Hot weather, hot water, small baits

[CTom]

The weather and water temps will drive sunfish and crappies into submerged wood where some depth and shade can afford a little relief for the fish. Dropping a jig in wood like this can often end up as a lost jig. Here's something to try. Tie a plain, un-cast, jig hook...about a size 8....on your line then pinch on a split-shop 6" to a foot above the hook. Thread a small plastic on the hook until the head end butts up to the dog-leg in the jig hook and put a dab of super glue there to keep the plastic from sliding. The key here is down-sizing the size of the bait. In the winter fish get shoved into similar funks when water temps dip into the polar ranges and these same fish will behave just like that when the water gets hot.



These are Bear's little Ice Minnows and are my choice of plastic weapon right now while the water temps are at such ridiculous levels. I can fish the rig just described using these baits either on a tight line or under a float. After giving the bait a short jump the drop on these is super slow. That thread-fine tails dances all over as the bait drops. When the bait comes to rest, that tail is still moving.

The two colors with the red eyes almost appear to be mad. I love it. With Ma away this weekend I have been able to sit back and get caught up on my box filling....I never seem to have trouble losing baits but re-filling the box with her around is becoming a real challenge. lol The mold for this bait is pretty small and getting two colors of plastic laid by hand befor shooting the center color on that fire-tiger was a serious test for these old eyes but I like the outcome. Now to try that fire-tiger on fish. I know the other two colors work great for this tactic and as long as I had heat those to do the re-fill number I thought what the heck and heated some orange to challenge myself. I don't think I want to do these multiple color numbers very often but they do look nice in the end.

These plastics tape out at only 1-3/8" and about 50% of that is tail.

[STUMP HUNTER]

I agree at times the small bait will do a better job. Nice write up and your bait looks good.

[crappiedoc]

The weather and water temps will drive sunfish and crappies into submerged wood where some depth and shade can afford a little relief for the fish. Dropping a jig in wood like this can often end up as a lost jig. Here's something to try. Tie a plain, un-cast, jig hook...about a size 8....on your line then pinch on a split-shop 6" to a foot above the hook. Thread a small plastic on the hook until the head end butts up to the dog-leg in the jig hook and put a dab of super glue there to keep the plastic from sliding. The key here is down-sizing the size of the bait. In the winter fish get shoved into similar funks when water temps dip into the polar ranges and these same fish will behave just like that when the water gets hot.



These are Bear's little Ice Minnows and are my choice of plastic weapon right now while the water temps are at such ridiculous levels. I can fish the rig just described using these baits either on a tight line or under a float. After giving the bait a short jump the drop on these is super slow. That thread-fine tails dances all over as the bait drops. When the bait comes to rest, that tail is still moving.

The two colors with the red eyes almost appear to be mad. I love it. With Ma away this weekend I have been able to sit back and get caught up on my box filling....I never seem to have trouble losing baits but re-filling the box with her around is becoming a real challenge. lol The mold for this bait is pretty small and getting two colors of plastic laid by hand befor shooting the center color on that fire-tiger was a serious test for these old eyes but I like the outcome. Now to try that fire-tiger on fish. I know the other two colors work great for this tactic and as long as I had heat those to do the re-fill number I thought what the heck and heated some orange to challenge myself. I don't think I want to do these multiple color numbers very often but they do look nice in the end.

These plastics tape out at only 1-3/8" and about 50% of that is tail.

CTom,

Excellent info on the lite bite.For a couple years now during the heat guys would post the "tics" and how to solve them. Generally most of us assume the dinks have arrived, only after applying some past experiences did I begin to downsize. I'd ask myself constantly about ice tackle, last year I quit asking and started trying. Success, wax worms, micro maggots, that tiny stuff slab crappie never eat, WRONG. I've found this to be exactly the opposite. They love it, something else I've noticed, once you get a school going you can get them aggressive enough to hit that bigger jig. Most of the time those little tics are the bigger fish and when they knock the snot out of it, usually dinks. Good post Thumbs Up

[CTom]

About 10 years ago a friend and I fished an evening when the day's high temp was just under the century mark and the thermocline went from top to bottom in 35 feet of water. Basically there was no place for the crappies to find relief. Nothing was working as far as conventional tackle went but we were sitting atop a school of fish in 32 feet of water I thought were likely to be crappies. Near to giving up I decided to go in the tiny direction ....just to scratch that itch and the results were right now.

I had some #1 flicktails in hot orange that were mounted on white jigs of 1/64. The crappies were all over this bait and after switching to a chartreuse head things really got hot.

The evening was really a sucker to sit and fish [darned near sweat to death] but with no wind we were able to keep our position right over the fish. No float, we watched the jigs drop on the flasher and when they were just over the school we'd stop them and let the fish rise to hit. They'd only come up about 18" and those hits were just slight "taps".

We had ice along that evening in a cooler to lay the fish in and that was our salvation as far as a dinner went. There was little struggle from the fish as they were brought up and upon release of those we let go they didn't set any records returning to the depths. A couple came back up and floated and were retrieeved and cleaned. Since that evening I have alsways got a small selection of tackle along to satisfy slight biters when the water and weather get thick.

These 1" Ice Minnows have a tail like no other bait I have seen in the same size class and have thus far proven to be great at turning lookers into hitters with this hot weather. They'll be going to the big river sometime this next week and I am looking forward to some hot action using them there.

[shipahoy41]

Good post and a great bait!

[icejohn]

thats some great info but i was wondering why couldnt you just put the bait on asmall jighead
i can make both 1/64 and 1/32oz with #8 hook. also, where can you buy those ice minnows, id like to try
them now and even this winter.
thanks,
icejohn

[CTom]

The idea behind the plain jig hook is to allow the bait to be presented horizontally, yet to have as little weight as possible at the bait. Weightless, these small baits are just a bundle of motion.

[snake River]

I sure like the color of your plastic baits.