Flashback Baits texas saltwater fishing, texas fishing, wadefishing, wading, bay fishing, speckled trout, redfish, snook, tarpon, texas redfish, texas speckled trout If you've spent much time in tackle shops over the past few years, you've probably heard plenty of reference to gender-specific `Dogs, Wedgetails and Sand Eels. And, although all of these modern baits catch plenty of fish, a number of pros across the Texas coast still reserve a spot in their box for `Old Faithful.' “These baits didn't stop catching fish, we just stopped fishing them,” said Steve Walko of Texas Rattlin' Rig Lures. Walko should know. Despite marketing one of the most recent developments in salt water lures, the Chatter Tube, his affinity for the traditional Texas tout led him to begin marketing this 1970s favorite as well. “I bought out the guy who used to pour the shrimp tails I like to use and we sell tens of thousands of them. I only sell one color - smoke/pepper/chartreuse - but that one shrimp tail has been catching fish for me for 30 years. It's funny, we don't sell them to a lot of people, but those that buy them swear by them and buy a lot of them.” Other pros have continued to use forerunners of some of today's most popular lures. Capt. Eddie Curry, for instance, has stuck to the traditional Heddon Spook - one of the oldest topwater baits on the market - despite the trend to use the newer Super Spook on inshore waters. “I like the plain old Spook,” said Curry. “And, I like it in kind of an odd color - Florida Bass. It works great - especially in the early spring - but it's getting kind of hard to find.” “I still like using the old Rebel Pop R,” said avid angler Shane Wilson, who regular employs the once-popular popper along the Lower Coast. “I've used Pop Rs since I was a kid and have caught a ton of fish on them - in both fresh and salt water.” And, the list goes on. Long-time guide Capt. Steve Ellis says he can't remember a lure that produced more trout than the Ray's Worm, which, incidentally, is marketed today as the Texas Tackle Factory Worm Killer. FLW pro Darrell Walter still labels a weedless gold spoon as his “go-to bait” for redfish in weedy water, while Corpus Christi guide Capt. Don Hand still prefers a broken-back Redfin (CJ5) to virtually any other surface bait, and famed South Texas snook guide Capt. Gilbert Vela rarely leaves the dock without a red and white Cocahoe Minnow tied on. The bottom line is that, while sales of some of these selections may have slowed, their productivity has not. And, although it stills pays to be on the cutting edge of tackle technology, sometimes something old is something new. “I really don't know why not that many people throw shrimp tails anymore,” said Walko. “But, sometimes I think that throwing these old baits, it has been so long since the fish have seen them, that it is really like throwing a brand new bait all over again.” texas saltwater fishing, texas fishing, wadefishing, wading, bay fishing, speckled trout, redfish, snook, tarpon, texas redfish, texas speckled trout