scorpion spinnerbait 1970's?

[DanWyomingMI]

my dad has a spinnerbait that he said is called a scorpion. i think he bought it in a small shop back in the 70's maybe even the 60's. He absolutely kills the largemouth on this thing. He only has one left and it is pretty beat up. Anyone know who made these or if there are any out there somewhere... i havent found any and ive searched ebay, etc. for the last year and half or so. any help would be great

[DanWyomingMI]

well anyone? i know that they were discontinued... i believe it has a single willow blade. the head is just a solid lead weight. and i know that it has a "special" bend in the wire- according to my dad. any help would be great

[cart7t]

I believe you may be referring to a Bassbuster Scorpion spinnerbait.  Those were produced by the Bassbuster lure company of which famous TV angler Virgil Ward and his sons owned.  They also produced a Twin spin model along with the Scorpion, I believe it was called the Taratula.  That lure would be of the late 60's early 70's vintage easy.  Of course, Bassbuster was most famous for the Beetle spin, one of the most fish catchinest lures of all time.  The Wards sold Bassbuster off to the Johnson Reel company later on and I believe the spinnerbait line was dropped.

[Wayne P.]

The Scorpion is my favorite spinnerbait and I still use it. When I found out it was being discontinued, I bought the entire supply of Scorpions and Tarantulas at a tackle shop (175). The Taratula was identical to the Scorpion except it had a skirt with less than a dozen strands. I have used up all of my Scorpions and now just remove the skirt from the Tarantula and put on a fuller one. I also remove the chrome blade and put on a gold one. I still have about 30 of those. No, I'm not selling any of them. Basically they are just a short arm spinnerbait. Some have a small bend in the blade arm and some were just straight. The short arm and heavy wire makes hookups easier and produces more felt vibration during the retrieve. I'll post a picture late today.

[Wayne P.]

I just found some 3/8oz. Scorpions in my stash. The photo shows both models in the 3/8.

[Wayne P.]

Attempt at a larger picture:

[DanWyomingMI]

where in the world can these be bought?

[Triton21]

Try Ebay.

Kelley

[FisinCrazee]

Wayne P.  I'm with you on this Spinnerbait.  They are/were dynamite; just had that special something.  Only one fault:  the lead in the head was too soft and the wire became pretty loose/woobly after a time.  Would love to see them make a return.  I fished them exclusively in the mid to late 70's/early 80's until I could not get them any more.  Wish I had made the smart move you did and bought out a supply somewhere.  Changed jobs in 80, became a workaholic and did not realize the company was closed down until too late.  The Chickahominy River bass ate them up-nice memories.  I still have several left in the original package.  Also, nice to see you on this site; Richmond site needs a little help.

FisinCrazee

[DanWyomingMI]

anyone interested in selling one or a few? if so please email me... arianemead@yahoo.com

[Wayne P.]

Dan, check your personal message.

[Wayne P.]

An equivelent of the BassBuster Scorpion was the Bumble Bee Spinnerbait of that same period. The only difference was that the Bumble Bee had a thinner wire frame.  Here is an article where it is mentioned: http://www.jimporter.org/lakes/wheeler/

[Papa_Tom]

I have one left--3/8 oz White Scorpion.  It's on the wall with some others that are retired.  Not in the best of shape, but that's why it earned it's spot.  I'm thinking the Tarantula also came with or without a fiber weedguard.  Glad you posted, sure brought back a bunch of memories.

[Wayne P.]

Both of these are the 1/4 oz. The left one is a Tarantula and the right one is a Scorpion. The right one almost survived a battle with a 50# snapping turtle. The blade arms show the two different types used (straight and slightly bent).

[56 crestliner]

You might want to try one of the mebers on here who make spinners they might be able to make you some if the price is right. Just a THought.

[David Hadley]

Just came across this discussion from 2007. I just found a scorpion that I bought in 1973, I am going to reskirt it and temp some SMB with it.

[scaleface]

31 minutes ago, David Hadley said:

Just came across this discussion from 2007. I just found a scorpion that I bought in 1973, I am going to reskirt it and temp some SMB with it.

I have one of these left. They can be gurgled across the surface but its kind of hard to keep the correct cadence . You should try that .

[Tizi]

I have several of these and are my favorite spinnerbaits, by a long margin.

[river-rat]

I used the Scorpion when it was still in production. I now use a Stan Sloan Short Arm Aggravator spinnerbait in certain situations and don't notice any difference in success rate.

 

You can purchase them at Falling Waters Outdoors. The link below will take you to the page where you can check it out.

 

https://fallingwateroutdoors.com/product/short-arm-aggravator/ 

[WRB]

Maybe Wayne P would rejoin BR now that 13 can be used in text without being *** in every reply, Wayne is a good asset with knowledge of Hummingbird electronics and fishing skills.

Back on topic, jig and spinnerbait skirts of the early 70's were either vinyl or flat rubber. I believe Scorpion used vinyl and Tarantula was wide cut flat rubber, neither skirts are availble today.  

Tom

 

[fin]

 

Found these on ebay. Homemade copies maybe? That looks like an underspin jighead. Weird.

 

I'm not seeing what the benefit of a shorter wire would be, other than hookup rate. It would be easy enough to shorten the wire on any spinnerbait.