New Doesn't Always Beat Old

There's a fairly popular belief floating around that new lures don't necessarily always hold an edge on old ones. In some cases, the belief is that, if anything, old ones occasionally hold the upper hand. But how can that be? you may be asking.

Simply stated, when someone starts throwing a lure that fish haven't seen for a long spell, they tend to "forget" they've been fooled by it before. In a sense, the old becomes new again.

Take, for instance, George Cochran, who, for a long time, has been a member of Strike King's Pro Fishing Team. During a B.A.S.S. tournament on Kentucky Lake, he had been catching the heck out of fish in thick cover with a spinnerbait and was in the top five going into the last day. By noon that last day, though, he only had logged one bass and lost two or three more on a spinnerbait. "The bass just didn't want that lure," he said.

Finally, at noon, with only two-and-a-half hours of fishing time left, George sat down in the boat and opened his tacklebox, looking for something else to throw. It was then that he saw some Strike King Spence Scouts.

"I can't tell you how many times I've fished logjams and really thick, shallow cover in the old days with the Spence Scout and caught fish on it," he explained. "That's why I keep some in my tacklebox."

On the second cast after tying one on, he caught a bass weighing about 3 pounds. Then he took one that weighed about 2 pounds. Moments later, he came to a laydown log and caught one about 4 pounds, but when he got this fish to the boat, it dived under a log and broke him off. He quickly tied on the only Spence Scout he had left and ended up with a stringer of bass good enough to finish second in that tournament.

And how about that old "million dollar bass bait"? Many pro anglers also refer to this as a "big bass bait." I'm talking, of course, about none other than the jig and pig combo. According to one source, "This bait has earned more money for anglers than any other artificial bass bait that ever has been produced, especially when fishing it in bass tournaments."

Denny Brauer is but one example of pro bass anglers who have become millionaires fishing tournaments with this bait. It also has earned tournament anglers a handsome amount of money from the "lunker" or "big bass" pots. In reality, the "million dollar bass bait" probably has earned millions (plural) of dollars for tournament anglers during the last 30 years.

Another 20-year-old "dinosaur" that isn't yet extinct is the Silver Buddy blade bait. Known for decades as a "cold water" bait, this hunk of metal today is being fished by pro anglers during the "dog days" of August.

What's so magical about this lure for all seasons? It looks like a child designed this simple fish-shaped blade with a hunk of lead and a couple of hooks. It's easy to cast, even into the wind. It can be fished at any depth, and when lifted or pulled through the water, it gives off a tremendous vibration, like driving your car tires over reflector strips on the highway.

Buddy Banks and legendary smallmouth fisherman, Billy Westmoreland, tweaked this lure, and the legend began...and continues today.

Finally, there's Mike Iaconelli's panic box that he turns to when all else fails. In this Plano 3600 box are four types of baits, which as he explained, "I used early in my fishing history, when I fished more just to catch fish, rather than to catch bass specifically."

His favorite hard-times bait in this box is a 4-inch finesse worm, which Mike uses with a split shot, sizes 3 to 7 (approximately 1/16 to 1/4 oz.), when times are tough. The second bait in his panic box is probably the most basic plastic lure ever designed: the grub. The third type of bait in the box probably gets the most laughs of the four; it's the old in-line spinner. The last type of bait you'll find in the panic box is the old hair jig, which Mike usually uses with some type of pork as a trailer. He says this bait "really bails me out when the water temp gets cold."

When the pressure is on, these four baits "can save your day," to borrow Mike's words. "All of them can be put in a small box and stored for an emergency situation. Whether you're a tournament angler or a recreational fisherman, you never want to get skunked. These baits definitely will help you put some fish in the boat."

I, too, use my share of old baits as part of my regular arsenal. It's nothing unusual for me to shop ebay for long discontinued lures, and as I learned the other day during a conversation with a couple of friends, I'm not alone in that regard. Both of them expressed the fact they also carry some discontinued lures in their tackleboxes. Granted, I carry a number of modern baits, but hardly a trip passes that I don't throw at least a couple of old ones, as well, and they frequently put fish in the boat.