All-time best "Gimmick" lures 2024

FryDog62 reply :

Okay, I was inspired reading a similar topic on the rod/reel forum and thought there have been some excellent "Gimmick" lures over the years as well.

So I couldn't resist sharing one of my all-time favorites - I have one of the original S.O.B. lures in its original packaging from the 1970's. Stands for "Self Orbiting Bait." You can't make this stuff up ~

From the instruction guide: Connect to your line. "Maneuver the SOB by simply moving your rod tip. Guarantees you will catch more trophy fish because the SOB takes your bait out beyond your best cast. Equipped with its own battery, propeller and rudder. It more than triples your chances of catching more trophy fish. Move your bait across the pond, lake, river or OCEAN in any direction you want. The SOB allows you to fish the opposite shore line even when the land is posted." And my favorite... "Ice fishermen can run the SOB around the hole." (Hours of fun there - eh?)

God bless my grandmother - at the age of nearly 90, she bought this for my father for his birthday years ago as a serious gift for the fisherman who already has everything ~

Who else has some favorite gimmick lures??

EricTheAngler reply :

The baitball series by live target.

tander reply :

That S.O.B. could be a collectors item. If I would had this, I wouldn't even need a boat.

Big C reply :

Gotta be the Banjo Minnow, funny thing is almost everyone has tried one.

Scott F reply :

On 1/21/2016 at 9:48 AM, Big C said:

Gotta be the Banjo Minnow, funny thing is almost everyone has tried one.

What is the gimmick with a nose hooked soft plastic which is what the Banjo Minnow is?

Now the Helicopter lure was a gimmick.

lo n slo reply :

the flying lure

Pondboss16 reply :

Mighty bite lures

gulfcaptain reply :

How about this one.......lol

Big C reply :

On 1/21/2016 at 10:07 AM, Scott F said:

What is the gimmick with a nose hooked soft plastic which is what the Banjo Minnow is?

In itself nothing, it's the hyped up T.V. commercials that has turned it into a "gimmick".

But, for a truly amazing set-up, you guys should try a Helicopter Lure, being trolled by an SOB, tied on a Pocket fishermen.

everythingthatswims reply :

On 1/21/2016 at 10:07 AM, lo n slo said:

the flying lure

My dad has a tray of those hooks from who knows when sitting in our basement. I still haven't found a way to rig anything on them

FryDog62 reply :

"amazing set-up, you guys should try a Helicopter Lure, being trolled by an SOB, tied on a Pocket fishermen."

Now that would be an epic hour long info-mercial that would get watched. Order by midnight and get a free set of Ginsu knives ...!

scaleface reply :

I dont know the name of it but I have a topwater lure that acts like a wind up toy . It has a little plastic tail and when you jerk it a string gets pulled and the tail wiggles back and forth for a few seconds . It should work real well , it would imitate a cicada , I just think after a few fish the tail will break off .

deaknh03 reply :

On 1/21/2016 at 11:57 AM, scaleface said:

I dont know the name of it but I have a topwater lure that acts like a wind up toy . It has a little plastic tail and when you jerk it a string gets pulled and the tail wiggles back and forth for a few seconds . It should work real well , it would imitate a cicada , I just think after a few fish the tail will break off .

Chuck Woolery marketed those..I have a couple different designs.

BaitMonkey1984 reply :

On 1/21/2016 at 10:17 AM, gulfcaptain said:

How about this one.......lol

I would bite that lure all day, every day.

Bluebasser86 reply :

On 1/21/2016 at 9:26 AM, EricTheAngler said:

The baitball series by live target.

This guy is going to disagree with you on that I'm guessing.

http://www.flwfishing.com/news/2016-01-19-texas-angler-boats-state-record-spotted-bass

imagine29028 reply :

On 1/21/2016 at 10:07 AM, lo n slo said:

the flying lure

it catches fish...have some. Its action is just as described. Bought some when I was a kid.

primetime reply :

The Doug Hannon Giant Snake Lures that I believe are still being pushed on his old website. I am quite sure Doug Hannon fished with Live Shiners most of the time and was more of a "study" guy, but I doubt he ever used one of those things. I know he used to preach the long Minnow shape being the most enticing to large bass, mainly the Rapala F-18, but Those things looked like toys.

Also the Guido Hebdon Wood Frog bait that had the diving lip, jointed body, two feet that were like that Swamp Donkey with metal blades attached....We have a few shops around here that end up with the oldest tackle after they buy out mom and pop shops, and some company had a hard plastic frog that had a string with an o ring for a line tie, and as you would cast it, the legs would start to kick and it was motorized...I actually purchased one just to see if it would catch fish in a local pond where they will hit anything, and as it sputtered and did circles, a small gator which I never saw coming crushed it and that was the end of that toy..I think it was Renosky lure, they have had alot of gimmicks over the years, until the chatterbait changed their lives...

smalljaw67 reply :

If the Banjo Minnow would have been sold in 5 packs at Cabela's or Bass Pro Shops they would have been considered revolutionary. The only reason they were a gimmick was because they were sold on an infomercial, the thing works well and it is responsible for teaching a lot of anglers about nose hooking soft plastics. My friend is on the old infomercial, he was at the Eastern Outdoor Show when they shot it and he got a bunch of Banjo Minnows for letting them use his footage. I was also in a tournament when a guy won and that is what he was using but since then we learned that nose hooked flukes and other soft plastics are very effective when nose hooked.

cddan reply :

The Gorilla killa. It was a monster jig from my recollection

Mosster47 reply :

My grandpa ordered the Helicopter Lure when I was a kid. I fished it exclusively for an entire summer and caught..... Absolutely nothing. The only action I ever had was one missed it right at dark when I was using it like a buzz bait.

My dad smoked, a lot. I have four crank baits that look like Joe Camel's head. I fished them quite a bit back in the 90's and...... Never caught anything.

One of my best friends bought the Flying Lure kit. He caught a 7 pounder in a weed line while I was making fun of him for fishing it. He still cruises eBay for them and snatches up all that he can and still fishes them religiously and has a lot of success.

I'm not sure how the Banjo Minnow is a gimmick. It's a soft plastic minnow. If that's a gimmick then what would you call a spinnerbait? Witchcraft?

scaleface reply :

I'll vouch for the Flying lure , at least the little ones .They work just like advertised .

Bankbeater reply :

I have actually caught bass on the Heddon Big Bud.

WIGuide reply :

Mann's has had a few over the years. The vampire spinnerbait with a tunable blade, they made some sort of weedless diving lipless crankbait I believe but I can't find any info on it. They also made an Undulator spinnerbait. Bass Pro had a two piece lure. The front part your line goes through and it floats, the back part is a slow sinking deal. It could work, but I've never thrown it.

Master Bait'r reply :

Oh man, what was the one that "The Other KVD" in the Mystery Tackle Box videos had... Spinnerhelicopterfrogpopperblade or something crazy... I'm way off but I about fell out of my chair laughing when I saw that one haha

the reel ess reply :

On 1/21/2016 at 9:26 AM, EricTheAngler said:

The baitball series by live target.

Exorbitantly overpriced gimmick at that.

roadwarrior reply :

I didn't buy these, but one of my best bud's did: https://www.buymightybite.com/?mid=4546604

Never got a single bite!

Fisher-O-men reply :

This lure was advertised in the back of magazines when I was 10. It was called the Vibra Bat lure. Absolutely worthless!

flyfisher reply :

i bought the banjo minnow and it is a good bait....i also nose hooked more baits because of using that bait.

scaleface reply :

I bought some prerigged , weedless Yum Sweetcheeks swimbaits . They had eyes that rattled and a hole for adding scents . I never did add any scents but they are very good fish catchers . Bass slam them hard . Dont remember the name of them . They didnt sell I guess because they look gimmicky but I would gladly buy more .

Ads7633 reply :

Banjo minnow

Derekbass02 reply :

On 1/22/2016 at 10:01 PM, Master Bait'r said:

Oh man, what was the one that "The Other KVD" in the Mystery Tackle Box videos had... Spinnerhelicopterfrogpopperblade or something crazy... I'm way off but I about fell out of my chair laughing when I saw that one haha

I think it was the fropwaterspinnercrank. I might be wrong though.

Primus reply :

I think the buzzbait is gimmick lure in terms of looking at it out the package and wondering why would they hit that but as most fisherman know they are a very effective bait when used in the right situation .

seyone reply :

mighty bite

cgolf reply :

Banjo Minnow and I would love to run across a clearance sale on them somewhere. My dad had some in his workshop and gave them to me last year, they are going to make great swim jig trailers this year.

FloridaFishinFool reply :

You know I have a lot of respect for Ray Scott founder of B.A.S.S., but over the years I think he has gotten involved with business people who may have used him and his name to make some money or, for all I know it is his own invention, either way, his battery operated lighted soft rubber baits is one of the more unusual I have seen sold...

Some years ago I did some research for one particular tackle manufacturer museum and did some research into patents for rods and reels and even lures and I can tell you there are some really weird lure patents on record, many of which were either never marketed or marketed and did so poorly virtually no one ever heard of them or even remembers them. One day I'll have to do some posting of those patents for some good laughs!

BryanBrown reply :

On 1/21/2016 at 10:07 AM, Scott F said:

What is the gimmick with a nose hooked soft plastic which is what the Banjo Minnow is?

Now the Helicopter lure was a gimmick.

The helicopter lure... I'm guilty of buying those years ago. I was a kid then. LOL

*Hootie reply :

This one is quite different. From my own collection.

Hootie

MIbassyaker reply :

Isn't "all-time best" contrary to the whole idea of something being a gimmick?

I've always been partial to the "Dance's Eel." I still have a 25+ year old original version taking up space in a tackle box. It always looks like it ought to catch fish, I've just never been able to get a fish to agree...

MIbassyaker reply :

On 1/22/2016 at 10:01 PM, Master Bait'r said:

Oh man, what was the one that "The Other KVD" in the Mystery Tackle Box videos had... Spinnerhelicopterfrogpopperblade or something crazy... I'm way off but I about fell out of my chair laughing when I saw that one haha

On 1/29/2016 at 8:11 AM, Derekbass02 said:

I think it was the fropwaterspinnercrank. I might be wrong though.

I would totally fish the fropwaterspinnercrank.

slonezp reply :

On 1/21/2016 at 10:17 AM, gulfcaptain said:

How about this one.......lol

I've got that and a Schlitz spoon to go with it

Jim Drinkwater reply :

Oh this has been fun. A couple more that I didn't see mentioned would be the French Vie Vief minnow and the Bill Plumber Frog. Funny thing is both of these have morphed into present day baits that are very productive. I agree that the Banjo minnow isn't a gimick bait and still use them for certain things but then again Wayne Hockmeyer wasn't trying to build a gimmick he set out to build a better Mann's Sharow or at least a bait that would do the things a shadow could do only better. It was fun watching some of the evolution of the Banjo. What was the name of those worms that would coil and uncoil? Those were kind of out there to me.

SoFloBassFiend reply :