Bdnoble84

My reason for wacky rigging is I feel like i can dance it in the current. When its wacky rigged, both ends will dance. I want it to look like a crawler drifting in the current.

Didnt have a Rookie of the year but did have a comeback player of the year. This year I resurrected the ole safety-pin spinner and Watermelon 4” fat Albert grub. This was my go to growing up in my home stream. Caught a few smallies on it this summer. Fun to go back to the basics sometimes.

Did you have any luck on them?

You find the current slackwater eddies and work it in and around the seam as well as for roaming bass throughout the pool. I discovered this last year fishing a bigger river than normal and had sone crazy good days. Best part was its so easy my the. 6 year old was catching nice ones as well.

Oh and sleeper trick. I like to add a homemade safetypin (beetlespin) spinner to my “ned” rig. Its such an underutilized accesory for catching fish in off colored water slow rolled along the bottom. A #4 white indiana paired with a b-fishn 3” pulse-R in green fire core was my best bait all season. Its finesse to me because im using it as a downsized version of a spinnerbait and slow rolling it.

Wacky worm is #1 I guess ned is #2 but I dont use a ned worm, i go with a small paddletail or curly tail. Realistically though its the same presentation on the same weight heads. drop shot is a distant 3. Not because it doesnt work, but because I just pass it up for other techniques. If i do its just because i want to wacky worm but I feel like i’d be better off deeper, being able to dance it in a spot. My second to the wackyworm is a hair jig with some sort of trailer or live bait. Crawlers are deadly but can be fustrating when they bait rob. Also very popular with the sheapshead.

A few underspins I put together. They work well but I feel like maybe i need to move the wire farther forward so the blade isnt quite so far back? I dont know that it actually matters but i feel like it might balance out the presentation alittle more. Jigs are cleared with with generic amazon UV clear. I feel this stuff works just as well if not better than other clearcoats I’ve used. Key is not to leave them in the uv cure light chamber.

I agree. Never caught a fish on an a rig but i understand the premise. I mean regardless of the paddletail color, you are still dragging them behind a bunch of metal. I get the irony however of a translucent behind that thing in clear water. I antually think blades would be a good thing in that instance as the flash they provide would break up the silhoette of the frame. However, if they are keyed on the “bait ball” as is the purpose of the a rig, I really dont think they would pay attention to the hardware any more than any other color. If they are noticing the frame it probably suggests the a rig is the wrong technique that day anyways

A x Rap in clown or chrome black back would fit well here as well. Cant work it fast enough.

I’m not sure wading is a great idea other than if you are hopping a short distance between sandbars. Even then its a good idea to have a walking stick or something like that to check depth. With the way that sand shifts my understanding is that you could be in a foot of water and a few feet later be over your head. i think the info you are getting is good. There will be current seams and back eddies to start with. Jerkbaits, tubes, paddletails, and hair jigs would I think be go to’s up there this time of year. One of my favorites up there was always a safety pin spinner with some sort of curly tail. Definitely an overlooked lure.

Yup. I know that river section. Grew up fishing a backwater up there in Blue River. Honestly Im not going to be much help because I mostly stayed in the backwater for the most part. Are you shore fishing, wading or in a boat. I think alot about how crazy that river is and just how much the sand bars move around. Good luck.

Growing up, I threw alot Daredevils for bass and northern. This was before i knew about patterns, adjusting to conditions, structure, etc. I’ve been thinking a bit lately that i could see a spoon hammering the smallies and really everything else in the river if they are on a fall baitfish bite. I am talking about daredevil style casting/flutter spoons (im not sure i got the name correct). Anyone tryed this?

Cedar is some of my favorite to carve. Getting that final shape can be alittle time consuming but its worth it

Caught plenty of northern up to 10lbs on a medium action spinning or casting rod. Just set your drag correctly. As was mentioned worry more about matching the rod to the lure weight and intended use.

Ithis might be my huckleberry. Had low light in mind when I made it.

Mail polish does have a place in my lure making arsenal. I’ve found a combination of this shiny matalic blue i have on top of black gives this crazy purple metallic color shift type thing going on.

Sounds like im going to be painting the backside of some black blades white. Now i just need a better solution clear-coating my blades so the paint doesnt chip off. Same issue. I’ve found making a wider bend and removing the splitring that connects the blade to the wire has helped with that. Theres an art to bending the loop round so the swivel doesnt want to hang up. A heavier split ring would do the same thing though probably. I like putting junebug in my skirts. Contact me and i can put some together for you. I have a ton of junebug tabs and black rubber. Neex to order more black silicone. What about red blades. I’ve read that red appears black to fish. I could see it silhouetting as well yet maybe giving something alittle different.

What do you all prefer color wise for night-time spinnerbaits. Do you go black? I have black nickel, black, black/purple hue in #6-8 Ind/colorado. Thinking slow rolling along rocky flats in rivers for cruising smallies and walleye. Mainly smallies.

Have some throw them alittle in the early- early spring. Probably should try them more at other times of year

I really struggle with making them, especially in the smaller sizes. I have a hard time getting blade startup. I have done heavy, light, more space, less space, diff wire and clevis sized.

Hobby lobby is very good for certain things. Createx Paint, beads, balsa and bass wood. I buy there craft fur strips. They arent really long enough for traditional use but i cut the material into zonker strips for palmering. Makes a very unique jig.

Its a great presentation on smallies with a hula grub. I go with as light as i can on the bulltet weight so i am just ticking the rocks on a moderate retreive. I dont pin the weight either because if i hop it and let it fall the hula will drag behind on the fall. Its extremely snagless as well.

For some reason i dont have near as much luck with orange as I think I should on my local smallie waters. But that pattern is pretty dope. My smallies love all things green. If I get any visibility at all watermelon pepper is all i need.

Not on a flyrod but the other times is when the mulberries are dropping and they will hit small lures in that viscenity. Coincedintally, that carp was under the mulberry tree but obviously no mulberries.

They dont get that big and powerful on just phytoplankton or whatever the hell they eat.