Lure ID

[176champion]

I have had this lure since i can remember, it has a diving bill on it and it actually runs backwards...lol...does anyone have any ideas what it could be..i believe it is a wood lure.

Thanks

 

 

[fishinwrench]

Bomber, or a Mudbug ?

[nomolites]

Bomber Mudbug, yep.

[Nitroman]

If it's wood it's a BOMBER & by the picture an old one. Newer ones ( JUST BEFORE THEY QUIT MAKING THEM ) were plastic. I have a few ( VERY FEW ) still &, I sure wish they still made them as they were fish catching machines.

[176champion]

Thanks all..well i remember having it since i was a kid and im going to be 62 this month so yea it's old...lol

[Nitroman]

I will turn 65 in March, purchased my 1st. BASS BOAT in 1976 & that model BOMBER was the hottest lure in our BASS CLUB back then. Just shy of 40 years ago ( & BOMBER WAS JUST COMING OUT WITH THE PLASTIC VERSION THEN ) so, yes my friend what you have there is old & just may be worth something to a collector. 

[fishinwrench]

I knew I had one somewhere.  Found it !

Mine's in better shape. 

[Sam]

Yes, it's an early Bomber.  Those were my dad's favorite "plug", and he sure could catch bass on 'em.

I looked it up, and the Bomber Bait Company started in 1946 in northern Texas and for about 20 years they produced only these popular Bomber lures.  Early models were metal and wood and they switched over to plastic but retained the metal dive plate sometime in the '60's.  Bomber Model A's are still made of course, but they run frontwards and are all-plastic including the dive lip.

As a kid I remember looking in my dad's tackle box and wondering why those lures were made to go "backwards".  No matter - they caught bass.

[dtrs5kprs]

Mudbugs were Arbogast baits. Those have more craw detail. They are plastic, but an odd plastic, kind of like some old Christmas ornaments.

I keep a box of both, tweaked with split rings and modern hooks. The mudbug throws a little better, and seems like it was designed more for casting vs trolling. Some wood Bombers are very collectible, some are baits to fish with, others are pretty much ruined due to swelling and cracking of the wood. Once water gets at them they start to slide down the scale.

A white Bomber (or Christmas tree like the pic wrench posted) can be good when fish are on a shad bite on flats and points. Especially for whites. I would rather have the mudbug for fishing cover. It's a good option instead of a wart, especially for cranking wood.

[176champion]

Seems to be an arbogast mudbug

 

http://www.scout.com/outdoors/wired2fish/story/1464639-under-the-radar-arbogast-mudbug