They don't make them like they used to.
In the early sixties, I spent two weeks in the Keys learning to tarpon fish. When I got back to Charleston, I figured I'd try those methods to land one locally. They had been caught here before, though none of those catches had ever been recorded. A fellow had caught one at during the previous year's Trident Fishing Tournament, but his buddy had played a prank on him by stashing a sash weight in the fish. I don't think he found it too funny because it got his fish disqualified.
Next year, same tournament, I went out to the jetties on my 14-foot boat, armed with a homemade 7-foot spinning rod, a Penn 716 reel, and a red-and-white 52m mirror lure on a 20-pound test. It didn't take long before I had one on, a little over sixty pounds.
They used to make that lure with a wire that ran the inside from head to tail, and it was a good thing that day. Anyone who's done some tarpon fishing knows just how strong and tough those mouths are. It took me about forty minutes of fighting to get him up in the boat. I looked in his mouth to pull the red-and-white lure, but there was nothing to retrieve-it had been crushed like an acorn beneath your foot. By all rights, I should've pulled in empty line.
Then I saw: the wire had held. I couldn't believe my luck, even more so later on when I learned I had been the only angler to have any at all. Not only had I pulled in the second reported local tarpon catch ever, but I had won the championship as well, all because of that little piece of wire.
We still carry that same lure, and the fish still love it, though I don't think they put that wire in there any longer. I wouldn't let anybody in the store hear me say this, 'cause I'd never hear the end of it, but I don't think they make 'em like they used to.
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