This idea has been rattling around in my head for a while now, but I've never put it in to words.

The general idea is this: Locally made lures work best locally.

To offer some examples...

Mike Shaw made the MS Slammer while living in Atascadero and fishing regularly at Santa Margarita lake. If you fish Santa Margarita lake, you know that the fish there just devour the MS Slammer.

Rod and Todd Thigpin made the stocker trout while fishing at Casitas and Castaic primarily. If you fish Casitas, you know that the fish there just love the stocker trout.

Ken Huddleston fished around the Castaic area when he first started making lures. I think it's no coincidence the huddleston deluxe trout has resulted in hundreds of fish over 10 from the lower lake.

Mickey Ellis made the Mission Fish while living in the apartments on the shore of Lake Mission Viejo. The Mission Fish works great there, and in similar grass lakes with very clear water.

I could go on, but my point is that when evaluating which lures to use, consider where those lures came from. I've been fortunate to fish at all of the lakes mentioned above, and when I go to similar lakes, I think about which lures might work well based on where they originated.

In addition, if I see conditions that remind me of a lure's "home lake" I may try that lure because it matches the conditions. eg, my biggest fish on the stocker trout came at a lake that is usually clear, but on that particular day it was milky colored like Casitas. Mark Rogers was with me and caught two big ones on stocker so I switched and caught a 12.

Of course on that day, I used the stocker because Mark was catching fish on it it - but now my thought process is to look more for the condition where I expect the lure to work based on where it came from.

Just throwing this out there on the notion that it might be useful to someone out there :) I'd be interested to hear any of your stories about local baits that work where they are made.