After disappearing from the fishing scene for many years, the Fliptail brand of worms are making a comeback with a rebirth of the popular worm from the days of my youth. While Mann’s was making and selling a whole lot of jelly worms, Fliptail came out with a soft worm that was light-years ahead of its time. The worm was much softer than traditional worms thus making it easier for hooks to penetrate the worm and resulting in better strike to catch ratios. While many of my friends continued using the jelly worms, I made a switch and started beating most of the people I fished with. And that happened on a consistent basis.

    Then someone came out with the curly tail worms and the straight tail worm market virtually disappeared for many years. If it didn’t have a curly tail most of us wouldn’t look at them. Somewhere along the way the Fliptail Worms disappeared like the model T. There were fond memories but that was about all, just memories.

    A couple months ago I got word that the Fliptail brand worms were being brought back and would be back on the market very soon. The once popular brand is once again producing the same soft worms that entice bass into biting, while providing easier hook sets for anglers.

    Mark McDowell of Albemarle, North Carolina has been testing a few of the soft worms and lizards and is having good success and consistently catching bass while fishing behind other folks. A funny thing happened. Seems the bass have become conditioned to the curly tail and u-tail worms and don’t bite them nearly as fast as they do the Fliptail worms. This generation of bass just hasn’t seen anything like the soft pliable jointed Fliptail worms and lizards.

    Now I have yet to try the baits but it won’t be long. While some folks are prone to keeping secrets about new lures, or even old out of date baits, the Fliptail secret is about to get out. In fact, some young anglers are already catching lots of fish on the lures and even catching lunker bass.

    With a history stretching back to the days of the birth of BASS, it’s no wonder Ray Scott recently reminisced about some of the early tournaments. “Some of us think that the first bass ever caught in a BASS tournament may have been caught on a worm by Bill Dance, within a few minutes of the tournament start,” said Ray Scott. Scott and others watched as Dance stopped within sight of the launch and caught his first bass on his first cast. While we can’t say for sure, it is thought by some that the first bass may have been caught on a Fliptail worm.

    One thing I do know is that the Fliptail was around a long time and was a real fish catching bait. And now that it’s back, you can be sure that it will be added to my arsenal of lures very soon! Some say the future is now. If that’s the case then we’re going back to the future with the once popular fish catching worms. Stay tuned for more updates in regard to this old favorite lure. And if you come into contact with a few yourself, let me know how you do.

    Contact  Mike Giles at 601-917-3898

or e-mail him at mikegiles18@comcast.net