Any angler worth his or her weight in lead-head jigs knows the ordeal – “This bait is working great, but I don’t have any more.
“There’s got to be something better.”
So, in such times, it’s no secret that many anglers can be some of the most inventive minds you’ll ever meet.
That was the case, a couple of decades ago, when Dick Smaling found himself frustrated with the quickly-growing commercial lure industry that just wasn’t suiting his world.
A recent Facebook post by a self-pronounced speckled trout fisherman from Virginia Beach nailed the issue and brought back fond memories of Smaling’s bait.
Mr. Whiffle.
Mike Firestone was curious if anyone used the lure or if they could even still find it.
His post on Virginia Speckled Trout Fishing got the think tank moving.
“I was just learning how to trout fish when I met Dick and he was one of the best,” Firestone said.
Firestone, like many of the legions of mid-Atlantic trouters, still have several bags of Mr. Whiffles – a large-bodied, plastic trailer with a larger-than-average twister tail with big holes that was designed to be attached to lead-head jigs.
He befriended Smaling and the two were trying to design their own jigs to improve their efforts.
“He designed the jig so it would be the best weight with smaller hooks for the currents around here,” Firestone said. “I still have the original mold (for the lead-heads).”
The soft plastic soon attracted more than speckled trout anglers. Anglers who sought out gray trout, stripers, flounder and puppy drum caught on quickly.
“The larger body, I think, sank slower,” Firestone said. “I don’t know if the holes caused more vibration, but I know that the wider part of the tail did.
“They worked.”
And undoubtedly do. Finding them has been more than a stroke of luck.
Al Bunnell, as avid a puppy drum angler as you’d ever find, still has a few and comes across them at flea markets from time to time.
He scoffs up every pack he can find.
“It’s kind of a novelty thing for me,” Bunnell said. “Whenever I see them I pick up all that they have.
“It had a bigger profile and those holes made the tail more flimsy and I think that makes them have a lot more flutter.
“The thing is, they work.”
Smalling wasn’t what anybody would call a top-notch marketer.
So soon after he started pushing the bail outside of his realm of close friends, Ted Sheridan of Tidewater Lures, Inc., teamed up with him and acquired the molds.
Business picked up.
But Sheridan halted his business and Floridan captain Skip Strong took over the affairs – changing the name to MrWhiffelure.
He offered more sizes and colors.
A trip to the lure’s website stalled and didn’t get any answers when I attempted to contact it for more information and – yes- the purchase of a couple of bags of lures.
As mostly a freshwater guy, the two-inched ones that were offered would be crappie and small bass magnets – not a doubt in my mind.
I fished with Smaling when he first came out with the lure. It worked and it did so very well.
And I know that if it somehow managed to rejoin the market, that it would continue to do so.To read more of my work, go to: leetolliveroutdoors.com
