Thread: Experimental and Opinions Acceptable

I prepare the heads by wrapping thread tightly, then spaced out to create a rough texture. Add chenille and whip it. Then I arrange the heads and select a matching soft bait. Then very carefully begin placing bait onto hook. I make sure that the hook is centered to begin, and that it stays alligned while skewering. When I get to the thread I stop, make sure everything is lined up straight, then brush on Godzilla glue. Then complete the slide and hold tight for a few seconds. Then hang to dry.

I have not caught a lot of fish so far, but the other baits held up nicely and even an old catfish didn’t ruin the one it was chewing on. So yeah I do think it is worth the extra effort securing the baits to the jig head. Kind of like when you are wearing pants that are a little too big. Sure you can spend your day pulling them back up, or you can just get a belt and be done.



Here you can see the thread wraps and see how the loosely spaced wraps create a textured surface. The glue does the rest.

I took the baits out of that fly box for the reason indicated. I guess plastic baits react negatively with all sorts of materials.

1/32 ounce head on a #1 sickle hook.

These blades should be free to spin without encountering obstacles.

Managed 8 fish today, two were too small for the livewell.



I had left the old jigs on the rods from last expedition, and sure enough, started losing fish again. After three of these I started swapping out jigs for the new 1/0 sickle version. End of problem. Stopped losing fish. So the Bat Jig with the Wacky hook in size #6 might in fact be a great combination for vertical jigging, it is a poor choice for trolling. Not sure why, but it was pretty obvious.

Today I set out two 16’ rods with the 1/32 ounce jigs with spinners as my outside lines. These were extended well back and did catch a few fish. The 10’ rods had the 3/32 ounce jig heads and were the middle set. They were set back a little closer than the far jigs. Then the 3/16 ounce jigs comprised the two inside rods and were short. This allowed me to make 180 turns that did not need to occur on forty acres. Pretty tight. I was able to examine the jigs and guess at depths.

The spinner blades were perfect and this time there was no fouling. Just a beautiful spin.

The fish seem to not have any favorites as everything got some action. Then as if a switch was thrown, they stopped biting. I switched jigs, amounts of drop back, speed, etc and cruised about 4 miles or so.

I launched in the Moon light, and the Sun rise was gorgeous.



After a while my competition showed up and launched. They seemed to take pity on me as if I was sort of dumb. Maybe I look stupid. They held up a super small crappie for me, so I could see how it is done. Anyways when we called across at one another we each had six. They seem to be well practiced and confident. I just look dumb.



Kind of nice actually. Obtaining similar results as the locals that have been doing it for decades. I am learning faster now. I really liked the three sizes of jig heads, heavy in close, then lighter, then outside lighter still. This meant that I was able to keep all the lines from tangling, and it made for easy changes to amounts of line out. Knowing the lighter jig would remain somewhat near the surface.

My trolling rods are too heavy to be of much use. They work perfectly when I am using planer boards, but for line straight back, the fish only managed a slight wiggle. I am going to order some new rods.

So the setup would be: All six rods out the sides, in the front of the boat.
16 feet, furthest forward, slight angle in an upwards fashion.
11 feet, middle rod holders, straight out at a horizontal
6 feet, furthest towards the back, slight angle downward.

This allows for the tighter turns as the lines encounter one another at different angles without fouling.

Wish the fish would have stayed hungry. Water temperature was 83 degrees. Storm clouds came and I left just as it started raining.

Enjoyed having just a small selection of possible baits, and switched jigs several times.

The fish seemed scattered about and I saw shad both on the surface and in bait balls about four feet down.

Liked the fact that the plastic baits held firm to position on hook and did not require adjustment.

Did not see any alligators today. Weird. Maybe it is mating season.

Added Slab Sauce to the chenille collars.

Going to try a different setup for my leaders. Currently I use those little wire clips so switching is easy. I plan to fashion a section of 6 lb leader to my 12 lb main line using back to back Nail knots. Run a section of leader about six feet long, and tie the jigs directly onto the leader. Plenty of material to tie and retie and not run out. My jigs do not spin, so I am going to eliminate the swivel.

That flaming sky is just a perfect photo. Nice.
Bob

Grizzly Jig sells Ozark 11 foot Lite rods for $34 each. These are somewhat stiff but can lift fish into the boat. I got four to use, two up front, two in the back.

Searching the site for reviews is tricky as no matter what rod name you enter, you will find equal numbers of folks that like it and hate it. I imagine these things are very personal. Jimmy Houston, Bill Dance, and every other feller seem to have their own lineups. The Wally Marshall Signature rods looked nice but cost twice as much of course. Huckabee must sprinkle gold dust in the resins that hold the little eyes on. Keep reading bad reports about B&M rod tips snapping, and that Ozark’s customer service stinks. If it does I will call Grizzly if needed.

I also needed two more little spinning reels and went with el cheapos, and gonna try braid line. I used braid exclusively in surf fishing, so I am very familiar with how things go. Especially when two lines happen to just barely touch. LOL. The line I ordered is cheap cheap Chinese stuff in their special Rainbow color pattern. I am thinking this will allow me to catch a fish, and then drop back to the same distance. The line I used before was Daiwa JBraid as I needed smooth for distance. 1,000 yards of 10 pound test was $20. I know that some braids enjoy mystery separations, so I will see.

One really nice attribute about braid is that you can run it out the tip, down the rod to the jig stuck in hook keeper, and not worry about developing a kink during storage. I will be able to use long flowing leaders so the silly little fish shouldn’t notice.

I plan to spool up my reels with this and then attach a flourocarbon leader. After much thought in this matter, I do plan to add a very small swivel to attach to the braid. Not sure why I am certain I want a swivel, but if it is very small it should be fine.

These will be just for long lining.

That’s a great sunrise shot, we all live for those. I don’t and haven’t used a swivel and I’ve trolled. Both cranks and jigs. I use a double uni knot to join any leaders in smaller test lines and an fg knot for braid to heavier leader. I’ve used BnM rods almost exclusively for a lot of years and not suffered a broken tip so far. I also net my fish and don’t swing any but the smaller fish. Ed Dukes rods also do well. I’ve also found that stiffer rods help lose more fish by not flexing when the fish flop around. Better to have the rod flex and allow some movement instead of being immobile and giving them a tight line to pull against. The size of the curl tails dictates the vibration it generates and there are days when the longer strollers do very well. The 2” southern pro curl tails have extensive color choice and do very well for me. The inch and a half curl tails, like the bass pro version, are the absolute bomb on some days while the other bigger baits in the spread go untouched. Don’t bypass the clear with glitter tails when you shop either. I’ve had them outdo chartreuse tails when conditions change. You’re doing well, all things considered, and you are getting dinner. Summertime is challenging here in the hot Deep South.

Well thank you both very much. Compliments and advice are always nice.

That morning sky makes the clouds glow due to the UV light. Things kind of like this happen everyday but we are like busy little ants and never stop to notice such things. The visible light is dominant during the majority of the time we can see. Early in the morning the first light we “see” is UV light. It is one of the reasons we have difficulty focusing and recognizing some objects in that early light. We see something, but just not quite sure what it might be. Then once the Sun rises and a direct line is established, the visible light overtakes the UV and we lose the glow effect. Visible light cannot penetrate thick storm clouds, but UV light can and does. We all know you can get sunburns during cloudy days. Well UV light penetrates down thru the water column far deeper and better than visible light does. This means that as the lure dives the visibility of the lure becomes more and more dependent upon UV reflectivity and less on the visible light. I believe crappie are using UV light dominate conditions ( weak visible light conditions ) to ease up on their prey. I believe that they can see the prey just fine and that the prey are unaware of the impending doom. Later once the visible light assumes command, the prey are on equal footing when it comes to seeing. So they feed early early and late in the day.

My theory.

So these are my latest style.



I poured the 1/16th ounce Bat Jig heads onto an EC #1 sickle. Then I powder painted with bright white, followed quickly by a clear powder paint with UV enhancements mixed in. Then baked of course. Then I add the eyes, and yes I too must now glue them in place. Yuck. Anyways Gorilla glue in the brush applicator bottle seems to do a fair job. Allow to dry then a stripe down the midline with UV enhanced bright orange neon fingernail polish. Then a coating of UV resin, a quick hit with the light to freeze the resin, then a second coat and set them all out on the deck to cure in the bright sunshine.

I am using six enhancements in total- white head, eyes, orange highlight, yellow neck, body color and tail color. White seems to show off the eyes a little better. My crinkle painted heads the eyes are camouflaged.

There is a proboscis of sorts jutting out from their faces. The Bat Jig mold was modified to accept 90 degree jig hooks by DrNip. The slot for the 60 degree hook eyes is still there, fills with lead, and I had been cleaning off that extra little bit of lead and then filing everything smooth. Kind of a pain to do all that, so I stopped and now kind of like the horned look.

I also decided to switch out weights, so instead of 1/32, 3/32 and 3/16th sizes. I now have 1/16, 1/8, and 1/4 oz sizes. I really like using different weights as they allow for better control during trolling operations. The angles of penetration into the water are different. Heaviest in tight, getting lighter as they move out from the boat. Obviously if there is activity on just one size a switch can be made.

The Stroll’Rs are pretty cool in that even at slow speeds they produce movement, sound and vibration. I really need to experiment with other available baits as well. Having a nice selection will come in handy on those odd days when nothing seems normal. I will obtain some curly tails as suggested. Soon my gifted lures will arrive and I am excited to see what they do.

My wife has made progress on the art piece featuring my “old” jigs, many of which never got wet. LOL


I have been struggling with the setup regarding attaching lures to line. Not fastening knots, rather what kind of setup. I am glad to know that a swivel may not be needed. I no longer trust UNI to UNI based on my surf fishing experiences. I will use the Nail to Nail instead. Thinking about a six foot fluorocarbon leader in 6lb test coming off the 10# braided main line down to one of those little loop clip thingies. I hate tying knots while fishing and feel that the loop clips are not scaring fish off. Later I will begin to add an extra jig to the line and pull two jigs. I will still be able to attach a planer board to the leader as I understand they don’t like braid.

I was convinced that the boat passing over top of fish was scaring them away, and I am beginning to think that that thought process was all wrong. You would think a giant blimp passing over just three feet above your head would alarm you, but apparently doesn’t bother them. I was also concerned about the noise my TM makes, but now not so much. Weird that a jig dancing in their face can frighten them off but my boat doesn’t. I mean maybe it does but the planer boards don’t out produce jigs straight back into the area where the boat used to be. I am told that they don’t mind braid tied to the jigs but I draw the line right there. Hah


Can’t wait to go fishing again and run some of these lures out the back. Me perched in the catbird seat, them totally unaware that they are being hunted down to be eaten. I still pitch back fish instead of taking home. I brought home 21 one day but haven’t brought home any others really. I just can’t seem to get enough to make a nice mess and a few don’t excite me sufficiently. Dog Days of Summer might be a difficult time, but the fish still must eat so…..

Pinocchio jigs, perfect for fishermen, eh? Thanks for all the photos and info.