Straight tail grubs and light jig heads are the way

I used to think that panfish were near impossible to catch in summer until I started downsizing lures and jig weight. Other misconceptions were that fish were deeper rather than in a range of depths in same water and that curl tail grubs were the lures of choice. I have been fishing three different waters with depths ranging from 14-23' at the deepest end and though fish can be found deeper, the most catches are in the 2-6' range with weeds or shade key areas.

For the heck of it I decided to go really small and light to see the sizes of fish that would strike and stay with straight tails : flat or spike. The combination of straight tails and light jigs was the super slow retrieve speed with pauses that kept fish interested in order to irritate them with slightly fluttering or twitchy tails that provoked them to strike.

The catches weren't near as good as two weeks ago with numbers over 55 per outing, but the strikes were hard and many times multiple on the same retrieve. Here are some examples from a few days ago which include different species striking the same lures:
flat tail:
https://i.imgur.com/CDtGcEf.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/Wu2KPxA.jpg?1https://i.imgur.com/H7FN1YS.jpg

spike tail:
https://i.imgur.com/sPSdpba.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/AldzRYF.jpg?1https://i.imgur.com/jOS0jLd.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/wKRkXpR.jpg?1https://i.imgur.com/6lJ75U7.jpg?1

BTW, green sunfish (bottom left) were as super aggressive as rock bass which were also caught shallow and on steep rocky drops. Three bass were also caught similar in size to this one:
https://i.imgur.com/aY8nvR2.jpg?1

I started out fishing in 3' near an inflow stream and banged out 3 sunfish and a 8" bass. From there, fish were found in 4-6' near weed edges and in pockets. In the last afternoon (3pm) fish were found shallow near shady drop offs into 8'. 1/64 oz jigs were used for shallow water; 1/32 oz for deeper water.

Only 22 fish total but not a disappointment in that the goal was to prove to myself the range of depth fish could be caught in. No luck in deeper water where suspended fish were seen on the fishfinder. Could be that only live bait may have been the only way to get them to strike.

I certainly hope Spoonminnow weighs in on this topic.

A great report, Thanks!

Spoonminnow is my alias. :fish
Anywhere you see lures in fish's mouths posted in any forum, it will usually be under one of my user names. Lure design and testing is an obsession - catching fish is proof they work! Why they work is another thing altogether.

Frank

Think I'll sign back in as Spoonminnow. Thanks for mentioning me or him or whatever......

The same lake I tested the above tail designs, I decided fish might strike a hybrid worm made by attaching the tail of a Gary Y Kut Tail worm to a grub body designed by the same genius. What came as a shock was how universal in species the composite caught (note different color tails used):
Weedless jig and lure:
https://i.imgur.com/XKs2vGb.jpg?2

I assumed only largemouth would hit it, including the little guy on the right:
https://i.imgur.com/mxjVOVC.jpg?2https://i.imgur.com/ARXI3ZN.jpg?1https://i.imgur.com/wR0nK0Z.jpg?1

Nope ! :
https://i.imgur.com/WqLLzTn.jpg?1https://i.imgur.com/9kTfOT5.jpg

a green sunfish:
https://i.imgur.com/2gmCC1l.jpg

BTW, I discovered that two of the most aggressive freshwater fish are rock bass (red eye) and green sunfish.
My belief why the Kut Tail is phenomenal:
1. the paddle tail isn't a paddle tail but spear shaped all the way down to its thin profile - IE the last picture shows the tail from the side
2. the body is tapered from head to tail unlike most worms which have sides that are parallel
3. the plastic composition is unlike any other - soft yet dense.

This produces a whipping action /flutter all species find the need to attack - even small fish. The reason for the grub body is a thicker profile that displaces more water in weedy areas where his lure showed its stuff. (Probably would have caught fish unaltered - and has, but that's my fantasy and I'm sticking to it.)

Body/Tail design matters !!!!!!!

thanks for all the info.

Interesting lures for sure. Looks like they work pretty good.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

What I find most interesting is that once I find a lure design that catches fish, along with the confidence factor, it seems it can be depended on anytime in the future - at least the grub designs if not the worm and depending on the season. Of course there are at times fish seen on the sonar that won't touch a thing, probably not even live bait which account for over 90 % of the fish in a water, but at other times that % is way less.