# Drift and cast lures trivia quiz.



## wakina (May 30, 2007)

Here are three very popular drift and cast lures from the late 70's and early
80's. All 3 were exceptional walleye killers. They all came in several colors. 
The bottom one pictured is self identifed. Can you identifiy the top 2 lures?









Derald


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## reel (Dec 15, 2004)

Mepps........................


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## Jim Stedke (Dec 5, 2005)

Reef Runner ( that's the reworked version the original had the wire leader on the nose and was available w/ a top spin)

Tom's Lure predicesor of the Tiny Teaser

Erie Dearie the supposed one that started it all. 

You left out my all time favorite ... The Parrish Pea


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## honey (Oct 13, 2006)

Don't forget the gold nugget!


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## krustydawg (Apr 26, 2004)

The golden nugget and the parrish pea.


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## Fishpro (Apr 6, 2004)

Yep, thats a Reef Runner, and a Tom's. Both will still catch fish, but I still like The Dearies and Parrish better if I'm throwing a weight forward.


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## fishingguy (Jan 5, 2006)

Here's a pic of a couple I made and locally marketed. Sold quite a few. I called them eyestoppers. The head was a do-it mold. The best color was green. Don't have any left.


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## wakina (May 30, 2007)

Had several cards with a dozen REEF RUNNERS on them all brand new in plastic , had at least 1 full card in every color, I even had a card of 12 of the chrome plated ones very hard to get them. Then one night some sticky fingered low-life broke into my garage and sole all of my fishing tackle and tools. Lucky that I had the one in the photo in a small tacle box in the closet in my house or I woudn't have any of the old Reef Runner Lures. The tom's lure and erie dearie were in there also. I will post another pic later with three more oldies.
Never could make that gold nugget or silver nugget work for me. They were very fine lures that caught alot of fish on my boat as long as I wasn't the one using them.
Derald


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## Jim Stedke (Dec 5, 2005)

fishingguy said:


> Here's a pic of a couple I made and locally marketed. Sold quite a few. I called them eyestoppers. The head was a do-it mold. The best color was green. Don't have any left.



OK what was the name of that head design??


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## wakina (May 30, 2007)

Had one of those molds also, we called them Lake Erie Hellions. They worked well most of times and made there debut at the start of the drift and cast era on lake erie. Seems to me that was the late 60's.
Derald


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## Jim Stedke (Dec 5, 2005)

Yep, I also remember them being called "Walleye Princess"


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## Sir Walter (Feb 13, 2009)

Don't forget the Storm Pygmy. They worked great in Mich. waters back in the day. Tom


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## fishingguy (Jan 5, 2006)

The mold was a erie mold I believe. It was a knock off of the stand up jig mold. There was a few people making and selling. I think one year I made something like 2,500 of them. Sold them in bait stores and at the sportmans show. Probably around 1978 or so.


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## wakina (May 30, 2007)

Here is a pic of three more, good luck. They all came out of that small tackle 
box that I had forgotten about, They have been in my closet for a long time.
The bottom one is a kissin cousin to the nuggets, can't remember its name.


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## Jim Stedke (Dec 5, 2005)

I got 'em but I'll let someone else play. The top one kinda had 2 names.


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## capt S (Sep 5, 2007)

the top one is a John-L and the middle one is a pygmy hot-n-tot can't see the bottom one maybe a different angle.


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## wakina (May 30, 2007)

Here is another angle.

















Derald


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## BFG (Mar 29, 2006)

What strange looking lures....oh how I so do not miss that type of fishing...no offense to the traditionalists....


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## wakina (May 30, 2007)

The drift and cast style of fishing came into being when the lake became dirty. It was a god send for everyone, it showed that walleyes do suspend and that they can be caught while they are suspended. In the 1950's when I was a boy, there were no drift&cast fishermen as I recall at least not on a very large scale. Almost all who fished for walleyes trolled. On my dads boat we used what is or was called a trolling triangle, attached to the bottom or short leg would be a bottom bouncer and to the long side a 36" cat gut leader with most generally a u-20 flatfish in frog pattern sweetened up with a nightcrawler. The system was simple, leave out enough line till you touched the bottom lock up the reel and troll with the lure basically witin 2 feet of the bottom. After the drift and cast method became popular there were very few trollers. Now with the lake in much better shape clairity wise the trollers have adapted very well to the suspended walleyes. I consider trolling nothing more than a controlled drift with one exception, that being once you find the depth and pattern the eyes want you can keep your lure in the strike zone forever, that is why trolling is so deadly to day. I still like to drift and cast from time to time. I find it relaxing not to be driving the boat all the time.

Derald


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## Jim Stedke (Dec 5, 2005)

The 2 names I was talking about was Big John & John L (they had to change the name to John L because of legal action by the Mich. Big John Co. Those lures where manufacture in Lima, Oh. 

I'll post the name of the bottom lure (which was made by Hildebrant) later this evening.


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## fishingguy (Jan 5, 2006)

Your memories are better than mine. I remember the lures not the names. I do remember sitting on my outboard, with my shirt pocket full of worms, and working the swing. Seemed like you could catch a fish on every cast with a 5 count. Great days for sure! Usually had 6 on the boat and be back at the dock with 60 fish by 10 or 11 am. I had a 20' Cruisers Inc. (wood) with 115hp merc. at the time. Went out of cooley, West Sister area was usually the destination. Sometimes the gravel pit and shipping channel, later in the summer.


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## jay2k (Dec 21, 2005)

My grandfather used to take the blades of the big johns or dearies and tie his own harnesses in the early 80's. His go to was a gold nugget though. I never did well with one. Reminds me to use the 1/4 ounce dearies in the inland lakes this year!


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## zig-zag (Sep 30, 2008)

The bottom one is a john l but it was taken from a perish pea and that was designed made by one of the best charter capt. On lake erie.


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## Papascott (Apr 22, 2004)

Jon-l is not at the bottom in any pic I see. The only one is on the top and on the left in the other pic. I cannot see how a john l is a copy of a Parrish pea?


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## Jeff65 (Feb 3, 2009)

HEY!! I still have a bunch of those in my boxes, and yes they hit the water every now and again. Granted the conditions have changed over the years in regard to water clarity, but they still catch fish in the right conditions.


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## Jim Stedke (Dec 5, 2005)

wakina said:


> Here is a pic of three more, good luck. They all came out of that small tackle
> box that I had forgotten about, They have been in my closet for a long time.
> The bottom one is a kissin cousin to the nuggets, can't remember its name.


 The bottom one is a Walleye Wizzo by Hildebrandt. It has a Junebug blade which is a stand-off spinner.

Hildebrandt also made a Walleye Whamo, which was the same design except the head was banana shaped (like the Gold Nugget) and available in painted versions.


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## Hetfieldinn (May 17, 2004)

I remember a weight forward that was called an Uncle Tom's Dinner Winner.

Anyone remember those?


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## mach1cj (Apr 11, 2004)

i remember the name Het, but i couldn't tell ya what they looked like.


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## Hetfieldinn (May 17, 2004)

Here are some I found in the basement. Third from the top says Big Jon on the blade. Fourth down says Final Attractor on the blade. Fifth down says Walleye Killer on it, and the bottom one says Walleye Specialties Wally Spin on it..


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## mach1cj (Apr 11, 2004)

wakina said:


> . On my dads boat we used what is or was called a trolling triangle.


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## mach1cj (Apr 11, 2004)

forgot pic, sorry. this is what we used.


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## Jim Stedke (Dec 5, 2005)

Hetfieldinn said:


> I remember a weight forward that was called an Uncle Tom's Dinner Winner.
> 
> Anyone remember those?


The Dinner Winner was one of the few that had a Colorado Blade. The majority had French Blades. And now when blades are discussed, most often the French Blades aren't even mentioned.


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## Imfowl55 (Dec 24, 2005)

found this in my weight forward bag. its not a toms lure but maybe similar?


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## Imfowl55 (Dec 24, 2005)

here are a few more i found ,the top is a mepps lusox 2, 2nd one reads walleye wonder 3 on the blade, 3rd one is somthing we always called a buckeye bugeye, not sure if thats correct and the bottom is a parrish lure we called a horse head, again not sure if thats right


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## wakina (May 30, 2007)

I don't think that is a flat fish, looks more like a brooks reefer (non-jointed version) but not even sure of that. But that sure is the trolling triangle that I was referring to in my earlier post. We almost always caught walleyes (lake erie pickerl) way back then and almost always on the bottom trolling as explained earlier. But there is one particular day that I have never forgotten. We made the trip from East harbor to Niagra Reef, shortly after starting to fish it started to get foggy and it really socked us in, my dad was a die hard fisherman and we stayed instead of heading back when the fog started. The fish really turned on in that thick fog and we were hooking up just a few feet from the boat as we spooled are lines back. I mean real close. It never sank in until years later that we were catching suspended fish, lots of fish all the coolers were full to the top and there were fish on the deck of my dads CruiseAlong there was no limit at that time. Anyhow We ended up at Gull Island Reef, got lost in the fog on the way back in. When the fog lifted there we were just a few yards away from the Island. It used to stick out of the water back then mostly large gravel and stones with pea gravel mixed in. We dodged the bullet that day for sure. I guess the high water and high winds have washed the top off of the Island since then. That was in the mid to late fifties.
Derald


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## BlueMax (Dec 3, 2006)

The Weldon Dinner Winner was my favorite right up there with the Tom's Walleye Lure for drifting in the 80's. I seemed to do better with them than with the Erie Dearie. I was partial to the red/white Dinner winner and a white Tom's.


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## BlueMax (Dec 3, 2006)

Hetfieldinn said:


> I remember a weight forward that was called an Uncle Tom's Dinner Winner.
> 
> Anyone remember those?


I recall the Tom's Walleye Lure and the Weldon Dinner Winner.
I do not remember using an Uncle Tom's Dinner Winner. 
But then there are a few things I do not remember.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

dont forget the good old walleye wonder.


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## johnkfisherman (Oct 6, 2008)

Any of you guys heard of a Mean Green, or a Mellow Yellow? We used to fish with a Captain nickname Bird Man out of the west side of Catawba. Don;t remeber the marina, but he kept his lures handy by piling them up in a tupperware bowl. Not sure if he made them himself or perhaps another Captain up there but they sure did the job in the early 80's!


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