I have on several occasions considered retiring a lure after I've caught a) numbers, b) a personal best on it. I haven't though. I normally continue to fish the lure until I eventually lose it. I try to fish it more carefully though, not throwing into places I know are more snaggy.

 

I once caught a 6 1/2 pound catfish on a Rapala jointed minnow. The cat tore the rear hook eye out of the body and mangled the line tie eyelet. I retired it obviously because it was damaged, but I kept it until my house burnt down. It was a neat memento of an awesome catch.

 

I think that if I caught a 10 pound bass here in my state, which are not all that common, I'd retire the lure... depending. I have lures that I will only throw where I know I will not lose them, like my Spit'n Image, which my buddy and I have had between us 20 years.

 

What qualifications does everyone else have for retiring a lure? 

I've retired lures and then pulled them out of retirement and retired them again!  I generally save lures attached to special memories or special fish.

I retire lures when there are too damaged, and I mean almost destroyed. If it swim, it can catch hehe. I dont know why but still keep them in the boxes. Later will show you how damaged they are

If I was to ever get a replica I would retire the lure and make it part of the display 

I've retired a few.

 

1/2 oz bladed jig that had the hook bitten in half by a softshell turtle. I keep it hanging in my fishing workspace as a reminder to keep my fingers away from them.

 

A Yo-Zuri Live Bait Shallow Vibe solid body lipless. Retired because I can't find any more of them and I have replaced my silent lipless needs with the Thunderhawk Sergeant.

 

A RES that I caught my at-the-time PB of 8lb 9oz on, still remains the longest bass I've caught, she had a crazy huge head and shoulders so thick I couldn't get my hand around her to land her, it was my dream to catch her prespawn instead of the dead of summer when I did.

 

Two H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shads that I caught my two DDs on. Eventually, I'd like to get replicas made of both fish and have them mounted to a piece of driftwood and have the baits in their mouths.

I’ve retired jointed Rapala too, it caught soooo many fish, but like me it got worn out looking, hahaha. So I benched it and pulled a new out of the bull pen. 
I was ready to retire a small lipless crank, but lost it instead, man…I looked for that lure for hours. 
Like others if I ever catch a double digit, I’d like it mounted with the replica and put on display.

I have no sentimental attachment to baits.  I don’t retire them.  I pass them on.  When I load the boat I leave them laying on the courtesy dock at the launch ramp for someone else to use.

1 hour ago, Jig Man said:

 I pass them on.  When I load the boat I leave them laying on the courtesy dock at the launch ramp for someone else to use.

Very classy 

What a way to pass it on.

I need to let go of old baits.

5 hours ago, AbelG said:

I retire lures when there are too damaged, and I mean almost destroyed. If it swim, it can catch hehe. I dont know why but still keep them in the boxes. Later will show you how damaged they are

This season the dorados almost killed these lures. The only one who pass away is the rapala, they blow up the hook hanger

As in buy, forget, then never use?  Yes hundreds of them lol.

I’m not a sentimental guy for the most part especially when it comes to fishing stuff but, I do have one lure that I’ve kept. I believe it’s a Pad Crasher that I received around 15 years ago when I renewed a subscription to Bassmaster. That frog caught hundreds of fish over the years. I don’t know if it was that particular frog, color, or phase the lake was in over that period of time but I haven’t been able to have as much luck with the many other Pad Crashers I have. I broke off that frog a few times and always managed to get it back no matter what. Over the years, it started to fall apart so before it withered away to nothing I retired it. 

I have several lures ( spoons, hula popper, jitterbug, crazy crawler, etc.) that I had as a kid back in the 1950's, early 1960's that were retired way back then and just kept for sentimental reasons. I pull them out every so often for a trip down memory lane.

 What's even more ironic is I still fish the same lake I used them on back when I was a kid.

This is the only way my baits get "retired".

In this case, my beloved Berkley Canewalker had an unfortunate run in with my kayak's trolling motor on the cast last weekend. RIP to this brave soldier that has fought and won many a battle 😪 The fish don't just bite this bait, they try to kill it.

 

 

When they break, I retire them to the trash bin. 

If by retired lures, you mean the ones that I either throw off, break off or otherwise lose, then YES I retire lures on almost every trip!

Just a couple LC cranks. One, I caught my first over 20" river smallie and the second caught my longest at north of 21.

 

I do have a couple I'll never use. My kids were I think 5 and 7 gave me lures for my birthday. They told me all about the care and effort they put into picking out the most life like lures. It was a moment....

I've retired lures but only by accident.

 

Most people call them snags.

I retire the ones that don't catch fish, and replace them with more expensive ones that don't catch fish.  I learned how to do that from my favorite football team.

I retired just one. It was a F13 Rapala that I cast against a cliff, fishing for smallies. A musky erupted on it and sent my lure back at me, whizzing past my head. The lure was mangled and the wire inside the balsa body had been yanked out, like a lion yanking a spinal column out of a zebra.

Yep, I have retired one crankbait. An H20 Xpress sexy citrus shad squarebill that I caught my current PB and first DD on (10.5lbs)

 

It's currently hanging on my wall from a thumbtack 

I'm careful where I fish the lures are out of production so I don't have to retire them.

I do not, if I don’t use them , I pass them on to others

Only retired one.  It was a Bagley topwater, small tail spin that I caught my first over ten (10-14). It’s the only bass I have mounted and the lure is in its mouth. 
And they haven’t made it in years. 

All my Zoom/WEC cranks.  I don't know if it will stay that way- I'm testing several Black label baits to see if they run the same.  

The only thing that I retired is a buzzbait blade that has a big tooth mark from an alligator.