Top 5 Hardbaits of All Time

[Oktayne the Red]

Seems like that good old Rapala floater never goes out of style. Makes me happy. That 4 3/8" #11 silver minnow has probably caught more fish for me over the years than anything else. Years is the key word there. They've been around so long, it's a simple case of math being on their side.

I remember as a kid, my Dad would always give me the cheap Rebel knockoff. They worked, but I remember it being a whole different world when I started getting/using the real thing. Taught me that throwing lures into trees was a bad thing. No fish in the trees.

My list. Saltwater based, and simplified somewhat, no specific sizes/colors...

OG Rapala floating minnow (been awhile I will admit)
Rapala X-Rap (current go-to hard bait)
Yo-Zuri stuff (3D minnows and such)
Zara Spook (still king of the dog-walkers)
Krocodile spoons (just to mix it up a bit)
Rat-L-Traps, original and Rapala versions (Couldn't leave off list. Sue me.)

Maybe I'll grab a couple of those OG Rapalas and throw them around this weekend.

[MK49]

Seems like that good old Rapala floater never goes out of style. Makes me happy. That 4 3/8" #11 silver minnow has probably caught more fish for me over the years than anything else. Years is the key word there. They've been around so long, it's a simple case of math being on their side.

Yeah, the F11 was something really special. Between 1990 and 1995, I used it about 90% of the time. I don't even know how many fish I caught in those years, probably 4,000+, including my PB a 12 pounder. I even caught 150+ bass with it in one day. It's kind of sad that I stopped using it in the late 90s, just because I stopped using spinning tackle, and it just doesn't cast far enough with baitcasters. And, I started to fish with two guys in the late 90s, and they were hardcore topwater brothers. When I threw jerkbaits, they called me cheater. To them, anything that went under the surface was cheating. Because of that, I used topwater 95% of the time from the late 90s to the mid 2000s. Even in the middle of winter, we used topwater, although we didn't fish much in winter. It was actually pretty surprising that we had some topwater bites in Dec, Jan and Feb. I mean we had only one or two bites a day, if lucky enough, but fish came out of no where, even when we fished deeper water. We just walk the dog without expecting catching fish in winter, then suddenly, a big splash. That was pretty amazing.

Anyway, all I wanted to say was the F11 was/probably still is very special, and I should start using it again.