Captain Phil

I emailed them. We'll see what they have to say. Thanks for the link.

I have had these lures for some time. The Tiny Torpedo is one of the most popular Heddon lures and are still being made today. They are cheap and fairly common. With all the versions available, I think it would be fun to try to collect them all. I have too much time on my hands. ?

I have a small collection of Heddon Tiny Torpedo lures. I am thinking about adding to my collection as a hobby. Does anyone know how many different colors and patterns these lures were made in? There seems to be hundreds if not thousands.

I don't believe a right handed angler flipping with a left handed reel is a big advantage. I hold the rod with my right hand and check the bait without switching hands on every drop. If I detect a fish, I set the hook by bringing the rod up. This works because there is so little line out. I only switch hands after the fish is hooked. When you have a green ten pound bass on three feet of line, it's awesome. What does save time is using a reel with a flipping feature. I use a Shamano Castaic with a flipping lever. Mine is so beat up the paint is wore off it and it still works like new.

Abu Garcia Ambassador reels were great reels in their day. Very smooth, tough and durable. When the 5500C came out, any decent bass fisherman had to have one. I still have a few that I use for shiner fishing. The older reels are much quieter. The new ones are cheaply made compared to the reels from the seventies. Ambassador reels are heavy compared to modern reels. They are easy to service, even for the most mechanically challenged. The 2500C was an interesting reel. They were a miniature version of the big reels with nylon gears. We loved the light weight, but found out quickly that a large fish could easily strip those gears with the drag locked down. If the weight doesn't bother you, I think you would love a 5500C if you could find a nice one.

Try as I might, jigs just do not work well for me in Florida. Our bass seem to prefer soft baits. I believe it may be a water temperature thing or something related to Florida strain bass. Others have reported similar observations.

Here is a list of lures I would never leave home without. Heddon Tiny Torpedo, Rapala, Smithwick Devil's Horse, Hildebrandt Okeechobee Special, Rattle Trap, Zoom Trick Worm, Zoom Mag II worm, Gambler Craw, Gambler Cane Toad, Fat Free Shad.

I normally carry four outfits. One casting outfit for fishing frogs, buzzbaits and top water lures. One for spinnerbaits, one for crankbaits and a spinning rod for soft plastics. On occasion, I may also carry a flipping stick. Out of those four outfits, I can do whatever I need to do.

The early Ambassadors were tanks. I still remember when I bought my first 5500C. What a reel! Today, they are relegated to collector's items. Later they cheapened them up to a point where they weren't worth buying. The most significant difference between older reels and modern reels is weight. Modern reels are smoother and lighter. The spool diameter is smaller, making backlashes less likely. Cheap is a relevant term. If I can buy a quality casting reel under $200 I'm happy. I think $500 for a bass fishing reel is ridiculous, but some people don't. Most Shimano reels are great. Some are bargains if you can find a decent one used. If you are going to dabble in used reels, you need to be able to work on them yourself. With all the YouTube videos out there, this isn't hard as long as you have at least some mechanical ability. My favorite used reels are the Shamano gold Calcutta and Chronarch series reels. I buy them online and repair them myself.

Local conditions determine what lures work. Some conditions are temporary. For years fishing a top water lure in the Harris Chain main lake was an exercise in futility. The water was so turbid the fish couldn't find the lure. At the same time, if you weren't fishing a Rattle Trap you weren't fishing. Now that the water has cleared, top water lures and frogs produce while vibrating baits don't work as well. Some pro anglers, like Jim Bitter, were masters at jerk bait fishing. If you do the same thing all the time, you will catch most of your fish that way.

Never leave fish to find fish. Nine times out of ten you will do better staying where you caught fish. What happened was the old guy knew the fish were in that weed bed. He also most likely knew when they would bite as well. Back when I was tournament fishing the Harris Chain, I found a weed bed on Little Lake Harris that held some large flipping fish. In some tournaments, I would fish that same weed bed all day. You couldn't get a bite until around 11 AM. Like clock work, the fish would start biting around 11 AM. To this day I do not know if the fish moved in at 11 AM or they just became active. Back then, I knew where fish were on a daily basis. In the fall I would follow them into and out of Haines Creek. In one tournament I caught a 8 pound bass at the bend around 9 AM. I rode for hours without another hit. About an hour before the tournament ended, I went back to that same place and caught a 9. I won the tournament with two fish. Searching for fish is different than fishing for fish you already know are there.

A better lure for bass is a Mepps Comet minnow. Great for schooling fish.

For what it's worth, I owned a 16' Lowe Aluminum boat for a number of years. I sold my big bass boat and was looking for a mini bass boat with a side console that would hold a good sized motor. My Lowe boat had a 60 hp Merc 4 stroke. After looking at all the other boats, the Lowe seemed to be the higher quality boat. The metal stringers are thicker. Their boats are not fancy. I'm not into fancy or pretty. I'm into functionality and toughness. I fish bass and inshore salt water species. My Lowe boat held up well even with all the abuse of salt water fishing.

Over the years, I have experimented with both left and right handed reels. I'm right handed, so I normally fish a spinning reel by holding the rod with my right hand and reeling with my left. I switch hands when using a casting outfit. There was a time when I felt I had more control by using a left handed casting reel for worm fishing. My hook sets were firmer and I could feel the worm better. I had to training myself to reel with my left hand. When I got older, I started to have arthritis in my hands and arms. Not bad enough to keep me from fishing, just bad enough so I felt it. Alternating hands during the day helped to keep the pain down. I have seen people who used a spinning reel upside down. It's very awkward to watch. I say you should use whatever you are comfortable with. The fish don't care how you hold your rod.

Our annual big bass tournaments are popular events. I have always been surprised that they aren't more popular than they are. There is some element of luck involved in a one bass tournament format. Still, the same top ten anglers seem to win most of the time. Our average winning bass is normally from 6 to 9 pounds. If you are going to have one of these events, you need to be able to weigh your fish at any time during the day. No dead fish allowed. Optional lie detector tests if the prize is substantial. The entry fee in our tournaments is about $100 a boat. First place has been as much as $2,000. We pay down ten places depending on the turnout. We also have a big raffle after the weigh in where we give away rods, reels and other merchandise. Sponsors pay for the prizes. The money raised at this tournament is used to supplement our membership dues. It's a lot of work to put on a tournament. Everyone chips in and has a good time.

Years before Alligator Alley and the expressways were built, we fished all the drainage canals. Chrome avenue, Highway 84, 27, Tamiami, Macs Camp and the airport. My first experience with night fishing was in the old bombing range near what is now called Sawgrass. My first bass on an artificial came in a Carol City canal. Snake Creek and Maule Lake were favorites. Every ditch in South Florida holds fish, some of them quite large. Great memories.

Bass fishing brings people together. You can catch them off the bank or out of a fancy boat. Bass don't care if your skin is white, brown, black or whatever color God gave you. Bass don't care if you're a teenager, in your eighties or somewhere in between. Bass don't care what religion you are or how you vote. Bragging will not help you catch more fish. If you fish tournaments, it's what you put on the scales that matters. If you don't, you only have to please yourself.

If you really want a challenge, try a fly rod. It's a tool totally unsuited for the task at hand. Just kidding..... ?

You do. Learning to fish with a casting reel takes a little effort. That's part of the fun of bass fishing. I taught myself by casting into a bucket when I was 12 years old. It will be easier if you start out with heavier lures and thicker mono. Try 3/8 oz. lures until you get better. The first thing you want to do is to set the spool tension. Hold the rod up and adjust the tension so the spool just turns ever so slightly with only the weight of the lure. Don't try to make long casts at first. Start out small and work up to distance. You will get backlashes, we all do. They are called "professional overruns". Today's reels have small lightweight spools and decent anti backlash devices. Read the instructions to find out how your reel works.

Glad to hear the alley is still producing. Until 1996, that was my home territory. Have you ever fished the Chrome Avenue canal? There are places in South Florida where fish never see a lure. Some of them have old boat ramps and I have fished a lot of them. The only thing that worried me was having my truck stolen or vandalized.

I have been using Daiwa BG Series spinning reels for years. I have use them when fishing everything from bonefish to large offshore species. The BG 13 is a great bass reel. These reels are inexpensive, reliable and light. The drag is good and the spools are interchangeable with the push of a button. I can't imagine anyone needing anything better from a spinning reel. I don't use the anti reverse when bass fishing. I trained myself to back reel many years ago. Back reeling is not a good idea in salt water fishing. You may find yourself trying to grab a spinning handle. This only happened to me once when bass fishing and I still think about that fish.

I like the Gambler Cane Toad. It's not technically a frog as I work it mostly as a buzz bait. A big fish will often follow this bait. When this happens, I let the bait sink as soon as I reach open water. They suck it in and the game is on.

Hook set is not nearly as important as it was back when Homer was fishing. Today's hooks are so sharp, they nearly set themselves. Back then, we had to stretch our arms out in order to drive the hook home. My wife loves to tell the story of when I pulled the front bass seat out of the deck twice in one morning when setting the hook on a fish. ☺️

Our bass club ran a big bass buddy tournament for many years. I did MC duties a few of those years. Those tournaments were very popular. One year we had a cheater who tried to weigh a dead fish, so we disallowed any dead bass. Some big bass tournaments went to an hourly weigh-in format. Our wildlife officials brought tanks so the fish could be properly revived. I would like to see all bass tournaments reduce the number of bass brought to the scales. Three fifteen inch bass would be about right. If they did this, a lot less bass would die riding around in a live well and more big bass techniques would be developed. I say go for it.

Here in Florida you never know what's going to be on the end of your line. I've hooked huge gators numerous times. Caught a three foot turtle fishing a worm on the bottom and a big catfish flipping cover. In South Florida, it might be a python or a shark. I'm fairly sure they have a T. Rex down there somewhere...