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Posts: 32884
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | What makes a lure 'hot', and what makes a lure's popularity last through the decades? No question the mentioned lures catch muskies. What keeps any lure in your regular rotation?
What will be the hot bait for 2020? |
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Posts: 8774
| I call them "old hats"... What keeps them in rotation is 33.33% comfort, 33.33% confidence, 33.33% Hype.. If there's a fish there, and it's going to eat something I know It will eat this lure... |
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Posts: 253
Location: On the water | I have a Jackpot and Hell Hound. Both are easy to work and have caught many musky for me. I still have both in my rotation of 10 casting baits. Good Luck, Tom |
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Posts: 20211
Location: oswego, il | Some of it is follow the leader. Get some worshipped guides or celebs to catch some big fish market them right and people will pay any amount. I remember a glider with a reputation for follows was not made for a short time and the price of a used one was 3x new. A hot bait is one that has been marketed well. It doesn't necessarily make them the best and by no means bad, there are some great baits out there that get little notoriety. |
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Posts: 32884
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I still love my Weagle, and so do the muskies. I remember holding the fort waiting for delivery at a long ago show....could have sold 3 times as many when they showed up. |
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Posts: 2322
Location: Chisholm, MN | I’ve never caught a fish on a glider or a weagle. I’ve thrown them plenty too. Not sure what my deal is. |
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Posts: 668
Location: mercer wi | My hot baits last couple years have been mepps, suick, pacemaker, and a dawg. Just saying |
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| Kirby Budrow - 12/29/2019 2:34 PM
I’ve never caught a fish on a glider or a weagle. I’ve thrown them plenty too. Not sure what my deal is.
I don't throw gliders very often, but I actually have pretty good success in terms of fish caught to hours thrown. But, it seems like some days I just can't get the right rhythm going and I quit after a short time. I have a Phantom soft tail that works well, despite my poor presentation. That tail seems to do the trick. In the early fall when muskies are up shallow, the Weagle can be a lot of fun. Don't always hook them but it sure moves fish. I think it is the only lure I throw where I have had multiple fish come completely out of the water trying to eat it. Two that I remember missed it by a good foot and made me wonder how often they miss live prey. |
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Location: Sawyer County, WI | I've gotten my share of the "hot" lures over the years, but I usually gravitate back to the old reliables.
The best producers have been a group of old wood pacemakers I picked up about 15 years ago. There's 'something' about them, and they seem to get more action than other lures, including other pacemakers. |
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Posts: 8774
| My two best pacemakers are
1: The front half of the smaller version with the tail from the bigger version (wood) that Ty Sennet made for me a dozen or so years back
and
2: a small pacemaker from ?? that was one of the first of the plastic models.
What seems true for any and all lures IMO is that they never hit their stride until a few fish bust them all up.
Bent wire, crooked blades, chunks of wood missing, shrink wrapped, one eye, hooks ground down, lips beat to hell, cracks in the wood...
The shiny, pretty, perfect paint, out-of-the-box stuff? Useless... 'Ya gotta throw 'em. 'Ya gotta throw 'em until they're half wrecked, and that's when the magic starts happening.
A lure is in it's prime when everyone else in the boat laughs at it. |
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Posts: 20211
Location: oswego, il | Anybody remember the TR Twitcher? They burned a little hot around '02 and the bottom dropped out of their popularity. Still just as good now as it was then. |
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Posts: 1220
| A woman once told me (with some measure of judgemental disdain,) a woman needs a reason to have sex, a man just needs a place. I think a musky and a bait have a similar sort of non-complicated relationship. When they feel like eating, any old bait will do. Women (and lure makers) sort of don’t like hearing that. |
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Posts: 1516
| What about the Odessy Pig? |
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Posts: 716
| To the original question on the HH and Weagle. For me both worked but they were not game changers and did not replace my top lures in their categories...so they faded away. For me getting new lures into a (regular) starting place in the rotation falls in to one of two categories 1. A variation of an existing lure... in which case it has to prove it's better than the "standard" to stick around. 2. A new category of lure ...it simply needs to produce and have a time and situations where it shines better than the current tools we have.
Wildcard for a new bait: it works and is just plain fun to catch them on.
Simple |
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Posts: 724
Location: Southern W.Va. | I love throwing jerkbaits and have not found a place they won't work. Love a couple of old reef hogs that I've had for about 20 years . Love to throw sledges , hellhounds, treats, phantoms, Bobbiebaits, , mantas, and undertakers are among my favorites and have one tied on at all times., Don't leave home without them |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Good to see you back, Mauser. You are a true Jerkbait addict.
I recall when Cowgirls first came out and everybody had to have one. Magic Makers were the same way, I hear. m |
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Posts: 7036
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Thinking of hot baits from the last 15 years ago:
1. Weagle - beat out my jackpots and vipers I was using at the time. Now a staple to the point of probably needing to look at other options.
2. Bulldawgs - now a staple, but I will throw medussas and swimbaits (poseidons and shadzillas)
3. TR Twitcher - never got into it, not sure anyone throws them much anymore.
4. HR Craze - I bought in, had around 30, now down to a dozen, could probably sell half and still be ok for how much I use them. I still catch a few every year on the small hugheys and seem to see a few on big shakers from time to time.
5. Double 10 Craze - now a staple for everyone and I have wayyyy too many to the point of I'm not sure I own any single bladed tails.
6. Bent bladed spinnerbaits - I've caught too many big muskies on these to stop!!!!
7. Pigs - never
8. Whatever that glider was that became the sea cow - used them, loved them, lost 3 aggressive follows when the bait got in the leader....never again!!
9. Triple weighted dive and rise super expensive baits - I'm too cheap, just stuck weights in my suicks and bobbies and do just fine being cheap like I am.
10. Triple Ds - didnt get crazy into the craze, but a regular sized triple D that hangs and doesn't rise is a top 10 anywhere bait now. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | I've noticed single bladed bucktails being promoted as somehow the "hot, new bait" on facebook.. I suppose all the dudes that have gotten into the sport in the last 10 yrs never really threw singles because when they got into it doubles were the craze... now those same guys are being marketed singles as somehow the hot new bait.. kinda funny. |
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Posts: 108
| I think most guys are always looking for a better mousetrap...but the reality is most of the time any mousetrap will do just fine.
I like to try new baits...its fun to experiment with something new...but if it doesn't seem to provide any advantage over my old standby it gets benched. Weagles fit the mold to me for a better zig zag than most since they ride lower and seem to hook up better than a lot of other zig zags.
I never really got into hellhounds...I can't seem to find where they work better than other gliders I like. I guess the best point to make is to fish with what you have the most confidence in...that should provide you the best results.
Brett Waldera |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | I agree with Brett and the better mousetrap. Its difficult to introduce something new these days. Part of a hot bait could be the power of novelty.... Something the fish having seen before which eventually wears off once the lure becomes popular thanks to Marketing. In my opinion, attributes for a better mousetrap often include durability, consistency (repeatability from lure to lure), and hooking percentage. Need to add those qualities to an "old standby" for it to stay a starter. |
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Posts: 661
Location: Roscoe IL | I'll always have a Suick & a Bobby handy. That seems to be my go to bait outside of the Ace Tandem. When it's slow I'm a bait changer and did get my first on the rubber toad in a walleye pattern, of course confidence goes up when you get an interested fish. I'm sure that toad will get more time now..
Early morning and prime time, topwater is a go to for me. Not always but mostly anyway. Most lure fish would be a Suick for me, and the Frankensuick sure did well in Canada for us. We do try to give everything a fair chance, but it's a confidence and feel for the bait deal. Nothing beats a sucker during the cold water period,, for me anyway.
Sometimes nothing feels right when muskie fishing so we will target bass or walleye when that happens. Or just downsize. |
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Location: Neapolitan Chain Of Lakes | I believe what makes a lure hot for me aside from hype and marketing is if I or I saw with my own eyes in person a fish caught on a bait. That triggers me to go buy one or more immediately A) In every color, size, and weight if I caught the fish or B) Buy one in the color, size, and weight that I saw someone else catch one on and then if it works for me refer back to A.
Ah, but what makes the bait's popularity endure thru the decades? That's simple..if it keeps producing!
What keeps a lure in my rotation is as simple as above but I do believe that there are horses for courses and even the same course changes a bit year to year. So you have to try new or different lures every trip to update the rotation. I mean that's half the fun when the action is slow right? (Or try them when the bite is on depending on your view..I would rather have a proven bait on during prime). Weagles and hellhounds work awesome for me but only on certain lakes at certain times and of course that sometimes changes yearly.
But the hot bait for 2020 hopefully is one of the many I concoct over the winter because nothing is more gratifying than surprising and catching a big angry musky on a bait you made yourself! Not to mention you're typically the only one throwing that bait. Now that's hot.
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Posts: 1368
| Hughes River , Ama Bama, and Manta! Never had a Hughes, have 3 or 4 Bama's and have 4 Manta's that the baby Northern
would take a swipe every blue moon.
I'm a Eddie,reef Hawg and Phantom guy. |
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | I have a Weagle that is just messed up ! It's been repainted 3 times and has seen at least 16 hooks !
How about Perka's ? I have 2 out of 6 that always finds fish . |
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Posts: 343
| Never was into weagles, the first Hellhound I bought loved the action but couldn't raise a fish. Not big on throwing any jerks but the second Hellhound I bought is a real fish slayer for river muskies in the cold water. Still my go to lure in cold water river fishing. |
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Posts: 580
| Good topic for discussion.
I still have and throw the first Hell Hound that I bought back when they were the new "hot" bait. Much of its paint is gone since it's covered in teeth marks from nose to tail. I don't throw gliders nearly as much as I used to, but that Hell Hound still remains in my rotation.
Seems that the new baits that get traction and become "hot" are often a function of marketing and promotion, and perhaps it can be as simple as putting the right bait in the hands of a few influential, top guides (who in turn catch a lot of big fish on them and let everyone know about it).
Like many of us, I own hundreds of baits and buy more and more every year. I guess I'm like Brett in that I just think it's fun to try out new lures. But still, there are really only a handful that I use with regularity. E.g., put me on LOTW for a week and I could probably be just fine with bringing only 5-6 baits. Bottom line, I'm not a big believer in such thing as a "magic bait". At certain times on certain waters, maybe.
So, these days, for any new bait to enter and stay in my rotation, it would need to be both innovative (i.e., a different type of "tool" from my old stand-bys) and (obviously) productive. Jlong pretty much nailed the criteria for what I would also consider "productive". |
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Posts: 63
| I've caught big pike (+43") on Spro hard swimbaits and never kept it a secret. A buddy of mine used them at Cliff Lake last year and he raised like 20+ 'skis in 3 days on them. They creek when they get used a bit and the same happens - the squeaking makes 'em better.So, I always have one in my boat. Never seen them marketed for Muskies so I imagine that's why we don't hear more about them. But, I'll never leave without a black Suick or a bucktail either. |
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Posts: 1247
Location: E. Tenn | Matt DeVos - 1/1/2020 1:04 PM
Good topic for discussion.
I still have and throw the first Hell Hound that I bought back when they were the new "hot" bait. Much of its paint is gone since it's covered in teeth marks from nose to tail. I don't throw gliders nearly as much as I used to, but that Hell Hound still remains in my rotation.
That statement makes me wonder if some unique sound, vibe, or action is lost when "new" lure goes from being manufactured in someone's basement to mass production. |
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Posts: 1023
| I think a Weagle is a must have bait. Love them and catch fish for me. It has proven itself to be a staple and not just a hyped bait fad.
The must have overpriced bait fad kills me. I make my own line of soft baits and I would never just fish my own stuff. There is no magic bait but some baits just plain run and fish better than others. My collection consists of proven blades, topwaters, swimbaits, jerkbaits and jigs. I have paid 75 bucks for well made custom baits from friends of mine but the 2-300 dollar baits aren’t my thing. I am too practical/cheap and I have been around long enough to know it’s mostly BS/hype. |
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Posts: 93
| For walk-the-dog topwaters, the 8" Weagle was a good evolution from the Jackpot and Doc. But it was really the 10" Weagle that made the better next step: easier to work and moves more water. Funny how the better lure never got the same attention because the hype effect had passed. Just saying that the amount of attention a lure gets and it's productivity don't necessarily go together.
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