Thread: Carl Blackwell archives

Hey, swollen. What's the word? Big crowd? Lots of fish? Anybody fishing the bank? Minnows seemed to be working better yesterday afternoon. Trying to decide if its worth it to fight the crowd early. Thanks in advance.

I didnt go this morning....but a good friend did and I talked to him at 730 and he had his limit. He got there at 4am and was done pretty fast he said. He said at 630 the inside was so packed you couldnt fit another person in there. He said the bite was on fire at about 430 to 530. He was using jigs in chartreuse and SlabSlobber.

I know I thanked you in advance, but here's another thanks after the fact. Looks as if I'm getting up early.

Got to CB at 4:00 this AM to fish w/ crappiepappa. He had been there since 2:00. Super nice guy. Gave me some Slab Slobber (and some of his wife's cookies). It definitely helps (Slobber on the jigs, not on the cookies). We mostly fished outside to avoid the elbow-to-elbow crowd and enjoy nature (37 degrees with a nice north wind).
Later, there was a lot of excitement, so I went in and saw the master at work. Two guys from Wichita were using home-made metal jigs. One had an ice rod with a strike indicator extension. While everyone else was catching an occasional fish or having no luck, he was catching them as fast as he could get the jig down. He was offered pretty good money if he would sell some, but no dice. His partner said a guy once offered a thousand dollars for a small fly box of the jigs, but was told he would have to suffer the pain and make his own. He DID explain how to make the jigs, which he said always results in soldering burns and being stabbed multiple times while filing the metal in order to have the vinyl paint stick to the metal. He must have caught over 300 fish. They had a backup rod and loaned it to my son-in-law who was fishing between them and was not getting a bump. Bang! Bang! Bang! I suggested that he make a trade, his rod for their's, but that suggestion was politely declined.

Metal jigs? You mean no plastics, hair, or feathers? This post wins both the most intriguing and the most frustrating awards until someone posts a close up of those magic jigs. And I take it for granted that CPappa offered him a jar of S Slobber for a jig. If you can describe these further I would love to try to visualize them and recreate them eventually.

Hello, Cciller,
Cpappa got there at 2:00 and had things to do. He had already left with a bucketful when those two guys showed up. There were 23 people inside when they showed up. And the guy had a fly box full of the jigs. He showed them to everybody who came over, including me. He was using a very bright orange jig with a black nose and end and his partner was using one that appeared to be chartreuse and silver. No plastic, hair, chenille, or feathers. They dropped the jigs to the bottom and did a super slow retrieve. He said that sometimes they just jig in place, but the the slow upward retrieve was usually the best.
He described how to make the jigs, and we are thinking about getting the equipment and supplies. You need a solder gun, two hook vises, hooks, blades, a diamond hook hone (his was an E-Z Lap) to scuff the blade so the paint will stick, vinyl paint, and a special thinner. He said his average cost is 33 cents per jig.
Oh, I DID offer to take his picture and post it on crappie.com. The other people there said that that would be cruel, as everyone in the crappie world would be bugging him. He kind of ignored the suggestion, so I let it be.
If you see me out there killing them with metal jigs, come say Hi and I can give you supply sources and methods.

Sorry that the subtle approach to getting a picture of this life changing bait was unsuccessful. Great story any way you look at it tho! When you master the manufacture of it maybe you could pm me a picture. Whatever you do don't publish the image on this site as these guys will never let you sleep til they all have a box full. But as for me; I am 9000 miles away and a year from my next slab hunt. Three days after you send me the picture I will forget it ever existed because even when I was young I had a leaky memory which age has not improved so your secrets are safe with me.(-;

Sounds like a Microspoon. Several have been around C.C for awhile. As I recall, Keith Pace sold them. MicroSpoons.com. I think he is mostly into plastics now. I think I even have a couple in my trout fly box (if I could remember where it was.)