Fred Arbogast was a great lure designer. His vintage lures are in many tackle boxes. They were designed to get the attention of Big Fish. Many of the old vintage lures handed down to me have several huge bite marks in them. This is proof that Jaws clamped down on them.
Some of my best fishing memories are from fishing with my dad, late at night in local farm ponds and rivers.
Most anglers used these large plugs for pike and bass. I also have had great success using them for trout. My favorite is the smaller, 1 ½ – 2-inch black versions. These make perfect night fishing attractions that HUGE Brown trout can’t resist.
I once targeted a Huge brown trout that was in a back etty below a dam. He was always facing the wrong way. You could cast near him, but the retrieve was always wrong. On several occasions, I watched him explode on surface critters that must have fallen into his backwards feeding spot.
There had to be a way to drift something into this hotspot. I took my black Jitterbug and lightly attached it to a flat piece of wood. I was able to float the loaded raft close enough so that the current carried it into the back etty. It took a few attempts but when it was in the right position, I twitched the Jitterbug off the wood and gave it a bit of action.
Wham, Bam, I was into a big brown. Apparently, this trout got big feeding on mice and small rodents that fell off the dam. That is what was in his fat belly when I cleaned him. At the time, this fish was a personal best around 24 inches long with a big, hooked jaw.
This trick has also works well with bass at night. These big lures came in several colors, but black was my go to color. This color was more visible at night, when the big fish fed. The Tiny Torpedo was my third best choice. This simple lure had propellers on it so that it made plenty of noise.
On a midnight trip on the Potomac River, I was casting toward the shore from a boat with my dad. On one cast, the Tiny Torpedo never hit the water. My dad was sure that I had thrown it into the trees, but the rod was bending and moving. After an airborne battle, I reeled in a huge BAT! The torpedo blades must have imitated the buzzing wings of an insect. We netted the winged rodent, which was a mistake, and used pliers to remove the hooks. Now the bat was wrapped in the net so badly that we had to cut it up.
The sharp treble hooks on the old vintage lures were made to hook bigguns, even the ones with wings!
Montana Grant
