Bass pro Pete Ponds of Madison has an urgent request for readers of Mississippi Sportsman magazine.
“Please, anybody, if you have any leads on an old lure made in Hueytown, Ala., back in the 80s called a Buck’s Top-Striper, I’ll buy every one you can find,” said Ponds. “I’m online (facebook.com/pondsbassman); just get in touch.”
Why the urgency?
“I’ve got only six of them left and, listen to me now, those things catch fish,” Ponds said. “I’ve even got one in the original package with the phone number and the address. About 15 or 20 years ago, I tracked the people down and found out the man who owned the company and made the lure was in the hospital and he soon died.
“But I was able to buy the last three cards, with about 12 to 15 per card, that his family could find. Those 30 or 40 have slowly dwindled to the six I have left. I want more. I need more.”
The Top-Striper is a simple design, a cylindrical plastic jig with a feather molded into the plastic with a single hook. Its simplicity belies its effectiveness.
“The neutral buoyancy was the key,” said Ponds. “I tied it under a Styrofoam standard popping cork, weighted, because I could sling that thing a mile. When fish are surface feeding, I could put the boat way away from them and cast beyond them. When I brought that thing through there, popping that cork, they’d kill it. They still do today.
“Man, I love those old lures. Get the word out there and who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky.”
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