Dialing Them In

[Micanopy]

When I first started buying baits for my brand new hobby, I chose some paddle tails in lemon lime flavor. Recently I discovered them to be very popular with the locals, both the fish and the fishermen. My supply of this color combination has been dwindling down due to the fish ripping and tearing at them while thrashing. I glue my baits to the jig heads to help stave off the inevitable. Anyways i wanted to replenish my supply of John Deere lures.

I looked at the usual suppliers and saw that Slabonator had some very interesting offerings. I wanted a paddle tail style bait as they seemed to do very nicely, and they have a large selection of those. I saw they had them in 2” and 3” sizes and thought I would try the bigger baits for a change. Then I started looking for my color combination and spotted it in a glow in the dark version. BAM

I had lost my old clicker out the back of the boat…….so got me two of those.

Then I saw what they call the Devil’s Minner in a 2.5” version. Hmmmmmmm…..just my colors, too.

The order arrived yesterday, which was pretty quick. Thank you Slabonators.


Well I got to fiddling and learned a little as I went. First off the 3” paddle tail baits are HUGE. I was surprised at how so. I added one to a jig head and it looked scary to me. The tail section is thick and substantial. Looks like it will flop about with gusto. You remember gusto. Well I ended up clipping off three rings of the front of the bait and felt that it made a much better fit to the 1/0 hook that way. The grub portion is also very thick and is about the same diameter as the jig heads. Take a look.



You can see the part I trimmed off up top. A 2” flopping tail style below, so you can see the size differences. The lure itself is a 3/16th ounce FreeStyle, with a Victory 1/0 red sickle hook, no eyes, with my custom under spin blade design. I like the proportions just fine. Overall it is right about 3” in length, and about an inch from hook tip to bottom of the blade. Roughly.

The paddle tail on these baits is fat and feels sturdy. I hope it holds up well. Nothing irritates more than being on a hot bite and having to swap lures because the tail is missing. I hate that. This tail looks like it is gonna put large impulses into the water as it snakes through. Blade whirling, tail flapping about, large lure, it is bound to be discovered. I just hope it doesn’t frighten the fish, and it might. Takes a bold fish to want to eat that thing. Big fish. I actually prefer catching big fish over small fish you know.

The Devil’s Minner is also a hit with me. Here it is.




Shown with a FreeStyle 1/16th ounce head, painted in glow powder, 1/0 Victory sickle hook in black, custom under spin design. This looks like it is gonna flat out slay them fish. I like that the tail section is fat on these. It looked thin on-line, but in person there is plenty of beef on it. I think I will like that and that the fish will like it as well. Looks to be durable. The proportions look awesome. Nice and compact with lots of room for the hook tip to stand proud. I do so much better with the 1/0 hooks, and this bait matches up to the shaft length nicely.

I also rigged up some of these Devil Minners onto the larger 3/16th ounce heads and they look pretty nice as well.



The clicker was cheaper than other places and has a better feel to the clicks than the Rapala brand it is replacing. Sometimes that version wouldn’t actually click when the depressor was pushed. This provides a solid click.





The Sun’s rays are losing their intensity due to the changing angles due to the Erf tilting again. Every year it is the same thing, but it never gets old for me. Everyday the length of days is either shortening or lengthening, but it is this time of year I most notice that change. Mornings are cool again. A man could harvest from his second crop of tomatoes now. Some leaves are yellowing. Grass has slowed it’s growth. Everything is falling into place quite nicely.

I am excited to discover what Fall fishing is like. Spring was lousy for me, but that was due to lack of skills. The hot days of Summer have been very good to me, as my skills increased. I wait to see what I will learn about Fall fishing. Then Winter. I love Winters.

Work is the scourge of the drinking class. Everybody knows it. Not much opportunity to go fishing this weekend, but I might find a small window to dip these new lures a little. I want to get out there and see if the fish appreciate all that I go through to please their ridiculous expectations. Fickle bunch, the lot of them. Slimy little creatures with those beedy green eyes. Why if they didn’t taste so darn good we would all dislike them.

I tested the new Varivas line- Twitch Master and want to make up all new leaders before I go again. That line seems like a winner to me, but it is early and one never knows.