Used to use a tablespoon as a mold - now only a floor tile and a few molds to make thin-tail minnows

[SPOONMINNOW]

One day I happened to stir hot plastic and noticed a film sticking to the tablespoon, thus my user name. Until now, I hadn't seen thin straight tails sold anywhere but wondered if the thin, flat plastic quiver would be a game-changer when curl-tails failed. So I cut the shape of the minnow from the thin sheet and dipped the forward half a few times to thicken the body:
Spoon Minnow:
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Mad did it catch fish!!!
Next, in order to make more lures in one sitting, I had some glossy floor tiles stored from a kitchen floor replacement and figured: why not pour the film down the slanted tile, cut the shapes and pour plastic a few times on top of a part of the film. Then the body shape was cut into different sizes and then could be dipped once to make the body curves:
View attachment 22609
Just another example of an accidental discovery that led to one of the best all-species, soft plastic lure designs I've ever cast.

A few years later, I happened to discover some molds that did the same thing: the Mo Magic grub (left and center) and other thin-tail 2-2.5"shapes (two on the right).
When I say they caught everything, I mean EVERYTHING regardless of size or species!
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Different flat tails from a mold:
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A short time later I figured: why not attach the thin tail to different lure segments such as this one using a candle:
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Mo Magic tail attached to a ribbed body:
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Turns out, the body doesn't have to be round and, in fact, the flattened body of the French Fry stick did great catching fish so maybe the ribbing helped.
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[jiggerjohn]

Your spoon tails sure have been good to me!

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

"Your spoon tails sure have been good to me!"

Have you used something similar ? or are you in reality my buddy JM?!!!

 

[jiggerjohn]

Oh yeah, it IS yer ole buddy here! So glad yer now on this site-where an amazing jigcrafter like you BELONGS!!! I have to mention for our guys here, how I used a whole supply of yer spoontails down south at OBX and the seatrout cleaned me out of them in one evening ; they're even better in freshwater, and fish take more gently than those toothy sea monsters!! I figure your recent stick (plastic) innovations are also gonna set some tails and scales on fire this season , especially under a popping cork !

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Your spoon tails sure have been good to me!

I thought that was you John. I miss your articles in Fishing Facts Magazine. No other writer comes close especially no one in Bassmaster MagazIne.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Most of my sessions anything of proper size works, or nothing at all.

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Check out my posts for ideas. Size is only one factor. It still shocks me when I catch fish unexpectedly on the weirdest lures and sizes.

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

What about lure design features such as shape and action?

 

[Hawnjigs]

Undeniably the main success factor is right place & time.

Secondly for most fresh water apps slowest retrieve practical is (arguably) a best bite trigger. Slow retrieves are best enabled with lightest possible weight for casting, reaching desired depth, and maintaining line tension for bite feel. Or, use floats. As a corollary to slow lightest practical lowest vis line may mitigate bite wariness since fish have more time to examine & investigate a presentation.

When predators are in active feeding mode bait action will elicit bite responses so wildly flapping tails or shuddering bodies will work. But better than stiffer action lures? Dunno, I prefer stiffies cuz they cast better than flappers and angler imparted twitches seem to adequately imitate prey. So, never use twisters any more and paddle tails almost never preferring stick or twitch minnow baits.

As for shape, vaguely resembling prey seems reliable most of the time. Used to be immersed in the consideration if lure colors or eyes improve the bite factor. Them dayz iz dun, and my catch success here based on prioritizing size vs #s is such I can't share my catch reports locally.

But only going into 8 years with the fresh water game, who knows what tomorrow brings?

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Words such as, "resembling prey seems reliable most of the time" and "When predators are in active feeding mode bait action will elicit bite responses", may be categorical descriptions of why a lure catches fish, but categories don't catch fish - lure action-by-design does.
Line "vis" and "bite wariness" don't even correlate. I used high vis fluorescent, chartreuse monofilament for years and caught fish regardless the speed of retrieve needed for a lure or presentation. If I didn't hate mono, I still wouldn't hesitate to use it for bass fishing.

The problem that has resulted from anglers inventing the above over many decades has resulted in limitations anglers have imposed on their fishing solely based on baseless ideas and assertions. The reasons anglers catch fish or don't, have nothing to do with those assertions. Lures are moving objects that move a certain way - PERIOD. Shape complements action as do the various materials used to make a lure - none of which alerts fish that the object could be lethal. Mepps would have never sold a spinner if that were true. Basic fact: fish bite spinners for reasons having nothing to do with fish correlating the bright flash, metal shaft and clevis and bronze hook to anything that ever lived! Fish react or don't. Simple as that! Lure design variety is a no-brainer, dependent only on what fish detect with the senses and how they react after detection. Over 1000 photos I've kept over two decades attest to that.

This lure designed by Jiggerjohn is not part of a fish's diet yet the unnatural appearance doesn't deter bites - even under a float.


Another example: on a daily basis, 6 turtles and 2 doz. sunfish in my pond along with my two dogs aggressively eat pieces of bread thrown at them. Those animals value bread as much as meat!

Fish react or don't regardless of the reasons given by anglers as to why they bit.

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

lowest vis line may mitigate bite wariness since fish have more time to examine & investigate a presentation.

I prefer stiffies cuz they cast better than flappers and angler imparted twitches seem to adequately imitate prey.

As for shape, vaguely resembling prey seems reliable most of the time.

Too bad - my opinions are the exact opposite of the above except for place and time and would be disregarded. Whatever floats your boat and catches fish.....

 

[Hawnjigs]

Thats the advantage of our forum - being able to compare diverse tekneeks and gear applicable to diverse locations and target species.

Dunno what happened to last years 100s of smallies in our canal, only a single pool out of maybe a dozen formerly productive ones held fish. Still, grateful for the 10 or so 12-14" that allowed themselves to be exploited by my efforts. 3# catfish bonus.

1/14 #2 head with max KISS stub 1-1/4" front end of a 4" Berkley motor oil Power Worm. Not able to discern what natural prey it resembles?

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Not able to discern what natural prey it resembles?

My guess is that it doesn't - same for any lure design. When I fish one of 20 different lure shapes and actions, it's not to fool a fish into believing a lure is anything that lives; it's because fish are too dumb to make the correlation and will strike because they must when the mood-of-aggression takes over. Anyone can imagine what a lure represents, but fish are clueless when it comes to those imaginings.

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Undeniably the main success factor is right place & time.
Secondly for most fresh water apps slowest retrieve practical is (arguably) a best bite trigger. Slow retrieves are best enabled with lightest possible weight for casting, reaching desired depth, and maintaining line tension for bite feel. Or, use floats.

For sure!

 

[hookup]

slowest retrieve practical is (arguably) a best bite trigger.

No argueing this. But I have to try both because sometimes the fish want a fast retrieve. Usually I discover this by accident when reeling in to cast again

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Interesting coincidence talking about slow retrieve and lure size. I cast the whole day and only managed 4 fish. I was using a 1/24 oz jig and plastic lure that was obviously too big. At around 3pm I switched to a 1/32 oz jig and smaller plastic around 1". I immediately started to catch fish 6-7' deep. Sunfish, crappie and bass hit the smaller lure and lighter jig including this 2lb bass:


The sunnies put up a good fight, especially those around 8".


This 10" crappie and 6 like it don't seem to fight much but are still fun to catch:


If I hadn't used a lighter jig and smaller lure, most likely the day would have ended badly.

first lures used and few bites:


Last lure used that caught 27 fish out of 32 and man did the fish pound it!:

 

[Hawnjigs]

Jig downsize + less visible line improved my bite too yesterday. Altho catching a few smallies previous 2 canal sessions with a compact PB stub on a #2 hook 1/14 head seems like the bite was slow which I supposed was due to low #s of fish present. Thinking about it since the fish were small decided to try downsizing main line from high vis 8# yellow braid to 4# red braid + leader from 8# to 4# Hybrid and jig to smallest practical for necessary casting distance 1/20 #6 tied with short dark brown mink fur. Also switched the nickel crane leader swivel to flat black.

Catch # of smallies mostly 10-12" tho last of the session was a chunky 15" jumped from previous day around 10 to well over 20. Not sure if the downsize was the primary bite improvement factor since the next day weather had changed from sunny to overcast and wind dropped from 20+ mph to 10.

3# carpsucker also bit and a pectoral fin snagged 20# carp was a drag ripping fun fest on the light gear.

Most of last years bigger size fish productive holds came up zero the other day so will return to try em again with the downsize.

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Still not a proponent of fish being line-shy. Red line is as visible as 20# test regardless of low # test. If I had used 6# test bright green fluorescent line, I would have done just as well. IMO line should be matched to lure size, lure action and the castable distance of a lure weight range. Other considerations:
i.e. 1 20 lb test mono won't cast 1/32 oz jigs + plastic very far, yet no problem with 3/8 oz skirted jig + trailer. A minimum cast distance of 40' is necessary.
i.e. 2 20# test will not allow a 1/16 oz jig and finesse-action plastic proper action plus being insensitive to very light strikes.
i.e. 3 When fish strike, few if no hooksets happen when small hooks and finesse lures are used primarily because of the small hook gap of #6 or smaller jig hooks. Fish detect resistance and drop the lure or easily get the lightly hooked hook free from its lip.

Note: the lure and hook size in the 1st photo of the bass. Pretty small and it barely hooked the lip. Amazed it didn't wrench it free, but the water has dropped down to 64 degrees and the fish was sluggish after 15 seconds otherwise I would have lost it in the weeds. Same for 11" crappie, Sunnies on the other hand fought like crazy!

 

[Hawnjigs]

SM do you have an ideal hook size for your day to day local apps?

1/16 #6 ball head ties seem to be best choice for current canal smallies. My usual 1/14 #2 plastic pins catch fish too but the smaller hook jigs APPEARED to have fewer drop offs yesterday, but that could change.

Instead of hammering the previous days somewhat successful holds went exploring yesterday and boy did it pay off. Found a few new spots with consistently bigger fish and day total was at least 30 smallies mostly 12-15". Luckily most fishers choose the known popular hold pools closest to the 2 main access roads so apparently the farther afield one roams on the 20+ mile canal the better the fishing. Today I'll go beyond yesterdays spots.

Dunno if lighter less visible line is a bite improvement factor but ain't fixin what ain't broke.

Fish can most def see line and are capable of avoidance reaction. Back in HI years ago night papio and akule would ignore even 4# mono attached jigs and would only hit skimming the jig over the surface with no line in the water. Herbivorous nenue were super frustrating as even disguising a bread baited hook on a float rig in a pile of floating bread chum the water would boil until all the chum was consumed leaving behind the baited hook untouched. Insult to injury sometimes the nenue would tail slap the bread off the hook as a finale !

Hage could ascertain that hooks were to be avoided and were capable of biting the plastic tail off a moving jig bit by bit until the jig head came back empty.

Luckily the fish could make an occasional mistake and get stuck, but not often.

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

A big congrats on a nice smallie day. I prefer smallies in current more than lake LM.

About hook size: where the hook exits the lure #1 is important for best lure action. Fish instinctively go for the head of a moving object whether alive or a lure. They are programmed to stop the object from escaping and somehow know its direction of travel. The accuracy of the bite is amazing, which is the fish's downfall. A hook that exits too far back can be missed; a small hook that exits too far forward may not have enough gap for the fish to start the hookset.

The 1/24 oz jigs I use usually have a #6 hook where the ideal exit is out at 3/4 of body 1/2" - 3/4" its length.
Smaller body length and/or a lighter jig preferred to match the presentation - a #8 hook. I never use any hook smaller than that.


When it comes to Kut tail worms and the like, the formula doesn't apply. (You should try them for smallies using rod tip jerks with pauses BTW!)

The hook exits no further back than 1 1/4" and is usally no larger than a #1/0. The gap of the 1/16 oz jig is more than wide enough for any fish to start the hookset (after which anglers set the hook point deeper).

Until recently I didn't think the gap of a #6 sickle hook big enough and that fish would get off. I was wrong! they work as well as regular jig hooks and I have no clue idea why. Hook exit rule - the same.
Tip: If the gap seems a bit to small and a few fish missed the set, needle nose pliers can be used to widen it just a bit. It really helps!!