Archive for April, 2010
What Are Stinger Hooks
April 29th, 2010 | 
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What are Stinger hooks? These are a single, double or treble hook on 2 or 3 inches of line, or wire attached to the main lure’s head, eye, or hook. The main reason to use a stinger is for light biting, just mouthing or bait stealing fish that you cannot seem to catch on the main lure. In early season walleye can steal minnows from the hook by a pull on the tail and when fish are less agressive they may just mouth and spit out the lure. A stinger will help you catch some of these. You can use Single Snelled Sting’R Hook, a Sting’r Double Barb
or a Sting’r Treble Hook
What Types and How Do I Use A Stinger Hook?
Slip OnSting’r
All three of the Sting’r Hooks above will slip on over the hook of any jig. However there are specifci Northland Fire-Ball Jigs that have an independent eye to hook the Sting’r hook onto. In Saskatchewan we can not use live minnows but we can use commercially frozen minnows. Select a minnow and put on the main hook by hooking just behind the head, then take the sting’r hook and stick the hook or one of the barbs, completely through the minnow just in front of the tail or as far back as you can without putting a bend in the minnow. Work the jig exactly as before only now you can set the jig sooner. You might also catch walleye on the sting’r hook without setting the hook.
Trailer Hooks
There are three styles of multi (trailer) hooks. The eye of a second hook slipped over the main lure hook, an attached wirelead second hook, or a hook tied directly to the shank of the main lure. All three of these are called a trailer hitch hooks.
Trailer Hook on Hook: take the Gamakatsu Trailer Hook and slip the eye of the second hook over the point of the main lure. If the hook is long enough it will turn so that it runs inline with the main lure, if it doesn’t, take the hook back off, take pliers hold hook shank and use second pliers to twist eye of second hook slightly, place it back on the main lure check to see if second hook runs in line. To rig with bait take minnow and put main lure hook up through the minnow behind the head from belly to back of head. Lift the minnow and push the second hook up througth minnow as far back as possible but do not bend minnow.
Wire Lead Hook: This lure requires a stiff wire leader and a Mustad Dressed Trebles hook. This will work for plain jigs or plastci body jigs. First remove plastic body from jig, then take the stiff thin wire, put through eye of the main hook, attach by twisting end around rest of wire. Measure about 5" of wire and twist it around the hook shank at lease three times, thread the wire through the plastic body and put the plastic body back on the main hook, attach the XCalibur Dressed Trebles
hook to the wire by running wire through treble hook eye, adjust so that treble eye is about 1" behind main hook and twist wire. Cut off any extra wire. Can now fish with or without bait.
Direct Tied Trailer: This requires tieing a second trailer hook like above directly to the line about 1 – 2" behind main lure or tieing a completely different second smaller lure behind the first, such as a panfish hook or snelled hock with a minnow or small bait on it. With the new flourocarbon leader line the connection is almost invisible and the second hook is intended to look like a smaller fish following the first hook. the idea here is to catch the or attract the fish to stirke either lure.
Multi-hooks:
When talking about these I mean Floating String’r, Spinner Harnesses
, Secret Walleye Rigs
, and Worm Crawler
. These have one or two hooks already tied as a stinger and are used mainly for fishing Walleye with a bottom bouncer or 3 way swivel system colse to bottom. These are used by spreading the bait (worm or leach) over the multi hooks. These lures mean more hooks but if not used properly mean more hooks to get tangled up.
Think of all of these lures and stinger or trailer hooks, the same as barb wire always catching your pant leg. They deliver the "Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee" or the "One-Two Knockout" of "Ali" and Tyson" in your corner. Many times a stinger has saved the fishing trip simply because the minnow, leech or nightcrawler was bit off short of the main hook.
Other Great Stinger Lures Or Kits:
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What Are Jigs
Jigs are the most used lure in the tackle box. Jigging is the most used system to catch fish. Why Use jigs? What are the different Jigs? When someone says did you try jigging, the first thing that comes to mind is fishing for Walleye. This is by far the most preffered way to catch walleye but jigs work on panfish, northern pike, lake trout and all fish species. Jigs come in all sizes from tiny 1/64oz all the way up to 4 and 5oz coastal fishing lures. But the most used sizes are 1/4 and 1/2 oz jigs.
When you first start fishing jigs it may be confusing, chosing the different types of jigs, figure out what jig works best in different water situations and what style and color body to use. Jigs usually have a molded weighted head on a j or Aberdeen Hook, with various type bodies. Most common is floaters, leadheads with plastic, hair or bristle, flyers and jigging spoons and just jig bait style bodies. If you add a blade to the jig it is called a roostertail. If you insert the entire jig into the plastic body it is called a tube jig. To start your jig collection you may want to consider purchasing a Holographic Bucktail Kit, Mimic Minnow Panfish Kit, a Walleye Jig Kit, a few Bucktail Jigs or Holographic Bucktail Jig or Tri-Color Tube Kit.
Why Use Jigs:
Most fish especially walleye feed on or close to the bottom or they spend most of their life within 1 foot of the bottom. Jigs get the hook down to the bottom and keeps the jig in this vital area for you to catch fish. Most jig fishing means vertical straight down below the boat or casting into an area and retrieving the lure through the desired target zone, so that you do not scare the fish away. You can troll with jigs but you will need extra weights, Bottom Bouncer Sinkers and 3 way swivels to get and keep these light lures down.
Benefits of Jig Fishing:
Quick change of styles and sizes
Quick change of plasyic bodies
Have grub, curly tail, twin tail, swim tail with one lure
Fish any situation
Fish with or without plastic body
Tip plain hook with bait
Imitate the minnow bait very closely
Types Of Jigs:
Floater Jigs: Gum-Drop, Screw-Ball Floater
These jigs float up in the water or on the top of the water. The most common is in a small minnow pattern. They work great with harness, crawlers or bottom fishing where you want your hook to float up off the bottom. Tip here is use a solid wire leader to get them farther out from your main line or use a 3 way swivel system with a wire lead and bottom weight when fishing floating jigs.
Flyer Jigs and Jigging Spoons: Jigging Rap, Jigging Spoon
Jigging Lures are a weighted flyer wing style lure, usually with hooks on both ends and a treble hook underneath. Jigging Spoons usually have a treble hook at the bottom. Both are classified as a darter type. When falling they dart or fly in different directions. These are a good only for vertical style fishing as you tie or attach to them on the top of the lure.
Hair and Spinner Jigs: Marabou Tinsel Jigs, Thunder Jig
These jigs instead of using a plastic body look more like a fly with hair or bristle tied or formed right onto the hook. You cannot change the body on these so to get different hooks you have to purchase each color as a seperate lure. These have the appearance of fins moving when the hair or bristles move in the water. A very good hook for light bites or finesse situations. They do work casting but the hair lays down and looks like a very thin bait. When jigged verticle the hair puffs up and works better.
Plastic Body Artificial Jigs:Beetle Grub, Single Tail Grubs, Double Tail, Weedless Tube, Slurpies Swim Shiner Kit,
There are 4 styles of bodies a grub or bug like with or without a tail, single or double curly tail, double curly tail, swim blunt tail and worms or minnows plastic only. You either put the body over or onto the hook and slip the body up the hook shank to the head or you fish by putting a hook through the body at some point. You can rig these as a weedless hook by threading the hook point back into the plastic body.
Bait Body Imitator Jigs: Slurpies Holographic Worm Kit, Gulp! Minnow, Gulp! Leech,
These type of jigs the weighted head and hook are fully inserted into the plastic body the hook can be exposed or fished in a weedless patern by keeping or rigging the hook point back into the plastic body.
How Do I Use A Jig:
Why Use A Jig:
What Jig Do I Start With:
You will develop what jig to use through trial and error, however I start with a 1/4oz round ball jig in chartreuse, hot pink or white, with a white or yellow curly tail. I will change the body several times before I change the hook. If you use a fishing journal *****see example**** write in it what lure you started with. What condition the water was, clear, stained, murky and weather clear and bright, overcast or cloudy. People swear that on bright days use dark colors and on dark days use bright colors but this does not always work. I will start here but switch after 10 or 15 minutes without a bite.
Tips For Using A Jig:
Concentration and sensitive touch rule here. Walleye are light biting fish you may feel the slightest of tap to a sharp tug.
Aggressive walleye inhale jigs by sucking, and can spit your lure out faster than you can set the hook, be ready at all times.
If you lift your rod to jig the hook and you feel ANY resistance set the hook. Walleye take the hooks as it falls or sits still.
If you see the line move or tighten in any way, set the hook a walleye may be mouthing the lure.
Watch for the tap, tap, tap or slow bend in your rod, a walleye is nibbling. Not active but looking.
Some of those little pesky pecks may not be perch, but walleye, try a smaller or bigger jig with bait.
Common Mistakes With A Jig:
Missing The Bite:
New fisherman fail to set the hook and get frustrated, they see and feel the bite but cannot connect. Many wait to long and what they see or feel is actually the fish spitting out the lure. Any resistance or movement set the hook right away.
Waiting To Long To Set Hook:
Most beginners to walleye fishing expect a sharp tug or aggresive bite but walleye take a lure so softly that you may not feel or see the line move until they are spitting the jig back out. 99.9% of the time walleye bite as the jig is falling or sitting still durring the jig process. If at any time you see or feel even the slightest tap or resistance set the hook.
Not Sure If Actually Had A Bite:
Many fisherman see a slight twitch but put it off as a wind gust or small tick off a weed or something hitting your line (floaties). Some times you will notice an abnormal sinking like the hook is just hanging or it seems to take longer to get to the bottom or the line moves slightly sideways while sinking. These could be walleye mouthing your bait as it was falling, rule here is "If In Doubt Set The Hook".
Was Sure It Was A Weed:
When fishing close to weeds or lily pads and you cast out, let it sink and when you start winding have a small bit of weight do not think it is weeds Set The Hook it could be a walleye. You can always take the weed off you cannot put the fish back on.
Mistake Those Pesky Little Bites:
This is a common mistake when you Assume those little nibbles are Perch. They could and usually are Walleye that grabbed your bait as it was falling. Try a stinger hook or keep tension on your line as it drops, never assume, you know the rule about (ASS-U-ME).
When using a jig, You must concentrate SEE and FEEL the smallest peck, tap, or line movement. Never allow slack line when winding in and try to even keep the line tight as you let the jig sink. Do not lift the lure too high and just drop rod quickly, try to let it settle with slight tightness in line. When you bounce the jig off the bottom, try to keep line tight or lift right away don’t let it sit for long. Watch your rod tip and the water on calm days you may see a slight twitch, a small ripple or your line move slightly to the side, set the hook, FISH ON!
Other Jigs:
Weedless Marabou Jig Baits
Dancin’ Marabou Jig
Marabou Crappie Jig
Enticer Rattling Jig
Finesse Jig
Bottom Bouncer Walleye Rig Kit
Whistler Jigs
Fire-Ball Jigs
Thumper Jigs
Neon Gum-Ball Jigs
Tournament Jig Kit
Plane Jig’n Spoons
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Top Water Lures
The best top water lures provide the visual aspect of fishing open water. Your lure is floating on, just at or just under the water surface. You get to see the fish take your bait and the sudden splash and line buzzing off your reel as the fish takes off will not be soon forgoten. This works very well in spring for pike and walleye in the shallow water and I can see why Bass fishing has such a huge following. It is the adrenaline rush that instantly brings every nerve and fibre in you to attention especially when you see the strike, feel the tug and hear your line singing.
With open water, comes spawning time for walleye and pike, so they move into the shallow bays and running streams to produce future fish. These fish do not completely shut down eating but the period just before spawn is the best time for fishing and finding fish in larger numbers and congregated in smaller areas. All fish eat large amounts of frogs, dead or dying fish and small mamals. Pike also eat ducklings and small birds so any good top water lures will closely imitate these food sources. Let us look at the most popular top water lures and the most popular method for using them the "Walk the Dog" system. Poppers, jerkbaits, buss baits, and floating minnows.
Pencil Cigar: 
Zara Spook, Super Spook Hardbaits and Super Spook Jr. Hardbaits
The oldest of top water lures or surface-plug designs and still one of the best. Introduced in 1939, the Zara Spook’s legendary ”walk-the-dog” top water lure action has been written about more than any other fishing lure. Check in your grandfathers box you will probably find one or two and they may be worth quite a bit of money as collectors quickly snap up the originals. These lures pull in everything from freshwater bass to pike and even work on saltwater fish. The original Zara is easier to make walk the dog`than smaller versions but with practice all will work.
Poppers: Hula Popper and Pop’n Image Hardbaits
These top water lures and plugs are shallow water classics, perfectly suited to lily pads and weeds. Toss out a frog-pattern popper and let it sit motionless. Pop once and sit still. Twitch very gently to wiggle the soft skirt. Wait a bit and do it again. It’s a slow game of nerves between you and the fish. Be patient, and the fish will lose.
Blades: Floating Buzzbait, Torpedo Hardbaits, and Buzzbaits
Noisey top water lures have one or two blades that whirl and chop the water. The torpedo style are a slow and easy fishing top water lure. These surface plugs still work well on the weed strewn top water both in frog and minnow patterns. Cast, watch, and listen to the glub-glubs as you slowly and steadily reel it back. Spinner and blade baits, well, they make a lot of commotion when reeled in either fast or slow. The vibration, water churning action are deadly attractants to the fish.
Floaters: Original Minnow, Yum Frog Softbaits, Walkin’ Frog, Mouse, Popper Fly
These top water lures are the true floaters, they float on the surface. Not only does the original floating Rapala work for walleye and pike but for all kinds of fish. Various sizes, but in basic minnow of black and silver or clasic perch work best. Frogs and Mouse are all best to fish these with an slow then fast pace, one second slow the next quick to make them dart. Let them sit then twitch the rod tip or sweep it forward a few feet and let the lure settle and remain motionless for a slow count to 10 then start process again.
Shallow Runners: Swim’n Image, Jointed Minnow, Shallow Shad
These really are not a true floating top water lure, but they do run 0 – 18“ below the surface. Best lures are again minnow and perch colors. Fish with a steady retrieve, mix in a few quick jerks to look like dying fish and hang onto your rod for that explosive run.
How To Walk The Dog:
Cast the lure, after it hit’s the water do nothing wait till all the ripples have disappeared, then give it a few tiny twitches, use a rhythmic, slack-line retrieve that makes the Zara Spook walk from left to right, back and forth. Let the lure stop and sit, then a quick jerk of you rods tip and reel in the slack and repeat, twitch-pause, twitch-pause, you can alter your speeds to help increase its effectiveness The Zara Spook’s plump profile is a tantalizing target for walleye and pike.
Safety:
Two things you never do is give it a hard jerk to move it or jerk hard to set the hook. Both, can have the lure come out of the water and either hook yourself or someone else in the boat. A big mistake is jerking to fast and to hard when you see the fish strike, do not jerk until you feel the actual weight of the fish. Be prepared to duck these lures when not fished safely will fly and they catch trees and fisherman as well as fish.
Other Top Water Lures:
Heddon Lucky 13
Tiny Crazy Crawler
Zara Spook Puppy
Snag Proof Casting Frog
Cordell Crazy Shad
Storm Chug Bugs
Rapala X-Rap Topwater
Rebel Magnum Pop-R
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Tackle Box Choices
Tackle is everything you tie directly to your fishing line, put on a snap swivel or a leader. Commonly called hooks and lures and are mostly used in recreational fishing. Hooks are the objects hung at the end of the line and they are designed to look like the prey of the fish that you want to catch.
What is the difference between lures and hooks? Lure is defined as an action to attract attention to tempt or bring something closer to you from where it was. Hooks are defined as an object used to catch, place or hold something on.
So if we apply these definition to fishing then, the lure is the method and consists of using color, flash, shape, movement, noise and vibration to entice the fish to bite or come after your bait. Hooks then would be the physical body, metal, wood, plastic or combination of and the sharp pointed needle like hook ends used to capture and hold the fish. The physical sharp hooks can be found at the front, the back end or under the body.
Fishing lures are not an invention of our times, early caveman may have used sharpened sticks or rocks, but after getting soaked and skunked most of the time, somewhere in this period the first BONE hooks were crafted. A fish hook will pierce the mouthparts of a fish and may be barbed to make escape less likely. Another method is to use a gorge, which is buried in the bait such that it would be swallowed end first. The tightening of the line would fix it cross-wise in the quarry’s stomach or gullet and so the capture would be assured.
The Chinese and Egyptians used fishing rods, hooks, and lines as early as 2,000 B.C. though most of the first fishermen used handlines. The first metal hooks were made out of bronze which was strong but still very thin and less visible to the fish. Like everything else as technology changes, fisherman demands, new ideas and plans so do lures and hooks. Today most are artificial they are made of plastic, wood, metal, rubber, cork. or manufactured materials in some way.
Lures 100% of the time catch the fisherman before they catch a single fish. You have to select, purchase or be given it from somewhere. There are thousands of lures manufactured every year, The Latest and Greatest, but they are purchased by…..Yep the first (fish..erman). The fishing lure is either tied with a knot, such as the improved polomar or clinch knot or connected with a tiny safety pin-like device called a "snap" onto the fishing line which is in turn connected to the reel. The reel is attached to a rod.
Lures still cannot catch fish until the fisherman finds a way to get the offer to the fish. Fish live in water, they can breath in water, fisherman cannot. Enter the rod, reel and line. However, anglers still have to move the fishing lures,with motions that make the plastic or fiber material look like swimming fish food. The movement of the lure will also make light reflect and cause sound or vibrationsand attract the attention of the fish. The fisherman casts the line and the motion is created by winding the line back onto the reel. As well motion is made by sweeping the fishing rod, jigging movements with the fishing rod, stop winding and let sink or float, or by being pulled behind a moving boat (trolling).
Types Of Lures:
Top Water: floaters they float on water looking very much like surface prey. Flies, basa wood plugs, hollow plastic baits, floater jigs
Spoons: Usually a metal and have treble hooks on bottom end, for under water surface but not on bottom, high flash.
Plugs or crank-baits: between surface and bottom, mostly trolling but retrieved faster to get swimming action, resemble bait fish
Jigs: a weight headed hook, designed to bounce off or near the bottom or in water area, usually baited with minnows or live bait.
Spinner baits: wire bent at about a 60 degree angle with a hook on the lower end and a spinner blade on the upper end
Swim baits: minnow- like soft plastic bait that is reeled like a plug. Some of these have a swimming tail
Crawlers: and Harness: rigs with one or two hooks, beads, and blades, used to hold worms, minnows, leeches etc
J Straight hooks: fish on the bottom using bait balls or in water using live or artificial bait.
New hook styles allow for better releases and less fish death
Fish faster and cover more water
Change color, shape, and size of the lure at a moment’s notice
More Information On:
Spoon Type Lures
Plug and Crank Bait Lures
Jigging Type Lures
Spinner Bait Lures
Swim Bait Lures
Crawler Type Lures
Bottom Use Lures
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Walleye Size Chart
| WALLEY SIZE CHART | |||
| AVGERAGE LENGTH | AVERAGE | ||
| AGE | Inches | cm | WEIGHT |
| 1 | 5 | 14 | 0.2 |
| 2 | 8 | 20 | 0.4 |
| 3 | 10 | 26 | 0.6 |
| 4 | 12.3 | 31 | 0.9 |
| 5 | 14.2 | 36 | 1 |
| 6 | 15.5 | 39 | 1.3 |
| 7 | 16.3 | 41 | 1.6 |
| 8 | 17 | 43 | 1.8 |
| 9 | 18.7 | 47 | 2.3 |
| 10 | 19.1 | 49 | 2.6 |
| 11 | 19.8 | 50 | 2.9 |
| 12 | 20.4 | 53 | 3.1 |
| 13 | 21 | 54 | 3.4 |
| 14 | 21.5 | 55 | 3.7 |
| 15 | 23 | 58 | 4.5 |
| 16 | 24.2 | 62 | 5.2 |
| 17 | 25 | 64 | 5.7 |
| 18 | 25.6 | 65 | 6.2 |
| 19 | 26 | 66 | 6.4 |
| 20 | 26.2 | 66.5 | 6.6 |
| 21 | 26.5 | 67 | 6.8 |
| 22 | 27 | 69 | 7.2 |
| 23 | 27.8 | 71 | 8.2 |
| 24 | 28.5 | 72 | 9 |
| 25 | 29 | 74 | 9.5 |
| 26 | 29.5 | 76 | 10 |
| 27 | 30 | 76 | 10.5 |
| 28 | 30.5 | 77 | 11 |
| 29 | 31 | 78 | 11.5 |
| 30 | 31.5 | 79 | 12 |
| 30+ | 32+ | 80+ | 13+ |
Help to Plan Your Next Fishing Trip
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