TOPIC:

I have been trying to gather some of the old Rattlin Thin Fins to add to my tackle tote. I have picked up a few in some bait stores but the majority I have been buying off of Ebay. Today there was one of the ART 29's, red/black squiggles on auction that was a used lure and with shipping it was sold for about 20 bucks. I bid 15 on it and of course lost. You old pros out there please weigh in on this, are the old rattlin thin fins a better bait than todays "Thinfish" from Brad's? Or is it the other way around? I am wanting to know if I am really wasting my time and money chasing after these things. If they offer an advantage to the fisherman maybe the time and trouble of an Ebay auction is worth it.

Don,
the ART's will always sell high if they are pre-rapala. The #29 color is the most sought for. This is the wrong time of year to try to buy them on ebay. When its fishing time they will sell for around 10.00. Sometimes a little less is poor colors.

There are plenty of fish that get caught on the brads. The brads are a copy that are made and painted now in China.

I haven't fish brads because I bought plenty of the pre- rapalas many years ago.

If your looking for just a few in the ART size I would say buy brads in the 29 color. I catch just as many fish on the RT size so I don't get caught up much in that size issue anymore. If your willing to pay 15.00 I have plenty of ART's to sell.

If there's one thing the Chinese do well it's copy products. I'm sure the Brad's "China-clone" ThinFish is ever bit as good as the pre-Rapala 1/2 ounce RT. However, just because of size difference, I prefer the original Storm ThinFins in the 3/8 ounce size when fishing spring cohos and browns. Maybe the fish don't care a whit because I know plenty of them fall for the larger, Brads version.

Regardless, the Red/Black squiggle is my go-to color. I've fished dozens of colors, some were always lousy, some had their day, but day in, day out the ol' #29 pattern was top of the heap.

Thanks BN for your take. I have just used the Brad's version as this was all I have. I have taken quite a few fish on that red/ black squiggle pattern. The Brad's version seems well made trolls great. There is one difference I believe that exists between the two lures is that the Storm version has a "louder" rattle. Maybe that gives them an edge in its catching ability.
Ed you are correct in that they sure are a pricey item that is probably only get harder to find. What I don't get is when David Storm opened up his short lived Kaboom line why the thin fin line up was left out when those lures were so popular?

I would guess there was some agreement between Storm and Rapala (Normark) that prevented them from going back into the same business with the same lures or damn-close clones. Sadly, the Great Lakes market for Rattlin' ThinFins wasn't enough to sustain the lure. Now if it would have been as good on bass, walleyes, redfish or others, they'd still be making them. It's too bad Normark didn't sell the molds to some other company.

It's often this way in the boat and tackle business. Bill Lewis was a designer for Rebel until he split off and started his own company. When Doug Shrock sold Starcraft, he signed an agreement to not manufacture any boats for 10 years. In year 11 he went to Smoker Craft and they started the Sylvan line.

Seems to be a lot of in-breeding......

Ha I too used to be obsessed with finding those AR 29s as I used to kill the steelhead on them in front of the st Joe pier about 10 years ago. eBay was always high but it sounds like they are really out of hand now. I bought over 30 from a tackle shop in Hawaii of all places. I saw that he had them for sale at his online store and I emailed him and asked him how many he had. He obviously had no idea what they were going for on eBay because I bought his whole stock for 3 bucks a piece. I could only imagine that the guy was thinking "what the heck does this guy in Michigan want with all these lures??" I kept some sealed in the boxes and fished with the rest. Lucky to catch more than a few coho each year on them now but I would never sell them for sentiment porpoises at this point! But I would love to throw 10 on Ebay with a high reserve and see how much some fishermen with cabin fever might pay!

But I would love to throw 10 on Ebay with a high reserve and see how much some fishermen with cabin fever might pay

That's the Christmas spirit!!!! Wow....

If I do ever get one off of Ebay it will probably come with a pack of smokes to use after the screwing I'll know I got.

ok fellas point made lets move on please.