B
ass fishing has become all about
the latest and greatest inno-
vations. Each year at ICAST,
thousands of new products are introduced with the aim at catching
fish better than ever before. I have often
thought about what we use now and if it
is really that much better than what we
used ten or twenty years ago. To find out, I
spent some time looking through all of my
old tackle and then taking to the water with
just “old school” baits. There were many
to choose from, but I decided on an original
Berkley Powerworm Ringworm, STI Pupfish,
a Mepps Spinner and a jig with a pork trailer;
all baits I used to swear by, but have not used in
the last ten years. How would I do if I decided to fish
a day with only “old school” techniques?
BERKLEY POWERWORM
When I first started bass fishing, this was the only worm I needed. A 4” purple Berkley Powerbait Ringworm got me through every condition I might face. I could split shot it, Texas-rig it or Carolina- rig it.
Fast forward to today, my first thought was that it would also work great on a drop-shot or a shakyhead. It was a trip back in time as I rigged it on a “new school” jig head, a tungsten shakyhed. I used this bait quite a bit and it was fun to fish and I caught several bass, proving that this worm still works great. Somewhere along the way, I started using specialty worms, Senkos, Sweet Beavers and creature baits and nearly forgot about the tried and true Powerworm Ringworm.
STI PUPFISH
The STI Pupfish topwater bait has a cult following by many bass anglers who remember this bait. It was made in the mid to late ‘90s in Las Vegas by a company called STI Lures. I lived in Vegas and bought several of these at the time and never thought twice about them. Who would have guessed that the bigger ones would demand such high offers on eBay not even twenty years later? It would have been great to invest in some of these at the time and reap the rewards now, but having a small collection is nice since
SUMMER 2014
they
are not as common where I live today.
The Baby Pupfish was always one of my favorites just because it appealed to bass of all sizes and still had the unique action of this topwater. When it sits still, the bait is in a straight line in the water with only the head visible as the bottom section tends to sink until you start your retrieve again.
Once I realized how valuable some of these are, I decided not to throw it – until now. It still has a great action and I was excited to use it again. I caught multiple fish on this bait (a baby bass pattern) and I think it will make a permanent place back in my topwater box.
MEPPS SPINNER
In my observation, even the standard spinnerbait itself has started to fade in popularity. Swim jigs, squarebill crankbaits and swimbaits have replaced many of the situations where you might use a spinnerbait. The inline spinner is even further into obscurity and I have not used one for years, but why?
The Mepps spinners are big enough to entice bigger fish and still have the great action that should provide flash with the big blades and feathered treble hook. I used several of these and they look great and I was able to catch a few small fish on them, but probably did not give it enough time to really test it.
JIG AND PIG
What happened to make pork trailers go out of style? It probably has something to do with the large
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