Here’s what I call my confidence package. It shows the three primary baits profiles I rely on along with three jigs, the two on the right with sickle hooks are 1/16 ounce , one with a #6 hook the other with a #4. The Larger hook goes with the 2-1/4 Small Fry bait shown in the picture near the float. The jig on the left is a 1/24 with a conventional bend #6 hook and is used situationally in the rest of the baits shown. The 1/24 I also make using the sickle hook in #6. I’ll get back to the hooks in a sec.
The Do-It Molds’ paddletail, also called the Thump-It on Do-It’s site, is seen just to the right of the float. This little beast beats the crap out of Brewer’s stuff when it comes to the tail button and webbing.
The four like baits are from a Ukrainian pre-war set of molds and are as close to Kietech’s Swim Impact 2″ bait as one can get. The difference between a Keitech and these is that in no way can one buy a chartreuse tail on a Keitech. Nor can the body colors be bought that come close to these in the picture. Junebug, purple, partcrasher glitter in clear and the bluegill glitter blend in clear plastic are the four colors I do in each of the baits shown here and I do not leave home without all four colors in all of the bait profiles. This is a hard and fast rule. And like the Do-It Thump-It’s tail and webbing, these skinny Kietech look-alikes’ tails and webbing make a brewer plastic look like a club.
Some will argue over the merits of the sickle hook. I’m ok using either a sickle hook or a conventional bend in a hook for my jigs. I guess I reach for the sickle more than the conventional bend but there’s no real rhyme nor reason to it. The keeper wire now…. that’s a must. I cast all my jigs using the keeper wire and trim about 2/3 of the barb down as seen here and the smaller stub does a super good job of holding plastics over the long haul without tearing the head end up.
Jighead color…. this is my color. I made this using automotive grade transparent purple powder paint and add a little blue .008 Canada blue glitter to it along with a wee bit of violet hi lite powder to offer some contrast that goes a long way to the depth of the color. Even on these small heads the color looks 4″ thick because the paint is transparent and has gone directly on freshly cast, shiny jigs. Do I carry other colors of jigs? Only a few and I haven’t had the occasion to tie a different color on a line in maybe five or six years. For me the purple seen here is my hallmark color.
Depending on the depth I need to fish, I’ll match head weight to the bait being used to take care of business. Plastics-wise, from early ice out until some serious pre-spawn staging develops, I use the Fry bait and the Keitch look-alikes. The Do-It paddletail goes on when I start seeing evidence that a pre-spawn scenario is developing and with stick with the paddletail throughout the spawning period. Longer baits seem to result in missed hits during this period as the fanning fish or bedded fish will simply pick a bait that gets near the nest up by the tail and carry it away and spit it out. The shorter bait really improves the hook-up ratio when the fish are in spawning mode.
The float…. For years I was a huge fan of the Thill Mini-Stealth is the #2 and #3 sizes that took care of the jig weights I preferred. Thill dumped production of the Mini-Stealth floats several years ago and not being willing to give in to not being able to find any I decided to make my own. While not exact, these home spun floats still feature the rounded bottom, tapered body and the stem which can be used either as a static float with the silicone bands or as a slip float. Fishing water less than three feet deep I prefer to rig the float static, which still allows one to slip the float up or down to adjust for depth changes without requiring the line to be cut to do so. As a slip float they work super down to twenty feet, but after that hooking can be an issue. The good news is that I never fish more than 10 or twelve feet deep with a float. and here’s the real deal about these floats….
Thill’s float and those that I make are actually a very unstable float. Toss one on the water and they lay on their sides. Now put a jig under them and they stand right straight up in the water. ANY, and I do mean ANY, slightest lift or knock sideways that gives any lift to the float upsets the stability and the float will flop right over on its side. The rounded bottom simply does not allow the float to stand without weight under it. Period. There is no other float on or in the market today that behaves this way, nor can any other market float react with the sensitivity that this float does. And as a bonus when used as a slip float, the compact size sitting right down on the jig during a cast allows one to rifle casts like no tomorrow since there isn’t any gangly sticks or lopsided, long bobber body to create a mess of air resistance. Where I fish in the backwaters right now, I am getting 60+ foot casts on 4 pond XL with a 1/16 jig and plastic. This float is literally the heart and soul of my fishing package.
Shown with the dime for size reference, nothing here is huge or combersome. Virtually every plastic wears a chartreuse tail. Everything is tailored for a specific purpose, yet allows me to fish minimally from immediate ice out until winter locks things up again.
I have mentioned this often and will do so again. My baits go from mold to 4X4 laminated ziplock bait bags and are given a substantial dosing of Gulp Minnow juice. I buy the spray bottles for this. Yes, I hear the argument that being a petroleum based plastic product that this Gulp stuff won’t work on the baits, BUT!… I see a significant difference between these treated baits and those that have not been treated and the treated baits do things that the untreated simple do not or can not. To this, to each his own.
This is pretty much it in a nutshell. Yes, I have and make and carry a few other baits that I use in my quest for crappies. The colors for the most part are the same as what you see here, they just offer a different profile or slightly different type of action. I may a 1-7/8″ horizontal, split tailed minnow that at times can be a head turner too.
My favorite crappie rod length is 7 foot. My reels are generally 1000 series Saharas, Symtres, or a Scheels branded 1000 series. XL 4 pound, clear. I do enjoy the vertical aspect that lipless cranks and jigging dock pilings can offer and I have three 6’6″ rods with 750 series reels on them spooled with the grey Clam Frost braid that are used specifically for this activity.
I’m actually a very simple angler once one understands that I have put in a huge amount of time learning to understand my quarry and refining my tackle to match circumstances that come along.
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