Old Tactics - no longer used

[Hookset]

Hi All,

 

My fishy friends and I usually end up talking about this at least once a season.

"Techniques we used to use, that worked great, but we no longer use"

I know it sounds dumb but almost all my friends admit to the same thing.

For instance, when I first started Bass fishing something like 25+ years ago we used one technique almost exclusively.

Yes we'd throw grubs, rubber worms etc. but our "go to" bait and technique was what we called

"surface twitching Rapalas"

We used to take a small floating Rapala in a Perch pattern (4" Rapala I think).

On light line, about 8 lbs., with spinning tackle.

Cast her out, let it float for a few seconds then give it a good hard twitch / jerk, causing the bait to dive down about 2 feet. This was a very slow technique with fairly long pauses.

Wait for it to surface, leave it there for a few seconds, then repeat. How and what we did isn't my point.

My point is this used to work dynamite on Smallies all season. But then along came Chug Bugs, Sluggos, Tubes, and Spinnerbaits and before we knew it, the old "twitching Rapala" technique was long forgotten.

One of my friends laments how he used to use a "Big O" crankbait in white / grey all the time and caught everything from Salmon to Bass on it. "I always had one tied on" he said. Not in probably 15 years now though he admits. Lots of other friends have the same story too, just too many to list.

 

Just curious what techniques other members used to use with great success but for whatever reason, no longer use or even think about.

 

I think this summer I'll fit some of those old Raps with new hooks and give it a go.

 

Thanks,

 

Hookset.

[Headhunter]

I grew up using that Rapala technique on the Thames river for smallies! I've also found it to be a great technique for Largies as well!

Thanks for the memories!

HH

[Burning Babies]

What's up Hookset? I remember discussing this with you. I used to throw a lot of small rubber frogs on spinning tackle for largemouths. I've got the day off today, hitting a local reservoir, so I might give that a try if it looks like topwater is an option.

[Garry2Rs]

For me it's Mepp's Spinners.

In the 60's and 70's they were my #1 go to bait.

I owned brass and nickel as well as painted blades in at least 3 different sizes.

They caught Trout, Bass, Panfish, Pike and Walleye for me...

With a metal body and exposed treble hook they were very prone to snagging bottom or hanging up on cover.

I guess that's why Spinnerbaits eventually replaced them in my tackle box.

[blaque]

Man the irony........as a kid, i used to fish alot of the bass ponds around my place the exact same way.........exclusively. Same lures, flaoting perch rapalas, orange and gold, chartreuse and silver, sometimes the smelt pattern, but thats all id have tied on.........with a small box of backups in my back pocket. Rode the bike to my buds all summer vacation, and off we went to the ponds. Some were 45 minute bike rides in the sweltering summer heat, a flat tire on the railroad tracks back to the pond made for a long walk home pushing a bike with a hop in the tire and sopping wet sneakers!! We actually made a floating platform out of barrels and 2x4's and plywood at one of the ponds that we'd float out on the pond with, most areas were shallow enough that wed just use a large tree branch to maneuver the raft, like fishing the saltwater flats lol. Man those were the days. Those ponds seemed like huge lakes and we felt so independant having our own "boat". So grown up (or so we thought) and pretending like we were on the pro B.A.S.S. ciruit catching 14" largemouths on top water all day lol. This was all 20 years ago plus and most of these ponds are choked with weeds or dried up completely, our favorite one with our "boat" docked on it has since been covered by a pontiac dealership.

[Reef Runner]

Who uses the ol' worm under the float if they aren't around the kidddies?

[walleyejigger]

this is what i remember of the progression of my pickeral fishing

 

1st was warm harnesses

2nd was a gold spinner type thing we called a cuckatoosh

3rd was go getters

4th was floating jigs

5th is and has been for a long time......lead jigs

[Canuck2fan]

When the rivers around here used to have water in them we would walk them in shorts and old shoes, with a mepps black fury or if it was cloudy out a shiny mepps (small) and find a spot near a bend that had enough current to keep the mepps spinning while you held it in the current.... So you would cast out then retrieve the thing about 5 feet and then just let it sit there spinning and wait for the explosion when a smallie would dart out from the edge and nail it. Used to be able to catch bass all day long that way.

 

Now since they won't plug the hole in Lake St. Clair and the water level keeps dropping, we never have more than 18 inches of water or so in those rivers that used to have holes 4 or 5 ft deep and you can't use that technique anymore.... I miss those trips.

[kickingfrog]

For me it was casting a frog pattern flatfish for smallmouth on Nippising. Flatfish don't cast all the well, although now they do have less hooks.

[mattyk]

i still use that rapala technique and have been using for about 15 years. Works great on smallies and largies. Big-O used to be one of my favorites but dont use it any more. I had forgot about it. Maybe i will give it a try again this year.

[irishfield]

Sorry... but I'm not going back to mock chicken cut offs, from my father's store meat room, under a bobber. Hard to keep on the hook and slimmy as hell !

[John]

Well, about 40 years ago I used to fish the UK rivers that flowed from the hills into the sea with a 12 1/2' rod, a centre pin reel, 4# test line, a float and a #16 hook. Go figure.........sound familiar?

 

Mostly worms dug from a farmers manure pile, but sometimes maggots when we had the money to buy them. If we had been caught using roe we would have had our gonads removed by the ministry.

 

Used the same set up to bottom fish except remove the float and add a few extra split shot.

[kickingfrog]

Well, about 40 years ago I used to fish the UK rivers that flowed from the hills into the sea with a 12 1/2' rod, a centre pin reel, 4# test line, a float and a #16 hook. Go figure.........sound familiar?

 

Mostly worms dug from a farmers manure pile, but sometimes maggots when we had the money to buy them. If we had been caught using roe we would have had our gonads removed by the ministry.

 

Used the same set up to bottom fish except remove the float and add a few extra split shot.

 

 

That'll never catch on.

[lew]

It's been a few years now since I targetted bass, but twitching Rapalas on the surface was a favorite technique of mine too. I liked to toss it out and let it sit for maybe 30 seconds before the 1st twitch and it was always a fun way to get a few fish.

 

It was about 10 years ago and I never did it before and haven't done it since, but twice in one week I got 2 fish on the same bait using that twitching method with a Rapala. Both times a pair of fish grabbed the bait at the same time, the instant I made the 1st twitch.

 

All 4 were all only small fish but they made for some good laffs in the boat

[Roy]

Well, about 40 years ago I used to fish the UK rivers that flowed from the hills into the sea with a 12 1/2' rod, a centre pin reel, 4# test line, a float and a #16 hook. Go figure.........sound familiar?

 

Great memories John. Just think how wonderful it would be if all of those 'shoebox' pics had backgrounds.

[John]

Great memories John. Just think how wonderful it would be if all of those 'shoebox' pics had backgrounds.

 

We used to tell each other about "the spot" too.........

[Mike Pike]

For me it's Mepp's Spinners.

In the 60's and 70's they were my #1 go to bait.

I owned brass and nickel as well as painted blades in at least 3 different sizes.

They caught Trout, Bass, Panfish, Pike and Walleye for me...

With a metal body and exposed treble hook they were very prone to snagging bottom or hanging up on cover.

I guess that's why Spinnerbaits eventually replaced them in my tackle box.

That's funny that you mention the good ol' reliable Mepps spinners. The Aglia #3 in both the copper and silver finishes always occupied a bin in my tackle box. And I always had two of each because of the 'snaggability' factor as you mentioned! (lol) Maybe that's why they lost their popularity, as you suggest. I'd say line twist is another reason people stopped fishing with 'em.

 

Funny though, two years ago I remembered those lures and the fun I had casting them on rivers and ponds and bought a few and started casting with 'em once again. What a blast. I'd add a swivel to help eleviate the line twisting and started catching bass after bass again, mostly in river situations( the Grand and it's tributaries ). They cast like a dream and always have a special place in the fishing vest when heading out on the rivers and streams. Probably have a few when I hit the trout stream on the opener!

[fishnsled]

Red Devils(Don't have to tell some people here that they still catch fish ), Hulla Poppers, Mepps, Beetle spins are a few of my oldies that I don't use anymore. Rattling Spot and the redfin are others that seem to sit in the tackle box these days. No reason for this, I better bring them out this year.

 

Great thread!

[OhioFisherman]

LOL 40 years ago I used plastic worms a lot, still do, a lot of the names have changed, they still catch fish. Used to do the Rapala thing also, still carry then but not used often.

 

Went from Jitterbug, Hula Popper, Buzzbait at night to jigs and soft plastics most of the time, just better results.

[Casey123]

Hulla Poppers and Strawberry Spooks - Would like to get some more Strawberry Spooks - use to drive the Musky nuts on Kashabog Lake

[kickingfrog]

Hulla Poppers and Strawberry Spooks - Would like to get some more Strawberry Spooks - use to drive the Musky nuts on Kashabog Lake

 

Strawberry spooks??? Is this a colour/ pattern of a Zara spook? Or something totally different?

[OhioFisherman]

Strawberry must be an Ontario color, back in the day a Heddon Vamp (wood) was the lure of choice in Pointe Au Baril, maybe Kennedy`s and E&E just got a deal on them? Seemed to be the ones they sold most often.

[kickingfrog]

As a kid I'd raid my Dad's tackle box. The two lures I'd go for first... a big green/yellow crazy crawler and a perch pattern river runt. I don't think the river runt is made any more. I think it Heddon made them. I'll have to look that up.

[bpsbassman]

Man the irony........as a kid, i used to fish alot of the bass ponds around my place the exact same way.........exclusively. Same lures, flaoting perch rapalas, orange and gold, chartreuse and silver, sometimes the smelt pattern, but thats all id have tied on.........with a small box of backups in my back pocket. Rode the bike to my buds all summer vacation, and off we went to the ponds. Some were 45 minute bike rides in the sweltering summer heat, a flat tire on the railroad tracks back to the pond made for a long walk home pushing a bike with a hop in the tire and sopping wet sneakers!! We actually made a floating platform out of barrels and 2x4's and plywood at one of the ponds that we'd float out on the pond with, most areas were shallow enough that wed just use a large tree branch to maneuver the raft, like fishing the saltwater flats lol. Man those were the days. Those ponds seemed like huge lakes and we felt so independant having our own "boat". So grown up (or so we thought) and pretending like we were on the pro B.A.S.S. ciruit catching 14" largemouths on top water all day lol. This was all 20 years ago plus and most of these ponds are choked with weeds or dried up completely, our favorite one with our "boat" docked on it has since been covered by a pontiac dealership.

 

Great story!!

 

I remember my first trip to my lake 36 years ago. 5 day trip, rained everyday, but was the best fishing I had ever experienced. I had a #5 Mepps Black Fury on and never took it off. Never used it much after a couple of years. I think I will try it again this year.

 

Also had great success with Berkley 7" Motor Oil Power Worms. Went through them by the 100's. Haven't used them much the last few years, but picked up a few bags in the States earlier this year and will give them a try again.

 

Great thread!

[kickingfrog]

Well how about that. What I called a River Runt the Heddon site has as a River Runt Spook. And there is a strawberry pattern. As well as a coach dog and a Fluorescent Green Coach Dog from the 70's.

 

Neat site.

 

http://www.tacklecollecting.com/laterriverruntcolors.htm