There are a pile of old school bass lures that have survived decades of pressure and trends — and they still catch fish day in, day out, year round. This video explains why these baits still work, how to rig and fish them, where they shine against pressured fish, and how “forgotten” profiles and actions often outperform the trendy stuff the bass see all day.

Tubes all day everyday. Just snagged me some 3.5” Powerbait smoke w gold flake. Killer on TVA water.

Wait, this is a trend now?

Its been standard fishing 101 for my entire life!

One of the challenges I handed my sons was to pass down to them their grandfather's old tackle box. He's been gone since 2011.

So on a fishing trip I told the boys just bring rods and reels and nothing else and handed them grandad's old tackle box with the challenge to go out and catch fish on all that old stuff found in there.

One of the lures we found in there is called the chain worm. I plan on sharpening the hooks and giving it a try myself.

(Photo borrowed from ebay)

I'm still using 1980's Mann's Mannipulator rubber worms I still have in stock. Point is, I have never stopped using the old lures. No reason to. My old Rapala lures are made of wood. Today's lures are mostly all plastic. Sometimes older is better!

Oh, I still use a lot of these.

I dont buy very many new baits because I have all these old baits that are new to bass. They dont see them.

Devil's Horse is a big fish topwater that gets no love around here.

Zoom's Lizard is Boss. Already getting ready to use them here in my neck of the woods.

Good Fishing

I am never without a Smithwick Devils Horse, Rogue, Cordell Redfin, Johnson Silver Minnow, Rapala #13, or Rattle Trap in my boat. I use these all the time.

And, if I can add three more -

A 4” Salt Craw now made by Yum (formerly made by Gene Larew)

An Arbogast Mudbug

And last but not least a Snagless Sally

They still work great . Fish don’t quit bitting them , Fisherman quit fishing them

Oh man, if you didn't have a lizard and jerkbait/twitchbait at ice out you were going fishless.

I still have a bunch of Slug-Go's I fish with, man are they fun.

The shape of the original Rat-L-Trap is by far one of my biggest producers. I have a bunch of knock-offs that have that shape that are killers.

I would throw the French Fry along with the Centipede

10 hours ago, river-rat said:

An Arbogast Mudbug

This is a great bait early in the year. The natural crawdad caught a lot of big for me. I Lost or broke that bait long ago but still carry one or two in different colors.

@Jigfishn10 - I still have a bag of pumpkinseed centipedes that just came out of the boat. I should put them back in for the tough days. A split shot rig with that on a little gamakatsu hook is a skunk saver. A 4" ring worm was another.

But are you sure that's a rattletrap in your picture? I have traps going back to the early 90's and none have a scale/bumpy finish and all have the dorsal fin. That looks more like a cotton cordell spot (super spot maybe?). I have a few hanging around but always preferred the trap in the same scenario.

1 minute ago, casts_by_fly said:

@Jigfishn10 - I still have a bag of pumpkinseed centipedes that just came out of the boat. I should put them back in for the tough days. A split shot rig with that on a little gamakatsu hook is a skunk saver. A 4" ring worm was another.

Oh crap, I forgot about the 4" ring worm

2 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

But are you sure that's a rattletrap in your picture? I have traps going back to the early 90's and none have a scale/bumpy finish and all have the dorsal fin. That looks more like a cotton cordell spot (super spot maybe?). I have a few hanging around but always preferred the trap in the same scenario.

I think you missed in my post that I have a bunch of knock-offs with the rat-l-trap shape. That pic is a janns netcraft that have brought a lot of grins to my face while reeling in fish

The Redfin and the Original Floating Minnow are two of my best baits. I retrieve them steady, just deep enough so that they don't cause a wake.

Rapala Subwalk Mossback Shiner size XRSB09

A-Jay

I was fishing my favorite big bass lake a few months ago. I started the morning throwing topwater around some flooded bushes and grass. I tried ploppers, buzzbaits, walking baits and poppers. Everything was a bust except, I had some success on a popper with a few dinks and a 7 pound bass. I fished a line of bushes that have been excellent in the past at the current water level, and clarity. I didn't get a bite and opened my box to try a different size popper.

While trying to decide on a popper I noticed an old Devils Horse that I had been keeping in the box for years. I had never tied it on before, but kept it because I always wanted to try one. Usually I only experiment with different lures when the bite is good in order to be able to give the new offering a fair chance at success. Too many times I have tried a new lure when the bite is off and I get a negative belief in the lure that should have been attributed to the location and timing. For some reason I felt it was the right time to try the Devils horse. After all the day was young and I could change it for a popper after a couple of casts if I felt my wild experiment was a failure. I wasn't too concerned about unfairly getting a negative opinion about the Devils Horse, because after all I hadn't thrown it in all of the years I owned it anyway.

First cast I placed it in a perfect pocket next to a willow bush in same line of bushes I had previously tried my popper. I let it sit for awhile then gave it a small jerk. The blades made the amount of noise and splash I had expected, subtle but fishy. Similar to a Torpedo but lower pitched, and ofcourse action on both ends of the lure. After another pause I gave it a much harder pull. Instantly a ten pound plus bass came all the way out of the water and dived on the plug. Unfortunately I did not hook the bass.

I did learn two valuable lessons that day. The first one is not to set the hook at the first sight of a bass blowing up on a topwater. I told myself to wait until I feel the weight of the bass before the hookset. Problem with this lesson is, it is the same one I have been learning for 50 years. I guess you could call me a slow learner.

The second lesson I learned was don't throw a lure in a perfect spot on a lake where DD bass are likely to be with 40 year old rusted, dull, junk hooks. The Devils Horse is an old lure that may work well, but old junk hooks wont.

I didn't fish the Devils Horse any more that day. I didn't want to take the time to find and replace the hooks, and the topwater bite was starting to subside. I got home and was able to fend the Monkey off. I didn't order a dozen new Devils Horse lures, but I did change the hooks on the one I had.

I haven't been able to bass fish since that day, but when I do the Devils Horse will get a place in my starting lineup. I hope the strike was not a fluke, and I will see why Florida anglers still swear by the old horse.

The Manns 20 plus was mentioned in the video. I dont think I ever caught a bass with that one. I still have a few 15 plus but they never caught a lot for me either. I had the 10 plus same thing. Those lures never worked for me. I did have good luck with the Manns Razor Back Pigs both shallow and deep billed. I still have a couple of those that need dusting off.

Sluggos make great bladed jig trailers too. That centipede on a c rig for smallies has done well for me. Of couse, the minus one RIP....