I was about to hit the water but didn’t feel like stopping at the local bait shop on my way out. I grabbed my dad’s old tackle box off the shelf instead. I hadn’t opened it since he died, and a fine layer of dust had settled across the lid.

I popped the lid and was immediately hit with that familiar smell. A cocktail of plastic worms, damp metal, and the faintest trace of old, sour fish. It’s not a scent they’ll ever turn into a candle, but I absolutely loved it as a kid. I used to pop the lid of his beat-up red tackle box just to stand there and breathe it in while I stared at the gnarl of hooks and bright lures. To me, it looked like a toy store.

The box I had in front of me wasn’t the same red box. Somewhere along the way, he’d upgraded to a green-and-tan Plano with plenty of space for his menagerie of artificial baits, which always included at least three packs of purple worms.

And his Jitterbugs.

One was still there. My old war-torn jitterbug in the second slot from the right. The same place it had ridden for more than 40 years. The metal lip was scuffed. The paint scratched dull. But the hooks were still sharp.

That one was mine. 

Gowing up, that black, jointed Jitterbug with large yellow eyes, painted to look like a nestling blackbird, was my favorite summertime bait. Daddy loved a Jitterbug about as much as I did. He just preferred one that looked more like a bullfrog.

The Jitterbug’s double-cupped metal lip creates a side-to-side wobble and a signature plop-and-gurgle sound that does a good job of mimicking struggling prey—including pin-feathered baby birds that fell from treetop nests. That idea bothered me, but I was also fascinated, in the same way some people are drawn to true-crime podcasts.

Back then, we spent a lot of time floating a flat-bottom boat up the hyacinth-choked creeks of Virginia’s Chickahominy River, pitching our Jitterbugs on either side. The steady gurgle of those baits working across the water mixed with the calls of redwing blackbirds. It was a kind of quiet that’s hard to come by these days.

And man, did those simple topwater lures catch fish.

I held that black Jitterbug in my palm, but it was too heavy with memory to risk tying it on a line. Some things earn a permanent spot in a tackle box. Not because they’re still in the rotation, but because you can’t gamble that they won’t get lost on a bad cast.

I placed my Jitterbug back in its slot and reached for a newer one. This one had a lot more paint and a lot less memory.

The Jitterbug has been around for almost a century. It was invented by Fred Arbogast (the same guy responsible for the Hula Popper and Hawaiian Wiggler) in the 1930s. For decades, a Jitterbug was as common in freshwater tackle boxes as hooks and bobbers.

But somewhere in the 1980s, the angling world fell in love with high-speed, high-tech lures. Spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, jerkbaits, chatterbaits, and soft-plastic swimbaits took over the slots once occupied by simple, slow-moving Jitterbugs. Modern anglers have a love affair with baits that cover water fast and swim right through the strike zone.

The Jitterbug doesn’t do any of that. It moves slow and steady, reminding us that it’s okay to slow down. It pushes water with that metal lip and pulses out a topwater rhythm that fish can track even when in conditions where they can’t see too well. It gives big, lazy bass something they don’t have to chase, or even think much about. They just rise up and eat.

It’s also darn near impossible to work wrong. There’s no nuanced technique. No need for a perfect cadence. You just cast it out and reel it back slow enough to keep the gurgle going. That’s it. And in this day and age, there’s something to be said for one that asks us to slow down and be patient.

Angling may have changed, but modern bass aren’t any different than the ones Daddy and I pulled out of Chickahominy creeks back in the day. That’s why a Jitterbug will still catch fish. Even the suspicious, overfished ones on farm ponds, public lakes and reservoirs, the water around docks that gets pounded all summer long. A Jitterbug gives them something slow and loud and irresistably different. Not new. Just different enough to pull a bite.

It’s easy to let the steady burbling song of a Jitterbug send you into a trance. But the bite will wake you up in a hurry.  Bass don’t sip it. They explode on it violently, sometimes launching themselves clear out of the water.

I may have left my Jitterbug in Daddy’s tackle box, but I was itching to throw a newer version. It didn’t disappoint. I tossed it out and started to reel. I was just hitting that quiet meditative state when a largemouth launched itself from the lily pads—and I set the hook.

Back in November 2025, the Trump Administration tapped former New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce to run the nation’s largest public land management agency—the Bureau of Land Management. The pick drew skepticism and opposition from conservation groups who point to Pearce’s track record of support for public land sell-offs during his days as a legislator. Despite the outcry, the Senate is expected to advance Pearce’s nomination in the coming days during an “en bloc” vote approving 48 other nominees. 

If approved, he’ll become the first full-time BLM director that the agency has had during President Trump’s first term. Up to now, a series of acting and temporary nominees have led the agency, none of whom have received Congressional approval. That pattern mirrors Trump’s first term when the BLM never had a Senate-approved director but was led exclusively by temporary agency heads like William Perry Pendley.

To be clear, “affordable” glide baits are still expensive. But increased demand for lower-priced options means there are now several excellent models for under $100. And since many anglers (myself included) find it hard to justify a $250 bait, I started researching more reasonably priced options. First, I reached out to several manufacturers and asked them to send their best glide baits under $100. Then I ordered a few more that I thought could catch fish. Finally, I took them on the water to see if these cheaper options could entice giant bucketmouths just as well as premium baits. The short answer: they can. Click below to find nine of the best glide baits you can buy for under $100.  

The name says it all: This thing is a workhorse. Right now, you can get 30% off the 21-in-1 Swiss Army multi-tool, which includes almost everything you’d need, from blades and screwdrivers to pliers and saws.

There are regular moms and then there are moms who hunt. If you’re shopping for a Mother’s Day hunting gift for the latter, you likely know just how particular she is about the stuff she uses. As a mom myself, some of the best presents I’ve received from my husband and kids have been gear. While flowers and a card are nice, I’ll take a new F&S hat or a Turtlebox Ranger any day. These are our recommendations for the best Mother’s Day gifts for hunters. 

When spin-fishing a surface plug with a pop-and-stop retrieve, put some tension on the line while reeling in. Otherwise, loose coils of line will collect on the reel spool and jam the next cast. Tension can be maintained with the fingers or by holding the rod tip way back.