Yesterday’s Lake Storey report featured a note on the reappearance of an old lure, a 3/8 oz. Stanley “Rainbow” Glimmer Vibra Shaft spinnerbait. Once upon a time a mainstay in my presentations, it was so successful that it came to be known simply by the nickname of “The Blue Glimmer.” In fact, the productivity of the lure garnered it a spot in a batch of 2012 postings detailing what I referred to as “Legendary Lures.” Fooling a few earlier this week got me to reminiscing which typically results in writing as well.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “The Blue Glimmer.”

I first cast this lure over 20 years ago, but I must say that the heyday of the Blue Glimmer started in 1998 and ran through 2003. It was my number one spinnerbait so, of course, with more time in the water it certainly had ample chance to fool some fish. The good thing is that when called upon for duty, it came through like a champ.

And it wasn’t just successful in terms of quantity as a number of quality fish joined the log book along the way. Here are some of the stats from the log and record book.

It has registered seven of my top ten spinnerbait bass catches of all-time.

At one time, it was responsible for my largest May and October bass of all-time (May record stood from 2000 to 2003 while October record lasted from 1998 to 2015).

It still holds my Top Bass mark for Banner Marsh (3-15 on 5/3/2000, pictured above) and Gladstone Lake (2-4 on 10/2/2001).

4/14/1999 saw two four-pounders in one day on Lake Bracken (4-10 and 4-0, pictured above)

10/29/1998 it produced a pair of three-pounders on Lake Storey (3-10 and 3-1)

It also fooled a couple Lake Storey muskies back in October of 1998 (pictured above).

I really can’t recall exactly how or why The Blue Glimmer faded from use but I suspect that it had to do with the fact that this particular bait and color scheme went out of production sometime back in the 2000’s. Got a couple stories on finding a few of these post-production but those will have to wait for another day, perhaps as a revisit of the Legendary Lures series. I will say, however, that having a pair of these baits in unopened packages stashed away likely led to throwing something else considering I only had a limited supply.

Whatever the reasons for leaving this bait behind, all these years later I finally decided to pack those two “brand new” lures along with me during my visit to Lake Storey earlier this week. Just for old times’ sake, and just in case.

A busted blade on this bait brings back The Blue Glimmer

Well, as fate would have it, hauling an 11.5” bass onboard at 7:58am wound up forcing my hand. The second bass on my Terminator spinnerbait in the firetiger pattern managed to flick the upper blade of the tandem spin off and into the drink. Thus, it was time to bring back the old fishing companion. At 8:29am, The Blue Glimmer came through in its return with a 13” (1-1) bass off some sticks in a typically reliable area. The rest of the day would see the lure be the top producer with a total of seven bass and even a bonus crappie.

Still a winner in 2017, multispecies success to boot, Comeback Lure of the Year?

The notes on the Blue Glimmer package I opened are a tale for some other time. 

All in all, a triumphant return to the lineup and likely a starting role the rest of the way in 2017 as it was a very productive fall bait back in the day. It was also fun to discover some notes jotted down on the package of the lure I used .  But that is a story for another day. Talk to you later. Troy