Riptide lure anyone?

Fisherman Rob

Fisherman Rob

Well-Known Member
Anyone jig for springs using a Riptide lures anymore? I dug one out of my dads old tackle box the other day. I remember back in the 80s, these used to be the hottest thing going. Get in close to a wall or close to kelp, drop a riptide down 30 to 50 pulls and jig away. Very popular when at Separation Point, and Sansum Narrows. Wall to wall boats in a fog of idling two stroke blue smoke. :p
 
Used to have a few "striker's" made by Riptide.
I don't think I ever caught a salmon on one, ling cod like them though.
 
They work.I would have been one of those many boats off separation point or Sansum Narrows back in the late 70's
to mid 80's.Riptides,Buzzbombs,and Stingzildas were jigs of choice back then.Although I never got anything super big
(as in tyee class) on jigs,I did get plenty in the 20-25 lb. range.As I recall,my go to was a 60 gram Stingzilda with a
green back with a slight "C" curve bent into it.When the bite came on there would be multiple boats playing fish at
the same time.Sure miss those days so close to home!
 
Still fish that way in a few spots and usually do well. I was also one of those guys at Separation point and Bold Bluff. Riptides were/are good so are Macdeeps and of course Buzz Bombs but in the old days Island Outfitters sold blanks that were friken awsome. Sure wish I could have got my hands on that mould, we would buy them paint put a little jewelry on them and bring home dinner with them. I still have a few but its like my Alaskan plug I won't use it for fear of loosing it.
 
Used them back in the 80s casting off rocky pt in Nanaimo. They worked good and they were real easy to repaint when they got all banged up
 
I have one left and its sacred... vintage collection from 20 years ago, its white belly with dark blue/black top!

Used them at Separation and Sansum years ago, as said above, got our fair share of 15-25lb springs on them out there...

Use my one lure from time to time for lings/cod, havent jigged for salmon on years.
 
Still have a few myself as I once did a lot of shore casting for Chinook and Coho in my younger days. My largest Chinook on one of Ken Reid’s lures was a 24lb Chinook from shore off of Rocky Point in North Nanaimo.

The line goes through them like a buzz bomb but they have a spinning action through the water when pulled rather than the high speed flutter the Buzz Bomb has between pulls as it sinks.

I am not sure of the one with the yellow topside at the top of the picture as it is close but not the same as the others. Perhaps it is someone’s rip off of Ken’s design.
 

Attachments

  • WP_20150327_003.jpg
    WP_20150327_003.jpg
    90.8 KB · Views: 330
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes, salmon on the 45-48 grams model, white with black stripe! Once hooked 6 cohoes in 30 minutes with that jig.
I have not really jigged a lot with them or any other jigs.
Scuba divers seem to find them some reefs or places. I bought a bunch at a 2nd hand store and intend to use them so glad to see your question/ thread.
Re; the different looking one with yellow on it, I have one similar, red paint instead of yellow, not sure either.
Q. what does it say on the package about dot up or dot down, giving a herring or needlefish action to it??? they are reversible.
 
I know this is an old post but my dad bought riptide striker from ken Reid back in the early 90s. I have grown up using hear lures and have caught more salmon than I would care to admit. If you fish them properly there are a high producing lure . Since my dad has now passed I have taken over the lures and will be producing them again in the next year.
 
Funny thing about riptide. In the 90's I was fishing with friend of mine in saanich inlet. We were jigging on reef for lingcod, and hooked into two fish in 20's at same time.

Now anyone who knows the area knows how lucky we were. And both rods we were using riptides. White ones.
 
Yes sir that sounds familiar. I can tell you those lures have changed a lot after my dad bought the lures from Ken Reid from the original ones from the 80s with herring an needle fish designs I grew up in Campbell River and I caught everything in them. My personal best springs in CR and Nootka were on white and green. I have used them with great success on big lake trout in the Yukon as well. I used them in Williston lake BC and pounded lake trout and rainbows on them last summer.
 
In the late 90’s I jigged a lot and Striker with a green / white with a bit of a black stripe mid body was my go to for a long time. I had some awesome days of the lighthouse and the Argonaut warf with strikers. Glad to see them coming back !!
 
I remember when the Times-colonist had its fishing report back in the 70's-80's and they would have all the area's one was Separation point ( weight of fish) and lure. Lure of choice was Riptide striker. I have one but and maybe time to dig it out. On a side note it would be great to open that area up again ?? Cowichan chinook are back in good numbers !!
 
Funny this thread has been resuscitated from 2015! So it turns out that there are lots of "Riptide" lures now. But the original one I was referring to is pictured below (complete with original rusty barbed treble hook, possibly some dried up salmon blood!):

IMG_5350.jpeg
 
I found one for sale on ebay in original packaging. I see Ken Reid was from Duncan, so that explains the popularity fishing out of Cowichan Bay and Sansum Narrows.
Packback1.jpg Packback2.jpg
 
Yeah those are the ones with the lightning bolt !!!

I had a green / white with a bit of black on the hook end and it was deadly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Charlie
Hooks... which kind should we use?
Replies
12
Views
3K
Gong Show
Gong Show
MyEscape
Some Detailed Info on How to Fish Nootka Sound
Replies
26
Views
26K
Drewski Canuck
D
Back
Top