Enough with all the talk about lures that work. \u00a0Most of them do. \u00a0How about the Worst Lure?<\/span><\/p>\n

I get weekly emails from \u201cFishing Tackle Retailer\u201d. Even though it\u2019s been a decade since I was a retailer, I still like to keep track of trends and what not.\u00a0 One feature they had recently sparked a memory, it asked the question \u201cWhat is the worst lure of all time?\u201d\u00a0 Before I even got to their answer, one thing came to mind for me right away, and it turns out the author of the article had the same lure in mind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before I continue, let me just say that I\u2019ve done my share of tackle designing. Some of it is actually pretty good. \u00a0I used to make \u201cHans-Tail\u201d muskie lures that worked well, I used to sell a few hundred a year.\u00a0 And as a fly tyer I have come up with some pretty good designs, one of which has allowed me to be in the prestigious \u201cRoyalty Tier\u201d program with Umpqua Feather Merchants\u2014my \u201cStay Hungry\u201d streamer has been in their catalog for ten years.\u00a0 I have my own style of handle for muskie rods, which while it is not for everyone has been well received by some.\u00a0 Some other ideas that I think have merit but have never gotten past the drawing board include an awesome weedless bass jig and an ingenious ice fishing transducer holder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many a night was spent in my crappy one bedroom apartment I used to live, in conjuring up the next big thing.\u00a0 If The Gunnar<\/em> and I were going fishing the next day, there would invariably be an evening session fueled by beer and whatnot of tying something, building something, creating something, rigging something that would fill the boat the next day. We came up with some good stuff, some not so much.\u00a0 \u00a0I remember we came up with some crazy live bait rig concept that was going to be revolutionary.\u00a0 We caught one catfish on it the next day and realized it was only a tiny bit different from a hundred other things already out there.\u00a0 And then there was the \u201cPenguin\u201d\u2014this was a weighted metal thingy with wings that would be used by an ice angler.\u00a0 Clip it to your line and it would \u201cfly\u201d like penguin, bringing your bait to far off underwater destinations.\u00a0 We speculated it could get your bait 100 feet or more from your fish house allowing you to cover more water without moving. \u00a0WTF ?\u00a0 On its maiden voyage, my prototype Penguin did \u201cfly\u201d, and it could get your bait away from your ice hole, but not in a way that could be controlled, and definitely not farther than about 10 feet or so.\u00a0 There\u2019s probably a drone made today that will do this for you and record the action in 1080p.<\/span><\/p>\n

Part of my current fly tying and lure building area<\/p>\n

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So, what was the worst lure of all time?\u00a0 Before you are too quick to answer, even gimmicky \u201cAs Seen on TV\u201d baits like the Banjo Minnow, Helicopter Lure, or the infamous \u201cFlying Lure\u201d will actually work, and work pretty well in some circumstances.\u00a0 \u00a0I watched one of my friends in high school catch a northern on an old-style metal bottle opener with a treble hook split ringed on one end, proving that predatory fish can be caught on anything that vaguely resembles food, especially if it is moving fast and has a decent hook on it.\u00a0 Fly fishermen agonize over fly patterns, fretting that the body on their nymph may not be the proper golden olive-brown hue, but I have caught countless trout on a fly that is just black fur on a hook.\u00a0 I watched a show once where Tim Rajeff caught a big rainbow on a fly he tied on the river bank by lashing a white feather he found on shore to a hook, using tippet material for tying thread.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As I sit here I know I could make a fish catching lure by using raw materials here at my computer desk.\u00a0 Here I present the Pen Lure. Its revolutionary.\u00a0 Not only can you catch fish on it, you can take down notes of what you need to pick up at the store on your way home.\u00a0 Before a tournament, I often say how I am going to kick ass and take down names.\u00a0 Now with the Pen Lure I can do both.\u00a0 And then use it to sign autographs for all my adoring fans.\u00a0\u00a0 Joking aside, as dumb as the pen lure is, it would still work a thousand times better than what I am about to show you.<\/span><\/p>\n

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So what is the worst lure of all time: \u00a0I share the opinion of others before me: it is the \u201cHover Lure\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0I was working at a tackle shop at the time the Hover Lure was released.\u00a0 I became aware of it when I saw an ad for the thing in a trade magazine. \u00a0[probably \u201cFishing Tackle Retailer!\u201d] The concept, while novel, could not possibly work I thought.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is romanticized image that regularly appears in outdoor paintings: we\u2019ve all seen paintings depicting a bass jumping out of the water after a dragon fly.\u00a0 Guess what\u2014this scenario does actually happen– once in a while<\/em>. One time really stands out–I recall this one weekend a million years ago: I was at Lake Rebecca when the dragonflies were very abundant for some reason, and bass were jumping out of the water after them constantly throughout the day.\u00a0 I was in a float tube armed with a fly rod and caught dozens of bass on a deer hair bug.\u00a0 I went home and tied some realistic dragonfly imitations and returned the next day\u2014the realistic patterns worked, but no better than the generic deer hair poppers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hundreds of days on the water, I saw this kind of behavior on a grand scale once, and a few other times to a lesser degree.\u00a0 So it is hardly the kind of thing that you can depend on it, or should try to plan for.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The company behind the Hover Lure was putting a fair amount into their marketing, and were eager to send me a dealer kit.\u00a0 A week or two later I had the package in hand.\u00a0 What would I find?\u00a0 Maybe it would be better than expected.\u00a0 Maybe it would open my eyes to a whole new style of fishing.\u00a0 Or maybe it would be so ridiculous that we would laugh about it for weeks.\u00a0 Heck it\u2019s been 15 years and I still chuckle when I look at this thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The premise is this\u2014the lure represents a dragonfly HOVERING over the water.\u00a0 There are two main elements to the thing\u2014first is the lily pad part.\u00a0 It is about 3\u201d long and is heavy enough to cast.\u00a0 On one end of the lily pad is a little loop to thread your line through, on the other end is a thin stem.\u00a0 This is where the HOVERING takes place. You thread you line though the one end of the lily pad, and then tie it to the dragonfly resting daintily on the stem.\u00a0 What a perfect setup. The bass will see the dragonfly and delicately snap it off its little perch.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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The angler will then set the hook which will break free of the little stem, and the lily pad will slide freely up the line while the battle is on. This is a fun concept and to someone with limited fishing knowledge it seems like a surefire way to catch even the wariest of fish…\u00a0 Except for the part where the hook is so light that even if a bass did decide to daintily pluck the bug out of the air, and the angler would somehow manage to hook the fish, the gold wire would straighten out on all but the smallest bass- there is no way it would ever hold up.\u00a0 The other problem is that I can\u2019t imagine how a bass\u2019s big mouth would ever manage to clamp down on just the bug. \u00a0There is still a promo video on YouTube that is quite funny.\u00a0 There are several great strikes shown, but in all cases the fish just ate the whole thing, lily pad and all.\u00a0 And at no time did they show the fish actually being hooked or landed.\u00a0 It says at the end of the video that it makes a great Father\u2019s Day gift.\u00a0 I am lucky to have the Father\u2019s Day tradition of my girls buying me a bag of plastic worms or craws, maybe a spinnerbait, maybe a crankbait if I\u2019ve been really good. Even my girls would know better than to buy this thing for any reason other than pure novelty. \u00a0Here is a link to the\u00a0Hover-Lure Video<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Did the inventor actually make any money on this?\u00a0 Between marketing, designing, tooling for the plastic parts, website, etc. \u00a0the guy must have had a million dollars into this. Despite all this, I suspect a fish has never been caught. \u00a0I bet that if you took someone who was a really good angler and also made a few tweaks to the design [especially a heavier hook] and sent him out with the sole purpose of capturing a bass on this thing it could be done.\u00a0 I also suspect it would take many trips. Many, many, trips. To catch \u201ca\u201d bass. \u00a0Trouble is that the only people who would buy this thing are people with limited fishing knowledge who couldn\u2019t catch a fish even on proven baits. Proud sponsor of the FLW Tour is says right on the package.\u00a0 I wonder how many touring pros have ever had one rigged during a tournament? \u00a0I wonder how I could find someone to back me on an idea that might actually catch fish?<\/span><\/p>\n

In the following photos of my dealer kit, be sure to note the background chosen for the folder is a mountain lake–prime largemouth habitat. \u00a0Also notice on the pricing sheet that discounts \u00a0for quantities up to over 5,000 units receive an additional 20 % discount<\/span><\/p>\n

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So, what is the best lure of all time? They\u2019ve got these things called plastic worms, turns out that no matter how you rig them or under what conditions you use them in it is always a safe bet.\u00a0 But that\u2019s another story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is the link to the article from<\/span> “Fishing Tackle Retailer”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enough with all the talk about lures that work. \u00a0Most of them do. \u00a0How about the Worst Lure? I get weekly emails from \u201cFishing Tackle Retailer\u201d. Even though it\u2019s been a decade since I was a retailer, I still like to keep track of trends and what not.\u00a0 One feature they had recently sparked a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1207"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1220,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207\/revisions\/1220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wildsmallie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}