Fads come and Gone

What were/are some fads we all fell far? LOL.... AC Plug, etc...

Dances Eel, Dances Craw.

Lateral perch

The Helicopter Lure! Catches em every time!

The first big "gotta have it" bait I can remember was the Norman Front Runner. They caught fish no doubt, but for some reason they just kinda vanished and you never hear about them anymore.

“Anything”-Plopper

Persuader crankbaits on the early days of the TFF.

Everyone was Pro Staff for Persuador

Then next was Hendrix Rods, everyone on the TFF was Pro Staff

color r selector...

Carrot Stix

Walking Worm
Flying Lure

Teal colored boats... Where have they all gone???... Dan

Plopper madness is still very much alive and well. Now other companies are running around putting out knockoffs.

Slug-Go
Spybaits
Flick shake


The umbrella rig has died down a bit but still used.

Duckett rods, vexus boats

And don't forget these. Power Frogs were invented by my daughters lawyer and promoted by Capt. Phil Broussard. They would catch fish but weren't very durable. Seems a Japanese company bought them and even got them in Walmart but faded pretty quickly. These two were hand painted for me by her lawyer in his garage. I keep them as heirlooms or artifacts or for some dam reason.

I had one of these and a shad version. Got them at Walmart

How about Bluewater Leds's?? They have been bought by TH marine.....

Don't forget the Banjo Minnow!

5x3 gear

At the risk of getting rocks thrown at me............

FIZZ

Banjo baits

Bait cloud fish attractant.

Great call on the Banjo! Haha

How about the good ‘ol classic Jitterbug topwater??!

Purple worms, pistol grip rods, under 5 gear ratios, shallow water anchors (with the vast improvement of gps trolling motors I would imagine they will be less popular as time goes on), common courtesy on the lake, fairly priced boats

DuPont Magnum fishing line, circa 1986. The first superline I can recall. It was somewhat oval and had an edge on it. That stuff was simply impossible in nearly every way. Difficult to tie knots with and spooled on and off poorly. It was some tough stuff though. I still have a scar on my bicep from age 12 when it slapped me on a break off while fishing Toledo Bend.

Chatterbox. I'd still throw them if I had any.

Are

Thank you!! Thought no one was going to mention this.

The plopper will never die

Helicopter Lure, Banjo Minnow, Flying Lure, Color C Lector, Vibratron spinner bait

ac plug works wonders on teen size fish.

Anyone remember the buzzbait that looked like a spoon with an inline paddle blade in the middle of it? It was supposedly weedless, but pretty far from it in reality. I can't remember the name of it.

Think you are referring to heddon moss boss . Also hydro wave . Kinda miss the old pistol grip rod.
J D

The Moss Boss had the same shape but the one he is talking about is the Norman Weed Walker.

Thank you. That was going to drive me nuts.

Micro guides

I certainly fell for the color selector back in the day.

My Stepfather was in the Air Force. The government had stuff before the public did. This was in the 70's. He had a spool of some kind of green "string" that could cut you in half. It was probably abut the equivalent of a 50 lb. super line of today. I have to believe it was Dyneema.

He also had some white epoxy stuff back then that later I found out was today's "red hand".

Red hooks.

Buzzy Rods

Hydrowave

What was this thing.

The culprit? worms that had the velcro strip on them, in theory they were supposed to catch in the bass' teeth.

Culprit Sticky Worm.

Hank Parkers Vampire Spinnerbait

Zeko

Smith wick had a crankbait in the late 70s early 80s called a Blinky I think. It was a Square bill that had eyes that blinked red when it was being retreived.

Flying lure!

I'm pretty sure it was a Bill Dance signature thing, late 80's early 90's? I was gifted a very fancy wooden box, inside was a black and blue jig, a black and chartreuse jig, a half ounce Carolina sinker, and a 3/4 ounce Carolina sinker. Each had its own battery, like a watch battery, and when they would get wet would start to click. The jigs actually looked good and caught fish, but the thing I remember most about them was my partner trying to figure out where that clicking noise was coming from one day when it was raining and I had it laying on the front deck. I let it drive him crazy for about an hour before he figured out what it was.

Power poles and point 1. Those are two expensive what was I thinking moments.

What was that frog that had the little motor in it when you jerked the line it extended out and the little motor made the legs wiggle. I forget what it was called.

Banjo Minnow was a classic for my age group... Convinced my grandad to buy it don't think we ever caught a fish on it lol. I don't see how in the heck some people are mentioning power pole on this thread...… Everyday I have fished this spring I have been begging for poles lol the ultrex is nice but isn't going to hold you on a bed fish correctly.

Chuck Woolery

They still work.

Livingston Lures Electronic baitfish sounds (EBS)

I haven't seen one of those in 25+ years. Good to know they're still out there catching fish. . They were good in hydrilla, but any algae or snot grass would cease the blade and digging it out from around the pin was a pain in the butt. Thanks for the pic. It brought back some memories, for sure!

Zoom Centipede was an absolute fish killer for me and I hardly fish them any more. Not sure why??

I remember Bill Dance had a long arm buzz bait out for a while. Fortunately I could never bring myself to actually buy one.

I had some water on Rayburn last year that they got real frog shy in, and I tried several different baits but no luck. I remembered that bait, talked to Ann (Ann's tackle) about it and she knew right off the bat what it was. She called around to several of her suppliers and they all said they could not get it. I found a couple online. The fish ate it, hook up rate was not that good though, but that bait got knocked in the air several times. Brought back a lot of memories of Old Folks Playground on Palestine as a kid where I first fished it.

+1

people caught fish on them some how lol

Me too.

Pro's fishing for only their own entre fees

Aint that the truth!!!!!

Mann's little George and super George
mann's jelly worms and augur tail worms...
Arbogast mud bugs
smithwick water gator

I've got one....never caught any fish on it.......

Anybody remember the Deadly Dudley buzz bait?

Herbs Dilly

Fishing without scales

Big-O & The Billy Bass Lure

I have 3 of those in my boat at all times.

Dang right, they still catch fish.

Powerpak. They had a big end cap display at most Walmarts with a video playing 24/7. I had a few but the legs broke and the string got stuck in the out position and would not retract.

Looked like this :

zebco de-liar scales
skyline graphite rods
first flipping stick...fenwick 7 1/2 ft telescoping fiberglass that was so heavy it would wear your arm out...
cardinal 3 and 4 reels....
Chrysler,gale and Mariner outboards...
Ram and Shakespeare trolling motors...…
rebel maxi-r crankbaits...

Those look very similar but mine had different legs and I am almost certain mine were single treble designs. I still have one in the garage. I will try to find it tomorrow.

Showing my age here. I still have the Deadly Dudley buzz bait, original Big Os, and a "No-No" spinnerbait.

Creme worms in purple or motor oil

As I mentioned in an earlier post my daughters lawyer was the inventor of these. He made and painted these two for me in his garage while I watched. I tried fishing with them but as you can see the string kept getting stuck. Capt. Phil Broussard did a promo for them and he did catch quite a few fish with them. The blow ups were awesome.

Enclosed boat trailers

Zipper Worm. I know some people still use them but there for awhile it seemed like everyone had them in their boat.

People here catching little 10 lb green fish like it’s an accomplishment or something

Can’t believe I haven’t seen Pork-o mentioned. I caught a lot of fish at Squaw Creek on those in the early 90’s. Lateral Perch was one I never caught a fish on. Still have several of those.

We sold the heck out of them for about a year then they died.

Thats the smith wick bowjack them suckers will catch fish if you have em in the right colors!

Gillraker worms

1 Fliptail worms, 2 .Yum Yum worms 3. Silver Troll trolling motors 4. Side Finder ( the first side imaging , early 80s) 5.The Big O, 6.The Sin Sation, and Centipede, by Mister Twister 7.Clear Near Nothin, and clear blue nose Boy Howdy, both by Cotton Cordell 8.Magna Thin line 9.PH-C-Lector, 10. True Turn hooks, 11. Grape or Purple Firetail worms. And last but not least Fire & Ice worms.

In Smokey Blue Shad, id pretty much pick that over any lure/color combination in my box.

Shoestring’s Tornado spinnerbait

Ron Popeil Pocket Fisherman ?



or how about the Bass-o-Matic ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HKTx5WFcs0

Don’t think I saw anyone mention the Hildebrandt Go Getter spinnerbaits. They were a mainstay for night fishing. I think they still make them

Also the Johnson silver spoon fished as a top water with a split tail trailer.

North American largemouth

Fire / Ice worms, boy howdy, Oshmans, and just one time to see bass spawning in trees main lake one more time. I was so young I didn’t realize what I was seeing

I would not consider pork trailers a fad

I still have a Billy Bass somewhere in the pile.

If they still made these, I would have them in the boat at all times. Pork frog and Johnson spoon is deadly. I researched trying to find them and they no longer make them. I always look in tackle shops to see if there is a jar still on the shelf. That frog with white belly is a killer.

2 for 1 deal

The Color-C-Lecter

Sensation worm was a hot deal back in the late 80’s

I loved Carrot Stix... some of my best rods... what about anything "bleeding"

Randy White's Blade Clacker (As Seen On TV)

The bass pro Tornado by Shoestring Dubois

LaserLure

I still use red hooks. Especially the front treble on cranks, topwaters, etc.

Bo Hawg Rind's ,Choagie chunk( The pork that still had hair on it) And Smithwicks Carrot Top.

Not a fad. They'd catch em. They'd also lose em.

The original ned worm lol

Motorguide Ninja Prop

Carrot Stix's are still cool

+1

I miss Fleck's Weedwader spinnerbaits.

The bayou boogie and purple whitetail worm

Came here to say this one. Not necessarily a "fad" per say, but they definitely are not used like they used to be in the 90's even if they did go out of business. Spybaits are the other one. Everyone hopped on that train for a good year and then poof.

Purple white tail was great color why does no one make it anymore?
J D

I think Creme and Mister Twister still offer purple white tail.

They still make the Gene Larew original salt craw, but does anyone ever use them anymore? I thought I had found the greatest bait of all time when they first came out and caught my biggest fish ever on one when Fork first opened. But I haven't bought any in many years. Just too many latest greatest baits lol.

Fads are something that comes and goes rather quickly, I believe Uncle Josh was around for decades.

I remember the first jar of those I bought when I was in High School, I also recal the amount of effort it took to press one on a trailer hook.. I finally took a 1/16 drill bit and drilled pilot holes through the rest in the jar.

Loved Sensation Worms!

TNT Fish Attractant in the Pink bottle.

That was good stuff but haven’t seen it in many years.

The Alabama rig. These were supposed to change the dynamics of bass fishing tournaments and angler ethics, but instead this expensive gimmick languishes on the shelf for 75% off and is still too expensive.

Fish Formula....the first spray on liquid scent......not sure if it worked but they sold the hell out of it back in mid 80's....

heddon chugger
Dalton special
S.O.S. minnow
Injured minnow
Paw Paw fishing lure
Hula Popper....

I used to marinate worms in that stuff. I believe the same company made a product called Bass Aid and it came in a bottle the same size as TNT, but it was white. It was probably saline or H2O.

https://www.mistertwister.com/information/6-phenom-worm/363#6P10%20131PBS

What about that jig that they sold on late night TV that made a ticking sound.

No, no.... I promise I never bought any.

fliptail worms....
Stanley,arkie and alron jigs...
No-No spinner baits..
big red's flying jigs....
Pikie minnow
heddon river runt
Shakespeare pup...

Riverside soft plastics

I still have quite a few bags of the Riverside Air Series Fry and Lizards. They have the air chambers molded into the bait and work really well on a Carolina Rig. I surprised they never really took off. Very well designed and quality baits.

That's about the only scent I use anymore but its no longer made. I have a bottle that's probably 15+ years old that I have been nursing trying to make it last as long as possible since it cant be found anymore. Mine is actually the newer bottle that is a squirt type bottle though. Earlier this year I got lucky and found a brand new bottle of it out at First Monday Trades Day and it cost me one whole dollar. Hopefully that bottle will last as long as the last one or at least until I run across some more of it. Next to Berkley its about the only scent I truly believe in.

It's obvious that some of these posts have Fads confused with lures that are no longer made but should be.

Water dogs and sluggos... I still fish sluggos, don’t really hear of many people still fishing them.

Was that was the Tornado spinnerbait?


Remember the Booza Bug!

Patch jackets
Jumpsuits

Skyline Graphite rods! DDDaaaaayyyuuuummmm!

Still have 2 skylines.

Can anyone help me with my PH Meter? Or know where I can buy some Johnson Silver Minnows?

banjo minnow

WEED WING spoon with a spinner on the front . Used an Unckle josh L-4 white pork split tail, caught many bass on that.