What "old time" lure do you still routinely throw and why?

[hoglaw]

And I agree with the steady retrieve at night. I'm a big fan of swimbait and horny toads.

[rFisherk]

Because I have studied fishing and tested lures for decades, especially the decade I guided on KY Lake and fished about 300 days a year, I've come to believe that the general bass population becomes educated to certain faddish lures, especially those available at Wal-Mart and especially where the majority of fishermen practice catch-and-release and where lots of tournaments are held. That's mainly why the fads tend to change every year, but some of it, too, has to do with the general fickleness of fishermen. About the time I would hear of a certain lure being "hot," and notice a lot of people fishing them, that lure would not produce very well.

Fish are not very smart, and bass are not very selective, but all of their senses and sensibilities are aimed at survival, and to grow even to legal size, they must learn not only what to eat and what to avoid, but to determine thorough the prey's body language which food sources can be captured with the least amount of expended energy. Being caught and released is the most traumatic and educational thing a bass will live through, and they learn pretty quickly to avoid something that looks or sounds like the thing that drug them out of the water. So, to catch the most fish, I think it is best to stay away from fads.

The larger they get, the more bass learn to only move on those things that display a certain body language that indicates it is easy to capture with the least expended energy. Little fish chase. Big fish ambush.That's why the majority of big fish are caught on slow, bottom-bouncing baits like worms and jigs. The vast majority of fishermen fish everything too fast. They troll down the bank far too fast, because they don't really know much about where bass are found and think they can improve their odds by covering a lot of water, and they cast and retrieve too fast, which mostly catches the young, dumb bass that still chase most anything that moves.

Body language is the universal lingo of the wilds, so in addition to whatever action is built into the lure, presentation if the most important thing.

Size is the second most important factor. Probably because it is easier to cast and fish fast, most fish lures that are too large. For example, they fish jig combos that are the size of lobsters, not crayfish.

Color is the least important factor. Colors catch fishermen and keep the tackle manufacturers in business. Presentation catches fish.

[Flysmallie]

If there is anything that proves that lures are designed to catch fishermen, not fish, it's rattles. Yep, rattles have their place, but try finding any hard bait these days that doesn't have rattles. It's one reason I carve some of my own lures out of wood...no rattles. I've also been known to drill a hole in a lure and squirt in some 1 minute epoxy to stop the danged thing from rattling. I'm convinced that in some cases quiet is better, and in fact studies have shown that heavily pressured bass learn to avoid noisy rattling lures much quicker than quiet ones. One study showed that they learned to avoid Rattletraps quicker than any other lure that was studied.

I agree with that. That's why I've always liked a Poe's Super Cedar 300 crankbait. You wart guys should give one a try sometime.

[fishinwrench]

You gotta buy those Poe's by the dozen. At one time I had a coffee can full of broken ones.

It's a fish catcher though for sure.

[Bill Anderson]

When I was a teenager I caught everything you can imagine on some of my dad's pre WW2 Heddon lures. I guess the oldest I might still use would be a Jitterbug, Mepps and Rooster tail spinners and the old reliable Johnson Silver Minnow Spoon. The Johnson silver or gold minnow has caught everything from channel catfish to trout for me and I've fished them since the early 1960s.

[Flysmallie]

You gotta buy those Poe's by the dozen. At one time I had a coffee can full of broken ones.

It's a fish catcher though for sure.

Up until last fall I still had the first one I ever had. It's beat up and the paint is cracked but it just keeps going. It won some tournaments, two big bass checks and it was the last lure my dad ever caught a bass on. I buried it with him.

[Al Agnew]

Because I have studied fishing and tested lures for decades, especially the decade I guided on KY Lake and fished about 300 days a year, I've come to believe that the general bass population becomes educated to certain faddish lures, especially those available at Wal-Mart and especially where the majority of fishermen practice catch-and-release and where lots of tournaments are held. That's mainly why the fads tend to change every year, but some of it, too, has to do with the general fickleness of fishermen. About the time I would hear of a certain lure being "hot," and notice a lot of people fishing them, that lure would not produce very well.

Fish are not very smart, and bass are not very selective, but all of their senses and sensibilities are aimed at survival, and to grow even to legal size, they must learn not only what to eat and what to avoid, but to determine thorough the prey's body language which food sources can be captured with the least amount of expended energy. Being caught and released is the most traumatic and educational thing a bass will live through, and they learn pretty quickly to avoid something that looks or sounds like the thing that drug them out of the water. So, to catch the most fish, I think it is best to stay away from fads.

The larger they get, the more bass learn to only move on those things that display a certain body language that indicates it is easy to capture with the least expended energy. Little fish chase. Big fish ambush.That's why the majority of big fish are caught on slow, bottom-bouncing baits like worms and jigs. The vast majority of fishermen fish everything too fast. They troll down the bank far too fast, because they don't really know much about where bass are found and think they can improve their odds by covering a lot of water, and they cast and retrieve too fast, which mostly catches the young, dumb bass that still chase most anything that moves.

Body language is the universal lingo of the wilds, so in addition to whatever action is built into the lure, presentation if the most important thing.

Size is the second most important factor. Probably because it is easier to cast and fish fast, most fish lures that are too large. For example, they fish jig combos that are the size of lobsters, not crayfish.

Color is the least important factor. Colors catch fishermen and keep the tackle manufacturers in business. Presentation catches fish.

Let me take the opposite view on parts of what you wrote...

I agree with you on fad lures, although it doesn't seem to be as common on rivers as lakes. But it seems to me that most "hot" lures are hot for at most two years, and then they slow down. And then people stop fishing them for the next fad, and after a few years they sometimes get good again. I have no doubt that bass in heavily pressured catch and release waters learn to avoid lures, and I've always thought that another possibility is that only a subset of the bass population is "turned on" by a particular lure action, while others aren't. So those that are get caught, maybe killed, maybe just caught multiple times, and either don't pass along their genes because they were killed, or learn to avoid those lures. Meanwhile, there's a whole other group of bass that simply won't bite those same lures.

Where I somewhat disagree with you is your assertion that the majority of big fish are caught on slow stuff on the bottom, and most anglers fish too fast. The other side of that coin is that in clear water, bass can see slow stuff so well that if ANYTHING is wrong with it, they might not take it. Meanwhile, I'm fishing fast, high, and often splashy with fairly large lures (on rivers) and catching enough big fish to keep me happy. I believe that big fish are often more susceptible to a pure reaction presentation, where they don't get a real good look at it because it's moving too fast, and their predatory instincts kick in and they whack it while they can.

As for size of lure, I think there is an optimum, and you can easily go too small OR too big. I spent many, many days fishing for smallies with live crawdads when I was a kid, and I found out that the bigger fish want 2-2 3/4 inch crawdads. Any bigger and I seldom got bit unless it was a softshell, any smaller and I almost never got anything of any size. I would catch my craws on the river before I started fishing, and sometimes I'd run out of the optimum size ones. I'd then hook two little ones on the same hook, and once in a while that would produce a good fish, but not often. I also think the best size for minnow-imitating lures is somewhere from 3-4.5 inches.

[rps]

To continue Al's theme - the truly large fish I have managed to land have all been reaction bites.

The largest bass was a Mepps spinner that bounced off tree limbs as I pulled it to the bank. Number 2 was a trolled wart that pulled free from a hang. Number 3 was a walk the dog top water.

The largest walleye was a worm harness I had just stepped over a brush hang. The second largest was a trolled Storm Thunder crank that pinged off tree tips.

The largest striped bass was a victim of a pumped c tail grub in Texhoma.

[joeD]

I lost my virginity to a 30 something mother of a friend of mine while I was a young teen.

Apparently, back then, whatever I "had," worked.

That was then. While I'm still the same person, I wouldn't expect the same result today (although I think I might last longer).

The past is the past Leave it alone. Look what it did for Kevin Spacey's character in "American Beauty." Regress into teen awesomeness then get shot in the head by your neighbor.

Point is, if your old rods and reels and lines and lures work effectively, then use them. Use your beetle spins and spoons and lucky whatevers and wooden crankbaits and dowagiac topwaters. But use them today as a legitimate means to catch fish, instead of a nostalgic reverie of "simpler times." I can honestly say I have not seen fishing martyrs on the water, with their wooden canoes and clumsy and ineffective tackle, being dropped off at waters edge by over alled hilbillys in a 1932 Ford.

Airconditioned cars. Graphite rods. Lightweight smooth reels. Modern slick line. Sharp hooks. Great plastic. Durable, lightweight and easy handling canoes. Sunscreen. Coolers. Rain jackets. Bikinis. Paved roads. Bikinis.

I'll take today thank you.

[ozark trout fisher]

Rebel Craws. I do occasionally use something else for stream smallmouth, but it's pretty rare.

I do this partially because I haven't found anything that works better. But I mostly do it because everyone looks at me like I've never fished before, and tells me that it's what "my Grandpa used 30 years ago." (Actual OAF gold on that last quote.)

When you are consistently catching fish while annoying people at the same time, you've really found a sweet spot.