Capt. Mel Berman, Who can be heard on 970-WFLA & 620-WDAE, wrote a great article on the Old verses New in artificials. Here are some excerpts.

I believe those old lures we used years ago, which caught the bejeebers out of fish then, would do a yeoman's job today. Why not? Fish are fish. They respond today exactly as they did some 30-years ago when I first arrived in the Sunshine State.

Granted, we all use the latest fishing sensations such as the Old Bayside and DOA Shrimp, smelly baits like Mr. Twister "Exude" and Berkley Gulp offerings, plus a host of other new concept lures that are most certainly very accomplished fish catchers. Yet I wonder if I flung those old goodies like the "Trout Tout," "Salty Dog," and all sorts of bucktail jigs I used decades ago, would they still be as good fish catchers as today's latest whiz-bangs.

Years ago my friend Capt. Lee Edrington introduced me to an innocuous looking jig called "The Sure Thing." It was a sort of shrimp shaped body on a specially designed jig head that was easy enough to work. Lee's favorite color was "Smoke" - a dull-looking gray. Working that bait around our secret spots of that era, I can recall reeling in big snook, one after another, on that plain looking jig.

Talk to any old timer and they will tell tails of wonderfully productive days fishing with plugs like the venerable Zara Spook, Cisco Kid, Maverick, or Dalton Special. They spoke with such reverence about those old favorites that it makes one wonder why they ever gave them up.

Now how about planning a trip, as I intend to do, working only my old favorite "throwback" lures. You know - the ones that worked so effectively those many years ago. Bet it's going to be fun to see what happens. Bet you catch just as many fish.

Read the rest of the article here.

Have you had any good luck with an old standby?


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