Top lure is a 3/16th oz head, painted with glow powder, 3/0 Victory hook, 3” Slabonator Glow Hot Rod, and a willow leaf blade.
Bottom lure is a 1/16th oz head, painted with glow powder, 1/0 Victory hook, 2.5” Slabonator Glow Hot Rod, and a willow lead blade.
John Deere has been very very good to me. The local fish just seem to like it and have for several months now. Oh sure other colors work too, but this one is the most popular for some reason.
Under a bright light to charge up, and then taken into darkness, the Hot Rods do in fact glow, but the heads are by far much much brighter and last longer. Like Rudolph’s nose they lead the way. I never put much faith in glow in the dark but that has changed. I studied UV enhancements and saw where they make a difference, and so do glow. This powder is from TJ’s and also has UV enhancements as it really pops well under UV light.
Swapping out my fine Colorado blades for willow leafs to see how things go in that regard. I am expecting them to pull in a more sleek fashion. Less vibration but that doesn’t necessarily mean less sound will be produced. They might make a joyous sound.
The sizes of the baits are much greater than just the 1/2” length difference. I saw some minnows swimming about out there that were right about the size of the smaller bait, but there are probably plenty of shad that will match well to the larger size. I know that there are varieties of bait fish swimming aimlessly about, so the fish are used to seeing different things.
If they flop……. I shall swap.
I like the way they swim next to the boat, that straight tail seems motionless but I know it isn’t. A hair jig being pulled has very little movement as well when compared to a curly tail grub. The hair jigs I made didn’t ever seem to do all that well compared to the plastic baits. Hard to match what the plastics can offer.
The drop of glue to affix bait to the head is working very well for me. It is easy for a bait to get a slight twist in it and swim awkwardly. This also allows me to flop the fish on the deck and offer slack line and let him flip the jig out for me. A quick cast back out and I am ready to deal with him. Also pulling them as I do the plastic can slide down some and bunch. The only down side for me is the smell. I worry that they glue is a put off. I have taken to using Loctite Gel Control in the bottle that you squeeze as it places a perfect drop right where I want it. Hopefully letting them hang out in my room here helps with off gases.
Testing will be in morning. The weather liar says 7 mph winds but we all know that what that really means is 15 mph winds. White caps and beaten to death with waves slapping the boat. I troll with the winds to mitigate the slap on the hull as I fear it scares the fish. I far prefer smooth calm days as I can ease up on them commando fashion and surprise them with my fakes.
I have been trying to figure out the best way to stab a plastic onto a jig hook. Even the smallest of alignments issues produces bad results. Last trip out had a jig that appeared to swim well next to the boat, but when I let line out and peered at it farther back it was spinning. I removed the plastic and tossed the jig back out and it swam like a champ. That was a misaligned bait causing that and I might not have known had I not been a suspicious type of feller. I am holding the baits up to the light and attempting to see how the hook is penetrating. Working the bait on in little pushes and then rotating to pierce at the end. Works OK but still some are definitely crooked or bunched to one side.
Not having eyes on my jigs is certainly not an issue. I assure you that they are indeed attractive to just us. In a trolling situation that is mind you. Dipping jigs where they stare at the stupid thing is different, I understand, but swimming them past at speed not so much. I started skipping the eyes in favor of having more surface area for glow/UV paint. Letting the paint show as much as possible. The eyeballs look cool in hand, but they were taking away from some of what I really wanted to show the fish while swimming them.
Here is a small LED light. Still too large for me to attach to a jig but they are getting smaller. I want one that flashes a sign- COME AND GET IT BOYS !
In Crappie speak of course.