I lost a really nice musky lure yesterday, a big jointed minnow. It was fairly new and I'm sure I purchased it in the last 4-5 years. Unfortunately there were no identifying markings on it at all, so I don't have any idea what to search for to replace it. I wasn't even smart enough to take a picture of it to have that as a starting point.

 

I wish all lure makers would put some sort of model identification on their products, especially big ones like musky baits where's there's plenty of surface to work with. If not the model then at least the brand. I have all kinds of lures that I have no idea who made them, and I'm not talking abut knockoff stuff.

 

I have learned one lesson: from now on whenever I buy a new lure I'm going to take a picture of it in the package so I'll have a reference to know what it is.

This is why I spent a lot of money getting my logo stamped on spinnerbait blades. 

 

Allen 

I feel your pain. But the Bait Monkey does not. So buy several that look familiar until you find the right one and he’ll be one happy simian. 

Lots of musky lures are locally made by hand. Suggest you use a Sharpie pen or vibration engraving pen and identity the lures.ie; Mouldy’s Hawg Wobbler.

Tom

15 minutes ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Lots of musky lures are locally made by hand. Suggest you use a Sharpie pen or vibration engraving pen and identity the lures.ie; Mouldy’s Hawg Wobbler.

Tom

No, this was a large molded hollow plastic lure, like a giant jointed wind cheater minnow. I’ve tried using AI to help me find it but no luck.

58 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

I feel your pain. But the Bait Monkey does not. So buy several that look familiar until you find the right one and he’ll be one happy simian. 

Right now the bait monkey seems to be blind because I’m not finding anything close enough.

Not trying to identify your lost lure, just a suggestion for the lures you have.

Swim Whiz makes a large hollow plastic musky lure but the name is molded into it.

Tom

16 hours ago, Elkins45 said:

No, this was a large molded hollow plastic lure, like a giant jointed wind cheater minnow. I’ve tried using AI to help me find it but no luck.

Right now the bait monkey seems to be blind because I’m not finding anything close enough.

Oh boy, does the Bait Monkey have you bamboozled! That’s his MO. Why buy 2 when 20 will do? 😂

 

 

For $1.50/hour you’d really expect a hologram autograph on there……

On 11/6/2025 at 2:52 PM, Munkin said:

This is why I spent a lot of money getting my logo stamped on spinnerbait blades. 

 

Allen 

That’s a very good idea 

So I just tried something and it worked… if you have a newer iPhone, use the Visual Intelligence feature. It’s the bottom button on the right exterior side of the phone.
 

Press and hold that button, it will vibrate and camera will pop up. Take a photo, then hit search. 
 

I’ve used this for plants many times, and it just recognized my DT series crankbait and Storm Aruku shad down to the specific color. It even nailed the Crush City Mayor small swimbait. However it gave vague results for my berkley spinnerbait. 
 

EDIT: Just re-read that you lost the lure, sorry disregard. 

Diving depths too please.  I've gotten better at guessing based on bill shape and size, but that's after I started writing the range on the bait itself. 

 

Although, I once caught a bass just so he could disagree with me about the numbers on the bait.  

It'd sure make identifying found lures a lot easier, that's for sure.