Hot n Tots were the Go to lure back in the day! With so many varieties of lures now a days which some are very good producers, i don't hear many useing hot n tots as much. Have used and continue to do good with the regular tots. Have no experience with the rattle tots, I think they would be just as efffective.

 

I still use the originals and love them. I think the rattle tots are fine too. I like to believe it helps call fish over to investigate.

 

^^ GREAT PICTURE ^^ The little guy looks like he's having fun!

 

Start um young. And amazingly no poles or nets were lost overboard

Be one with the crawler

 

Hey SS, is your opinion the same as some think that the older original hot n tots are better than the newer ones? As to they way they run/tune and are made?

 

Unfortunately yes. I dont have any evidence, but my paranoia runs my life at times. I dont own very many new tots, but i feel like they are cheaper made.

 

The old ones were really good, although some of my best Tots were when they changed to a split ring and plastic bill for awhile. The Dave's Kaboom were good too, just never cared for their Thunderstick copies. 1/4oz Tot is still a really good lure on Inland waters and the Bay, the 3/8oz Rattle Tot works well too.

 

SS are those the smaller 2 Inch, or full size 2.5 Inch?

The 2 Inch run 5-14 Feet, and the larger ones run 7-20 Feet. (Looked it up, we both know I don't know that in real life)

If I make it over to Saginaw, I would know what size to grab a few.

 

I got most sizes. I find it strange how i do things. Typically on inland lakes i use only the 1/4oz and on the bay I'll fish any size. As if fish care based on where they live. Its like you will rarely see me put a mini spoon on the ball of the downriggers. Sliders, leadcore all day. Does it make sense no! We all got our quirks. If your looking for lures pick out size shapes you find appealing and grow confidence in. Lately ive been in a flicker shad/ shad rap mood. The little ones all the way up to the big ones.
Im also going to see how long i can go before i feel the need to run crawlers this year.

 

Also love the Crawler Pic, that's AWESOME.

 

Well if he's anything like me you know he's not all there
Hahahaha

 

I run the small regular ones on inland lakes more then anything else. I get most of them off eBay. Just started fishing Erie again so I will give them a try this year.

 

That's all my wife like to troll with.

 

Don't forget wiggle warts. I'll run tots on one side and warts on the other. Change colors often if not getting any takers.

 

I would like to get everyone's opinions on the two types, what you use and prefer for walleye? I have some hot n tots and want to get a mass supply (near northwoods now) but I always see rattle tots for cheaper and I'm curious why? I plan to buy both I just want to see how everyone has done with past sucess on Walleye with them, especially stories on how they fished on the Saginaw Bay???

Thanks all tight lines

I use rattlers when I fish deeper water. They work great !!!

 

Thanks for all the great info everyone! I had no idea there are different size tots. I'll get a variety off all sizes and types I suppose. Im glad to hear a report the rattle tots work well. I definitely need to stock up on the wiggle warts too!

 

I have over a hundred tot's. About 85-95 are the old style. In the day, we used the original size in the inner bay, fishing 10-12ft. We bought the "Magnum" when we started fishing the deeper water 15-25 ft. And, then we started fishing the outer bay and bought the "Super Mag", so we could fish the 40-60ft. I also have a pretty large collection of Thunder Sticks that were the craze at the time. As for the Tot's, the original size was fished both long lining and with boards. The other two sizes were fished solely off of boards. As for which style worked best, I like the old style that had the bobby pin clip on the front that you could bend to tune! We found it was impossible to turn the newer model with just the split ring! I still use them today and have some with the paint literally eaten off of them, from catching so many eyes! Now a days, I find I don't use them as much because I fish the Berkley Flicker Minnow most of the time when using plastics diving lures. If I had to guess I would think we caught over two thousand walleye off the Tot's "back in the day" and I'm sure they will still catch fish today!!!

 

Tots are kind of old school - use to long line them but then discovered "yellow birds - they fly to the side". Offshores kind of ran the yellow birds out of town. Haven't long lined anything in quite a while :16suspect

 

I run planer boards when fishing. Does anyone have problems with smaller tots and boards? I run offshore.

 

No problems just don't make sharp turns.

 

Forget the tots. Cold water run the deep diver stickbaits like huskys,1.0-1.5, spring and fall. When the water warms and you get tired of crawlers, burn spoons from 2.5-3.5 .

 

Forget the tots. Cold water run the deep diver stickbaits like huskys, spring and fall. When the water warms and you get tired of crawlers, burn spoons from 2.5-3.5 .

Uuhh, nothin like bringing in eyes on plane!

Best way to find em though!

 

I have all original storm hot n tots in 1/4 oz and 3/8 oz in the custom colors we got from Franks back in the hay days of tots on the bay. We used both then and now. Both were solid producers. Obviously the 3/8 rattler dives deeper and was a more popular option. It's my personal favorite. I probably have 300 in my collection between the two sizes. I only have a handful of the magnums and rarely used them as I didn't need them because fish were reachable with the 3/8 oz.

All in all a great bait that somehow slipped away with the popularity of snap weights followed by inline weights that were decimating big walleye when the tournament trails came to town. Couple that with Rapalas acquisition of Storm and axing the rattle tot from the line and putting plastic bills on baits, which was not popular with anglers at all. Quickly you seen the hot n tot fade away. And in more recent years there's been surges in baits like shad raps, flickr shads, deep diving HJ....aka more cranks geared towards walleye that outclass the tot in the looks department and make into anglers shopping carts.

They still catch fish as good as ever. If you were part of the cult following back in the day you'll undoubtedly reach for a tot to dredge up some summertime walleye on the bay. They're great baits!

 

That is quite a collection! Envy for sure, wish I had more of the originals.

 

Hot n Tots were the Go to lure back in the day! With so many varieties of lures now a days which some are very good producers, i don't hear many useing hot n tots as much. Have used and continue to do good with the regular tots. Have no experience with the rattle tots, I think they would be just as efffective.

Have hell of a collection of original hot n tots caught fish some one through info in water that wiggle warts were the way to go fish read this now have wiggle warts caught fish new info in lake only way to get them is stinger spoons with small big john min disks have them caught fish if no more info is throne in lake for fish to read then what goes around comes around I will be set for a long time lol love the original hot n tots Need to learn how to post picks on hear have so many to share if any one can help wood be great full

 

"if I can stay away from crawlers as long as possible that would be great."


:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

I like crawlers, dont get any simpler. Especially with one hook.

 

Crawlers aren't that bad....I guess no one uses minnows through the ice either?? More money has been won with crawlers, I would bet on it!

 

I hate to disagree with you Corey. I'm thinking cranks. I bets its close though. Crawlers generally get me smaller eyes. But I will say crawlers are damn lethal. Just soo many options. And yes I make my own custom harnesses I guess I just got burned out last year from running soo many. Yes they worked the best hands down for a consistent bite lol. I definitely need some motivation for rebaiting every five minutes. I suppose I'll get some worms from NW today, it's about that time....

 

Oh yeah both have their time!

Seen plenty of times when the old spinner and bottom bouncer can't be beat!

 

I like Tots....... because they work, no mess.

 

Crawlers aren't messy at all, you just rinse them first so there's no dirt. Keep in a small container of ice . A boat rag for wiping hands after which you probably already got for after handling fish . It is nice not having to worry if you've lost your crawler or not, but they never let you down.

 

Nice collection magnet!