Minnow hook ad-ons?

[Fishhardroger]

First post. I am starting to learn as much as I can about crappie fishing. I am good at tying flies and working on tying up a bunch of jigs. I searched but since I don't know what to call it didn't really find anything. My question is does anyone take their regular aberdeen style hooks that they use with live minnows and add anything to the hook shank? A small body, maybe some strands of flash to enhance? or with a live minnow is this just not needed?

[mchech]

I know what you are talking about. At one time the rave was red hooks for perch fishing on Lake Erie. I tied some red flash on the collar of a gold aberdeen hook. Did it work? Yes or maybe for perch. Only thing when the perch get hot on feed they will hit practically anything and everything. Never tried it for crappie but I do not see why it wouldn't. It's just an attractor hollering " hey come over here and taste some meat!" I did some research and Grizzly Jig Company sells what they call a Tip-Its. Looks like feathers tied on a long shank straight eye hook.

[GrumpyLoomis]

I generally cover the shank area with plastics tying material. Minnows are not always needed but some days minnows are a must to me. Crappie will let me know pretty quick if I'm feeding them something they don't care for. Hope this helps.

[Fishhardroger]

The picture is kinda like what I was thinking. Also thought maybe even a little smaller amount of feather or even just a pinch of flash.

[Fishhardroger]

So a good idea to have some of both.

[skiptomylu]

Welcome to the site and board!

Well the only time I use minnows is in the summer and even then I use a larger jig below the minnow and it becomes my weight and bait. I find in summer I will catch most of the larger fish on the jig, but I also think the smaller fish and some larger hitting the minnow will help make the others strike out at the jig.

So I use mostly 1/32 Oz Roadrunner type baits in spring and fall. You can cast and reel very slow or you can troll them with your trolling motor. I have trolled them since about 1979. Lots of people cast and reel the jigs to catch them and some will use a bobber with their jigs at all kinds of depths.

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[skiptomylu]

So a good idea to have some of both.

Lots of times I will use one piece of Flashabou on each side of the jigs. Here are some of my 1/32 Oz Roadrunners for example.

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These are also some of my favorite color combos.

[Cray]

I tie mine in a little bit of everything. Few strands of flash then some kiptail, feathers, or rubber skirt material then a few more strands of flash. Keep tails pretty close to bend of hook. Some tie with much longer tails but I feel shorter tails work better when tipping with minnows.

[ppowell]

I recently tied what I'm calling Stinger Jigs which. is basically the same tie as a normal jig but on a minnow hook. Then I tie these on as the top portion of a double rig with the bottom being a 1/16 or 1/8 oz jig. It's tied on 18 inches to 2 ft above the bottom jig using the same knot used for drop shots, this should cause them to stick straight out in a similar manner as a bass drop shot rig. Can be tipped with a minnow.

Haven't used it much but I have big plans! It's fun to experiment with new ideas. If you have an idea try it out, you never know what will happen!

[skiptomylu]

I didn't think of it earlier, but some guys tie a lot on Gnats and I also tied a few several years ago and think something like these would work.

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