Found an old childhood pal on the cheap via the internet.

Boy, did me and brother used to tear em up on shallow flats and slinging this up & down the local creek.

Long before a buzz-bait, plastic worm, or a Rat-L trap, this was a favorite lure of mine!

Anybody have any good memories or stories surrounding the jointed Rapala J-11?

...if so do tell. 

When I was about 8 or so my Dad was getting the boat ready, and I was casting a jointed rapala around some timber. I hooked a bass, and it jumped and threw my lure. That is the earliest memory I have of a bass throwing my bait. 

Jointed Rapalas were one of my go to baits I used when we trolled for pike and walleyes on Canadian fly-in trips. I still have them with all their teeth marks. 

I caught my first “big” bass on a J9-jointed rapala, and was sorely disappointed when I was told it was not big enough to have mounted!  Rapala lures to this day still account for a huge percentage of my annual catch.

Early teen yrs all I fished were Crème worms and the black/silver "broken back" rapala. Haven't fished one in years, should though, it worked. Throw it out, let the wake rings settle, couple twitches, BOOM! 

I love all of the jointed Rapala sizes. The small J-5 and J-7 are fantastic stream baits. The J-9 and J-11 and bass and pike killers. Last season in the early spring the bass in my local lake were feeding on very small shad. and I was killing with the silver J-5. Lots of two-four pound fish and that little dude held up great. The J-11 is a big bass lure.

When I was a kid, the J-11 in bright orange was “the” lure of choice locally for casting and trolling for big walleye. Also caught a ton of smallies on them, they work great slowly waked across the surface on a slick calm evening.