[scaleface]

I still like a Dalton Special .

[Catt]

Sound like fun ?

[Captain Phil]

There used to be tournaments where all the anglers had to use antique reels and lures.  I haven't heard of any in a while.  Out of your group, the Rapala and Devil's horse are by far the best.  I love the Dalton Special, but I think the Devil's horse is better.  One old lure that you didn't mention was the Johnson's Silver Minnow. It's a spoon not a plug.  Decades before plastic frogs, it was the go to bait in heavy cover.  Most old lures were heavy.  This was because reels were not free spool and the handles turned on the cast.  I learned to cast one in a bucket on my parent's front lawn.  Plastic baits changed bass fishing forever.

[MN Fisher]

I don't have many of my 'old' lures left - but two Rapala Floating 07 (Silver/Black, Red/Gold), one Floating 11 (Silver/Blue), one Countdown 09 (Red/Gold), several Mepps Aglia, Comet and Black Fury in sizes 0-3 are all from the late 60s to mid 70s and purchased new by me.

 

I still use all of them fairly regularly too.

[Captain Phil]

Does anyone here remember when the Rapala first came out?  Must have been in the sixties?  I read about it in a magazine article. Early on they were hard to come by and anglers were renting out their lures.  Sounds crazy, but it happened.  

[Choporoz]

The last time we got my father out before he passed away, he caught a decent bass on a Bass O Reno that was probably 50 years old.

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

Does anyone here remember when the Rapala first came out?  Must have been in the sixties?  I read about it in a magazine article. Early on they were hard to come by and anglers were renting out their lures.  Sounds crazy, but it happened.  

The article in 1962 is when Rapala took off, but the first Rapala lure was created in 1936.

• • 1936 Lauri Rapala® makes his first lure out of cork
• • 1959 Normark® is established and starts distributing Rapala® lures in the US
• • 1962 Major breakthrough in US when LIFE magazine publishes an article on Rapala®

https://www.rapala.com/content/rapala-general-information/fast-facts.html

[A-Jay]

Sounds like fun ~

Perhaps kick it up a notch and don the attire that was all the rage during the time these baits were making noise.

You know you still have some of that stuff around in a box some where.

#mothballs

A-Jay

 

[WRB]

A friend of mine and occasional fishing partner over several decades got together every year to use our old tackle and lures. Ron and had the same Langley 330 knuckle buster reels and tubular glass rods. Our favorite top water lures were Smithwhick Buck n Brawl and Pa Scooters, Heddon Darters. Shallow divers wooden jointed Pikie, Rapala original Minnow. Deep divers Bombers and Mud Bugs and Arbogasters.

We looked forward to this trip every we could for 40 years, great memories!

Tom

[Catt]

43 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Sounds like fun ~

Perhaps kick it up a notch and don the attire that was all the rage during the time these baits were making noise.

You know you still have some of that stuff around in a box some where.

#mothballs

A-Jay

 

 

There's a guy on YouTube who does that, even has old rod-n-reels & restored boats.

[RoLo]

 

Sounds like a blast   

 

For sheer numbers, I'd probably fall victim to the Rapala Original Floater    

 

Roger

[DitchPanda]

Did heddon make a large popper similar to the big rebel pop r? Pretty sure I found one the other day

[RoLo]

 

Heddon currently produces the "Pop'n Image" at 3.5" long

 

Roger

 

 

[Mobasser]

On 6/18/2020 at 5:07 PM, Catt said:

 

There's a guy on YouTube who does that, even has old rod-n-reels & restored boats.

Catt and A-Jay, I've added a couple more plugs to the mix, old Lazy Ikes, and older Arbogast Jitterbugs. As far as the attire for this trip? If you look at old fishing pics from the 50s or 60s, most guys wore blue jeans, work shirts, or t shirts. Some wore bib overalls. This is my regular attire most days anyway, so I should be ok there.?They sure didn't have nice fishing shirts and fancy jerseys back then like we have now.

[Smells like fish]

On June 18, 2020 at 5:22 PM, A-Jay said:

Sounds like fun ~

Perhaps kick it up a notch and don the attire that was all the rage during the time these baits were making noise.

You know you still have some of that stuff around in a box some where.

#mothballs

A-Jay

 

You guys gonna keep it up til we go to the lake and see a gang of 70 somethings with tightly stretched sequin jump suits, truckers hats and holding backlashed reels.

 

I still like to use some those lures part of the time so I guess Instead of old timers I call em part timers. 

[Mobasser]

1 minute ago, Smells like fish said:

You guys gonna keep it up til we go to the lake and see a gang of 70 somethings with tightly stretched sequin jump suits, truckers hats and holding backlashed reels.

 

I still like to use some those lures part of the time so I guess Inat was old timers I call em part timers. 

Yea, you never know? These old plugs might tear em up out there. They sure wont be something the fish see all the time. I think they're gonna work good

[Smells like fish]

2 hours ago, DitchPanda said:

Did heddon make a large popper similar to the big rebel pop r? Pretty sure I found one the other day

Look up the Heddon Chugger

[papajoe222]

The only 'new' topwater I use is a WopperPlopper. One of my favorites is a TwoFer by Manns which was one of, if not the only, floating buzzbaits of that time.  You could tie to the other end and fish it like a Lucky13, but I've never caught a fish on it that way, or on a Lucky13 for that matter. Another 'old' lure that I get a lot of bass on at night, is a CrazyCrawler. It outproduces a Jitterbug on many occasions. For mid-day, nothing beats a ZaraSpook, IMO, but a DevilsHorse is dynamite if there's a good ripple on the surface. ?

[Catt]

3 hours ago, Mobasser said:

If you look at old fishing pics from the 50s or 60s, most guys wore blue jeans, work shirts, or t shirts. Some wore bib overalls

 

I'm talking 70s with the coveralls or the vest with all patches on em.

 

Most of my antique tackle I would have to throw on 100# braid cause I couldn't stand losing em!

 

Every so often I break out my old Abu Garcia just to remind me how light weight my Calcuttas are.

 

[JediAmoeba]

My dad has a wotta frog I think.  I have never used it but it is all beaten up and could use some TLC.  I should ask him if I could use it!

The only old reels I ever used were early 80's Zebcos...

[DitchPanda]

50 minutes ago, Smells like fish said:

Look up the Heddon Chugger

Yep that's what it is in the larger size..color is the white shore minnow or maybe it's called silver shore minnow

[Smells like fish]

1 hour ago, JediAmoeba said:

My dad has a wotta frog I think.  I have never used it but it is all beaten up and could use some TLC.  I should ask him if I could use it!

The only old reels I ever used were early 80's Zebcos...

Paw paw wotta frog is very neat looking old lure. You can bring it back to life since its in poor condition and be an awesome catch. I was supposed to been given one in the past but it has not shown up yet lol