Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Ok, I'll start right off by admitting my darkest secrets...  I bought the Banjo Minnow Kit about 10 years ago.  And someone bought me a Helocopter Lure Kit 6 or 7 years ago and I fished it a bunch and never caught a fish on those stupid looking things. 

Gull-a-bull.

Helicopter Lures
Flying Lures
Banjo Minnow
And something called the Dragon that i bought from a guy at the old Fishing Show they had at the Palace years ago.  I think i was 14.  I think it was an early version of todays chatterbait.  But i never caught anything on it.  And still it was my favorite lure at the time.

PoorBoy himself :-\'

i have been fortunate enough to receive the revolutionary helicopter lure this past Christmas from my daughter  :(.  so according to her i will be winning with that this year  :(  looking forward to adding it in as a go to bait  :(  better than a new tie  :(  why am i frowning  :(  kids you gotta love 'em.. :D

Yep, I got the helicopter lure kit as a gift from a very proud Aunt a few years ago.  It was tough to hold back the laughter but I managed. 

My worst purchases were baitcasters when I had an extrememly limited budget.  I learned real fast that you can get by with a $20 spinning reel, but a $40 baitcaster is a huge waste of money.  Man was I disappointed after saving up twice as much as I normally spent on my spinning reels, to get a reel "to fish like the pros."  Only to get non-stop backlashes, inconsistent breaking control, screaming bearings(or most likely bushings) and 30ft maximum casts with 1/2oz lures.

 i had to put other, the dancin' eel.....other than that, never was a 'gimmick' buyer of lures. i did have a friend that gave me some flyin' lures the larger ones. kinda worked cool for under docks. same guy uses the banjo hook-up w/a frog for slop fishin', does catch fish.

Now that I think of it a friend of mine gave me a flying lure kit about 10 years or so ago.  I'll have to add that one to the list.

Dance's Eel - but I actually caught 1 or 2 bass on it so long ago, I can barely remember any details. I still have a few Flying Lures somewhere, but I did buy them in a grab bag or bargain bin somewhere.

Bill Dance was the main drive behind most bait purchases in my younger years.  I bought the eel, another snake imitator, the strike king Pork-O, etc... Every saturday morning I added another gotta have bait to the list in the quest to catch nothing but 4+ pound largemouths every other cast.  It took me about 4 years of this to realize he was fishing the same lakes every week and then realized they were stock ponds.

I see noone wants to admit to the Zip Lure...

Other...I can't think of the name of it, but it was a minnow bait that vibrated every second or two to simulate a struggling minnow.  It was a joke...

I bought the banjo minnow after about the 100th time I saw the infomercial.  I actually caught a lot of fish on them in the spring, but $40 for soft plastic jerkbaits, don't think so.  Sold the what I had left on ebay a few years back.  Someone actually bought them!!
-Matt

ALRIGHT!!!! You got me I always try out those stupid thing because of one reason the BANJO's
DO WORK!!!!!!!!!! I have actually caught some of my biggest fish on those things. I have used them in recent years and so they do work but those darn zip lures are the biggest waste of money and time I have ever seen. So there is my stupid things I have bought. I also got these swimming fish they kinda look like lucky crafts but not as good. BUT yeah sucker for those gemics.

I have several of the Joe Camel crankbaits and have yet to catch a fish on one.

I bought a budweiser topwater plug that lights up and flashes every few seconds - it was more of a joke at the time ,but on those slow days.....hmmmm - never caught anything on it before getting hung up in a brush pile someplace in ky lake - if anyof you see it this may, remember where you heard about it.

Also bought a pocket fisherman for my golf bag many years ago - caught alot of barely keepers, but no hawgs on it.   Boy, I am not sure what ever happened to it, but for what they are going for these days, wish I had it back.  Ron popeil - my hero!

i have a john deere spinnerbait & rattletrap that i still use. something abt that john deere green for cloudy overcast days. picked those up at their sovenoir shop when i was doing a job at their factory many years ago.

Anybody ever use the 'Cobra' crankbait the had a big cobra head on one end and smaller tail on the other? You could hook your line to either end for a medium diver or shallow diver...

I never bought any of the mentioned baits, but there is one spinnerbait that i bought that the lead head on it was formed in the shape of a, well let me say it is the shape of a portion of the male anatomy. It was painted pink on the tip. I caught alot of bass on it mostly females. I got alot of smiles when people would ask what i caught those fish on.

a couple more came to mind last night.

How about the topwater frog that 'croaked' when it was in the water.  Remember, it had the two little metal sensors on the bottom and would activate when it was wet?  I never actually caught anything on this little treat.  But one night while fishing on Duck Lake in Highland, MI i had a massive blowup on it.  It was pitch black and i could barely see the lure when all of a sudden a fish exploded on it.  I missed the fish.  Figures.

And how about the Culprit Sticky Worm?  A 6" ribbon tail worm with a small patch of velcro fused into the bottom.  I caught a ton of fish on that one.  Purple and Red shad were the colors.  I bet i still have some of those in my parents garage.

Anyone remember the name of the snake bait that had the rattle chamber in the tail.  It came with small ball shapped rattles.  That was another one i used quite a bit when i was a kid. 

Man, this is a great thread.  Bringing back so many memories.

PoorBoy himself :-\'

I never bought the banjo minnow, but Babe Winkelman swears by em..
Why I've seen videos of him catching Pike in Canada with them.

I borrowed one once and caught a couple of Bass on it.

But, the one I did purchase was the Flying Lure.  I bought into the whole infomercial thing, and bought the kit.

I'm glad somebody mentioned these, because I'll be bringing these to the swap meet.

I have the zip lures *hanges head*