Not Your Grandpa's Inline Spinner

When I was a kid, I remember my Great Grandpa telling me stories of fishing for Catfish and Musky on the Fox River in Illinois.  Some of the bait would be frowned upon today and would cause an uprising from PETA.  But in those times, it was as normal as a night crawler.  He used to tell me about some of the old lures they used.  Spoons and spinners.  Simple, flashy, effective.  To this day, though having more advanced engineering, materials, and manufacturing, just as effective.  My best fish have been caught on spinners.

I've always loved inline spinners.  The ones my Great Grandpa told me about, and we have all seen in magazines and on the interweb, are amazing.  Horse hair, a treble hook, a wire, and a hammered-out buffed piece of metal as a spoon.  Sure, lure manufacturers made some.  But in my Great Grandpa's youth, they didn't have the funds or supply chain to get things instantly.  Some made them in their machine sheds on the farm.  But they caught fish.  Without titanium, electronics, power anchors, topo maps, the Internet, etc.

Times change, and of course, society (and the fishing industry) changes with it.  Sometimes we see throwbacks, like bucktail/horsehair jigs being homemade by MLF/Bassmaster pros.  Now manufacturers are making more of those.  We've all used the variety of highly effective inline spinners like Mepps or Rooster Tails.  But every once-in-a-while, someone takes this time-tested design and changes it just enough to make the fish curious.  A hungry, curious, fish seeing an amazing action with a large profile ends up on the deck of my kayak.

I'm not talking about taking a standard plug, putting a flashy pattern on it, having marketing experts put it in fancy packaging, shipping it with an elaborate display to major retailers, and slapping a $30 price tag on it.  I'm talking about taking the effective design of a time-tested lure.  Making it stronger.  Making it present an amazing life-like action in the water, and fixing the things that make us pass over the older versions when browsing through our tackle boxes.  Enter a young man, a fellow Wisconsinite, 7 years of age, who got hooked on (pun intended) making lures and catching fish at the age of 4.  He comes up with this dream, now called the Lovertail 2.

The combination of Alex's amazing sales skills (I have witnessed them first-hand), the build quality, and in-water action of the Lovertail 2 in the water make this lure a hot item.  I happened to stumble across these amazing lures for the first time at a small bait shop called Bite-Me Baitshop in Mondovi, WI.  The beautiful colors and high-quality components of the lure caught my eye.  The owner told me Alex's story and I had to try one of each color.  To say the least, I'm glad I did.

I've since added several to my collection, and plan to add many more.  This year I was extended the honor of being their first pro-staff member.  I believed so much in their products, story, and mission that I had been previously promoting them without ask or expectation of anything in return.  These are truly amazing lures.  Their exploding popularity, expanding to small bait shops around the country, is a testament to that.  I often wait to get their latest-and-greatest lure because they fly off the shelves so quickly!

Initial glance at the Lovertail 2 and you may think its just another spinner.  I assure you it isn't.  These lures are hand-made by Alex, his dad, and friends/family.  They have only the highest quality components.  The skirts are top quality, landing me countless bass and pike with zero signs of wear.  And unlike the inline spinners of old, they are weedless without affecting hookup ratio.  The weedless design actually adds to the action of this lure.

Why do I believe in these lures so much?  The photo evidence is in this article.  Alex is a lure design genius with the support of an amazing family.  He is doing what he loves at an early age.  He creates highly effective, high-quality lures, and he and his family are some of the nicest people you ever meet.  They are doin' it right.  Add JBs FishSauce to their lures and you've got a deadly combination!  Check out James Gang Fishing Lures at http://www.jamesgangfish.com!






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