“FISHING REPORT… THE ‘SALTY SPIDER’ ALIVE AND WELL”

By: Will Whitehead “Pro Staff”

In the early to late 1980s, I won more tournaments, caught more trophy sized fish, and set several “World Records” using the Cabin Creek “Salty Spider Jig” more so than any other lure. This was the early years for Cabin Creek Bait Company and the era in which this old standby gained its reputation and success from clear high-mountain lakes, like Deep Creek Lake in Maryland, down to the Potomac River and the Lower Potomac. My partner and I literally “kicked-butt” in the first tournament we used them in, at Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. Anglers in Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania were scramblin’ to get their hands on a few, at ANY price. I was selling them to the guys at work for $20.00 a dozen (Even now they are only $11.88 a dozen), and Holloway’s Marine, in Hagerstown, MD, sold 84 dozen in just two weeks. The only way they were available then? They were pre-rigged on a “Spider Head” and twelve to a card. I finally persuaded Cabin Creek owner, Ray Thomas, to make them available separately as “Parts” and “Heads” to save anglers money and him time.

These fantastic little lures kinda slid to the back of my PLANO “Tackle Bag” over the years, with “Tubes” and “Salty Sinkin’ Worms” catching so many fish, I hated to use anything else. Oh, I still used them in the winter and early spring. They still catch lots of fish in cold water, but I had forgotten how well they worked in warm water situations.

I have noticed that sales of “Salty Spider Jigs” were suddenly UP, and in a BIG way. In New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and the northern states, orders have been pouring in all summer. And lots and lots of new customers in Ohio, Michigan and the mid-west were ordering them by the hundreds too. Word was starting to spread, and the “Hot” little lure was making a come back.

I was fishing with a good friend on the Susquehanna River on July 14 of this year, and the conditions were tough. River level was LOW, since we had not had a decent rain in some time and the water was as clear as I had ever seen it in July. I had purposely made up a PLANO “StowAway” box with an assortment of both small and large “Salty Spider Jig” skirts, tails and heads and slipped it into my “Tackle Bag” before leaving home. I tied on a small “Spider” in Green Pumpkin, as we stopped at our first spot, a large riffle with some big boulders and ledges. I remembered back to that August in 1986, when a friend, who worked at Johnny’s Bait House, at Deep Creek Lake, in Western Maryland, had turned me onto these little jewels, and the “Open Tournament” he and I had won that week. And of the thousands I had sold and used over the years. A little smile crossed my face as I tossed the “Spider” into the eddy below a large boulder. And I felt like I had just been reacquainted with an old friend.

It didn’t take long for me to become reassured, and when I put my forth “Smallie” in the boat, in less than 10 minutes, my partner who had not had a bite, shyly asked “What the heck are you using”? I showed him the little 1/8 oz. “Salty Spider” and explained how it worked so well in the summertime. He had never seen or heard of them, so I gave him a few, in a couple of different colors, including the new “Watermelon Candy” and I told him the story of discovering them those many years ago, and how well they had worked for me over the years.

I thought about the “Pole and Line/No Reel” “World Record” for Smallmouth Bass and the 12# “Line Class” catch and release “World Record” I had boated using a “Salty Spider”. I thought about the “Second Place” overall and “Lunker” my buddy Chuck King and I had won at an early spring tournament in 2004, in this very spot, on “Salty Spiders”. I thought about the innovations in jig head design and the “Slider Head” I had helped Cabin Creek develop in the early years and of all the colors and plastic formulas we had worked with.

We went on to catch a bunch of “Smallies” that evening and I am sure I have made another believer in the “Salty Spider Jig”.

You know… One of the GOOD things about growing old is that you have a LOT of fond memories to look back on.

Tight Lines',

Will Whitehead
E-Bait Express Pro-Staff
Professional Angler