AN ALLURING TRIP DOWN MUST-HAVE BASS-BAIT MEMORY LANE ( PART 1 ) MLF reporter Rob Newell wonders : “ What ’ s it going to be this year ?”
By Rob Newell
This season marks my 25th year covering bass fishing tournaments as a writer , photographer and obsessed investigator of why fish do what they do . Each year as we enter the season , I have the same question on my mind as I did 25 years ago : What ’ s it going to be this year ? What ’ s going to be the next red-hot , must-have , purchase-at-anycost , get-it-in-every-color , catch-every-fish-in-the-lake lure ?
If you ’ ve fished tournaments for any length of time , you know exactly what I ’ m talking about . Every few years a lure comes along , and for whatever reason , bass in lakes all over the country attack it like they ’ ve never seen a lure before . No matter how awkward , nonreal , unreal or surreal the lure looks , bass will eat them for reasons beyond our comprehension .
Whether it ’ s a new action , vibration , speed , sound , or a new way to present a lure into age-old cover , bass respond so strongly to it that it ’ s truly unexplainable . If you ’ re the first on the bandwagon with the new mousetrap , you can pad your bank account with prize money faster than a Brinks truck could fill it . However , if you ’ re late to the party , you can get left behind even faster .
For some early season fun , I ’ ve reached deep into the fog of my memory bank to recount some of these special must-have lures that have come along over the last 30 years . If you were part of any of these lure rages that swept through the competitive fishing world back then , you can certainly relate . This list is in no particular order , other than somewhat chronological .
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