Until the yearly trips to Canada we fished strictly with live bait, either minnows or nightcrawlers. Sitting on a pier using live bait we caught fish. When my father talked to Norm about the area we were going to fish he said that we could be successful and catch fish continuing to use live bait but that for a chance at really big fish we should use lures. To start us off Norm gave us names of several lures he used. So with a couple of trips to Giant Tiger we put together a tackle box.
Looking back I now know why we were not successful that first year. While we did catch some fish it was not what my father expected. We went from stationary fishing from a pier to a boat. We also did not have a good grasp of fishing around structure. And finally, even though we had lures that someone said would work we didn’t know how to fish them. We experimented with all types of retrieves but I don’t believe we caught anything on a lure that first year.
The setup that did save the first trip was using a worm harness. The fish we did catch were caught using this simple rig. A worm harness is a rig that uses three single hooks spaces about 2”-3” apart all connected with a piece of monofilament. At the top of the rig was a small spinner with red beads. Attach one nightcrawler over the three hooks and you are ready to fish. This setup caught walleye and bass either drifting or trolling. Talk about being in a comfort zone.
It wasn’t until the second year that I caught a 36” muskie using a Mepps bucktail spinner. I truly believe catching that fish kept us coming back. Had we not caught it I sensed my father was ready to give up on this location. While he enjoyed being there, taking a peaceful two week break from his work he wanted to catch some big fish.
A few weeks ago I pulled that old tackle box out and was surprised how many lures we accumulated from those six years, almost all of them are now 50 years old. We eventually did catch fish using them but the best producer was still the worm harness. Here are a few pictures to share. The sign of a good product is longevity. These lures are still being produced today.
Heddon Crazy Crawler – This is a 50 year topwater lure that has two wings
that open up when retrieved creating a disturbance that attracts fish.
Rapala – This lure sits on the surface of the water when not retrieved and dives
below when retrieved. Rapala makes many more popular lures for surface and
subsurface fishing. The one pictured is 50 years old and has a broken lip.
Arbogast Jitterbug – This is a topwater lure that creates a disturbance on the surface
when retrieved. It is the first lure that we purchased for the Canadian trip.
Arbogast still manufactures this lure.
Musky Bucktail Spinner – This is the largest lure we threw. It is approximately 7”
in length.The material used to make the bucktail is past its useful life.
Touch it and it just falls apart.
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