Vintage Bomber Model A

[the reel ess]

A coworker sent me this bait as a Christmas gift. It was out of her ex's old tackle box he left in her garage. LOL. It's the 1/4 oz., 2.5" version in rainbow trout pattern, if you can't tell from the pic. Looks close enough to crappie to work here though. It has the old paper list of other Bomber lures in the box and appears to never have been used. There's a price sticker of $2.99 on the back. If you know me, I'm gonna use it. I already cleaned the oxidation from old lead off and sharpened the hooks. Good as new. Does anyone want to guess at the year it was produced? I know they're still making them. I have a few in other patterns. 

[Team9nine]

As a teenager, I remember all those Bomber boxes lined up on the shelves in the hardware store we always shopped at, and buying many myself. These came after the solid orange boxes, so I’d guess late 1970s as a starting point.

[Deleted account]

Left tackle in her garage? Good on her for getting rid of the bum!

Concur with mid to late 70s. 

[the reel ess]

8 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

Left tackle in her garage? Good on her for getting rid of the bum!

Concur with mid to late 70s. 

Yeah, he was. I sent her this pic after cleaning off the oxidation and she said it was likely a gift he never even opened. He forgot he had a tackle box. One man's trash is another's treasure. I asked her for pics of the other stuff in it and she said this was the only thing of any value. And she knew I wouldn't turn around and sell it.

[Spankey]

I have that exact Bomber. Purchased before my oldest daughter was born so it had to be before ‘81. Probably bought in ‘79 ish. I have a decent amount of old Bomber Model A screw tails. Not sure what their deal was but they have sort of fallen off the earth a long time ago. Real shame because they had some great productive colors for river smallies. I don’t use some of that older vintage stuff anymore. 

[king fisher]

9 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

He forgot he had a tackle box.

Is this legal?  

[TnRiver46]

8 hours ago, Team9nine said:

As a teenager, I remember all those Bomber boxes lined up on the shelves in the hardware store we always shopped at, and buying many myself. These came after the solid orange boxes, so I’d guess late 1970s as a starting point.

I went to a tackle shop the other day that had hundreds of bombers and bandits . All brand new though 

 

the deep walleye bomber lures caught my attention but I didn’t buy any. Some wild colors 

[WRB]

Looks like a 6A however the hooks have been change, Original were tin plated Mustad.

Bomder model A’s came in that box until the late 80’s but could have been in a mon & pop tackle store into the early 90’s. Original Rainbow trout was an  color.

[GreenPig]

11 hours ago, king fisher said:

Is this legal?  

Not illegal here but no doubt immoral. 

[scaleface]

Its funny how we catch bass on  a certain lure at a certain place or time and then we encounter that scenario again we reach for that lure . If I'm fishing steep rocky  banks or rip rap in the Autumn,  I think Bomber Modell A . 

 

Vintage photo of me , nice bass , Bomber Model A , autumn on a steep rocky bank .

 

[the reel ess]

10 hours ago, WRB said:

Looks like a "6A 1/4 oz." however the hooks have been change, Original were tin plated Mustad.

Bomder model A’s came in that box until the late 80’s but could have been in a mon & pop tackle store into the early 90’s. Original Rainbow trout was an  color.

It has a "6ART 1/4 oz. Model A Deep Running" sticker on the end of the box. I can't imagine why a guy who never used a lure would change the hooks. If I were to change them it would be to a size bigger. But I just sharpened these.

[Spankey]

I’d try to play those cards just right and see if she gives up the whole tackle box. 

[Team9nine]

1 hour ago, the reel ess said:

It has a "6ART 1/4 oz. Model A Deep Running" sticker on the end of the box. I can't imagine why a guy who never used a lure would change the hooks. If I were to change them it would be to a size bigger. But I just sharpened these.

From what I recall, and I still have several very old Model A’s from the late 80s, hook type depended on paint scheme. Several of the old shad/baitfish colored Model A’s came with the tin hooks, but I don’t ever recall seeing them on things like crawdad, firetiger or baby bass patterned baits. Those were always bronze. I’ll dig a little through my old stuff this afternoon…

[the reel ess]

19 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

From what I recall, and I still have several very old Model A’s from the late 80s, hook type depended on paint scheme. Several of the old shad/baitfish colored Model A’s came with the tin hooks, but I don’t ever recall seeing them on things like crawdad, firetiger or baby bass patterned baits. Those were always bronze. I’ll dig a little through my old stuff this afternoon…

That's what I thought. These are bronze. I still have an old smaller one in baby bass pattern from the mid 80s that has bronze hooks as well.

20 minutes ago, Spankey said:

I’d try to play those cards just right and see if she gives up the whole tackle box. 

I asked her for pics and said I might want to buy some or all of it and she said this was the only thing of value in it. The rest was rusty hooks and oxidized lead.

[WRB]

6ART = 6A Rainbow Trout. The hooks in the photo look black nickel but could darker bronze normally are light brownish color not black.

All the 7A’s I had in RT had tin hooks.

Tom