Lure Scavenging

I love the different seasons of scavenging, and treasure hunting, but one of my favorites is the winter draw down of lakes.  Most of the larger lakes have a time from days and weeks to month long periods where the water is drawn down, and usually it falls in the winter.  When that happens, one can walk the shorelines between the woods and the water and find lures that have been snagged and broken off either below the water surface or in limbs and logs and rocks along the side of the water.  These lures can be cheap and they can also be higher end, but these fall directly into the scope of my love of treasure hunting and scavenging.  

I have spent hours on end walking and looking and filled up my hat and my pockets before with lures I’ve collected.  I even collect the floats with the lead rings around their bases and clip out the lead and throw away the rest.  The lead from those as well as the sinkers and even some spoon lures I use to melt and pour my own jig heads for my crappie fishing.  Some of the bigger lakes have a great deal of tournament pressure and the tournament fishermen sometimes do not have time to go and retrieve lures as would some of the recreational fishermen just taking their time.  Over the years I have amassed quite a collection which I’ve either sold, traded or used for my own fishing.  Sometimes crankbaits will be abandoned, and their hooks will rust away but the baits themselves will still be perfectly useable, sometimes they can be found looking like they were just taken from the pack and placed gently into the water.  Even if the lures are broken sometimes pieces of them can be salvaged to use on other lures that may have missing eye rings or hooks etc. 

This tends to put me out near the water at a time when I like to say “I have the run of the place”  I enjoy being around when nobody else is and I enjoy being around the water because it tends to attract all manner of birds and animals and there is really no telling what sort of fish and driftwood and other treasures may be found besides lures.  I believe God instilled in us some natural affinity to be near water, be it rivers, lakes, or the ocean.  I know I have always felt an attraction to being near and in the water from catching creek minnows to kayaking for crappie.  The water provides so many opportunities.

John 4:14