Poppin' cork jiggin'

[jiggerjohn]

Hi Bucho, If you'll look at the post 4 up from here,there's a nice article they did on me from In-Fisherman blogs, showing a great photo of the popping cork n jig rig.

 

[jiggerjohn]

It's been cold & windy during the past few days, so couldn't take it yesterday as afternoon sun finally warmed things a bit and I went To our nearby local lake at around 5 for some evening work! Searched around, by shore casting with float n new natural hair jig ,"land trolling" various sections ,until I located a goodly pod of crappies who seemed eager enough! Had a ball with them, once dialed in on their particular striking pattern for the evening! They seemed closely grouped in one particular pool, and a slow steady retreive revealed this location. After a bit, I started to do my more standard" jiggling" or rod twitching retreive while reeling slowly, and this was good for several strikes during almost every retrieve,when not hooking one outright. Seems the slight jiggle would also implant the hook for these delicate but quick hitters! Also it kept my float "noisy", which I quickly determined was a big factor in instigating these cold water (and slightly murky) finsters! I'd downsized my float to use a 3" wire rod with on-shaft beads THROUGH the center of a standard medium water bubble, loaded lightly with clacking metal BBs. A more subtle noise than a bigger saltwater poppin cork, and better adaptable to working with my less than 2 oz, sensitive 4'9" Charlie Brewer Slider rod. Crappies loved it , I landed 43 , but woulda had many more if sundown hadn't come so soon !! I'll be designing a few more of these floats, which will carry more subtle clacky glass beads for the fish calling sound !! Crappies, apparently love rattles!

 

[jiggerjohn]

Over the past weekend ,the bluegills and various other colorful sunfish invaded the shallows of 2 small local lakes . They proved quite susceptible to a water bubble with BBs and glass beads inserted - my "light" version of a saltwater poppin cork ! I trailed this with a bit of a strange lure - one of Hawnjigs 1/64 th oz jigheads with a sharp no. 10 hook, tied up as a small black bug, with a bright yellow belly. But the "kicker" (trailer, actually) was a tough, 3/4" leg cut from a Fishbites shrimp body - the panfish went nuts over the action and flavor of this normally saltwater bait! Surprisingly, these curved tiny "legs" added a rocking type action to the jigfly ,to give me eager followers almost every cast. Didn't keep a tally, but after Saturday's session I actually had to wear a wrist brace (Ok, I'd been having problems anyway with my right wrist!) to resume my Sunday and Monday sessions!!