Is anyone on board old enough to remember the Alpahabet lures that were the rage for a few years? The fat crankbaits that anglers would cast out and reel back as fast as they could? Big-O, Fat-A and several more were very popular. I imagine some of our members have never even heard of the fat plugs.
I don't even own one any more. I burned out a lot of slow speed reels using those old baits and caught a ton of fish. Any one still use them?

Count me in!!! O's, B's, N's , A's, Alberts, Strike King's Oldies. The original square bills. Bounce em off stuff and hang on! Still use em. Nothin Like a Big O on an Abu 5500c mounted on a pistol grip 5' rod to give you a set of Popeye Forearms. They still work Johnnie. What made you give them up??

I just ran out and started using mostly wood crankbaits. I guess I eventually lost them along the way.
You are right about thetackle used. I used a high speed-gold-Penn reel and a five foot Lew's Speeed Stick-fiberglass-short, stout and heavy. Awww-the goood ole days!!!

Big O's still catch them pretty good.

I'm not sure I have the stamina to fish those baits anymore. It was a lot of work, but often well worth it. What always struck me as strange was I seldom caught a fish by fishing them at moderate speed.