Blue Streak

I noticed a Rage Tail link at the bottom of your post. Are you sponsored by Rage Tail?

Throw everything else away and keep the Pacas, those things are awesome.

Back in the late sixties and early seventies the original Fliptail lizard was a killer in this area.

When I was in WalMart today I saw there plastic "creature" baits hanging among the Creme baits. Guess I should have checked that out before I posted this. If you guys search for Burke Bait company you will be able to see their bait selection along with the Creme products. I bet they still make the hellgramite.

It looks like they were either part of Creme or were bought out by Creme. If you go to the Creme web site you can still see Burke products. I was just curious about what happened to them and if anyone on here has fond memories of their baits.

Does anyone remember these guys? Are they still around? I remember they used to make soft plastic imitations of craws, hellgramites and so on. They also made some pretty nice worms at one time, one looked like little marbles almost the entire length of the worm. They worked. I think they also made some crankbaits other than those soft cranks they had. I bet there are still some of those soft cranks in tackle boxes of the people on here.

I have to agree with NBR about what Ray Scott has meant to bass fishing. His tournaments and magazine really got things moving in the fishing world. I think his state federations encouraged fishermen to form clubs and fish tournaments and that is when knowledge was shared like never before. NBR you have got me beat in seniority I have only been at this about sixty years, and my first casting reel was a Pflueger Supreme also. RW makes a good point about the Senko, a lot of people believe in that bait like no other.

A lot of interesting comments here, I always wondered how people would answer that question whether they have been fishing 6 months or sixty years. Is there anyone else on here that fished that period before electric motors or free spool reels and when Stren was about the only monofilament you could buy, or am I just the oldest guy on here? :-/

Good point. None of that is free for sure.

Over the years there have been some great innovations that have had a serious impact on bass fishing. Here is my list I am sure you all will have some to add. The electric motor Sonar/Lowrance's Little Green Box Free spool casting reels Rod technology Line technology Soft plastic baits/Creme Scoundrel and the improvements over the years Improvements in hard baits/crankbaits and such Bass boats Tournaments Magazines TV The internet. Electric motors. When I started fishing they were not readily available and we used oars that were padded to stop the noise. This one would have to be my top pick. Sonar no doubt this has really helped us find some great hot spots and to learn more about our waters Free spool casting reels a big advance, if you ever used one that wasn't you know what I mean. Rod technology no doubt what we have today are a big improvement over what was available 40 years ago. Line technology again we have come very far since the original Stren Soft plastics no doubt about it , these have made me a better fisherman and the selection today is awesome. Improvements in hard baits I am not so sure about this one, some of those old baits were outstanding. Bass boats definitely, after fishing for years in vee bottom aluminum boats they are pretty dog gone nice. Tournaments I am not a big fan of tournaments although I did fish many years ago. But I think there has been a lot of information exchanged and it seems it speeded up the advancements in fishing tackle. Magazines we came from Field and Stream and Outdoor Life that may contain only one article per issue about bass fishing to publications that are loaded with information from cover to cover. I give them a big thumbs up. TV you bet. Years ago we had one fishing show which was Gaddabout Gaddis. Today we have several excellent programs and I learn volumes from them. The internet. Another big thumbs up. What a great place to learn about fishing tackle and techniques from fisherman who know what they are talking about and are willing to share. But beware, there are a lot of phonies that will make a comment about something they don't know a thing about just to be ornery and too many testimonies about products just to promote them without substantial proof it's all about sales. OK there is my list and why I think they were big events, let's hear what you all think.

The Paca craws and chunks are hard to beat. They have amazing action and seem to be very popular on this forum.

What kind of problem are you having with those? I have fished them for many years and have never had a bad one.

I love it, but I can't buy it locally anymore. For the last few years the local Cabela's, Gander Mountain, and Wal Mart all carried it. This year none of them have it. Is this becoming a trend?

I have been fishing with casting reels for over 50 years. Once I get the brakes set where I want them I never touch them again, all of the fine tuning is done with the tension knob for the spool. I have never used a casting reel I could not master. I own as many Curados as I do Revos, but I have not used the Curados since I started to use the Revos. By the way, I liked the 100 Curado much better than the 200.

I have retired all of my Curados for Revos.

Some of the discussions on here lately got me to thinking about some of the old tackle we used. Here were some of my favorites Rebel Wee R and Humpy silver and black and the old brown crawdad pattern. I don't buy the new ones they just are not the same The original Bomber I still have a couple of wood ones. Whopper Stopper Hellbender silver shad and frog finish. The frog finish was deadly. A buddy used to hold them with the bill pointed up and say they looked like Mickey Mouse. Storm Hot N Tot the small size they were outstanding for the first few years The original Rapala of course The Jitterbug we have already talked about that, I still have some wood ones. River Runt shad finish a sinking count down bait was excellent for big bass. An old Creek Chub wood plunker, I still use it. Shannon Twin Spinner sort of a jig/spinner hybrid The original Creme worm black or purple never did any good with the natural The Fliptail lizard for the first few years they were deadly on big bass. Might have been the first soft bait the bass saw after the Creme worm Stren line, didn't know about anything else Garcia Ammbassdeur 5000 casting reels the red one. Still have mine, still work Mitchell spinning reels models 300 and 308, still have them, still work. There are others but these are the ones I remember the most I used these many years ago and I caught as many bass as I do now.

I had no idea that it has been on the market for that long. I wonder if any other lure has been offered for sale for that many years?

The other day Bill Dance talked about buying his first Jitterbug in 1948 for 85 cents and catching his first bass on it. Sixty years of success is very outstanding.

The best teacher is expierence. Just get them in the water and have at it and you will learn as you go. There are a lot of good how to articles on this site that will help you get started. Good fishing.

Buzzbaits are great, but I like the Jitterbug because you can bring it into cover and stop it and the bass will blow up on them.

http://www.samsoldlures.com/ http://www.antiquelureconnection.com/ http://www.joeyates.com/wwwboard/index.html

I was cleaning out an old tackle box and found six of them. Used to catch many, many bass at night on them. Had a friend that used to fish them all day. Is anyone still using those or have they been replaced by buzzbaits and such? I bet you could still kill the bass on them.

Boy I forgot all about putting BB's in those.

I uesed to catch lots and lots of bass on Mud Bugs, especially that next to the smallest size. Sorry I can't remember how deep any of them run but use them they work.

I have not found a great one yet form any bait maker and the Traps just don't work for me. But I keep trying.