Was fishing for white bass at Medina Lake last year near the river when we saw these two fellows in a boat trolling and doing well. Stopped later on in afternoon to ask them what they were using.

They showed me these lures made somewhere locally (Canyon Lake maybe) that were made of resin, about 3 inches in length, shaped like the cross-section cut of an airplane wing, bb's inside for rattle, hole drilled down center so line could slip through and tied to a treble hook. They had a quick yet subtle side to side action that seemed to drive the fish nuts.

Was hoping someone out there could tell me if they are being sold anywhere or if there is a kit to make them available.

Thanks,

Chuck
San Antonio, TX

That lure was called a Phanthom. It was made locally around Canyon Lake and very popular lure on that lake back in the 70's and 80's all the fishing reports from Canyon were that they were hitting on Phanthom lures trolled in the river.
I managed to find some at a local tackle shop that has since gone out of business, and I made a mold and cast my own for a while. I lost all the ones I had and don't know what ever happened to the mold, but I know that they did work pretty well. We used them at Braunig and caught the heck out of the hybrids trolling it. Only drawback with the lure was the single hook and you missed a lot of strikes. I've thought about trying to make some again and completely forgot about it until I read this post. That's kind of spooky! Those guys didn't suddenly just disapear did they? If anyone out there knows if someone is selling or making the Phantom let me know. Good fishin! Jimbo

[This message has been edited by Jimbo (edited 01-07-2004).]

I bought some in a bait/tackle shop in
Startzville 2 years ago (the last time I
fished Canyon). I don't remember what the
name of the place was, but the town is so
small you could find it by asking around. I was surprised to see them, as I had fished with them a lot back in the 70's and 80's like Jimbo and still relied on them. But I had only a few left and used them sparingly. I thought they were gone. So I snatched up about as many as I could talk myself into. They are great shallow water trolling baits. They run about 4 foot deep or so on 8 lb test. I have also used them to cast to schooling whites and stripers. They do have a couple of "faults". They are fairly fragile. You cast one into a rock bank or bang it against the boat and you can usually kiss it good-bye. Also, the way the lure is free to slide up and down the line makes it fairly easy for the treble to snag itself around the bait if slack gets in the line. This makes it somewhat difficult to use as a casting bait. To this day I have found nothing better for shallow water trolling for white bass and put up easily with it's little nags.

dxr

p.s. those are not rattles in the bait, but
steel balls that are molded into the bait to
weight the nose down to make it run.

[This message has been edited by doctorxring (edited 01-07-2004).]