 The
Revival of Old Lures Continued
Shaw Grigsby
EDITOR’S NOTE: Bass wise-up to lures the more
frequently they see them. When anglers buy old lures
and fish them, they quickly discover that the old lures
are catching as many, if not more, bass than they did
when they were new. The reason is that these older lures
are ones that the bass haven’t seen before. Anglers
fishing these old lures have new confidence in the old
ones that win big-money tournaments. We talk this week
with some of the nation’s top pros to learn what
old lures they’re still using and why.
 Shaw
Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, a professional angler
for over 20 years, has his own TV show, “One More
Cast,” on the Outdoor Life Network. He’s
won eight Bassmaster tournaments and finished in the
top 10 numerous times.
“One of my favorite old lures is the Strike King
Spence Scout,” Grigsby reports. “This lure
is an incredibly-versatile, weedless bait with a wide
wobble. When you add all these factors together, you’ll
see that this bait is unique and is one you can fish
under many fishing conditions to catch plenty of bass.
You can run this old lure through logs and trash –
spots where you can’t use standard crankbaits.
And the good news is that this old lure is still on
the market. I was fishing this lure back in the 1970s,
and I still fish it today. Of course, one of the main
reasons I like this lure is because not that many tackle
stores carry it anymore, and most people have forgotten
about its effectiveness. An angler is often like a young
boy who wants to date the new girl in town and forgets
 about
the girls he’s liked and dated for a number of
years. Here’s what usually happens. When a great
bait like the Spence Scout comes along, sales for the
bait will be high, and the number of anglers fishing
this bait is also high. In a year or two after other
new lures are introduced, the fishermen forget about
the old bait, even though it’s still highly-productive.
But, tournament bass fishermen are convinced that if
a lure has caught a lot of bass for fishermen, then
that same lure will continue to catch numbers of bass,
especially if not many fishermen are fishing it.
“The classic TT Spoon and the Barney Spoon has
a bend on the front of it that causes the nose to be
at a 45-degree angle and the back half of the lure to
look like a spoon with a hook. The front half of the
spoon is bent at a 45-degree angle and is creased in
the middle. When you fish this spoon on the surface,
it wobbles back and forth like a snake coming across
the water – actions that have helped me catch
giant stringers of bass with it. I think High Roller
has brought this old spoon back. Most bass anglers don’t
know how to swim a spoon on the surface and catch bass
like we did in the 1960s and 1970s. That old technique
and that spoon are still as deadly effective now as
when it was first developed. I caught tons of bass with
it in the 1970s, and I still use it today. I also enjoy
fishing the Strike King Rocket Shad, which reminds me
a lot of Mann’s Little George. I’m convinced
 the
Rocket Shad is better than the Little George because
it has a safety pin design instead of a tail spinner.
I vertical fish the Rocket Shad in brush, and I cast
it out and retrieve it. If I see schooling bass, I’ll
cast the Rocket Shad out, reel the lure fast, kill the
bait and let it drop through the school of fish. Too,
the Rocket Shad is productive for structure fishing
because you let it fall to the bottom and then rip it
up just as you do a Little George.”
Tomorrow: Larry Nixon
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