Interesting observation....

[Rockport24]

that's pretty cool Flap!
The exact opposite happened to me actually, I was casting to popping fish with a mambo and not catching, only to realize the lip had broken off, so I put on new one with a good lip and starting slamming them!

[Tagger]

sounds like you stumbled upon the perfect injured minnow .. We work hard on lip size,,weighting,,hook sizes,,looking for the perfect swimmer,,only to have a busted lure slay ... go figure ..

[shadow]

take a redfin let it rest then rip it let it float back up rest for a second then repeat the thing looks like its dying then fish slam it hard.

[MarshCappa]

I love this story. It's awesome when you stumble on something like that. Good for you Flap. Keep using it and let us know how it's doing.

[luds]

I've had some good fish on water logged bombers. Didn't seem like the plug was swimming right but kept getting fish. Finally noticed the crack in the body.

The reverse has been true for the most part.

[piemma]

Flap, the same thing happend to me a few years ago. I was killing big fish (up to 36#) on a 6" black broken back Gags. I bounced it off a rock one night at Watch Hill and broke the lip off. I kept using it and sure enought a few casts later I got a fish in the low 20s.

I used that plug with no lip and caught a ton of fish on it. At the time, I fished only at night so I'm really not sure what the action was but the "big girls" loved it. This was a Sept timeframe so I figured it imitated the Mullet that run around Watch Hill in Sept.

[Mr. Sandman]

If you look at a lot of lures overseas, you will find lots of the "jerk baits" are lip-less. ( As well as the big muskie lures in the US too) When I picked up a salmo fatso about 3 or 4 years ago, it looked awesome for SB but had no lip. I fished it and it swam but I thought it had very weak action....But I got a 32#er on it anyway that night and was a believer. Also, lots of the Jap. tuna casting jerk-baits also have no lips. I picked up 5 or 6 over the winter to try for bass in the surf this season. IMO bass will eat damn near anything if they are hungry.

The good news is it casts better without the lip. I did a quickie experiment in a field to see how far a lure casts normally, then with a weight in the tail end, also with and without a lip, the lip will take about 10-15% or more (depending on the lip) off your distance.