A pack of old Soviet lures

[sashkello]

Hi all!

When I was a little kid my grandpa used to take me every now and then to a fishing & hunting store in our town. I still remember how it looked and it was called "Hunter". He would buy something for himself and always asked me to pick a pretty looking lure for myself. I don't think we ever used them, since I never got past worm-and-bobber stage back then and he didn't have health to fix up our old boat. In any case, he died not long ago and I asked my parents to send me his fishing things. I'm planning to use whatever it makes sense to use here in Sydney, and leave some as a memory. There are a few duplicates which I'll probably sell to someone who will be able to use them...

If people more experienced than me can give me an idea what can be used and how, I'll be glad to give them the second live.

For lure geeks out there, vast majority of them seem to be made by Baltika (Балтика) factory, and there are a couple of boxes which say Chaika (Чайка, Seagull); however no any information on the packs apart from "made in St Petersburg" on some of them and "summer lure" subtitles as well.

1. I think these are "spoons", all range from 5 to 9cm in length and are quite light for their size compared to metals I typically use here in the harbour...

 

2. Pack of also spoon-like lures, looks like they belonged in one unopened box, all very light and about 4cm long.

 

Edited June 18 by sashkello
prettier formatting

[sashkello]

3. What looks like spinners. These are quite bigger and heavier than typical Celtas or Mepps I'd use for trout here. I remember we cut pieces of sparkly reflective paper to put on some of these. I think these are for some kind of river fish and I don't know whether they'll work for trout or Murray cod...

 

4. Hardbodies. Big ones are about 7.5cm long. The transparent ones seem to have some kind of popper-like front, yet it's not poppers? Not sure how they'd be used.

 

5. Others. Looks like something for fly fishing maybe? Tiny 1cm thingies, and there are several more of  plain golden, unpainted ladybugs like these.

[wazatherfisherman]

Hi Sashkello everything you've got there would certainly work here in Australia. Great collection. In the top lot of spoons, the 3rd and 4th down from the top are very similar to the famous ABU 'Toby' (Tobis in some countries) which have been widely used here for over 60 years, in both fresh and saltwater. There's another one in the 3rd set (the gold one with red plastic tag) which has been copied by many companies over the years. great lures for Tailor, Salmon etc.

In the 4th set of photo's, the top one is almost identical to the Cotton Cordell 'Little O', which is still one of the best small hardbody lures for Bream- particularly in the Parramatta River. I still have some in 'Crawdad' colour pattern (several tones of brown with an orange chin mark) that we used almost daily when spinning the flats for Bream, Whiting and Flathead. Again, a much copied pattern due to it's success throughout many environments world-wide.

The two clear 'chuggers' with the cut-out face would be great for top-water use, they work in similar fashion to poppers. If you use them, my tip would be to remove the red plastic tags and also fit a set of assist style hooks to the rear. Great looking lure.

The ones I like best are those ladybug's- they look awesome! You could put many of these in a frame on the wall as a tribute to your Grandpa- just a suggestion and thanks for sharing them with us all.

[big Neil]

Hi Sashkello, thank you for sharing your post about your Grandpa and yourself.

I use lures a lot and one thing that I have learned is that fish don't identify lures as anything other than food or a threat. Many of those lures pictured will catch fish for you in Sydney Harbour.

The first thing I would do with them is to take them down to the water and see how they move in the water. Some will work horizontally in the water column and some will work vertically in the water column. Some will probably be able to do both. Once you have information on how they "swim" you should be able to look at where you should use them. Some may be best suited to fishing like they were soft plastic or hard body lures, others may be best suited to being used vertically from the ferry wharves.

It may be beneficial to talk to DerekD and he may even be able to give you more specific advice on each lure.

One thing you should do is start using them. They won't catch anything in a tackle bag. Besides that, you can renew your memory connection with your Grandpa. 

Good luck and keep us all informed of your progress.

bn

[james Cutler]

Great Collection.

[sashkello]

Thanks for your comments, everyone, much appreciated!