 The
Revival of Old Lures Continued
Larry Nixon
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.
 Larry
Nixon of Bee Branch, Arkansas, one of the most well-known
highly-successful bass anglers in the nation, has won
four Megabucks tournaments, three of those consecutively.
The first professional bass angler to win $1 million
in tournament winnings, Nixon also won the 1983 Bassmaster
Classic, the Bassmaster title of Angler of the Year
twice and seven FLW tournaments.
“I like to fish the old Smithwick Rogue that
Kevin VanDam won the Bassmaster Classic on in 2005,”
Nixon says. “That’s the classic example
of a professional bass fisherman using an old lure to
win a major tournament. I’ve been carrying the
Rogue with me since about 1980, because when I’m
 fishing
on Toledo Bend, at certain times of the year, that particular
bait is better than any other lure you can possibly
use. I actually started fishing the Rogue back in the
late 1970s as a twitch bait and a jerkbait. Since bass
seldom have seen that lure in many years, it’s
highly productive. That lure fits a small niche, but
there’s definitely a time and a place to use it.
In the Bassmaster Classic, that antique lure that Kevin
VanDam still had in his tackle box proved to be the
right lure to make bass bite and produce a $500,000
check for him. If you ever want to make a case for why
to fish old lures, the 2005 Bassmaster Classic proves
the point. Even though the Rapala is still in production,
and many tackle shops still have it, few fishermen know
about this deadly top-water  bait.
This lure is another one that has certain applications
that makes it extremely important to bass anglers. If
you remember when, why and where an old lure worked,
often those old lures can be more effective than some
of the newer lures on the market today. The Heddon Mud
Bug is another old lure I like since I won a Bassmaster
tournament on Lake Millwood with it in 1978. I still
carry that old Mud Bug with me because there are very
few lakes we fish with timber in them that will allow
me to get a crankbait down 6- to 10-feet deep without
getting it hung. But, the old Mud Bug fits that niche.
Bass will eat this bait that resembles a big crawfish
jumping and diving through the brush just as they have
before.”
Tomorrow: More with Larry Nixon
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