original tube baits

[fish_4_life]

I used to have a kit of tube baits with lead made into the heads. They were the original tube baits made and were sold before I was born(around late 80's and early 90's). My dad gave me a kit when i started fishing. The name was _______ lures but i cannot remember the first name and cannot find them anywhere. Could anybody help me out? I liked the action better than just any old weighted tube bait, so i wanted to find some of them. I think they are still sold in stores, but I don't know about Bass Pro.

[FlyRod]

Originally Posted by fish_4_life

I used to have a kit of tube baits with lead made into the heads. They were the original tube baits made and were sold before I was born(around late 80's and early 90's). My dad gave me a kit when i started fishing. The name was _______ lures but i cannot remember the first name and cannot find them anywhere. Could anybody help me out? I liked the action better than just any old weighted tube bait, so i wanted to find some of them. I think they are still sold in stores, but I don't know about Bass Pro.

PhishPhorLife,

The original tube bait, the fabled Gitzit, was the brainchild of Garry Garland. It was introduced during the 1970s and became an instant legend.
So far as I know, there was never a model with the lead actually molded into the lure but there was (and still is) a leadheaded jig-type hook available that is intended specifically for use with the Gitzit and the many imitations that are on the market. Most users, however, if wanting to fish the tube in a snagless mode, will employ a different means of rigging, usually a Texas Rig.
Here's a link to Canyon Plastics, which manufactures the Gitzit in it's original form so well as later variants, and offers the original weighted hooks as well;

http://www.canyon-plastics.com/

Now you Gotzit!

Your Kindly Uncle Fly

[JB]

Its the Gizit like flyguy mentioned, they still sell them at the Indian Lake Ohio Pro Bass shop, its been the weapon of choice on that lake since the 80s

[FlyRod]

"Weapon of choice" Good one, JB, although my weapon of choice is either an M1A2 Abrams tank or, if a good steed is available..."A horse! A horse! My Kingdom for a horse!" (Richard The Third's last words, according to Willy Shakespeare, anyway.)...the cavalry saber. No matter.

I first fished a Gitzit in an old and sparse stump field at Medina Lake TX, circa the early 80's. Water depth was a fairly steady 8-10 feet until a shelf that dropped to maybe 15 feet. Visibility was perhaps three feet. It was late April or early May, winds very gentle from the SW, and about 3PM under partly cloudy skies.
I was alone in the boat at the time and decided that since no one was looking I'd chance a Gitzit despite thinking the whole business was a hoax.
So, I rigged one with a 1/8 oz-weighted Gitzit hook, and appended it to some #10 Trilene XL. Rod and reel? 6'6" medium light graphite spin rod and the famous old Zebco Cardinal 4 reel (don't be fooled by the Zebco connection, they were made in Sweden by ABU!)
I had dropped a line of four markers in order to define the shelf and began to cast into the 8-10 foot water and high-hop the gadget back, letting it fall on slightly slack line. (After adding some oil of anise to the 'Zit.)
Nothing happened on the first three casts, but on the fourth, as the lure reached the shelf and spiraled down, BAM!
Now, it has been said of ancient old Medina that if a physician told you that you had one week of life left, spend it trying to catch a limit (ten, in those days,) of keeper bass at Medina 'cause it'll seem like ten years.
Within perhaps an hour, I had caught at least fifteen bass, including a couple of Smallies, and had ten legal fish, up to maybe three pounds, in the livewell.
Even in those days I rarely kept a bass. This time, however, I pulled up the TM and fired up the mill (200 OMC). I pointed the bow toward a friend's dock, a mile+ down the lake channel and hauled hiney.
When I pulled up to the dock I blew the horn until he and his spouse came out and walked down to the dock. I showed him the ten keepers and he was amazed...well, so was I.
He asked what I'd caught them on and I handed him the rod, Gitzit still attached. He accused me of lying, saying that there was no way I'd caught those fish on that "Nothing-looking lure."
So, I told him to get his butt in the boat. His lovely bride insisted on coming along. Then our merry little crew whizzed back to the scene of the crime.
Upon arrival, I re-marked the shelf, handed him the rod and coached him as to cast direction and retrieve. On the very first cast...BAM!
He caught a half-dozen bass in no more than 30 minutes, including a very nice keeper Smallie. Then the lady snatched the rod from him and caught three in less than ten casts.
I'm a little embarrassed by what followed. You see, we three then motored to our place to show my child bride-to-be the dozen+ bass in the well. When Mary Ellen wiggled and delightfully jiggled out to the boat in her 'kini and saw those finny beauties, she dipped a perfectly pedicured toe into the livewell and cried "FISH FRYYYYYYYYYYY!". So, after a few Martinis and some application of corn meal we sat down and...sniff...sob...ate the salad. Then...whimper....weep...we ate the hush puppies, home fries, fried okra...and...may God forgive me...the bass.
"Gitzit?" you ask? Well, though I seldom fish a tube nowadays, the memory persists.

FR

[JB]

It sure was the preferred lure in shallow murky lakes like St. Marys and Indian. Back then if you had 1 foot of water clarity it was a good day...Now though, the lakes have really cleared up.