Half price Rapala Glidin' Rap

I didn't know Rapala made jerkbaits either. First impressions of this one straight out of the box are it's a well-made, good looking lure. It's roughly the same shape and size as a Shad Rap, but without the lip and with finer-guage VMC trebles.

Not every mass-produced lure does what it says on the tin, but they reckon this one will get down to 5ft and zig zag if you bring it in with downward taps of the rod. I'll let you know how I get on with it.

+++They're half price at Harris Sportsmail at the moment - £8.49 instead of £16.99.

Old pike fishing lures by Storm and Rapala

I had a load of fish on this a few years ago. Memories of a particular morning came flooding back when I found it in a box of lures from the past, tucked away on a shelf behind a load of CDs. I'm not sure you can still find them these days.

It's a Jointed Thunderstick, one of several I bought years ago when I had the lure bug. This was the only one I ever caught anything on. In fact I only even remember it working on one particular drain, for a few hours after dawn one morning, when I had seven or eight twitching it slowly across the top.

That's about all you can do with these. They run very shallow, and if you try and pull them down deeper with a few flicks with the rod, they end up flying out of the water instead. They were hip for bass fishing for a while, but the problem is they're so light they don't cast very far.

One that's definitely going back in the box for a few chucks this autumn. And what do I find along with Mr Thundersick..? A Rapala J13 in the once must-have fire tiger colour scheme.