Lures Sometimes Need a Little/Lot of Fine-Tuning... Or Not

"Patented in 1923, the Johnson Silver Minnow (like Charlie is removing from this toothy critter) is the 'Original Weedless Warrior.' Comes out clean and weed-free every time! Thirty-five-degree wobble rocks back and forth, but won't roll and twist line."

So says www.johnsonfishing.com, but I--and a lot of other learned fishermen, too--know better than to believe that claim in its entirety. Specifically, don't believe that the Silver Minnow won't roll and twist your line. I also would suggest that you not wholeheartedly swallow the idea that it's next to impossible to hang up one of these lures. I have chalked up as many as three hangups with my Silver Minnow during a single outing.

I only recently restored this lure to regular-use status, following a long hiatus. In that time, I had forgotten about the line-twist problem. I've since restored the "fix" I first found a lot of years ago: using a snap swivel with the bait. While not 100-percent effective, it's far better than tying directly to the lure or only using a snap. And if you happen to be fishing clear water, there are those who would advocate tying the swivel about a foot ahead of the bait and running a leader to the lure.

I'd venture to say the vast majority of anglers have encountered more than their fair share of lures that didn't entirely work as advertised--whether it be directly out of the box or otherwise. For example, I read about this fella who had bought a cheap topwater prop-bait, which had props that wouldn't turn, or the body at times would turn, instead.

He finally got so aggravated he removed the props and turned the lure into a Spook-type bait. Then, by using light line, he found he could make it walk just beneath the surface, somewhat like a Rapala Sub-Walk. "Turned out to be a great lure!" he exclaimed.

This same fella, though, one day met a young boy who invited him along to fish a neighbor's pond. It seems this boy had only one lure--a cheap knockoff crankbait that was so badly out of tune it just spun in tight circles on the retrieve. Before he could offer to tune the bait for the boy, though, he already had caught a nice bass--then another and another.

Noted the fella afterward, "He and that ridiculous plug caught more bass that morning than I did. Needless to say, I didn't 'fix' that problem. However, neither did I de-tune any of my own crankbaits."

As is usually true, there's a flip side to this story. Consider an account I was reading about an angler who was remembering a fishing experience from earlier days. It was one day in late August, and the then-teenage angler just had caught one of the biggest pike he'd ever seen on his favorite little balsa crankbait. In his words, the pike had "hammered my precious little cranker and literally torn it to shreds. To make matters worse, the big fish went absolutely ballistic in the landing net...," causing even more damage.

After retrieving the lure from the net-mesh tangle, he made a short cast to see how it would run. "It didn't," he said. "As soon as I began a retrieve, the lure rolled upside down and popped out of the water. I was done, or so I thought. My prize lure was history. Yet, just for kicks, I took a pair of pliers to the bait... straightening the hook hangers and forcing the wire frame back into place. I also made an effort to repair the facial cosmetics... .

"Admittedly, I was amazed when the badly battered lure resumed its tantalizing wobble. I also was surprised to see it running perfectly true... but would it still catch fish? It didn't take long to find out. A few casts later, I had another largemouth, then another and another... ."

I'm pretty sure I've told you, too, in a previous post about the floater crankbait I once had that developed a pinhole leak after considerable use. When you had fished it for 30 minutes or so, it would sink ever so slowly following a cast, rather than rest on the surface. I was about ready to toss it in the trash until one day, as I was watching it sink, a nice bass inhaled it. From then until the day I snagged it and had to break off, I caught a lot of fish, thanks to the flaw that had developed in the lure.

I feel it's pretty safe to assume the vast majority of fishermen want their lures to run true. However, I also see nothing wrong with trying something oddball on occasion. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better." As evidenced here, there's always a few fish that will fall for both the true and the not-so-true. Tight Lines! to one and all.