Fishing vintage lures

[avid]

I had a blast last evening fishing an original devils horse that I’ve had for years    I Love going to antique shows and picking up old used lures   I always fish them and they all still work ‼️  Anyone else fish lures from “back in the day “ 

[scaleface]

Yep. Old lures that still get playing time are

Pico Pops

Big Rebel chuggers that look like a Pop R only twice the size

Rogers Big Jim crankbait

Dalton Special

 

 

[gim]

I don't know if you consider a discontinued lure a "vintage" lure but I still regularly use the Storm Subwart that has not been made in years now.  I've got about 6 of them including one that I found this winter still new in the package.

[WRB]

I sold over a 1,000 vintage lures last year that were used occasionally nearly every outing. My hair jig are 1971 design that I kept along a few jars of pork trailers that I use.

Update hooks and they work as good as anything currently on the market.

Tom

 

[avid]

32 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I don't know if you consider a discontinued lure a "vintage" lure but I still regularly use the Storm Subwart that has not been made in years now.  I've got about 6 of them including one that I found this winter still new in the package.

The old storm lures work much better than the newer ones especially the wiggle warts   Excellent find ‼️

[E-H]

My father gave me some of the Rapala original floating minnows a couple of years ago.  When I say original...I mean when the first came out apparently ?.  Honestly I was a little skeptical but gave it a shot last summer.

 

Well son of a gun, the small mouth on the lake will hit those things in a heartbeat.

 

He doesn't fish because glaucoma got the best of him unfortunately.

 

Not only did I love all the topwater strikes, it made him grin from ear to ear when I told him that he gave me the "secret" weapon.

 

[Choporoz]

I've since retired this one again,  but I had to show my grandfather.

[Mobasser]

I sometimes use some old vintage topwaters at first light in hot weather. Heddon Chugger, old floating Rapala, and the boomerang shaped Lazy Ike. They're fun to fish, and still work too.

[river-rat]

Absolutely. I still use a Devil's Horse in a color called Dragonfly that has been out of production for many years. It's still one of my best producers.

Also I'm still using Johnson Silver Minnows, Snagless Sally's and Arbogast Mudbugs.

[Bankbeater]

I've got some of the old 1/2 ounce Cordell Big-O baits that I get wet every once in a while.  Other than that I have some Storm sub-warts, and some of the Rapala floating minnows that were made in Ireland.

[Jaderose]

10 hours ago, Mobasser said:

I sometimes use some old vintage topwaters at first light in hot weather. Heddon Chugger, old floating Rapala, and the boomerang shaped Lazy Ike. They're fun to fish, and still work too.

I love throwing my Lazy Ikes occasionally.  Those ol suckers flat out catch fish.

[Jigfishn10]

I still like to walk the dog with the OG wood spook. 
Another favorite is the Rebel Pop’R. Caught my fist bass on one.

[the reel ess]

I want a vintage Jointed Pikie and I want to try this method

 

[Fishes in trees]

I have a number of old lures, some dating back to the 70's and many dating from the 80's & 90's.  Vintage baits didn't get to be vintage by letting some fisherman tie them to a line and throwing them out and getting wet.   All the old baits that I have, there was something about them that made me not want to use that particular bait.  While they are nice to have and pretty to look at I don't have much confidence in vintage baits.    Whatever it was that made me not want to use them then, more or less applies not.   In my fishing boxes, very few baits get "retired" after many seasons of successful dedicated service.  Rather, they stay in service till they get lost or go MIA.

[avid]

There’s something about the look and feel of baits from the 80’s and earlier   They were made of wood not plastic for one thing   But I admit many of the plastic “updates”

work well  but some like the bagley and storm crankbaits were absolutely better than the current models

[WRB]

On 3/10/2021 at 7:18 AM, the reel ess said:

I want a vintage Jointed Pikie and I want to try this method

 

I listed 6 wooden jointed Pikie lures in the Flea Market, no interest and sold my entire collection of vintage wooden lures in Dec 2020. Your a few months late!

Tom

[the reel ess]

10 minutes ago, WRB said:

I listed 6 wooden jointed Pikie lures in the Flea Market, no interest and sold my entire collection of vintage wooden lures in Dec 2020. Your a few months late!

Tom

Aww shucks! 

[Bankc]

Rather than start a new thread...

 

I found an antique store with a bunch of old lures.  Some were behind glass and priced as collector's items, which means they're not for me.  But some were just a buck or two, and these were the ones that interested me.  I have a hunch that with the increased fishing pressure, throwing baits these fish haven't seen has to be some sort of advantage, right?
 

First up were some Rapala Fat Raps.  I guess they make these again, but I haven't seen one in a store in decades, so when I found these at an antique store, I bought them out.  Great for slow cranking.  I consider these to be a finesse crankbait.  Kind of like a Shad Rap, only a little different look.  These were some of my favorite lures as a kid, and I'm glad to finally own some again.

 

Next, I bought a bunch of Heddon River Runts, Midget Digits, and whatever other names they sold this profile under.  I'd seen these in tackleboxes of every adult as a kid, but no one threw anymore them by the time I was learning to fish, so I was familiar with them, but didn't know anything about them.  I was surprised to find they don't float.  So I guess they're kind of a cross between a lipless and squarebill?  Anyway, while timing the countdown, I discovered that they have a really nice motion on the fall.  So I figured these would be excellent for jigging for suspended fish or fishing bait balls.  I haven't had any luck with one yet, but they definitely fill a niche that nothing else I own really does.  And once the baitfish start balling up and heading into the shallows (should be soon now), I bet these will kill!  

 

Lastly, I bought a bunch of Heddon Hellbenders.  I guess they're making these again, or never stopped making them, but I don't think I've ever seen one in a store in all my life.  I've seen plenty in tackle boxes though.  But again, no one uses them anymore.  So after some experimentation, I found out they don't cast very well for their size.  That's probably why I don't see people using them.  But they do pull cleanly through just about anything!  Rocks, weeds, submerged timber, it doesn't seem to matter with these.  So I started trolling with them, and sure enough, they catch fish!  I dragged them through the nastiest stuff I could find (because at $2 a piece, I figure why not), and never lost one!  I was really impressed by these.  Being a kayak angler, I spend a lot of time slowly moving from spot to spot, so trolling is a way to make use of wasted time.  I'm gonna get a lot of use out of these.  

 

 

[greentrout]

Heddon Dying Flutter 

[Fishingmickey]

1 hour ago, greentrout said:

Heddon Dying Flutter 

One of my all time favorites. One foggy overcast morning many Aprils ago I managed a very large limit of Bass on the Dying flutter. Bass color pattern though!

FM

[greentrout]

3 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

One of my all time favorites. One foggy overcast morning many Aprils ago I managed a very large limit of Bass on the Dying flutter. Bass color pattern though!

FM

Caught my biggest bass fishing with it at daybreak in a leaky jon boat in the Summer. Still have it.

[MAN]

Yes all the time. They all work just as good today as the day they were initially released.  The only thing they stopped catching was fisherman.  

Yesterday I was tossing a Heddon Sonic.