The History of the Arbogast JITTERBUG - A Top Water Favorite for 9 Decades!

This week we look at the history of the Arbogast Jitterbug. This Top Water favorite has been making Bass Dance for 9 Decades!

Big Thank You to David from Stumpjack Outdoors! Check out the link below to his Instagram.

Also make sure to check out David's Arbogast article on BFA.

Click the link below to see a list of Kevin Virden's Books on Amazon

Check out some of the vintage fishing tackle (and more) at Angling Archaeology on eBay.

Click the link below for Angling Archaeology Merch and Vintage Lures on eBay.

At Angling Archaeology, I set out to unearth the good ol' days. I'll feature anything vintage, with a focus on fishing. If you love vintage tackle, trucks, gear, coolers, vinyl, etc... This channel is for you!

Please follow on Insta
@anglingarchaeology Vintage Fishing
@bass_and_brews_ for all things fishing related from fly fishing to finesse

Send letters and lure's to:
Angling Archaeology
PO Box 2603
15050 W 138th St.
Olathe, KS 66063-0603

Angling Archaeology email:

[Stumpjack]

Wow! Holy cow, what a shout out. Can't thank you enough, Mike. I'm honored and grateful.
Man, do I love seeing those old Arbogast ads. The Arbogast company put out the best print ads in all of fishing, IMHO. I could spend hours looking at those. And the pages of those older Bass Pro Shops catalogs were great too. But yes, I agree, you might want to do a follow-up early morning or later afternoon video throwing a Jitterbug and showing some bass catches. The sound of that thing coming through the water is so cool.

[ronaldcoward]

I'm 59 and the Jitterbug is one of my go to's for sure. They made a jointed model also, which is my favorite. And dont forget the hula popper!

[carlgomm]

New subscriber here, I'm 66 yrs old and have been using jitterbugs all my life, another favorite of mine is the Heddon Torpedo ❤

[eric_schaaf]

My dad absolutely schooled me on a black jitterbug in the 80s. I was working a big bass off the tip of a fallen log. Kept missing it. My dad tried and after a couple twitches, got hit on a long pause. It was so epic. It was the biggest bass I’d seen at the time. I was probably 12 or 13 years old.

[mike]

I'm a hobbyist lure maker. I've made 4 jitterbug lures, including brass bibs from scrap metal my grandfather gave me. I love the bubbly sound they make as they swim across the top of the water, and so do the bass!

[rhmrtrt]

Loved the Jitterbug back in the day, the black one with the red dot on the bottom. I used them mostly at night. Now I use a revved up version of the jitterbug, which is the Jackall Pompadour.

[jeffreyyeater]

Im 62. When I was a kid I knew Dick Kotis. He was a big shot at Arbogast . He gave me a cedar jitterbug .

[fredstopper]

I'm 64 and think this channel is good. He used two of my favorite coach dog patterns.

[rogernull]

MANY years ago, 3 of us were fishing a private farm pond. As the sun set, 2 of us started using Jitterbugs. The bass were loving them! The 3rd guy was trying a hula popper, but to no avail. He got skunked as we got 5 LM each. He was very frustrated! That's an understatement.

A few days later, I found a knock-off Jitterbug in the trunk of my car; the same car we drove in that night.

I never told my friend that I had the bait he needed/wanted all along!

[martinschulz]

Brings back childhood memories. I loved to use both the Jitterbug and Hula popper; both were just fun to use. The guys from the south actually got us northerners using them.

[DonnaKeffer]

I love the jitterbug, was always beside the hula popper. I was able to get my catalog and follow along with you.

[C_K_Williams]

Jitterbug and the Devils Horse were my favorites as a kid.

[aTallCool]

That brings back great memories of fishing with friends in the 70s and 80s! Thanks for the nostalgia trip.

[topho]

Love the content of your channel just came across it the other day . Just thinking here I have a couple of the original flatfish they were originally made out of wood might be an interesting subject for you to go into the story behind it's pretty amazing . Keep them coming

[NineteenEighty]

I love collecting antique lures and arbogast are one of my favs. Keep it up brotha.

[lloydwilliams]

Interesting timing! I just returned from a trip to northern Minnesota. On the last very early morning, which followed a temperature drop, I decided to use a yellow Jitterbug exactly like the one used in this vid. It had been "calling" me the entire trip during which I had been catching lots of decent largemouth and numerous smaller northern pike on Zara Spooks, chatterbaits, etc. I caught a nice largemouth on the first cast and a 5+ lb. northern absolutely crushed it 3 casts later. I've always been a Jitterbug fan and have typically used the black version at/after dusk. My Jitterbug must be more than 35 years old but now, thanks to that northern, I have to replace the back trebles. New subscriber here!

[gameon]

Great videos. You got a new subscriber I'm going to watch all of them to get my self up today, now I saw you throwing a vintage lure with todays rod and reel, I think it should be cool to use everything from back on the day.

[seantempesta]

Great video my favorite lure before sunrise the jointed jitterbug is also great

[donalddouglas]

I'm 76 and I have had jitterbugs in my Tackle boxes since 1965. Way back then I used the double jointed yellow JB'S In stock ponds actually a smll lake and anytime during the day you could catch 3 to 7 and even a few 8 pounders. They murdered that Jitterbug. I use the Musky jitterbug in reservoirs and catch huge Bass.

[RobertPatricelli-mywk]

Love Jitterbug fishing, also love collecting them . Great episode, very interesting !