The Lures of my Childhood

[steve carpenter]

First nice bass on bomber. First nice one on devils horse for topwater. 

[BASS302]

5 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

6 hours ago, king fisher said:

The spinning lure in the bottom right corner of the second box was a favorite of a friend of mine. 

 

I also don't remember what that lure is called. It's the oldest lure I own.

 

Pflueger tandem spinner?

[Swamp Girl]

3 minutes ago, BASS302 said:

Pflueger tandem spinner

 

You are correct. I googled the above and found this:

 

[Munkin]

My childhood memories of bass fishing were from the late 80's into the early 90's before I joined the Army. Beetle spins, Roostertails, and "Salty Grubs" that I use to buy by the bait out of tubs at Keystone Sporting Goods were what worked best at first. After the first year I started branching out into Rapala minnows and fat raps which seemed to work as well. While all these worked my first magic lure was the Slug-Go. I had seen the Slug-Go on TV advertised on TNN and a sports shop opened in downtown Hagerstown that was selling lures you saw when watching BasssMaster, Jimmy Houston Outdoors, etc. Well I bought some 6" Alewife Slug-Go's and tried then at the Antietam Creek which I always fished as I could ride my bike there. While I only caught one bass as most of the ones in this creek were 10-14" SM I had so many hits it was crazy. I went back to the shop to talk to the owner about what happened and he said he would order me the smaller 4.5" ones. Once I got my hands on the smaller version it was lights out! The next couple of years I would say 50% of all the bass I caught were on a 4.5" Slug-Go. Went into the Army and moved away from Maryland for 5 years, when I came back for some reason I bought a ton of Slug-Go's but never really fished then again? Guess I need to break them out again this year along with the Poe's RC1 baits that I bought 50 of but never actually caught a fish on.

 

Allen

 

[Jmilburn76]

Growing up we used night crawlers or chicken livers for catfish. I can’t remember ever having any artificial lures other than a couple Rooster-tails. My grandpa only fished or hunt to eat. These days I’m 100% artificial and can’t remember when I used anything that wasn’t.

[rboat]

If you like catching big toothy critters (Northern Pike), troll that perch colored lazy ike around the lake and you will catch a bunch of them.

[Dwight Hottle]

20 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

All great lures. I've caught more bass on an F13 Rapala than any other lure and it's not even close. 

 

The thing that confuses me about the Lazy Ike is that I didn't catch more fish on them. It's the wiggliest lure I've ever used. Great action, but I never had great success with them. 

I agree the lazy Ike never produced for me like the other banana plugs Helin Flatfish or Luhr Jensen Kwik fish. 

[bowhunter63]

Rapala, Rebel crawdad crankbait, Mr Twister and Creme worms 

[river-rat]

if I’m limited to my childhood (under 18) my tacklebox was stocked with the following
 

Arbogast #2 Hawaiian Wiggler (double spinner)

Jitterbug

Hula Popper

 

Al Foss Shimmy Wiggler

 

Snagless Sally (always with an Uncle Josh Pork Frog trailer)

 

Smithwick Devils Horse and Buck n Bawl

 

Rapala

 

H& H spinnerbait

 

Creme Worm

 

Uncle Josh Pork Frogs and Black Widow Eel (on a weedless hook or jig head)

 

Johnson Silver Minnow

 

And whatever else I could abscond out of my Grandfather’s and Dad’s tacklebox

[T-Billy]

Jitterbugs, and Hula Poppers, and Crazy Crawlers... Oh My!!! Caught lots of pond bass on those when I was a kid. 

[Swamp Girl]

59 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Jitterbugs, and Hula Poppers, and Crazy Crawlers... Oh My!!! Caught lots of pond bass on those when I was a kid. 

 

We were both Ohio kids casting Jitterbugs to pond bass!

[T-Billy]

10 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

We were both Ohio kids casting Jitterbugs to pond bass!

Yep. Good memories Katie. I hadn't thought about those summer days in a long time. Thanks for jogging my memory. 

[MickD]

On 3/7/2024 at 11:50 AM, ol'crickety said:

Which ones would you choose?

River runt, crazy crawler, jitterbug, Pumpkinseed, Flatfish.  Brings back great memories.

[Swamp Girl]

Ah, you're welcome, Tim. 

 

@MickD: I always enjoyed the action of the Crazy Crawler. Some lures are just fun to fish and the CC was one.

[king fisher]

10 hours ago, riverat said:

if I’m limited to my childhood (under 18) my tacklebox was stocked with the following
 

Arbogast #2 Hawaiian Wiggler (double spinner)

Jitterbug

Hula Popper

 

Al Foss Shimmy Wiggler

 

Snagless Sally (always with an Uncle Josh Pork Frog trailer)

 

Smithwick Devils Horse and Buck n Bawl

 

Rapala

 

H& H spinnerbait

 

Creme Worm

 

Uncle Josh Pork Frogs and Black Widow Eel (on a weedless hook or jig head)

 

Johnson Silver Minnow

 

And whatever else I could abscond out of my Grandfather’s and Dad’s tacklebox

Doesn't sound to me like you are limited in any way.  All those baits will still catch bass.

[MickD]

Just noticed, missing one of my childhood favorites, red/white Hula Dancer.  

[scaleface]

I lived close to the Mississippi river,  My earliest lures were simple crappie jigs. I fished rip rap banks,   Lock and Dam  and sloughs for any game fish that would bite. 

[Swamp Girl]

2 hours ago, MickD said:

Just noticed, missing one of my childhood favorites, red/white Hula Dancer.  

 

Good eye. I preferred the Creek Chub Plunker. It had a bigger pop and it didn't have that skirt that semi-melted in a hot tackle box.

 

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

I lived close to the Mississippi river,  My earliest lures were simple crappie jigs. I fished rip rap banks,   Lock and Dam  and sloughs for any game fish that would bite. 

 

I love that river and have spent years fishing it too, from sloughs to its lakes to its dams. I also kayaked it twice, once from Cincinnati to New Orleans and once from northern Minnesota to Baton Rogue. 

[MickD]

I was wrong, the lure I meant to reference was Hawaian Wiggler, like a silver minnow with a skirt.  I don't think I ever had a Dancer. 

[river-rat]

17 hours ago, king fisher said:

Doesn't sound to me like you are limited in any way.  All those baits will still catch bass.

You are absolutely correct. I still use most of the ones listed. Even the Hawaiian Wiggler that I tricked out with a slight change. 
 

 

 

[Bankbeater]

Jitterbug, Lucky 13, and Crazy Crawler worked over the top of submerged vegetation.

[Alex from GA]

I wasn't into bass fishing but I remember reading the catalogs for Heddon lures when I was a kid.  I trout fished with salmon eggs and flies and ocean fished with anchovies.  Older I used deep diving Rebel jointed minnows for Calico bass, bonito, mackerel and barracuda.  Older still I used Mepps spinners in the MT rivers for trout.  I go to garage sales and buy tackle boxes and find some funny old stuff in them.

[Swamp Girl]

24 minutes ago, Alex from GA said:

I wasn't into bass fishing but I remember reading the catalogs for Heddon lures when I was a kid.  I trout fished with salmon eggs and flies and ocean fished with anchovies.  Older I used deep diving Rebel jointed minnows for Calico bass, bonito, mackerel and barracuda.  Older still I used Mepps spinners in the MT rivers for trout.  I go to garage sales and buy tackle boxes and find some funny old stuff in them.

 

You've led an enviable angler's life, Alex.