The Jitterbug

My last post got me thinking about the lures and other gear I used when I started fishing. I learned a lot about fishing from my neighborhood friends father who would take us out to the pond on the summer evenings with him. One of the lures he always caught big bass on was the Jitterbug. Needless to say after watching him catch a number of large fish on this lure it didn’t take long for Jitterbugs to start filling up my little tackle box. Fishing with a topwater is a great way to catch fish. I know I caught fish on this lure but none really come jumping back to my memory.

Some 20 years after I got my Jitterbugs they are still taking up space in my topwater tackle box. At this point they are not something I have confidence to catch fish with. It is amazing how confidence will keep some lures on your line all the time and other lures never see the light of day because of it. This past fall my friends father passed away. My goal coming up this season is to pull those Jitterbugs out of the box and get them wet again and catch one for him. I don’t live near the pond anymore and I’m not even sure it’s still there. The area got developed after we moved away and the field the pond was in now has a giant warehouse.

My home lake obviously doesn’t fish the same way that pond used to. The water is very clear and may even have more smallmouth than largemouth but hopefully I can get one to take the chance on the Jitterbug. I can picture it in my head so I’m confident it’s going to happen. Do you have old lures in your tackle box that you used to catch them on but don’t throw anymore? Hopefully we can all be inspired to pull those lures out when the moment is right and relive some of those early moments of our fishing day. – Michael