In the 70's Burke introduced the DEADLY DUDLY. If you look at the photo attached you'll see that it was not marketed as a top water lure. I bet someone was reeling it in fast and that is where the LUNKERLURE idea started. Other lures Burke introduced were lil Big Dig a soft sponge cored deep diver and a spongelike plastic snake heads and bodies. I caught a bunch of bass on the snake head lure. They were colored snake colors and looked pretty real. Here is a pak of heads that sold for $22 on ebay.

I used to love the Hannon snake baits. Looked very realistic.

I don't even remember that Burke lure.

I had one (deadly Dudley) and never caught a fish on it. Mine was a pale powder green that Burke called Chartreuse. I was living in Houston when lunker lure was introduced. I heard so much about I had to get one. The first time I threw it and saw the racket it made , I was sure I had been screwed out of my cash.
I tried a 1/4 oz and found it hard to get that thing back to the boat without a bream or google eye jumping all over it. Man those were the days when fish hadn't become accustomed to them.

Hannon was big on the snake-type lures, something big and sashaying along, if I remember right. He lived in Florida but caught a crap-ton of 10-pound+ bass during his lifetime. Even with all the great waters down there, catching hundreds of double-digit bass is no small feat.

Yes Doug Hannon made films underwater on how Bass take a lure. One of the first to do that. I think he made those in Crystal Springs. I would dare say Texas is a better or Cali are better places to catch one over ten. The extreme heat keeps many from reaching their potential. I have friends that have caught bass over 15 from Falcom and Rayburn.

Lunker lure for me. I can remember Dad inviting a friend that was a "tournament" angler to our hunting club oxbow lake off the Alabama in the early 80's.
I had never fished with anything other than creme, Mann or culprit worms with a zebco 33.

He came in with 6 different rods and reels with spinner baits, topwater and everything but a work and I was in awe. First time I saw a fish hit the buzz bait, I knew I had to tie one on. Keeping a buzz bait on top with a 33 is tough, but I had fun and caught a lot of fish.

Do y'all remember the Glenn Lau film bigmouth?

I bet your foreams looked like Popeye! dayum LOL

Yes, and he made a second one as well. Glen and Hannon discussed a lot of stuff about fish, filming and so forth. Glen was a former upper Midwest guide who fell in love with Florida's clear waters and fishing, along with the temperatures, and moved there.


Bigmouth video -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaXXCUC-ztw

Bigmouth Forever video -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybopUwSuiS8

Pretty sure Hannon is the one fishing in the second video (Forever). Interesting how you can hear the "whizzzzz" of the casts and "sploop" of the lure. Great acoustics. Also interesting how the bass didn't flinch at the spinnerbait but one gulfed the worm immediately.


Glen also fished and filmed a lot with Homer Circle, who was one of the nicest men ever. They would get to a specific area, discuss what Homer would do with the lures/casts and working the bait, and Glen would be in the water filming the bait and how fish reacted.

Uncle Homer taught us all a lot about bass.

Interesting read on the Deadly Dudley.

I always thought the DD was from Dudley Vandenborre, a well known speckled trout guide just down the road from you, Perch. He's a big name on Ponchartrain, especially the around the east side and twin spans.

I wonder if he bought the original name for his tackle business?

I have all of the Lau videos on vhs. Is there away to covert them to dvd/bluray? And I know google is my friend and I will check after work, haha.

Different spelling of the old lure and Vandenborre's lure, which is indeed a darn fine speck bait. I suspect any old trademark protection on that buzzbait, if there was one, probably expired anyway.

Ahh, the old Lunker Lure that someone mentioned. I've caught truckloads of bass on the black lunker lure buzzbait. We used to hold them out the window of our trucks so that the blade would spin constantly on the wire and wear both the blade hole and the wire down some. Once done, the bait would make a shrill whining sound in the water and would out-fish one straight out of the package by at least a 3-1 margin. Did anyone else ever do this? I'm betting big money that Perch new about this little trick.

Good catch on the spelling.




Absolutely. Held many a chartreuse lunker lure out the window. Good memories!

Also, there were some guys here in NW FL that fished the snake baits way before Doug Hannon ever even thought about it. In fact, I'd be almost willing to bet Doug picked the idea up from them. They would take an old brown cylinder cork, trim it up on the edges so that it was rounded on the front, then take a drill with a 1/32" bit and center punch it. They'd thread the line through the cork and tie it to a 6/0 eagle claw worm hook and a 9-16" worm. Bigger the better. Throw it in the pads and just reel it along. Many monster bass were caught this way back in the early 70's here in the panhandle by the locals back with I was a young kid.

The only problem with hanging a new buzzbait out your window was if you did it too long you could wear the hole thru and it was ruined until you replaced it. I always removed the blades and placed a bead in front of it. This kept the blade from fouling as often. especially if you were in an area that had that fine black moss we called witches hair. Crimping the pop rivet behind the blade so it wouldn't turn also aided it to squeal.

this may interest you 3F. I live in Slidell too.

Dudley Vandenborre passed away on August 6, 2016 at the age of 87 in Slidell, Louisiana. His Deadly Dudley soft plastics are still sold here.

I've removed the skirt from buzzbaits and taped the body to my truck door mirror with the blade up, so it would spin. When it sounded good, done.

My favorite buzzbaits are Boogerman and Reaction Innovations, which I don't believe they make anymore. Have to protect those.