I’ve previously written about some of the lures that every old-timer on the Potomac River had placed on their deck, as well as a very special river buzzbait that’s no longer made. I may have also been the one to introduce the concept of “spongeworthiness” to fishing, but now I’m going to take it one step further. I’m going to meld those past columns and describe three Potomac River killers that are in short supply – at least in my boat and my garage.

As every serious fisherman knows, the second you find a lure that outproduces everything else in its class, the manufacturer is likely to discontinue it for one reason or another. If you don’t buy ridiculous numbers of them at that time – perhaps more than you could use in multiple lifespans – you’re likely doomed to a series of “what if,” endless eBay excursions, and unproductive trips to tackle shops across the four corners of the earth.

In addition to the staples that I’ve identified before, there are at least three more lures that are always in my boat when I launch it on the Potomac. Two of them get plenty of use elsewhere, too, but it’s my home waters where they shine for me most. Here are there stories.

I was introduced to the Berkley 4-inch Power Pulse Worm by my friend Steve Zajkowsky, who passed away well over a decade ago, so I can’t exactly put a finger on when he first showed them to me. I do remember that it was early June in Quantico Creek off the Potomac, and he was crushing big bass with a blue fleck Pulse Worm on a series of laydowns. I might’ve been distracted by the fact that he was pushing the boat in tight to the laydowns, and every one of them seemed to have one to three menacing snakes on it, but it was also the lure. With a 3/16 ounce bullet weight, they zipped into the shallow cover and got bit more often than not. I later had greater success with this worm in junebug as opposed to blue fleck (as well as pumpkin with a chartreuse tail) but the bottom line was that they consistently produced better than any other zipper-type or ringworm for me. Then they were discontinued.

Team Supreme discontinued Imperial Riot buzzbaits

I started buying Jewel jigs from the Sportsman’s Center Marine Shop right outside of Leesylvania State Park in the mid-1990s, and when the owner moved his shop I looked for another source. I found them in an outfit called “Team Supreme” out of the Midwest. They also carried a bunch of other house-brand lures, including their “Imperial Rampage” and “Imperial Riot” buzzbaits. The quarter-ounce model in particular was a terror for me. It casts extremely well, runs true out of the package, skips over the grass extremely well, and has a fantastic hookup rate. They also continued to run right for a long time. I bought a bunch, but not quite enough. Then Team Supreme’s owner, Nevin Gillette, was sentenced to 132 months in prison on charges of wire fraud and mail fraud with respect to a Ponzi scheme he had run. At that point the buzzbaits (they also made one with a two-toned gold-silver blade) became very hard to find, so I’m babying my stash.

While the Lobina Lures Rico is my all-time favorite popper, there are times when the bass around here want something a little more subtle. That’s when I learned to sub in the Yamamoto Sugoi Splash, made by a third party for the company I’ve written for since 2005. I bought a bunch of them, but should have bought more before Yamamoto stopped carrying them. You see, the problem is that while they catch the snot out of otherwise-hesitant bass, they have some of the worst paint jobs you can imagine. The bluegill pattern that I favor the most tends to fade, chip and peel if you just look at it funny. They’ll continue to catch fish long after they’ve been completely stripped, but you’re going to feel weird about throwing a lure that ugly. Be careful if you buy any Sugoi Splashes on eBay – there were apparently several models under that name in the Japanese domestic market and not all of them have been as productive for me as the ones that were sold stateside. I have a few that have been through at least a dozen sets of trebles, and I somehow believe that the most productive ones are the ones with cockeyed hook hangers, half a feather on the rear hook, and minimal paint.

Hanna and I don’t expect to be here much more than five more years – and after that I doubt I’ll fish the Potomac much. I’m trying to stretch out the life of my remaining stock of these three staples. I think I can make it, unless I get on an insane bite on any of them or start getting really careless.