What Fishing Gimmick Did You Fall For?

[Pat Brown]

5 minutes ago, king fisher said:

When I was a kid I had a cheap with a cheap spinning reel, 8 pound mono line, plastic bobbers, split shot, size 10 snelled hooks, and fished from the bank.  I caught multiple species, ate everything I caught and had fun every minute I spent fishing.  I even enjoyed digging the worms I used for bait.

 

I now have enough fishing gear to stock a Bass Pro Shops store, and more on the way.  I can't possibly catch more fish, or have more fun than I did when I was young, so truth be told it is all a gimmick

 

 

 

 

This is basically why I let my son Jake call the shots to this day!

 

Sometimes letting the 12-year-old make decisions for you helps keep the gimmick away and the fun present!

 

A cheat code if you will.

[A-Jay]

2 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

How do you prove that a bait is a gimmick?  How many hours on how many different days on how many different bodies of water does it take?  

I think that's like asking how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop. 

The world may never know.

A-Jay

 

[Jar11591]

@Buzzbaiter I agree about the Pop-R. There is nothing that a Pop-R does that isn’t done better by another popper on the market. Several poppers around the same price that are much better baits than the Pop-R. 
 

Also agree with those that say the Whopper Plopper. If you want to shut down a top water bite that is going strong, toss one of those noisemakers. It caught me hook, line, and sinker several

years ago and now I laugh when I look at the ugly things. Idk how they’ve maintained their spot in my tackle box because I think I’d catch more fish with a Louisville slugger tied to my line. 

[Cuivre]

57 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Slow speed reels for crankbaits. I dont carry enough combos to justify a dedicated crankbait reel . I'm back to a more versatile 7 to 1 ratio reel. 

Yep- I still have my Curado 3.8 in my spare tackle room.  LOL!

[the reel ess]

1 hour ago, Buzzbaiter said:

I hesitate to call them gimmicks, but I can recall a few presentations I put a lot of time into that never ended up working for me. 
 

The first of these is the Rebel Pop-R. Everyone goes on about how great they are, so I spent a lot of time tossing them around. Never got bit. I thought I was just bad with poppers until I picked up a Megabass Pop X. Now I love poppers. I’m convinced that all the legend around the Pop-R is just nostalgia. IMO, a lot of baits still get sold in numbers because of nostalgia. More power to you if you like shaving down lips and doing voodoo rituals to get baits working right; I prefer to pay a hair more for a bait that fishes well out of the box and inspires confidence. 

 

After that, there’s chatterbaits. I really hesitate to call this a gimmick, because they seem to work well for other people. For my purposes, I’d say I put in too much time with them. I haven’t been able to make them produce, so I’ll stick to spinnerbaits and swim jigs. 
 

Most recently was the Goat Toadz. I had a lot of success fishing the Zman Goat in heavily vegetated natural lakes in Florida. A lot of those bites came as I worked the Goat near the surface, so I was excited to try a topwater-specific version of the same bait. However, the Goat Toad had issues staying on the hook. If it encountered a little bit of vegetation, the nose would get pulled down and expose the line tie. I gave up on that bait, though I’m tempted to try it on a screwlock.

I have yet to find any Z Man lure I like. I'm sure they work, but by the time I get to use them, they've melted and are garbage. Same goes for Live Target.

[LootyDjibouti]

7 hours ago, J Francho said:

Rapala DT series

Calling DT's a gimmick are fighting words! 

[Kirtley Howe]

Doug Hannon "The Snake" lure. I have a lot of respect for the man, but that lure was more "snake oil" than anything else.

[J Francho]

2 hours ago, LootyDjibouti said:

Calling DT's a gimmick are fighting words! 

Oh, I'll be more specific. They're poopy junk. 

[Bass Rutten]

That moving to Florida would get me into the double digit club in short order.

[scaleface]

3 hours ago, Kirtley Howe said:

Doug Hannon "The Snake" lure. I have a lot of respect for the man, but that lure was more "snake oil" than anything else.

I have two of those floating snake heads. I dont recall using them.

[Tackleholic]

8 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

 

You have wounded me greatly.

 

 

This was my answer. Caught some schooling jacks on the little greenie sardine one, but nothing on the mullet or pinfish I bought. Very little action in the water, tail thumps but no secondary action at all and they come through the water like a torpedo. They looked good enough to fool me for a few purchases, though. I actually did have a couple of decent days on their prerigged shrimp, but worth the price over a simple DOA? Personally, no.

I agree with most Live Target baits, but I have a box full of their Bluegill crankbaits which have  worked well for me.  Different colors, finishes, and diving depths.

[Functional]

7 hours ago, Buzzbaiter said:

After that, there’s chatterbaits. I really hesitate to call this a gimmick, because they seem to work well for other people. For my purposes, I’d say I put in too much time with them. I haven’t been able to make them produce, so I’ll stick to spinnerbaits and swim jigs.

I struggled with chatterbaits until I downsized to a mini max. I can still probably count on 2 hands how many fish I pulled with a full sized chatterbait but I always have a mini tied on and it's actually responsible for my PB. Makes no sense because a full sized 3/8oz spinner also works. If you havethe will give it a shot.

[Tackleholic]

On 1/6/2025 at 6:57 PM, QUAKEnSHAKE said:

SV spool completely useless feature afaic

Disagree.

[king fisher]

8 hours ago, Buzzbaiter said:

The first of these is the Rebel Pop-R.

That is a nice bass you caught on a Magabass popper that costs over $20.  Here is a couple pictures of bass caught on a $4 Pop R. I have lots of nostalgia for these bass caught in 2023.  I didn't even have to change the hooks on the Rebel.  Good bait for a hair less money.  Every one has their favorite baits, if some one gifts me a Pop Max, I will fish it, but until then I will keep buying the slightly cheaper Rebel.  I hope no one is offended.  My post is meant to be taken as a joke, I sometimes have an odd sense of humor, I have real fighting words for the guy that thinks the Rapala DT series is a gimmick.

  

[F14A-B]

15 hours ago, Reel said:

It's funny how somebody elses gimmicks are another person's staples.  Besides the Ardent reel, the SV spool, the Dancing eel and the Sound Bite, all the other stuff are thing I use every time I go fishing.

The sound bite was that the jig that had a chirping sound? Marketed by Bill Dance?

[Swamp Girl]

18 minutes ago, king fisher said:

I have real fighting words for the guy that thinks the Rapala DT series is a gimmick.

 

Well, then, I have real fighting words for the guy who doesn't think the Rapala DT series is a gimmick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously, I don't even know what the Rapala DT series is, but I'd like to fight @king fisher because then we might have a couple beers and go fishing in...MEXICO!

[F14A-B]

26 minutes ago, king fisher said:

That is a nice bass you caught on a Magabass popper that costs over $20.  Here is a couple pictures of bass caught on a $4 Pop R. I have lots of nostalgia for these bass caught in 2023.  I didn't even have to change the hooks on the Rebel.  Good bait for a hair less money.  Every one has their favorite baits, if some one gifts me a Pop Max, I will fish it, but until then I will keep buying the slightly cheaper Rebel.  I hope no one is offended.  My post is meant to be taken as a joke, I sometimes have an odd sense of humor, I have real fighting words for the guy that thinks the Rapala DT series is a gimmick.

  

The DT is an excellent crank bait designed by David Fritts.. but that lip would just break and break years ago. They seem improved now (lip) my son likes them real well too.

[Smirak]

Anything Googan. They make ok baits, but the hype is all YouTube.

[Bass Rutten]

21 hours ago, Buzzbaiter said:

I used to struggle to get bass on the dropshot rig, until I realized the fish didn’t like when I shook the rod too much. Once I started catching fish with the technique, I gave it up pretty quickly. It’s like fishing cutbait except you occasionally have to remind the bass that the bait is still alive.

My brain is having issues comprehending this sentence 

[Functional]

2 minutes ago, Bass Rutten said:

My brain is having issues comprehending this sentence 

I took it as when he realized you dont put hardly any action into it, he got better success but he was bored of the actual technique since it was just like sitting there and waiting with cut bait. Cant say I really blame him, if I'm not getting paid I'd rather be doing something that I'm active with.

[Bass Rutten]

1 minute ago, Functional said:

I took it as when he realized you dont put hardly any action into it, he got better success but he was bored of the actual technique since it was just like sitting there and waiting with cut bait. Cant say I really blame him, if I'm not getting paid I'd rather be doing something that I'm active with.

I meant that tongue in cheek. I know why some dislike the dropshot, that said I still have a hard time understanding it. If something catches fish easier and more effectively my brain goes "yes, more please" 

[Craig P]

I can’t say I fell for it but I had to prove or possibly disprove it on my own, the endless amount of bass fishing techniques and baits. 

 

These endless techniques and baits force us to kneel to the bait money, the rod & reel monkey and honestly, makes us second guess every second we don’t catch.

 

Find a technique or two you like and roll with it, the fish will come. I promise that!

 

 

 

[lunkerboss923]

BAIT FUEL

[MinDoFmejiA]

I ALMOST fell for the "bfs" trap. I would still like to have atleast one set up even though I know for a fact that I can do the same on spinning gear for WAY CHEAPER.... and yet the bait monkey keeps poking. Every time I have had the chance to invest Into it I talked my self out, and it's getting harder each time.

[Junk Fisherman]

21 hours ago, the reel ess said:

Red hooks. They still sell them.

 

Not a story about red hooks but a red jig. 

 

Last June I was fishing a nearby powerplant lake.  There's a very popular, heavily-fished area there that is about the size 2 football fields.   Every June I do very well in this area pitching shorelines and throwing Neds and dropshots.  So on this day I had been fishing since daylight and had been having a typical good day.  Lots of fishermen and the fish were getting hammered.  It's about 2 PM and I break off a Ned and replace it with one that had been sitting in my boat for a couple years.  I had painted the head a shade of red and the bait was a The Deal TRD but it was stained a little yellow from mixing with another bait.  It was ugly but I didn't have any other ones glued up and I was leaving soon so I gave it a shot.  Within the next 10 minutes I catch 2, 4 lbers in an area I had fished several times already that day.  Those fish are studs for that lake.  Was it the red head?  Was it the odd color?  IDK  I caught a few more smaller fish on the bait and soon thereafter I had to leave.  I didn't fish there any more that summer (water temps get very warm in the summer) but you better believe I'll be using that bait and others similar to it this year.