Growing up in California bass country there was no shortage of tall tails and legends to believe in like The lake at the end of Pacheco Pass highway that had giant striped bass, or legendary lakes high in the mountains you could only hike into that were just full of eager bass! While most of the legends I ever heard were eventually explored there was one legend about a certain lure that I never forgot about because that legendary lure was never found, until now. Both a mystery and a legend I had created for myself, that took almost 30 years to solve! Let me explain~



Back when I was around 12 years old I fished a small bass lake known to us then as Echo Lake. Just when I thought I had this lake fishing stuff down I met this kid named Todd T. who was also a regular fisher kid at this local neighborhood golf course water supply pond. Todd claimed to have a pond in his backyard just down the street with a giant bass in it that was at least 10 lbs, but it was only 7 lbs when they caught it a few months ago, and it eats a lot.....Todd explained. He was at the lake today looking for bluegill and golden shiner to feed this giant of a bass he had for a pet. I decided I needed to see this bass so I helped him catch a couple of bluegill for his bucket and then off to his house to watch the bass eat them.

The pond was not very big, about 12 feet across and 6 feet deep. He threw the first bluegill in and a smaller bass of about 6 lbs nails it just as it hits the water. Then the next bluegill drew the big fish card and was enveloped in a huge boil. I never saw the bass but it was clear that Todd was a man of his word and he did in fact have one big huge heck of a bass in his pond.

So of course the next obvious question was, what did you catch it on. A "Cub scout lure" Todd replied. Can I see it? "I'll show you later" ok.... At some point later that same week I did see Todd again at the lake and he had the magical "Cub Scout Lure" tied on his pole. Frog colored and clearly made of wood. He also caught and released another nice bass about 2lbs in front of me on the lure like it was nothing. He did not know where to get the lure. I now suspect this was because it had already been out of productions for some time and he had found it in grandpa's tackle box. It was the only one he knew of and if he lost if it, well that would be very bad.


The Legendary Hand Painted Frog Green Strike King - Cub Scout

I already knew my way around a Bass Pro Shop catalog pretty good and I new all the biggest and best sporting goods stores so I looked around trying to find this lure. The only thing I found that was even close was the Strike King "Spence Scout" and to further complicate matters there was also another already well known vintage lure known as the "Clark's Water Scout, now a collectors item. Nothing I could fine looked like the lure Todd T. had shown me. I purchased several of the Strike King Spence Scouts from the Bass Pro Shop Catalog.

There were some others I kept running across at tackle shops and antique shops. Fred Arbogast Arbogaster and the Fred Arbogast Hula Dancer shown below are examples. While all of these similar plugs did offer frog and perch color patterns, an S-wag action and shallow dive lips, they were not the "Cub Scout Lure" I remembered perfectly in my head that would surely catch all the biggest bass in all the lakes I fished in that Todd T. had not yet taken the magic lure to SO0o... Darnit! I could not find this lure, as if it never existed. I gave up the search : (


Strike King Spence Scout


Fred Arbogast - Hula Dancer


Fred Arbogast - Arbo-gaster


Fred Arbogast - Hula Dancer


Clark's Water Scout -Photo Ebay - sold item

Sitting at my computer now 28 or 29 years later, browsing through ebay looking for another certain lure I wanted to try fishing for bass with I ran across a Clark's Water Scout and quickly turned my search in that direction out of curiosity. While scrolling through the list of water scouts I noticed one that was slightly out of place due to its short stubby shape and familiar hand painted frog color pattern. Closer examination revealed something I had been looking for for almost 30 years and thought I would never see again! There it was! A "Cub Scout Lure" that had been mistakenly listed as a water scout! Omg...! Thats it! To make things more interesting the lister had another one in a hand painted crawfish finish. I managed to score the both of the lures for a total price of $12.00 shipping and all.



Strike King - Cub Scout - Scyko Scout


Strike King - Cub Scout - Psycho Scout

After further examination of the lures once in hand I noticed there was even more to confuse the issue of which lure was which? While the label on the front of the packages state "Cub Scout 1/4 oz wood" the titles on the back of the packages reads as "Scyko Scout" and "Psycho Scout" of course signed by Charles Spence, of who's name would later grace the name and package of a later version, the "Strike King Spence Scout" shown above in silver shad. Some things had become clear now as to why it may have been so hard to find all this time. Ebay certainly was the key factor in ending this mystery but the names are all still way to fishy for me to swallow. I am thinking now that this lure was either a misprint, a prototype, or was only in production for a short time due to the confusion in titles and or packaging. Whatever the reason, it is still the hardest lure I ever tried to find and even now I am not seeing this lure come up at all. It was after all a misprint that lead me to find the lure (*_*)

Why was this lure so great? The legend my friends, what else is there after all these years? Now that I have acquired the lure what will I do? It is an antique now, never been fished. One certainly does not run out and fish with it! For now they sit on my desk in box to serve as a reminder of were my love for fishing comes from. Like most "something olds" in fishing there is someones story behind it. I do not know what the story behind these 2 exact lures is but I imagine how interesting it would be if I shared my story about the life long search for this legendary lure with the owner. Maybe the they could tell me why these two perfect Cub Scout Lures had never touched the water (*_*)