Saw what appear to be wiggle warts at a garage sale with a metal bill.  Do those have any value ?

 

Do you have a picture of it? A lot of WW had a metallic paint job that included the bill that would make it appear metal. I've never seen a WW with a metal lip though. 

Storm Hot n Tot had a metal bill.

Tom

5 hours ago, WRB said:

Storm Hot n Tot had a metal bill.

Tom

Beat me to it. Most models had metal bills either semi polished or dull. Others had painted metal bills.

I actually saw a picture of a Hot-n-Tot next to a Wiggle Wart box in the last Bassmaster in their "What's it Worth?" section. Really surprised me to see them run that obvious of a mistake. 

6 hours ago, WRB said:

Storm Hot n Tot had a metal bill.

Tom

Still a popular bait around here for walleye. Though the new ones are probably not like the original 

15 hours ago, WRB said:

Storm Hot n Tot had a metal bill.

Tom

I heard these were a good smallmouth bait.  Have you used them for smallies?

No, haven’t used them for decades. 

Smallies are very aggressive bass so imagine the Hot n Tot would work. My current Smallies crank bait is Major Craft Zoner Hunter.

Tom

Hot 'n tots were quick diving trolling baits... terrible casting baits.

 

oe

5 hours ago, warefisher said:

I heard these were a good smallmouth bait.  Have you used them for smallies?

 

Hot & Tots hunt when trolled. That means they wiggle along & suddenly dart to the left then return to center and then they dart to the right & return to center. The sudden change of direction is like a crank bait deflecting off cover. Smallies absolutely kill them. The metal link connecting your knot to the bait sometimes needs tuned (bent) left or right to keep them on track. You can run them behind the boat within sight at around 5 miles per hour to determine if they need adjusting. When they are properly tuned they always return to center. When they are not they run only in one direction & blow out. They are a great search bait to locate bass if you don't have electronics. They will troll down to around  15 feet. 

The action changed on the hot and tots when storm was bought out.  They used to be the go to summer walleye bait on the Saginaw bay for trolling.  Now they are just a mere shadow of their former selves. They have been replaced by the flicker shad/minnows and by bandit walleye deep divers