Old Bass lures that still work!

[oldest school]

Not sure the age but a trick worm on a weightless hook always catches fish.

It was without a doubt the dangest revolution in the history of chatham county when the grass first exploded in harris.
But fished wacky versus texas rigged. We had been using them for years as a "floating worm " but then came some locals from around Apex that upended every one with massive catches in tournaments. All it took was to rig it in the middle. This was pre senko stuff. My Dad sold a zillion trick worms headed to harris .
You could still run it today there IF there was any grass to fish.

 

[thelivecanary]

Heddon Torpedo Prop Bait is a great bait, Smithwick's Devil Horse and their Rogues are both fantastic baits. The Charlie Brewer Slider worm was the OG shake bait and it's landed more mid summer bass for me than any other bait. Lastly, for crank baits the Bagley balsa baits are the best.

I said lastly but I have two more...the Creme Pre Rigged Worm or the K&W Bass Stopper will catch bass. I've been out fished a number of times on some Michigan lakes and ponds by those two baits and that's why I always have one in my box when bass fishing. Can't explain it but they work.

 

[Crappie_Hunter]

Blue and chrome Rat-L-Trap.... but it has to be the Bill Lewis original

 

[kilerhamilton]

It was without a doubt the dangest revolution in the history of chatham county when the grass first exploded in harris.
But fished wacky versus texas rigged. We had been using them for years as a "floating worm " but then came some locals from around Apex that upended every one with massive catches in tournaments. All it took was to rig it in the middle. This was pre senko stuff. My Dad sold a zillion trick worms headed to harris .
You could still run it today there IF there was any grass to fish.

I still fish it deep over structure. Wacky
Tricks and sticks
Green hornet
2002-2003

 

[warhorse]

another favorite of mine is a clear heddon baby torpedo. Been fishing that lure for over 30 years and won't throw any other top water. I've been wearing them out with it, while the guy in the back of the boat is throwing a $20 whopper plopper and not catching a thing.

 

[surveyor]

I keep a bunch of lead heads, rubber skirts, feathered skirts, and spinners all of varying sizes and colors and just keep cobbling together until the bass hit.

 

[hunthard2]

Lazy Ike, tiny torpedo, moss boss. I don’t know if they’re old school but I love em..oh and devils horse and rooster tail

 

[shaggy]

I grew up next to a golf course community. Back in the 80s things werent so serious i guess and they would let us walk and fish the ponds as long as we didnt get in the golfers way. We usually used a dancin eel swim bait and that seemed like the only bait we would ever get the bass to bite.

 

[Starfan]

Flying lure

 

[ecufan]

Banjo Minnow

 

[Deerhuntr]

Broke back rebel still catches a few.

 

[Redheadduck]

I grew up next to a golf course community. Back in the 80s things werent so serious i guess and they would let us walk and fish the ponds as long as we didnt get in the golfers way. We usually used a dancin eel swim bait and that seemed like the only bait we would ever get the bass to bite.

One of the best ponds I've ever fished was on a golf course. Times were definitely different then. I fished there for close to 15 years.

 

[Duckmauler dhc]

It was without a doubt the dangest revolution in the history of chatham county when the grass first exploded in harris.
But fished wacky versus texas rigged. We had been using them for years as a "floating worm " but then came some locals from around Apex that upended every one with massive catches in tournaments. All it took was to rig it in the middle. This was pre senko stuff. My Dad sold a zillion trick worms headed to harris .
You could still run it today there IF there was any grass to fish.

I remember those days on Harris very well. We used the weightless trick worm a bunch. But when the super fluke came out I didn’t use it as much. Those grass fish ate the fluke like there was no tomorrow. I caught three 7 pounders on back to back to back casts there the first time I used it.

 

[oldest school]

I remember those days on Harris very well. We used the weightless trick worm a bunch. But when the super fluke came out I didn’t use it as much. Those grass fish ate the fluke like there was no tomorrow. I caught three 7 pounders on back to back to back casts there the first time I used it.

The wierdest bite i have ever experienced involved a fluke and harris.
I had started on fluke like baits with the first i heard about -sluggos. We threw them anywhere the water was clear enough and they worked fine. Then came the fluke which was better unless you wanted the bait to get deeper.

Anyway for a few years the bass schooled most summer days -all day at harris.
The problem was they were not gorging on just any bait that you normally associate with schooling fish.
Even the tiniest of shad imitators were subject to be ignored. It was so hard to catch them that many just fished for bottom fish as they were more predictable and bigger.
Not me I love schooling fish of any breed.

The fluke turned out to be the salvation. The silver ice color because it was heavier and you could throw it further.
It would outcatch any other bait by a 50-1 margin. And trust me i had access to any bait there was (family tackle store) and tried a new one every trip.
I still have never seen better largemouth schooling except for the early days of jordan. The jordan bass werent at all picky.

 

[oldest school]

on old baits that are still used-
The Bomber Speed Shad is still a regional catcher for those that have them or can get them.
IT was THE pre spawn bait for decades at Buggs Island and Gaston.
Really a hard plastic swim bait ahead of it's time.

 

[Duckmauler dhc]

The wierdest bite i have ever experienced involved a fluke and harris.
I had started on fluke like baits with the first i heard about -sluggos. We threw them anywhere the water was clear enough and they worked fine. Then came the fluke which was better unless you wanted the bait to get deeper.

Anyway for a few years the bass schooled most summer days -all day at harris.
The problem was they were not gorging on just any bait that you normally associate with schooling fish.
Even the tiniest of shad imitators were subject to be ignored. It was so hard to catch them that many just fished for bottom fish as they were more predictable and bigger.
Not me I love schooling fish of any breed.

The fluke turned out to be the salvation. The silver ice color because it was heavier and you could throw it further.
It would outcatch any other bait by a 50-1 margin. And trust me i had access to any bait there was (family tackle store) and tried a new one every trip.
I still have never seen better largemouth schooling except for the early days of jordan. The jordan bass werent at all picky.

I have never seen largemouth school anywhere like they did on Harris back in the day. And I had the same exact experience you did with the fluke on those schooling fish. They wouldn’t touch anything else. I think back now and I think to myself if I would’ve had a spybait or a 3 inch zman slimswimz. They would bite a sassy Shad a little bit but the fluke was the deal then. Unfortunately I didn’t get in on Jordan in it’s hay day but my dad and uncle did and it was an automatic triple digit day every time they went there. Largemouth just don’t really do that many places any more. I can’t really recall the last time I saw largemouth schooling on top like that anywhere around here.

 

[Redheadduck]

Since we're talking trick worms, anybody remember Danny Joe Humphreys floating worms? They were pretty popular about 25 years ago.

 

[oldest school]

I have never seen largemouth school anywhere like they did on Harris back in the day. And I had the same exact experience you did with the fluke on those schooling fish. They wouldn’t touch anything else. I think back now and I think to myself if I would’ve had a spybait or a 3 inch zman slimswimz. They would bite a sassy Shad a little bit but the fluke was the deal then. Unfortunately I didn’t get in on Jordan in it’s hay day but my dad and uncle did and it was an automatic triple digit day every time they went there. Largemouth just don’t really do that many places any more. I can’t really recall the last time I saw largemouth schooling on top like that anywhere around here.

i think both would hae worked- maybe not the spybait but a slimswimz should have been deadly.
That being said they absolutely would not bite a Creme litl fishie so maybe not even the slimswimz.

 

[oldest school]

Since we're talking trick worms, anybody remember Danny Joe Humphreys floating worms? They were pretty popular about 25 years ago.

He personally blew that whole method up in one TV show of the bassmasters.
Absolutely remember it and profitted from it.
And it is a fine way to catch them
Daniel Jones won a MLF tourney last year with a merthiolate Zman floating worm.
SOS different era,

 

[oldest school]

I have never seen largemouth school anywhere like they did on Harris back in the day. And I had the same exact experience you did with the fluke on those schooling fish. They wouldn’t touch anything else. I think back now and I think to myself if I would’ve had a spybait or a 3 inch zman slimswimz. They would bite a sassy Shad a little bit but the fluke was the deal then. Unfortunately I didn’t get in on Jordan in it’s hay day but my dad and uncle did and it was an automatic triple digit day every time they went there. Largemouth just don’t really do that many places any more. I can’t really recall the last time I saw largemouth schooling on top like that anywhere around here.

At Jordan you could see the the course of submerged road beds and RR tracks when they came up.
We knew where they (roads RRs) were from maps and photos we made prior to flooding -but it was amazing to see such a length of schooling bass.

 

[wturkey01]

Some of these lures are 80 or more years old........

 

[LIZZRD]

Here are 3 that I still use ... Poe's cedar RC-1
Rat'l N Rap
Thin Fin

 

[Duckmauler dhc]

Here are 3 that I still use ... Poe's cedar RC-1
Rat'l N Rap
Thin Fin
View attachment 67804

I caught a bunch of big fish on a ratl n rap back in the day.

 

[Woods and water]

Homemade skirt with two j hooks with 12 inches of twine tied to heavy bamboo pole

 

[Eric Revo]

Here are 3 that I still use ... Poe's cedar RC-1
Rat'l N Rap
Thin Fin
View attachment 67804

Those thin fin's were the bomb for farm ponds back in my younger days. There was another one that was even thinner with a weighted head that used to devastate farm pond bass.

 

[oldest school]

Some of these lures are 80 or more years old........


View attachment 67795View attachment 67796

should you ever part with any of these- I would love to give that yellow heddon sonic a nice new home.
upper pic lower left. yellow with black lightning flash.

 

[CutNRun]

Wish I'd kept track of how many bass I caught on a Snagproof Frog. It's been a lot. They are killer in pads and grass edges. They don't cast very far, but they land with a realistic plop and flat out catch bass..

I used to wear the schooling bass out by the Clarksville Bridge on Buggs with a Little George. I don't fish it as much as I used to, though they cast like a bullet on a windy day.

Arbogast Mud Bug and the original Bomber are death in rocky rivers too. They're getting hard to find these days.

Jim

 

[Red wolf 74]

I'm mostly a saltwater fisherman these days, but I still enjoy catching a few coastal river bass now and then. I recently switched out tackleboxes and noticed a lot of my favorite lures have fallen out of favor with the modern bass crowd I'm still using red shad culprit worms, buzz jewel buzzbaits, original floating rapalas, and 1/4 oz bettle spins. What old school lures do you still use?

Sounds like a great box to me. Culprit red shad always works the only thing I see missing is the old trusty devil’s horse and a super sonic

 

[jcannon]

I found these the other day...

 

[CutNRun]

I found these the other day...
View attachment 92552

If only they could talk...

Jim