Thread: Bitsy minnow…revisited!

Great points. With these tiny cranks and their tiny hooks, Ive found a softer rod is usually better - helps prevent pulling out those tiny hooks.

Originally Posted by gillchaser999

Fishing with crank baits , spinners, beetlespins and other reaction baits doesn’t require a sensitive rod , so most ultralight rods that can handle the casting will work .
Lately I’ve been going through my ultralights checking them for their sensitivity fishing a drop shot .
I’ve found moderate action ultralights not to be the best for fishing the drop-shot , but I think they’d work great for fishing small cranks .
I own a few Bitsy minnows , I need to dig them out and give them a try.

While I haven’t used the Bitty minnows much yet, I have dragged the slightly larger balsa crank baits, and some plastic ones, quite a bit. Wind blew em all over so casting was a lesson. Casting was severely diminished if I went to 6 lb line. I say this so you have some background on the size of the baits I was using. I had a medium action, medium taper, unsanded 6’ one piece rod that I got with a broken tip out of a discount bin at Kmart(remember them) for $4. Put a tip on it and used it for 30+ years before giving it away recently, with reservations. It loaded and cast the smaller beetle spins and cranks better than any other rod in my collection, bar none. What little backbone it had was way low in the rod and being one piece it had no hard spot in the middle of the rod. On retrieve there was a bend in the rod, a partial loading if you will. On the strike, it would transmit the lightest take from behind and a short snap of the wrist would have the hook firmly set. Twitch and stall retrieves were not so good with this but I learned to use it doing that by not letting the line go too slack. This is the action I would try to find to make the best use of the Bitsy’s. Whether it would translate to good action for other types of lures could only be found out by trying. If you look at what the bass pros look for in a crank rod you’ll find some outside our expectations. Long is the norm, over 7’, and a parabolic action and some use fiberglass to achieve this. With the rods I currently have I would look at moderate taper in the rod length that you can cast where you normally fish. Didn’t mean to go on this long, I’ll be quiet now.

I couldn't of said it better Skeetbum, as I've also come to a conclusion that there definitely is a compromise finding the right rod that can do both tasks. One is flex enough to cast light and far and same instant it has to be stout enough for a hookset. I've a great Abu L-rod that I was having success with the last few outings with Creme snap bean type lure weighing 2grams but it was a hit and miss on the hook setting part with poor tip recovery so eventually I broke it when I swam it too deep and hook set on vegetation thinking it was a giant greenie...Lol. Hard lessons learned.

I use whatever rod I'm panfishing with that day. Usually either a 5'10" or 6'6" light action rod or a 6'6" ultralight action rod. I prefer light action for casting, but need to remind myself with 2 lb. mono not to set the hook! 30 years of bass fishing cannot be easily undone and each spring I need to remind myself not to react to the strike other than to slowly raise the rod. Realistically, if I fished more often through the year I could see myself having specialized rods for applications, but I make do with what I have. Maybe the retirement years will be kind to me and I'll be able to fish more often. For me the Bitsy Minnow is a quality bait and not a volume bait. I go to it when I want to search new areas knowing that I might also pick up some crappie and bass along the way. The white one will definitely get the attention of some bream though.

Cricketcage, the Bitsys aren’t just a quality baits but to me seems like a gold standard, a creme de la creme if you will when it comes to the smallest of crankbaits. Now I’m no lures expert or even enthusiast ( another rabbit hole one should be adviced to stay away from), but I’ve dabbled with plenty of Rapala and Leland’s to realize they gotta be tough and well designed in order to work or any R&D putting into will be for nothing. And upon a quick search in hope of acquiring couple more brands prove TrikeKing is pretty much sole producer of these miniscure and affordable lures out of Costa Rica. A search also shows knockoffs or lesser brands that’s trying hard to mimic the real Bitsy minnow in some ways. Cheers!


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

I also used to have real good luck with the Crawfish color. I looked the other day and I still have them all.