02-02-2007, 06:06 PM
[cool][#0000ff]There are two purposes for using a spoon or larger lure when ice fishing...in tandem with a smaller jig. First is the weight, to get your "money jig" down faster. It takes forever to get a bitty bug down in deep water.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Second is to provide flash or a larger "profile"...to attract fish from a few feet away...and to bring them in close enough to hit the money jig.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you leave the trebles on your Kastmaster, Pimple or casting spoon, you will get lots of tangles if you use a dropper below it. Better to fish a short dropper above the spoon or heavier jig, especially if the fish are suspending above the bottom.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you want to fish a short dropper below a heavier lure, then remove the trebles and fish a dropper both above and below the weightier lure. It is legal and often effective at covering more of the water column when fish are moving through at different depths.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]A couple of years ago I started playing around with making my own "depth chargers"...colorful or shiny weights to get the rig down quickly and to provide some glow/color/flash for attraction too. I used to make hammered sinker jigs and paint them different colors, and adding hooks for bait. Got plenty of fish on just the sinker lures. Now the fish come in to see the "bling" and hit the money hook. Sometimes a big fish will smack the hookless -baitless plunger. You miss a few.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The attached pic was taken over a year ago. Since then I have been making them in whites and other colors, including some bodacious glow. I have watched the fish on a flasher when they zoom in to check out the bright plunger and then immediately go up or down to hit the baited money hook.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I bought a grundle of the long sinkers a long time ago, and I had a bunch of lead spinner bodies I wasn't using for spinners. So, I ran them through my paint room and I have a bunch of cheap but effective weights/attractors. By the way, when I fish the spinner bodies, I run the line down through the hole through the middle and tie on a small swivel or split ring. Then I add a short length of leader and the small jig.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Second is to provide flash or a larger "profile"...to attract fish from a few feet away...and to bring them in close enough to hit the money jig.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you leave the trebles on your Kastmaster, Pimple or casting spoon, you will get lots of tangles if you use a dropper below it. Better to fish a short dropper above the spoon or heavier jig, especially if the fish are suspending above the bottom.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you want to fish a short dropper below a heavier lure, then remove the trebles and fish a dropper both above and below the weightier lure. It is legal and often effective at covering more of the water column when fish are moving through at different depths.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]A couple of years ago I started playing around with making my own "depth chargers"...colorful or shiny weights to get the rig down quickly and to provide some glow/color/flash for attraction too. I used to make hammered sinker jigs and paint them different colors, and adding hooks for bait. Got plenty of fish on just the sinker lures. Now the fish come in to see the "bling" and hit the money hook. Sometimes a big fish will smack the hookless -baitless plunger. You miss a few.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The attached pic was taken over a year ago. Since then I have been making them in whites and other colors, including some bodacious glow. I have watched the fish on a flasher when they zoom in to check out the bright plunger and then immediately go up or down to hit the baited money hook.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I bought a grundle of the long sinkers a long time ago, and I had a bunch of lead spinner bodies I wasn't using for spinners. So, I ran them through my paint room and I have a bunch of cheap but effective weights/attractors. By the way, when I fish the spinner bodies, I run the line down through the hole through the middle and tie on a small swivel or split ring. Then I add a short length of leader and the small jig.[/#0000ff]
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