I had the 13' original skeeter/fiberglass over marine plywood(passed on to me by dad) - developed for a green jungle called Toledo - had an 18HP Evinrude stick steer and bench seats with a sharp bow and flat bottom - that thing would scoot with two folks -

Sure wish I had it today would be worth some $$$$$$$

True Temper all metal rod with a Johnson reel, thought it was the cats meow

Skipjack topwater lures in frog pattern my go to baits.
Black and yellow Devils horse on Caddo, H&H spinner bait in same color on Pines.

NoNo - first clothespin spinnerbait I slayed the bass on

Nick Cremes pre rigged worms with a spinner on front SLAYED the bass on Caddo. (at least when you could keep the pike off !!!)

Smithwick was KING of ETex !!!

Don't forget the jump suits and short brim hats.

I just found my Heddon trucker cap!
& what tackle box didnt have a church key, a nasty old syringe, knot tool & a de-liar in it?
shimano bantam mag 20+, full of purple stren, on my 5' berkely hot rod, throwin crawdad fat raps when you couldn't touch one for less than 5 dang bucks ('84)
I know a TFF'er that has one of those early Skeeters, completely restored. I'd own it if I had the $$
I don't know about jumpsuits( even if Bill Dance wore 'em)
but we were wearin' worn out Levi's & flannel shirts WAAAAAY
before those grunge-boys made it cool.

My dad had 3 or 4 Rapalas in a small lockable box!

Amen to the good old days.

When You turn into Fin-N-Feather at Toledo Bend, They have one of those old narrow Skeeters out front that They use for a flower bed.

Lol, I just finished last night, restoring my old 5000. I guess I will just let the old gal go back in the box. Really cool see'ing those old baits shown above, I have used everyone of them. The hellbender for whites, the shyster for perch... I would still use that jointed mirrolure today at the coast.
I used the old Mitch. 308 more often than my 300. The spinning rods were true glass and used electrical tape instead of fixed rod seats.
A boat with a humming bird flasher was HIGH TECH

If we all wish real hard can we go back to 1974 again?

We didn't realize how good things were at the time. Things changed...not for the better !

This thread has been a real trip down memory lane. I caught many a fish on the old H+H spinners (some assembly required). Used the original Zebco 33s. Trolled a red and white bomber for sandies on Grapevine in an old metal Lone Star boat.

shyster! couldnt think of the name of that spinner to save my life!
got a bunch of 'em, some still new.

Wallace Wildlife Show

If you fished for Sandies on "Lake Dallas" you had to have at least 4 Shysters, 2 in white, one with black dots and one with red, then 2 in yellow, same color dots. Bass in the coves on a Lazy Ike. Oh yeah trolled the lake in a Duracraft pushed by an Oliver outboard. Anyone ever own an Oliver and still have their sanity. When they worked ran like a scalded dog, when they didn't made a great anchor as they weighed a ton.

My dads boat was a 14' Lonestar,with a Elgin 12 hp,and a homemade trailer, when he taught me about fishing

i bet everyone of those lures will still catch lots of fish.......the old ones i have still do....

I remember Gadabout Gaddis and his flying his own little plane to the fishing spot.