Whiskery Willard Wallies 4-9-18

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]I'm sure there are videos and website content online that can provide some additional ideas.

Good luck and have fun.
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[Jmorfish]

Tks TD for the 'Fun' report at Willard....I enjoyed some good success with several of your offerings thru the ice this past season, and am now looking forward to dragging some off the bottom or maybe even up higher for a trout...Soon ! ......
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[TubeDude]

"looking forward to dragging some off the bottom or maybe even up higher for a trout...Soon ! ......"

[#0000FF]Do I detect notes of anxiety and desperation?

Always good to hear success stories...from happy customers. May the trinkets be with you.
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[fish_fear_me2]

Excellent write up as always. And damn I still need to drop by the tackletorium soon.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Thanks Brent. You know you are always welcome. If nothing else us old farts gotta stick together and share some BS stories once in a while.
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[Piscophilic]

Well that sounds more like it. I'm glad you had a better time up there got some to enjoy!

Thanks for another fun and informative report. It was interesting to hear your discussion of the leader length. The day I "loaned" Dave the fire tiger gorilla you had given me, I remembered you saying 16 - 18 inches had been good the morning you went to Lindon a few weeks back. Well he had a rod with a small egg sinker and a hook about 18" below it. I told him that looked just right, take off the hook and put on the flig and you'll be in business.

I had not considered the length that much because I had done OK on a 24 inch leader a few days earlier. I'll have to pay more attention because he got five fish that morning and I only got 1.

Thanks again for sharing!
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[fishman]

Nice report DUDE. Those fligs look pretty good. What are the LHBE minnows?
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[a_bow_nut]

Left
Handed
Blue
Eyed

Minnows.
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[TubeDude]

[quote fishman]Nice report DUDE. Those fligs look pretty good. What are the LHBE minnows?[/quote]

[#0000FF]Ha. Looks like your question has already been answered.

The origin of the term? Just a humorous attempt to deal with all the doofii (plural of doofus) who see me catch a fish and roar up on top of me in their boats, demanding to know what I am using. I tell them "Chub minnows...but they gotta be left handed and blue-eyed". Most folks get the joke and are good humored about it. But you would be amazed at how many wrinkle their brows and ask "Where do you get them and how can you tell the difference?"

PS...I also fish only with LHBE nightcrawlers.
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[Fishrmn]

[quote TubeDude][#0000FF]I also fish only with LHBE nightcrawlers.
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Where are you finding nightcrawlers with hands?




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[TubeDude]

[quote Fishrmn][quote TubeDude][#0000ff]I also fish only with LHBE nightcrawlers.
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Where are you finding nightcrawlers with hands?

[#0000FF]I always use my hands when catching crawlers.[/#0000FF]




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[catchinon]

Thanks for the pdf; as usual, you have covered the topic fully. How can we hook up (see what I did there) to make the flig exchange?
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[Optimizer]

Hi TD, hope you don't mind more questions.
1) What size FLIGs were you using on this trip?
2) Did you always have them tipped with minnow on this trip or were some cats caught with just FLIGS?
3) I saw some lines with drop weights and some with the hanger wire. When do you choose to use the hanger wire over the drop sinker? Was the wire tied on the line or slip capable?
4) Some FLIGS had tails. What kind of tails did they have?
5) How do you jig them? Do you just let them glide along the bottom while you kick around or do you actively jig them?
Thx.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Thanks.

I live in Taylorsville...west valley area of Salt Lake. You can pick some up at my "tackletorium" or we can work out a "starter kit" order and I can mail them.

Shoot me a PM letting me know what you would like and I can provide my address and directions...or work out the details of mailing, etc.

If you are planning to make your own, I will be happy to show you my setup and the steps to making them. In truth, that's better for me than selling them. Very time consuming and if I charged what my time was worth they would be very spendy.
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[TubeDude]

[quote Optimizer]Hi TD, hope you don't mind more questions.
1) What size FLIGs were you using on this trip?
2) Did you always have them tipped with minnow on this trip or were some cats caught with just FLIGS?
3) I saw some lines with drop weights and some with the hanger wire. When do you choose to use the hanger wire over the drop sinker? Was the wire tied on the line or slip capable?
4) Some FLIGS had tails. What kind of tails did they have?
5) How do you jig them? Do you just let them glide along the bottom while you kick around or do you actively jig them?
Thx.[/quote]

[#0000FF]1. I caught fish on 3 sizes and models. Best were size 1/0 hooks with a 3/8" diameter floating head. But a smaller model...size 2 hook with 1/4" head...also caught a few.

2. While fish will smack an "unsweetened" flig, they are designed (and work best) with some kind of bait or plastic attached. On this trip I tried crawler for a while but got no love. Virtually all the fish were on minnows. And I used two sizes...3" and 2". Both worked.

3. I am still experimenting with weights. But I always rig them to slide on the line. I like the drop shot style weights for fishing clean bottom with no rocks or weeds. The "hanger-shot" wire sinkers are great when fishing over irregular (rocky) bottom or when there are any weeds. It glides over the rocks without hanging up and pulls through the weeds. Great at Starvation. I used both because I already had one rod rigged with the hanger from fishing rocky area at Utah Lake.

4. I put tails on some of smaller models to change the profile and add some extra flash and color. The material for the tails is usually Krystal Flash or Flashabou. See the attached writeup on "Tailed Fligs". I make them mostly for fishing smaller species...like perch, white bass and crappies. But the bigger fish often do not read the instructions and they eat them too. In fact, last fall we did better for bigger fish with smaller fligs and baits.

5. How you fish them is very flexible. But the way you fish them can be more important than the color or the bait you use. When the fish are slow...in cold or murky water...you will do better by just moving around slowly...starting and stopping. When they are more active you can actually fish them like a walleye bottom bouncer rig...but slowly. One of the things I like to do while fishing from my float tube, with two flig rods...one out each side...is to use my fins to make little twists and turns. That gives some forward motion to the fligs and makes them dive and float back up. But a lot of the hits come while they are not moving at all. That's when your choice of "sweeteners" can help seal the deal.
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[RockyRaab]

You can also make up some "standby alternate emergency" FLIGs by simply threading a foam earplug onto a long-shanked hook. A Kahle-style hook is ideal, and a very good hooker, too. Foam plugs come in all colors, and you can anchor them on the hook with a drop of super glue. Add eyes with a felt tip.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]I hear ya.

Almost any foam will work. But I have found the ear plug foam a bit soft for shaping and painting. However, if the goal is simply to float a bait above the bottom, they will git 'er done.
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[#0000FF][#000000]"and a very good hooker, too".[/#000000]

Be careful. This is a family oriented forum.

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[RockyRaab]

Yes, it is. That's why I didn't post the phone number after "For a good time call Kahle."
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]You still have some scruples. I used to have scruples but then I got vaccinated.

Oh yeah. A couple of other things I would like to know about those ear plug fligs. Do you now call them "flugs"? And does a bit of ear wax serve as either an attractant or a deterrent?
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[RockyRaab]

I call them Flooks. Mostly because when I catch a fish, it's a flook.

I'll have to check out the wax and worm angle...
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