I once heard an angler say of a moving propeller bait, "It looks like a storm on the water." Indeed, that description would fit with lure designer Tom Seward's idea of what a prop bait is meant to imitate.
"It should look and sound like an attacking fish or a school of fleeing shad," says Seward, of the Yakima Bait Company. "Props create the excitement of something a bass is missing out on, and it makes them want to get in on it. This is what brings bass up to attack prop baits."
The fact that surface-running, blade-spinning propeller baits arouse fish into a feeding frenzy has been evident since the beginning of modern bass fishing. Some of the oldest lure designs, dating back to the turn of the 20th century, are of glass tubes and wooden lures with propellers attached fore and aft.
Propeller baits have been around a long time, and their popularity seems to be gaining, rather than waning. Making a storm on the water is a trick more and more pros and weekend anglers are adding to their bass-catching arsenal.