Ode to a Great Lure . . . May it RIP

[MikeA57]

I found an antique white with a red head Lucky 13 several years ago and vowed to fish with it but I would be very careful so as not to lose it. It was an old one. I used it a couple of times and had OK luck (i.e., I didn't catch any fish but I didn't lose it either). Then I tied it on one evening and started carefully casting it and about the 5th cast it went straight up in a tree a lot higher than I could reach or even climb to. Man, I hated myself for fishing with it.

I also had an old Rebel Humpback with a short bill on it that I used one time on the White River and I was tearing up on trout with it. It was from my Dad's fishing box and it was probably from back in the 70's. Our guide finally asked me what it was I was using and I showed it to him. He said he'd never seen one of those but boy that thing was catching some fish! I ended up losing it too...

[Crappiekiller3]

I'm a rod builder rather than lure collector, but going through this thread
was like time travel remembering all the old great lures that have been
swallowed up by high tech and bean counting sales managers!
I had spent years looking for a Fenwick SP721 blank to build a rod. I first
meet up with it on Taneycomo. They used it for float rips on trout. I thought
what a great crappie rod I could make on that blank. I bought 6 of them (at
$7.00 each) and built the rods. Over the years I given some away as gifts,
broke one beyond repair and had only one left (I call it my "honey rod".
Then on Rodbuilders forum a guy in California had one for sale. I immediately
mailed a check for 38.00 including shipping to him. I built this rod very carefully with my best diamond wrap, feather inlay, english walnut inserts on
the handle, the lightest guides I could find. When done I went outside and
made a few casts.......aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh perfection! A week later wifey and I went north to fish. I forgot to mention I put a different gooseneck on
the front seat to give me more room to run trolling motor. So, instead of just
the seat turning, the wholething swiveled a much wider arc. After finding
one of our honey holes. the wife grabbed THAT rod and started to climb up front. As she grabbed the seat, it swiveledmore than she was used to and
she lost her balance, I knew she was headed for the water. I tried to grab her, but she was too far away. Next thing I see is THE rod balancing on the
gunwhale and the wife in 28 feet of water bobbing up and down. I had a quick decision to make........I grabbed a long pole and put it where she could reach it to bring her to the boat........as THE rod slid over the side into
the shadowy depths below. With tears in my eyes, I eased her over to an island so she could get back in the boat. As she sat there sopping wet
and scared to death her life was in danger, she said " I'm really sorry, honey
but I didn't know the seat would swivel like that". I said that's Ok it was just
a rod, choking on my words. We tried to snag it, but no luck. She assures me
to this day, I made the right decision (her not THE rod). Sometimes I wonder!!!!!!!!

[silverside]

Anybody remember the old Brooks Reefer and Worm? It was kinda like a Helin Flatfish with a small plastic worm trailing behind on a swivel. Now that was a fish catch'in bait!

OR...the old Charlies Wonder worms? My grandparents used to make them in their house for extra cash. They literally made thousands!

[Dn.liner]

Mine was a Zara Spook Puppy. Fresh out of the box, one cast one striper. I put it away and it went down as undefeted.

[thudpucker]

I think the cruelest thing I ever saw was a set of Box springs pulled out of the Kenai river. It had 2500-3000 lures stuck in it. Somebody made a post card of the photo.