Flies are not the only things you can cast with a fly rod. I don't just mean crickets and worms either, though they have their place. A review of the vintage fly rod lures on eBay is an eye opener. There are fly rod Pumpkinseeds, Trout Orenos, Hula Poppers, and more. Many casting lures have fly rod equivalents.

Our fathers and grandfathers did not buy these lures to leave in their tackle boxes so collectors could haggle over them 50 years later. And these were serious fishing tools.With the minimum wage around a dollar, the $1.50 they laid out for these lures was serious money. In 1960 it would buy 5 (yes 5) packs of name brand cigarettes.

Here's a few examples of the highly effective little brothers of some favorite casting lures.


It seems I have learned something about posting pictures here.Till I figured it out, it was exercise in imagination. Not all bad.

The 3 1/2 inch U20 Flatfish still used for salmon dwarfs the 1 inch F2. Both are still in production.


The 4 inch RW Spoon that works so well on Canadian Pike with its RW baby brother. Canadian Brookies like this baby brother.


Looks like the 5/8 ounce Hula Popper could eat this #8 Popper.


What would this be without a Rapala? A 1 inch home made version for bull Bluegills.

All of these baby brothers are effective on trout, panfish, and Bass. They catch a surprising number of larger fish.

These are just examples. The Rebel Tadfry or Yozuri Snap Bean would probably do as well as the home made Rapala. I didn't have a large Tin Liz to pair up with the fly rod model. What casting sized lure would go with a Hildebrand Flicker? There's pork rind, and so on... Have you got any outside the fly box favorites?

PS Though I considered posting this in the Warm Water forum, I rejected the idea. These are not Warm Water lures. You can bet your Trout Oreno on that. Lately I have been reading Gierarch and noting that his articles flow naturally from Bass, to Crappie, to Trout and back again just like the seasons. His version of fly fishing does not discriminate based on water temperature. Therefore, I considered this to be of general interest and posted accordingly.