When I think of old-school lures that work great I think of: Roostertails, Beetle Spins, Original Rapalas, curly tail grubs on jigheads. Often these are thought of as beginner lures because they are inexpensive and work well. I still fish them.

 

What are the other old-school lures that are often overlooked today?

I know this one!  A black Jitterbug.  I've had a lot of anglers call it an old fashioned lure.

Charlie Brewer Slider/worm and Buck Perry Spoonplugs and related baits…but what do you consider “old school?” Shad Raps are now over 40 years old and still work great, as are similar cranks like the Bomber Model A. So many baits I could list that are still made and sold.

Creme worms and those little shad minnow things. 

Heddon- Torpedo, Crazy Crawler, Zarra spook, dying flutter

Rebel - Minnow, Spoon bill minnow, Pop R, Jumpin Minnow, Deep WeeR

Fred Arbogast - Hulla Popper, Jiterbug, Mud bug

Bomber -  Long A,  Model A 7A, 6A, 5A, Fat Free Shad

Norman - Deep Little N, DD 22, Fat boy

Cotton Cordel - Spot, Red fin, Big O

Bill Lewis- Rattle Trap

H&H spinnerbait

Mans- 1 minus, Jelly worm, Little George, Deep 20 30

Mister twister- Phenom worm

Creme - Scoundrel

 

Here are a few I have or have had.  I'm sure there are many more great old baits that still work today.

 

 

 

Everything I fish is “oldschool”😎

Tom

Spoons. I hooked into the biggest bass a few days ago fishing a homemade inline spinner targeting panfish. It was a very dark but there was enough light to see how bent over the rod was.
 

Unfortunately, my line got caught up on the dock such that my side of the line was taut and bass’ was not so she easily and effortlessly shook off my spinner because my hook was barbless. I’m not even bummed about losing what was possibly might have been a new pb. but I had my daughter with me who witnessed the whole thing. 
 

I am more upset that I couldn't get my daughter to catch her first bass from this lake. It’s why I went to panfish mode to “ensure” I minimize any chance to catch a bass. She also made me fish when I told her I wasn’t going to fish. Then she pulled some psychology on me saying that she didn’t want to fish alone so I acquiesced. That bass should have been for her. It was however a completely mindless and random cast to nowhere. 

 

All I fish is pretty basic and old school.

 

I fish jigs (skirted jig and craw or chunk or a jig head and worm)/soft plastics(Texas rigged or Carolina rigged or drop shot or weightless)/plugs (crankbaits/poppers/spooks) /minnow baits(Jerkbaits)/vibrating baits(lipless crankbait)/buzzers/spinners/frogs (buzzing and hollow) 99% of the time.

 

Ain't much more old school than that.  I feel that these are pretty well known though.

Creek Chub Pikie Minnow,  Arbogast Hula Dancer,  Heddon Sonic,  Bass Oreno,  Tin Liz (if I still had any),  Johnson Silver Minnow,  River Runt,  Johnsonite Feathered Spoon.

Rapalas… they just work, same with Heddon topwaters.

Spinnerbaits - legendary 

Mepp's in-line spinners.  The Aglia and Squirrel Tail versions will catch just about anything that's worth catching. 

The Cordell Ripplin Redfin was way ahead of its time.  That is one bait I have had custom painted.  Whoops, there I go being a mentor.

@WRB thats cuz we're old school!

 

 

1 hour ago, Columbia Craw said:

The Cordell Ripplin Redfin was way ahead of its time.  That is one bait I have had custom painted.  Whoops, there I go being a mentor.

I need all the help I can get! Thanks.

If, like many of us, you fish plastic worms, spinnerbaits, or top waters, etc, your fishing old school lures.  Almost everything we fish today is the same, or a slight variation of a lure that was invented at least fifty years ago. Today's baits have better hooks, better paint, better skirts etc, but the concept is the same.

All of the above 

 

But the ones that stand out to me…

Black Jitterbug with orange dots

Hula Popper

Mepps anything

Beetle-spins

A plain ol worm 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

Black bucktail, banana head jig with a black Uncle Josh pork eel caught this one in 1976.  Still works today!

Lately I've gone back to beetle spins and spinnerbaits. Just because it's old school the fish don't know that. IMHO.

1 hour ago, Lottabass said:

black Uncle Josh pork eel

Those eels are probably getting a little stiff. 

I ran out of those Uncle Josh pork products a long time ago.  Now I use a plastic stick bait on the back of my hair jigs.

3 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

I ran out of those Uncle Josh pork products a long time ago.  Now I use a plastic stick bait on the back of my hair jigs.

I do to.

There are a few antique stores near me that sell old school baits for dirt cheap.  They also sell collectible, old baits for ridiculous prices, if you want those.  Anyway, I frequently pick something up, especially if it's a color or shape I haven't seen before, or seen in the last 10 years or so at the normal stores.  Anything different, just to have something that the bass haven't seen before. 

 

For whatever reason, I tend to wind up with a lot of Heddon baits.  Some are still available, but neglected, like the Tiny Torpedo and Hellbender.  And some are long discontinued, like the River Runt. 

When I type in vintage fishing lures on Ebay....its the same stuff I was selling when I worked retail.   

Vintage vs antique; antique is over 100 years, vintage over 20 years.

I use a antique lure nearly every outing a jig ‘n “real” pig, everything else is vintage.

Tom