Good post SS. You think back to the fishermen of 50 and 75 years ago what did they use? Old conventionals, dacron line and penn squidders to throw tin squids. And bucktails and other tins. Seems that was the way a lot of fish were caught other than bait. Now we have the fancy holographic daiwa sps, the $21 new sparkling mag darters, and enough custom plugs to fill a navy battle ship. Do they help to catch more fish? Maybe. Its also possible that some of these plugs catch more fishermen than they do fish. A small ava with or without a teaser or redgill has been good for me this fall. So good its the first thing I throw. No fish in 20 or 30 casts and I try someting else.