Managed a 16 inch eater walleye on a live minnow under a bobber this past winter ice-fishing, that had a Lindy Rattlin Flyer Spoon in its mouth.  The hooks had already dissolved, but the lure was firmly wedged.  Haven't used it yet.  Might just keep it as a souvenir. 

 

Most rewarding is finding ones you previously lost, especially ones you know catch fish. 

Anyone following me around has accrued a nice collection.

This weekend, while trying to impress a hot bikini clad chick in another boat, I threw. WP into a tree.  Being embarrassed, I told a kid it was his if he wanted to climb. He did!

i found an old school rogue jerkbait 

Snagged a X-rap shad (worth 11$) in a river near my home. The water is too murky to snorkel for lures in, otherwise it would be a gold mine for lures in there

While I don't condone it, I do know of a dock owner who sunk an old bedspring frame under his dock and would "harvest" baits on a regular basis.....

53 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

While I don't condone it, I do know of a dock owner who sunk an old bedspring frame under his dock and would "harvest" baits on a regular basis.....

Thats dirty.

 

Found a Whopper Plopper in the local pond on Monday! Ended up using my crank bait to reel it in from about 20 yards away from the bank. It had about 30 feet of what looked like 40lb spiderwire on it still and had no rust whatsoever ?? 

caught a Rattle Trap,it was attached to a 7" St. Croix mojo rod with a Bass Pro Qualifier reel. all in perfect condition. did I say it was 3 days after Christmas? I think someone lost a new gift.

8" Triple Trout

I found a Bagley Diving Kill'r B today...no idea why they were tossing a diving crank from shore in this shallow, shallow pond, but thanks.

Norman deep little N in the "chili bowl" color.  Near perfect condition after I cleaned it up.  Not that great, but I haven't been fishing long!

Since crankbaits float, almost all of the crankbaits I own have been found at my local pond. When people break off, the cranks float to the surface and are carried to shore by the current. Free lures! The funny thing is, do people never look down when they fish? I've found them in the most obvious places.

I've got 2. The first was a Pradco swimming image I gave to a kid that didn't have a lot of tackle that I snagged 6 months later. Never saw him again so I still have that one. The second was a Bandit 100 that I broke off while river fishing. I later, 30ish minutes, moved to fish downstream and saw something swirling around in an eddy. It was my Bandit, I waded in and saved it. I ended up retiring it as a lucky lure. Also have found that some cranks just snag and others don't, so I figured it would've been just lost again had I used it. 

On September 24, 2017 at 12:04 PM, scaleface said:

Bass Pro Shop Tornado Spinnerbait .

Is that the bait with the funky blade? Never bought one but heard later that they were fish catchers. 

No specific brands or patterns remembered, but in Wisconsin when we were young, my brother and I would sometimes take the canoe out for the primary purpose of lure hunting.  We'd cruise along the shore under overhanging trees and through coves of lily pads where it was difficult or impossible for boats to get to.  Every now and then we'd find a tree that looked like it was decorated for Christmas.  Other times there would be a length of black casting line tangled around a log or weaved through several pads that we would laboriously follow, sometimes finding nothing, but often we were rewarded.  Once we even got the lure with a live bass still hooked - we kept the bait and freed the fish.

 

If not for some of those free baits we wouldn't have been able to do half of the bass fishing we did, because money was tight and coming up with $.79 for a lure (I'm talking circa 1960) was hard to justify when worms were free for the digging and nightcrawlers were easy to find on the paths around the lake after dark.  

27 minutes ago, cgolf said:

Is that the bait with the funky blade? Never bought one but heard later that they were fish catchers. 

Yes , thats it .