WaterOtter

When I saw the sinkers I thought one of two things had occurred: Either the guy fishing it didn't understand the concept of a buzzbait and kept wondering why his lure kept flopping around on top of the water, so he added sinkers to get it to down underwater behaving right ? or else he decided that what he really needed to connect with the big ones was a spinnerbait, but he didn't have one, so with a little improvisation he could get his buzzbait to do double duty. ? It's a silicone rubber skirt, although a little sparse, and the lure really does look great in these colors. Now I'm itching for the weekend so I can tie it on with the sinkers and see if it really will go underwater. The vortex those blades must generate!

Is it every appropriate to use sinkers with a buzzbait? The guy fishing near me when I pulled this one out of a tree today didn't think so. We laughed pretty good.

After reading this tip I bought a bottle of Spray Nine, and today I used it for the second time. It does make it much easier to clean stains off found lures (actually, the lure below looks better than it does in the picture). The storm smash shad freed up from wherever it was hiding and floated into view as I was pulling down a shadow rap I found in a tree. It was better than bogo because it was buy-none-get two

Thanks for letting us know that it worked out! (I'm sure you'll find out soon that they're not lying. That was such a big gift and they must be so juiced that they'll share every bit of their success with you for weeks/months/years to come)

91F and muggy today, so hardly anyone was out and I had easy access to the bank fishing spots in my kayak. I found several memorable ones. 1) This guy was able to pull hard enough to break a bass hook! ...but not hard enough to free up the rig completely. The monofilament feels heavier than the stuff we use salmon fishing on Lake Michigan. 2) This Rapala was hanging by its line with a significant stick dangling from its treble hook. Once I got it down I saw that the hook had been pulled right through the stick. I've seen living branches that have grown around a stuck hook before, but never a hook that pierced a branch. (also, I had to get past a wasp nest to get it, and thankfully the lure slid right down without shaking the tree.)

Finally found it this morning. Nories. Nice lure

It's driving me nuts that I can't id this logo ... somebody please help me out. It's on a spinnerbait.

You were hooked on the excitement of spreading the joy of fishing and you did a great thing helping your mentee and his buddy get set up for growing in the sport. You did a good thing! Plus, now you get to go shopping with the bait monkey!!

A thought ... if you have a router table you could pretty easily cut a hook into any paddle you like. When I received my Carlisle I looked at the hook and thought "man, I could have cut that into my old paddle". I still think about adding one to the right blade so I have them on both sides, but maybe the right blade doesn't have a hook because it's the one we put our weight on when we slide ourselves on and off shore.

Good thinking!

I have a tandem kayak very similar that I've fished from solo when I take a buddy and let him use my fishing kayak. The seats are on rails tucked under the coaming (visible in the picture) so you can loosen plastic screws and slide the back seat out of the way easily and center the front seat. It's doable and not too bad. Folks above are speaking right - try it out a few times to see if you like, and if you do then post it on Craigslist and put the money towards a fishing kayak. This one'll do, but it's missing the purpose-built specialization that brings a lot to fishing. This kayak isn't going to track well, and it won't maneuver well, and until you add an anchor trolley up the side you'll move around while you fish. I would use an egg crate or 5-gallon buckets and keep them loose. They won't slide far. You can lay extra poles down sticking out the back until you figure out your plan. It's a good starting point for a great series of adventures.

I use a Carlisle Predator and I love it. Mine is heavy because it has a thick shaft, but the paddle is tough and sturdy and works great. It's a long paddle, and with my long arms I seem to have an advantage getting down lures other people leave behind. The most satisfying way is get the lure's treble hook in the cutout and then the lure comes down easy because you can rip it out. Other times I grab the lure itself in the cutout, especially spinner baits and inline spinners. But most often I end up using the cutout to grab a small branch or stem near the lure and then I pull the branch down to me so I can free up the lure by hand. Then I use the cutout to grab the fishing line out of the tree so I can clean it up. All good fun when there's a shiny prize

I checked another lure off my bucket list today - I found a genuine Arbogast Buzz Plug. Classic, but so goofy lookin ...

Have you not tried an anchor trolley? They're amazing. Soon after buying my fishing kayak I got pulled into a honey hole while pulling in the third bass in three casts, and that scared the rest away, so I installed a full length anchor trolley and it makes all the difference. Even with a very small lightweight folding anchor the trolley lets me point the kayak upwind, downwind, or any point in between, and keeps me in that position.

My eyes instantly went to that popper on the top right and it made me think of Mike Tyson. ...then to the clownfish. Guess I'm weird that way. All cool finds though! I found info on the Mike Tyson lure, and turns out it's a Booyah Prank in Chartreuse Bone. The lure's still in production but the facial tatoo was a limited run which is out of production now. The swim bait below it, which is very high quality, is a Headbanger Spitfire.

I never knew until I read it on this site that it's possible to find a lure in the wild with the hook protectors still on it, but ever since then I have hunted very hard to find one, and now I finally have! One more item I can check off my bucket list. Next I'm looking to find a lure with the line tied to the wrong end...

Judging by the ones I find in the wild, I think many people use them as topwater lures in areas where they need a lure to stay up to clear obstructions, but that skinny rear end sinks fast and deep when the lure splashes down and when it pauses, and that sticky sharp rear hook grabs onto stuff. I find many in this predicament. I also marvel that floating free only a tiny amount of their face sticks above the surface. Man these are one of my favorite lures to find. The propeller blade tail's so cool and so is the quality construction! (true for the name brand ones, but I see the others catching up).

You're right, it does have a Mike Tyson thing going on that I hadn't noticed. Cool! I hadn't seen a Rebel-Pop'r -type with a lip before, or a swimbait with the plastic leader thing. I have some research to do to find out if they're any good.

The lure I'm most excited about in the ones I found this week is a big swim bait in orange clown shad. The hooks rusted off so I have to put on new ones, but otherwise it's in pretty good shape. I'll probably use it on braid with a steel leader.

The red one with the little scissors is exactly what I use to cut fishing line -- the scissors are great for cutting line. I wish I could find those! I dropped a blue one in a lake in 2020 when I was cutting a found lure's line off a sunken tree, and I had a really hard time the rest of the trip without scissors or a knife, so ever since then I carry two.

I got a new personal record for biggest found lure. It cleaned up nice

I wondered if Friday's chug bug would still float with those huge hooks, so I dropped it in water and ... nope. It looked surprised after sinking so quickly. On the other hand, it has wear marks from the original hooks so at least it got plenty of real use before its transectomy.

Here's a cool one I found yesterday - a small Chug Bug with supersized hooks attached with snap swivels. They're at least #2 hooks, and it looks like the guy doing the upgrade decided rings weren't worth messing with.

Interesting, was it floating when you found it? It looks like a Rattlin' T 5/8 oz. lipless crankbait, basically a rattle trap. I've never seen a floater or suspending lure before that ties on top. I like H2O Xpress lures, I have a bunch.

Haha, great point! This isn't one I've fished, I was experimenting with it because I had just finally gotten it down after watching it for a year and a half, 32' up in a tree. I'm trying to figure out what works best before I get out the ones I'm most sentimental about.