Fo all of you who've asked to try the minnow, here are guidelines (for most lures)
Ignore anything you already know or do, but this pertains to a thin straight-tail soft plastic minnow-grub:
1. size - the lure is anywhere from 2-3" is the range I use depending on the bite. Finicky fish sometimes need a smaller lure as in smaller length and profile.
2. the thin flat tail flutters at the slowest speed - even at dead stop! If anything, this feature is key to the amazing amount of strikes.
3. the lure is versatile, meaning it can be used with different slow presentations, vertically or horizontally and for seven species of fish
4. there are sources on line that sell similar lures
Important presentation factors:
6lb test is what I use most because it allows a better light-lure action, strike detection and hook set. I will use a light 8lb test braid backing and either mono or fluorocarbon 3' leader to allow the line to sink faster and stay down and straigher
A light action rod with a somewhat stiffer back bone allows ease of casting light jigs further and faster hook sets without ripping the hook out; I favor 5'6" or 6'
Retrieve is extremely important no matter water temperature. Cast all around you until you find fish when in open water; or fish edges (rock, weed, docks). Always find the depth the fish are hitting this lure and cast to it in that area. The retrieve consists of slow and unsteady, letting the finesse tail action to provoke strikes. This will be the same when used under a float, pulling the float a foot or so and stopping. I turn the reel handle one revolution - pause -repeat and sometimes add a rod tip twitch or two. Slow and unsteady is crucial !
I've caught fish drop shot style and under a float, but prefer fan casting everywhere to hit more areas that might hold fish schools. Once a school is found and one fish bites, it's like fish are on a conveyor belt - one after the other.Jig heads:
I've rigged the lure on a 1/16 oz ball head, unbarbed jig head with a #6 hook. 1/32-1/8 can be used with either a #4 (larger) or # 6 (smaller) hook depending on body size. Experiment with different sizes in different depths. The heavier jig doesn't mean a faster rate of retrieve is needed to keep it running at the same depth - the line's water resistance does it on the long deep retrieve. Barbless jigs (Ebay) tear up the bait least.
Strikes consist of a light tick, to a bow in the line as the fish swims with the bait toward you or a double tick if sunfish are hitting. I can usually tell the species by how they strike. Bass and pickerel slam the lure, so keep the drag a bit light.
Big crappie, sun fish and yellow perch eat this lure as do youngsters not much bigger than the lure!
Color is up to you. A few will do. For me, I fool around with colors I believe produce, rotating ever so often. They are:
bright white, clear with silver glitter, light green pumpkin with green and black glitter, pink body/ chartreuse tail, translucent chartreuse with black glitter. That's it no matter the water color or time of year. I mimic nothing and catch fish every time I fish to the tune of over 35 fish of different specie.
Lure sizes I find most productive: 2", 2.5", 2.75" and at times (spring) 3"; 1" for ice fishing. 2.5", 2.75" are all around producers.
Body and tail design based on a whim but I have most confidence in a narrow minnow shaped body with wide thin tail. A spike tail and blue gill shaped body have worked well, but many others work. The flat straight tail works far better than curl tails because the slowest rate of retrieve is possible versus having a minimum horizontal speed in order for the tail to flutter.
Note: the grub L lock wire I attached to the jig is 28 g and found at any craft store for flower arranging. You can do it easily. Beats using glue for bait reuse.
Re-rig to reuse:
If the lure gets bit so many times the hole where the hook exits gets bigger, turn the body over and rerig. Another thing to do when the bait's front part is getting a slice in it - cut off 1/8" and rerig. A friend grabbed my discard after I caught over twenty fish and reused it to catch a dozen more.
PM me with any questions.
So far eight members have requested to test and report.
I would say good luck, but luck has nothing to do with it (except catching a state record!)
