WaterOtter

Thanks for posting this! It was hard to watch without getting squeamish, but it's a skill everyone should have and thanks for pointing out the finer details

Can't say when I stopped fishing last winter, but I paddled small lakes to the end of December and temps in the low 20's, which is always windy. I thought it was pretty cool when the spin-drift was freezing onto the deck of my kayak and the shaft of my paddle. The exercise keeps me warm. However, I found that when the ice is 1/2" thick I can no longer bust holes in it to get a paddle blade in the water, so I can't push the kayak forward.

That's a really solid tip!! I used to do this on a lake where I used to live. It had a concrete boat launch straight into a narrow channel with a clay bottom and vertical sides, probably 6' deep and 20 yards long. Before I put my kayak in the water I used to sneak up to the launch and cast a medium sized deep diving crankbait straight out the launch and I would reel it in slowly. The crankbait practically stood on its nose as it came along the bottom. Often I caught bass after bass, and when a cast would come in empty I would sneak along the side of the channel to cast further along it into undisturbed water. My best was 8 bass in 12 casts.

I'm reading through classic posts on the found lure thread and I came across this one from @looking45 in 2020. I would love to see a picture of that tree!!!

Karma is smiling on me today? ... I had to go to Ohio this week on business, but my local rental car place gave me a free upgrade to a minivan, so of course I brought a bike, and during an awesome ride this evening I found ... And it's because I build up good karma by picking up trash in my kayak. ?

I preferred your hunter analogy or my fisherman analogy, but this fits too! ??

You know, the hunter comparison is funny ... before I even get the boat in the water I find myself assessing conditions like sun, wind, currents, location of the weed mat, is the water high with turbidity or low and clear, the amount of wild grape vine in the trees, nearby trees and how flexible their branches are, what are the natural colors and leaf shapes I see around me vs unnatural colors, which overhanging bushes must draw the casts ... I'm like most of you when you fish, only I'm looking in a different direction! It blows my mind to read about the level of detail and amount of conditions y'all assess to find and get the fish, which I can't do worth a darn, but when I look for lures I swear I see in more than 3 dimensions!

On a sunny day look on the lake bottom. That's where I found the two in the lower left corner, about 15' out and 20" down. Just sitting there ... who'd a thunk it! ?

How do you tell them apart and remember which way a modified lure will go?

Something about fall seems to have people casting higher. The weekend before last I actually had to get out my 24' window washing pole to get down 3 lures, and I haven't used that since January. And then this weekend I found 3 more up that high but I didn't have the pole with me. I think they'll still be up there when I come back around. Being on the lake has been so wonderful - thick white fog in the mornings, sunny afternoons.

I usually keep my head down about the lures because I don't want to inspire others in my area and then have fewer lures available to find. There's only so many fish in the seas, and only so many lures in the trees... But it is a huge thrill to find 'em and it keeps me looking! ? Seriously though, the secret to my success is ... I pick up trash in the lakes to build up good karma for the week, and sometimes karma rewards me with a nice lure. Or two, or 10.... Here's what the front of my kayak usually looks like on Saturday mornings as the lake water and muck drip off the garbage ... and here's what my cupholder looks like ... A few weeks ago I posted a picture of the collection that included the gantarel, but what I didn't show was the 5-gallon bucket I found in the lake and filled to the rim with wet, nasty trash. (True story!) Hmm, now that I think about it, maybe that's why my new business Big Otter's Guided Lure and Trash Hunting Tours isn't taking off ! ? Karma is treating me well and I am enjoying life ?

It looks like it's in good condition underneath the gunk and it will clean up well! Great find!! Next step in your journey - Lure Preservation and Restoration. I want to caution you that if you are going to do a lot of rubbing on a lure that's been in the water a while, in many cases it's best to wait 24 hours to let the gunk dry out first, which lets the underlying paint firm up its grip on the lure. Rubbing on a freshly raised lure can pull off large sections of paint. It really depends on what the gunk is and how well it's attached, but I came across this problem in Bama a lot, no so much up north, and a few lures got ruined early on. Enjoy your find!

I've already given my testimonial for PhishLi's tip about Spray 9. It works wonders!

I finally found a mega bass last weekend. That's another item off my bucket list. ? I'm not sure if people in SE Michigan don't use them, or if those who do don't lose them.

We posted theories about that on this thread a couple months ago ... this Mach Patroller 90 was hung up in a bush, the poor thing. All of my finds this week were in trees & bushes and from bank fishermen. Except the plastic, which was stuck on a log underwater, but it was swimming back to shore when it got stuck. I saw no boats at all on either of the lakes I paddled (low 40's, gray, wet and windy, perfect for paddling but certainly challenging for getting lures into water).

Here are my finds last weekend. The flicker shad may have been hiding behind leaves that fell, but the rest were fresh.

Let's see pictures! Does anyone know what brand of lures these are? I found them separately a few months ago and I have exhausted myself trying to identify them... There's obviously a family resemblance and they have indicators of good quality.

H2O Xpress squarebill in bluegill. It does well, it swims shallow so it doesn't get hung up on stuff, and if the fish won't bite for anything I can imagine with all its resistance and wobble that I have a fish on. I can go into a seriously pleasant trance as I cast and retrieve this lure, cast and retrieve, cast and retrieve.

I wish they microchipped lures so we could put our contact information on them. Then when I find lures that are really fancy or customized I can return them to the original owners. Or when I find one of these really screwball rigs I could find out what the heck they were really thinking. ?

Sweet score!! Heck ya your own lures count! even though it's like trading on insider information > Here's one of mine I left on a root 3ft down and found popped up 5 months later. This was a brand new H20 express on the day I lost it. Good data for how long lures can last in a lake. > I've tied on small bobbers I'd found for exactly that reason, but someone else always got to them first (or just took my bobbers)

In Alabama pop-ups were my mainstay because we had so much woody structure and stumps in the water, and bigger bass that could break the line. The key with pop-ups is to sweep for them often so you can get them fresh. In Michigan I spend more time in trees and bushes because I have kayak access to lakes with a lot of bank fishermen, and there don't seem to be many pop-ups (or maybe someone else gets those?) That's why that one trip was so trippy. ?

The river runt (or millsite wigwam, they're very similar) is an awesome find. I especially love finding vintage lures, and that one is in great shape!

Yeah, the big swimbaits are rare. I've only ever found this one, tangled in roots way under a bush (I had to lean way out and prop myself up to work it free), and last year a Pistol Pete about 1/2 mile from this one, waay up in a tree. I hope they're not from the same guy, because they're both very pricey ... And thanks for the tip about where they drift to, it is very reasonable. However, I look everywhere because a lot of the lures' locations are just so crazy they defy reason. My biggest tip is that a good find in any location keeps me looking there obsessively for months, no matter how logical or illogical. ?

The white thing is a bleached out Scum Frog. I love saying scum fraawwwg ... The hooks and a small chunk of the back end are missing. Seeing one of those always reminds me of the guy in the muppet movie that Kermit asks what he does for a living, and he says "I keel fraawwwgs"

I’m still trippin’ from Saturday. I paddled about 5½ miles according to google maps, and this time I didn’t find any good ones whatsoever until 3 miles into it (the revolver). Then, a tenth of a mile later I found the next 5 all within 200’. The two Hula Poppers were in thick matt 10’ from each other, and the XXL whopper plopper was floating 20' away, just outside the matt. That area of the lake, or someplace upwind, must have been really hopping around Labor Day. Most of them are big versions (130mm wp, which I haven't found in at least 3 years), 2-1/4" hp, XL KVD). Seems ironic because I had just been reading a debate in another thread over the merits of big lures vs small ones, and the big lure guys must have gotten out there and opened fire! Even the imitation hula popper rocks, with its thick, stiff rubber skirt that stands straight out. When I found the two hula poppers I had been thinking about how I’ve never found a cheap imitation hula popper but they must be on ebay, so it was hilarious when I actually found one!