As far as artificial lures go, I’ve never been a believer that any one lure is the first-and-only stop in a fisherman’s tackle box.

Sure, I preach Texas-rig fishing, and I’ve been known to get stuck working a buzzbait too long, but other than that, I know the limitations of getting stuck on one lure.

So you can imagine my amazement when a buddy of mine bragged up these lures made by Connecticut-based NGC Sports, even proclaiming one of the company’s baits is so good, a state has already banned the lure.

The banned lure, the Bite Light, is a crankbait imbedded with a blood-red light that is activated when you begin retrieving the lure. The light simulates an injured bait fish, and as natural predators, bass (and many other fish I might add) strike out of reflex.

As Homer Circle points out in Bass Wisdom, bass are opportunistic and will strike a lure even if the belly is full.

And yes, this lure has been banned in Wyoming, because officials there felt it triggered more action than live bait, and it gave fishermen an unfair advantage.

Also out of NGC is the hard-body crankbaits, KickTail XL-5 and KickTail XL-7, which, upon watching several different video clips on the Internet, have unbelievable life-like action. This, of course, is the selling point of this lure, which is said to outfish live bait three-to-one.

Believe it? I’m not sure if I do, but I’d be willing to invest my dime to give either a fair shake in my tackle box — that is, of course, if I hadn’t come across NGC’s Walking Worm.

The Walking Worm lends itself to my liking, mostly because of the possibilities it presents to a finesse fisherman like myself.

The Walking Worm is a multi-flex construction that traps air between multiple segments of the worm’s tail, which causes the worm’s body to constantly curl, just as live worms would do.

A common belief I read about among finesse fishermen is that the worm must remain active to trigger a strike. If this is the case, then the Walking Worm never stops moving, and thus should trigger more strikes.

Is it possible? I don’t know. What I do know is that one of the most intriguing things about finesse fishing is casting into the tightest, most uninviting spots that, in my mind’s eye, hold lunkers.

But often I find myself wishing I could just leave the worm in its place after making the impossible cast or skipping my bait across the top of the water and deep beneath a tree. Of course, this wouldn’t work, because, as I first learned long ago from Uncle Homer, an inactive bait is less likely to draw a bite.

With the Walking Worm, a person could likely leave that cast in its original spot for a few seconds, or minutes, before moving on.

Yeah, I like that idea, so much so that I plan to make a purchase on the Walking Worm in the next week or two. So give me a month, and I’ll report back on the effectiveness of this lure.