|
|
Article: Thin-Minnow Innovations.(fishing lures)(Brief Article)(Buyers Guide)
- Article from:
- Sports Afield
- Article date:
- June 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Hearst Communications, reprinted with permission of Hearst. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
CRANKBAITS, SPINNERBAITS, soft plastics. In all their incredible sizes, shapes and colors, they almost overshadow a line of more traditional but indispensable lures--thin-minnow imitations. The baitfish look-alikes are excellent in spring and early summer, when the lures match some of the year's first sources of food: slender minnows.
Lauri Rapala is credited with launching the category when he carved a slender version from balsa back in 1936 and tested it with dramatic success on trout in the waters of Lake Paijanne, Finland. The lure mimicked the erratic, wobbling motion of wounded prey, and its fish-catching reputation has since spread around the world. (Even ...