TREASURES OR TRASH

[Bud Kennedy]

Treasures or Trash

A recent post by Wizard about the Ozark Woodchopper lure got me to think about some of the tackle that I acquired a long time ago.  I know I have some Woodchoppers but not the Ozark variety.

On this hot and humid Sunday, I started to think about where some of these old treasures might be.  You see, I have stuff stashed all over the place.  Some is here in my man room tucked safely away in my two old Plano tackle boxes and of course boxes upon boxes of stuff someplace in the garage.  Last evening I just had to dig out the Plano tackle boxes to see what they contained. 

The boxes here in my room appear to be from the time when we were living in New England.  I had forgotten just how many tube lures I had.  While many are still in the original packages some were neatly separated and placed in the compartments.  Surprising just how good there condition is after three + decades.  Along with the lures were multiple packages of jig style heads in a variety of sizes but mostly very light.  In those days I fished a lot of ultra light stuff.  I even found several packages of Culprit worms in my favorite red and black color.  These were a staple for me in those days.  I even found some ribbon tale worms that must only be about 3.5" in total length.  I did not remember these at all.  Must be a forerunner to the trd product that is so popular today.  I am amazed how small the products I used in those days were.  Smallmouth in New England did like the smaller stuff on very light mono line.  While this was entertaining, I just had to see what was in the other Plano tackle box.

Box number two is a much larger deal that opened on the top presenting two sides of compartments.  This box had a bit different mix of tackle.  Surely the Woodchoppers would be in this one.  Unfortunately that was not the case so the Woodchoppers are still not located.   I guess they must be stashed away in the garage.  Box two did contain a few unexpected items.  During the time I would have used this box we took many trips into Canadian waters and the baits in box two reflected this quite clearly.  I found some wire leaders for those infamous toothy critters and of course a nice assortment of Daredevil spoons.  Most of the spoons had seen some action and showed signs of being chewed on by some pretty mean critters.  This box contained a number of packages of barbless hooks that were mandated by Ontario Provincial laws.  Trips into Canada always required a change to the barbless hooks.  Heck there was even a new in package Flatfish lure that also was a go to in those Canadian waters.

If there was a surprise in this box it was the discovery of quite a number of Johnson spoons.  To tell you the truth I don't remember using these since I was a kid in Ohio over 60 years ago.  They are in remarkable condition and of course multiple sizes were present.  I even had one that was a black chrome color.  I don't know if it is a Johnson but it sure looks like one.

[Mike Cork]

As a kid I always loved digging through my grandpa's stuff, the stuff he'd forgotten about. Mostly because he'd let me have it if I liked it. Now I'm the grandpa and the kids are always digging in my stuff. We've come across some real treasures, if only to me because of the memories, these baits are invaluable. I try to pass them on with the biggest fish story I can in hopes that my grand kids will treasure it as well.