Charlie Brewer, How it all started - By Brad Wiegmann

Back in 1970 Charlie Brewer started to design and manufacture lures with his lure company called Crazy Head Lure Company. It was called that because of the unique and crazy looking jighead design. It wasn’t until 1984 that Charlie Brewer Jr., Charlie’s son purchased the company did the name of the company officially change the name to Charlie Brewer’s Slider Company.



The popularity of Charlie Brewer’s Slider Company continues today with many of the top professional tournament crappie anglers fishing with these lures. Professional angler Kevin McCarley has fished with Slider Lures for over 10 years now. “I was introduced to Slider Lures with Dad long-lining them and still use them today to catch crappie for fun or in tournament situations,” said McCarley.


Two of McCarley’s favorite Slider Lures are the 2 1/8-inch Double Action Minnow and 1 1/2-inch Crappie Slider Grub. The Double Action Minnow has the same design as the 3-inch version, but in the smaller size with a vibra-tail action and wave movement. Crappie Slider Grub also features the vibra-tail.


McCarley loves the action the Double Action Minnow has when he is long-lining. He will rig it on a homemade hammered underspin jighead. “It is always moving and has lots of action. I like using blue color patterns like blue/chartreuse. The hot color lately has been blue/purple tail, but in dirty water conditions I will switch to orange/chartreuse,” said McCarley.



When single poling with B’n’M Poles 12 foot Mossy Oak edition BrushCutter (www.bnmpoles.com) for crappie McCarley uses the 1 1/2-inch Crappie Slider Grubs. “On the 12 foot long BrushCutter rod I will rig the 1 ½-inch Crappie Slider Grub on a jighead and the weight of the jighead depends on the depth. In 6 feet of water or less, I use a 1/32-ounce jighead, in 6-to 8-feet of water a 1/16-ounce and in water depths of 8- to 15-feet I use 1/8-ounce jighead,” said McCarley.

Normally McCarley uses white/chartreuse or funky money and will change to other colors once the crappie stop biting. He also uses switches to Slider Lures Double-Lite Double Weedless Crappie Slider Head jigheads when fishing brush-tops. “They are great for fishing around brush where you can get easily snagged. The lighter wire hook will bend out when it gets snagged and you can simply pull on the line and straighten the hook then just bend it back in shape to use again,” said McCarley.

One of Charlie’s greatest achievements was designing and producing the Weedless Crappie Slider (www.sliderfishing.com). It sold in a package that had two rigged grubs and two spare soft plastic bodies. The Weedless Crappie Slider is still available today.

“We were displeased with the nuisance and aggravation of hanging-up regularly. The crappie were located in heavy cover-brush and sunken treetops. Our open hooks had to be worked in the heavy cover in order to catch crappie and it seemed impossible to work the exposed hook jigs with snagging up fairly often. This was costing us extra fish and costing up jigs and money. We lost around 20- to 25-crappie jigs that afternoon. On the way home that night, I decided we needed a weedless or snagless crappie jig. I had never seen or heard of one being on the market. In my Workshop, that night and the next morning, I handmade several weedless crappie jigs I thought would work. My buddy and I returned to the lake that afternoon to give them a try. We fished the same number of hours, the conditions seemed to be the same and we fished the same snag full structures. The results we boated 67 crappie and only lost two jigs!” Charlie said in a quote taken from his article Crappie Fishing with the Weedless Crappie Slider.


One recommendation Charlie had for crappie anglers was to use 4- to 6-pound test fishing line. The smaller line size he explained let anglers cast light lures farther and was less visible to the crappie.


Another suggestion Charlie had was on setting the hook. “The sensation of a crappie hit is like a tiny peck or tick on your bait. However, when you feel this slight signal from the crappie set the hook instantly; do not hesitate. Be fast on the draw- so to speak. Waiting one or two seconds to set the hook and it seems it is too late,” said Charlie.


It’s been noted that Charlie Brewer’s Weedless Crappie Slider Grubs can be fished several ways. First the lure can be cast past cover and slowly retrieved through the cover. Second, the Crappie Slider can be casted out and retrieved slowly for roamers. Third it can be fished vertically by jigging it like single poling.