You’ll hear it said that the plastic worm is the greatest bass fishing lure of all time. I’m not sure that’s true. Regardless, manufacturers consistently try to prove otherwise.
For decades, I’ve monitored the fads. And, while I’m not as heavy of a consumer of fishing lures as I once was, I’m no less addicted. Even with hulking tubs of plastics in my shop, and baits nearly identical in my tackle box, I find myself ordering more gear.
I’ve watched as some lures come through the system and create a stir. But will it last? Remember, hundreds of new lures are released each season. But, as I contemplate and make a list of those baits that truly changed fishing, only a handful remain in the arsenal of most avid anglers.
For me, the lure revolution started with the release of the Slug-O. This was nearly 40 years ago, so, for those of you unfamiliar, the Slug-O can be summed up as the predecessor to every soft-plastic stickbait or jerkbait on the market today.
Until the mid 1980s, the concept of weightless plastic fishing was completely unheard of to most bass anglers. Plastics – worms, craws, even lizards – were fished on the bottom with a lead sinker. Lures that performed in the upper water column consisted strictly of hard jerkbaits, though they weren’t yet given that name. Floating Rapalas, Redfins and a few crude suspenders, featuring treble hooks, were the way to fool weary bass that required a slow approach.
The Slug-O came along, allowing the same tactics in heavy cover. We could throw them right in the brushpiles and weedbeds. My God, it was incredible!
On the heels of the Slug-O came the Fluke, slightly different, softer and better. “Soft Jerkbaits” became a thing, followed by more interest in other tantalizing tactics, like wacky-worm fishing. All of this eventually led to the category’s greatest modification: the revolutionary Senko. Today, the Senko still reigns supreme.
Once we all realized we could fish plastic on or near the top, the industry brought faster, more aggressive tactics. The Zoom Horny Toad started what would later be called “buzz frog” fishing, followed by slight mods and new models.
Again, prior, the only viable option – the hard buzzbait – was simply less efficient than plastic, especially in heavy grass. Today, both options remain, though buzzers have received a modification that has seemed to stick, as anglers now combine them with Horny Toads. Go figure.
With more interest in plastic lures and more experimentation, manufacturers landed on a design that truly changed bass fishing – the plastic tube. It’s hard to say where this all truly started, but most historians credit Bobby Garland and the Gitzit for being the first available commercial tube lure. I remember it being my first. The Gitzit was rigged with special, squarish leadheads inside the lure – new to largemouth anglers but right at home with smallmouth fans. Such rigging fit in on the rocky western waters where the Gitzit was born, but didn’t go over well in the southeast.
Quickly, anglers began to rig tube lures Texas-style, a tactic further publicized and credited for numerous wins by early finesse proponents like Guido Hibdon and Shaw Grigsby, who designed a hook specifically for the purpose. Today, Texas-rig tube fishing has waned greatly in popularity, replaced by a number of other options. Tubes still perform for smallmouth, though they, too, are being replaced by various Ned rigs and ultra-finesse approaches.
Hollow plastics. A subtle difference, but noteworthy. When someone molded a hollow plastic into a swimbait, I thought it was all over but the crying.
Berkley was first to mass-produce the hollow-body swimbait, and it came with a hook and instructions for rigging weedless or as a line-through. Pretty sophisticated for the time. I remember the first time I saw the lure swim. Never before had a bass fishing lure been so realistic. Bass were sure to be suicidal.
BassTrix took over the market. The soft swimbait category still catches a lot of fish, but didn’t change the world. Efficiency has something to do with it, as does the tendency for more anglers to fish deeper, and in conditions that don’t always match swimbait fishing.
Hard swimbaits became the rage, sometimes called wakebaits or glidebaits. The original to all of this was, again, the Cordell Redfin. A small following existed for modified Redfin lures that “waked” just below the surface, swimming seductively. Others saw potential in the jointed, balsa Rapala.
Large jointed lures were hand-carved by manufacturers interested in realism – the first may have been the AC Plug – starting the swimbait revolution that now produces lures priced at several hundred dollars each. Numerous modifications have been made, but the concept remains the same – make something that swims like a fish.
Manufacturers have done well, but could still do better. Here, I think we’ll see more improvements and more incorporation, again, of plastic.
Rigging changes added gas to the fire. Umbrella Rigs truly changed bass fishing, but it was a very specific, niche change. Tournament regulations – now seen by most practical people as laughable – likely held umbrella rigs back in terms of advancement.
Punch rigs are the only way to go in ultra-heavy cover, and have also created their own category.
Finally, ChatterBaits remain the lure that has created the greatest impact in bass fishing during this period. It’s true that, today, more bass anglers have a ChatterBait rigged than any other lure, all across the country.
Few probably have a plastic worm in the same rod locker. Still, some form of soft-plastic exists in all of our fishing, whether it be rigged Texas-style, on a dropshot or, ironically, behind a ChatterBait.
I remain old-school, and still cast a worm on many occasions. Little else has the impact of the familiar tap-tap, as my mind instantly shifts to the other player in the game.
(Joe Balog is the often-outspoken owner of Millennium Promotions, Inc., an agency operating in the fishing and hunting industries. A former Bassmaster Open and EverStart Championship winner, he's best known for his big-water innovations and hardcore fishing style. He's a popular seminar speaker, product designer and author, and is considered one of the most influential smallmouth fishermen of modern times.)
