MAGIC LURES AND SECRET BAITS FOR BASS
How Long Do Magic Lures Last?
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: Thousands of dollars are made each year by lure
manufacturers who believe they have produced such a
lure. Many anglers swear by baits they claim will produce
bass under any weather or water conditions. Even though
pro fishermen won't admit to having magic baits, they
do use the words, confidence lures, to describe these
baits instead of the word, magic. But what causes a
lure to be magical? How do you find and use a magic
lure? How long does a magic lure's spellbinding characteristics
last? Can you make any lure in your tackle box magic?
Let's find out this week.
For fishing-tackle manufacturers to remain in business,
they must come to the marketplace with new lures every
year. Each manufacturer is hoping that in his array
of new products will be one magic lure that catches
the eyes of anglers, consistently takes  numbers
of bass as well as big bass and spells tremendous profits
for him. A fishing-tackle company's most-magical lures
are those that catch plenty of fishermen over a long
time. Many of the hottest lures in America fade into
obscurity after only a two or three year run. These
baits haven't lost their magic but just their magicians.
For example, the Pop-R made by Rebel was a very effective,
plunker-type, top-water lure. But then the minnow kinds
of baits and buzzbaits splashed onto the fishing scene
and created such a furor, and the Pop-R all but vanished
from anglers' boxes. But today some professional fishermen
use their old Pop-Rs from the bottoms of their tackle
boxes to fish them around aquatic vegetation that's
fast inundating many of the lakes in the East. The old
magic is still in the lure. The old Pop-R, which without
any changes, has been rediscovered as the new Pop-R,
and has become one of the hottest top-water lures on
the market.
The Rat-L-Trap was one of the first rattling baits
to be produced. Although it was popular  following
its introduction, the Rat-L-Trap faded into the background
after a couple of years as newer, more-innovative, rattling
lures were introduced. However, once again the pro fisherman
dug into his tackle box and discovered the Rat-L-trap
could be fished around aquatic vegetation, could be
utilized to prospect on points for bass and could be
fished quickly down a bank to locate schools of fish
that might have taken hours to find with a lure he had
to fish slower. The Rat-L-Trap experienced a revival
and became known as one of today's magic lures.
When I was in elementary school, my father fished the
muskie Jitterbug on a steel rod with Dacron line and
a baitcasting reel. But because the lure was big and
heavy and not much fun to fish, it faded into obscurity.
However, the late L.J. Brasher of Opelika, Alabama,
and a few other trophy-bass fishermen who prowled farm
ponds and lakes in south Georgia and north Florida hunting
bass at night proved that the old muskie Jitterbug regularly
would call trophy bass at night just as it did 50-years
ago. What we've learned about magic lures is  that
often the old baits that have made bass magic for our
fathers and even our grandfathers can produce large
numbers of bass today, if a new magician will but pick
them up and use them.
A confidence lure in many tackle boxes that charms
bass is the crankbait. But like most tricks, the magic
isn't in the lure but in the magician himself. If you
crash a crankbait into heavy cover where few other anglers
throw it, let the lure bounce off limbs and brush and
then allow the crankbait to float up as though it is
injured, bass will attack so quickly, you soon will
be convinced the crankbait with a bouncing/floating
action is magic.
TOMORROW: HOW CAN YOU MAKE
ANY LURE IN YOUR TACKLE BOX MAGIC?
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