Get a little bag of those frozen, cooked salad shrimp. Done. Lake trout snap 'em up as soon as you drop line.

No doubt fishing gear is expensive but what floored me were the prices on out of state fishing licenses. As little as I fish its beginning to seem not worth it, especially since I don’t catch any.

I've caught some world class Florida Redfish, Grouper, and Snook with a Heddon Zara Spook. Best lure I've ever used. Free tip.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
I've caught more fish of various species with Rapala minnow lures than anything else. Get a few of those to start out.

This is the correct answer.

At the rate that I lose lures I have to buy the cheapest I can find.

I just started fishing again a couple of years ago with my adult son after about 30 years off. We are boatless, so ponds and lakes shoreline fishing around here, mostly after bass. Last year I went into Dick's to use up an old gift card so I would never have to darken their door again. I bought a really big chatterbait called a Whopper Plopper. I finally got around to throwing it on our last outing in late October. I was getting nothing on spinnerbaits or drop-shot worms, so I thought I'd give it a try. I caught the three biggest bass I had caught all year in the space of about 20 minutes! Worth the 12 bucks! There are some things that are new that work, but it takes some weeding through to find them. I do most of my lure shopping on ebay.

This thread is worthless without pics. Caught this dude on a #5 Mepps in fluorescent orange.



You certainly can find some awesome deals at a garage sale.....

quote:

Originally posted by Bisleyblackhawk:
However my late wife (the fishing Queen) always said that she could pretty much catch anything that swims (here in the South) with a Rooster Tail...(

She was correct, anything that swims will eat a yellow rooster tail.

I collect fishing lures and have for 25 years, currently own thousands and go to several shows a year. I can assure you there is nothing new in fishing lures that was not covered long ago.

quote:

got some sticker shock on the rods and reels , not bad but twice the price of 30 years ago.

Isn't almost everything twice as much as 30 years ago?

quote:

Originally posted by stiab:

quote:

Originally posted by Bisleyblackhawk:
However my late wife (the fishing Queen) always said that she could pretty much catch anything that swims (here in the South) with a Rooster Tail...(

She was correct, anything that swims will eat a yellow rooster tail.

I collect fishing lures and have for 25 years, currently own thousands and go to several shows a year. I can assure you there is nothing new in fishing lures that was not covered long ago.

Is that simple yellow, as opposed to chartreuse?

....I can contribute a nearly 1/2 full vintage jar from the 80's of them fluorescent red egg-things if you'd like....

They smelt about the same as 'fresh' last time I nearly got he lid off...pro'ly about as effective as ever too....

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
If you can't catch a fish on a black-and-yellow Panther Martin and a worm, there's somethin' wrong witcha.

I keep a couple in the get home bag for that reason. You just never know.

There seem to be two black and yellow Panther Martin spinners. One is yellow with black spots, and the other is black with yellow spots. Which do you prefer?

https://www.panthermartin.com/Lures/spinners/spotted

quote:

Originally posted by amals:

quote:

Originally posted by stiab:

quote:

Originally posted by Bisleyblackhawk:
However my late wife (the fishing Queen) always said that she could pretty much catch anything that swims (here in the South) with a Rooster Tail...(

She was correct, anything that swims will eat a yellow rooster tail.

I collect fishing lures and have for 25 years, currently own thousands and go to several shows a year. I can assure you there is nothing new in fishing lures that was not covered long ago.

Is that simple yellow, as opposed to chartreuse?

In a pinch would use either one!

What kind of fish are you trying to catch? Fishing a lake, pond, creek, river? Is there brush or weeds in the water where you plan to fish? There are a number of factors that go into determining which lures to buy for your tacklebox.

As far as the cost, a lot of lures have vastly improved appearance and quality over the stuff produced years ago. I'm not at all convinced that elaborate paint/finishes result in more strikes, but I'm a fan of some of the quality improvements such as sharpened hooks.

quote:

Originally posted by deepocean:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
If you can't catch a fish on a black-and-yellow Panther Martin and a worm, there's somethin' wrong witcha.

I keep a couple in the get home bag for that reason. You just never know.

There seem to be two black and yellow Panther Martin spinners. One is yellow with black spots, and the other is black with yellow spots. Which do you prefer?

I use the yellow on black. Wrap a worm around the hooks and drop it in. Slowly drag it upstream through the pools or along the bank and you'll be eating well for dinner. Works great in lakes too in my experience. Not unlike the yellow rooster tail.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I use the yellow on black. Wrap a worm around the hooks and drop it in. Slowly drag it upstream through the pools or along the bank and you'll be eating well for dinner. Works great in lakes too in my experience. Not unlike the yellow rooster tail.

This one is that good? Do you buy them direct or online from another company?

Thank you for helping with this.

I just pick them up at the sporting goods store.

And yep. They're that good around these parts. Used them quite a bit in NY as well (when I wasn't fly fishing) and they were equally as productive there. I can't explain it but they've never failed me or anyone I know.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I just pick them up at the sporting goods store.

And yep. They're that good around these parts. Used them quite a bit in NY as well (when I wasn't fly fishing) and they were equally as productive there. I can't explain it but they've never failed me or anyone I know.

Excellent information, thank you.

Never been much of a fisherman, but I did have a fish just about every cast in a small mountain lake one day using a plain black mepps.

Lil black mepps, lil black dress...hmmm coincidence?

will check the giant garage sales , thanks.

"worms work well too"

yeah in a perfect world ,
I get one rig for worms, chicken livers, dough balls, catalpa worms and such.

and a second rig for top water baits, some spinner baits and the like.

I used to do great!
in Big Jims, and deep jims in chartreuse w/ black back.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/file...30x.jpg?v=1514505338

https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/OTE...AOSwFtNcN~0z/$_1.JPG

( only chart ,black spatter back )

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,