No one greatest lure to catch pan fish

[SenkoSam]

Seen the above? Note that none are curl tail or shad tail grubs or worms, not that neither can't catch pan fish. But this year confirmed it: thin tail or prong (rat) tail grub and worms with small paddles (especially the Slider) when rigged on light jigs, pretty much outcaught most lures - at least they had for me.

This year I discovered that when the bite gets really tough - like when pan fish strike short - there are two things I found solve the problem:
1. going down to a 1/32 oz jig from a 1/16 oz, can make a big difference in hook-up ratio.
2. shortening soft plastic lure even by 1/8" may get more hook-sets.

Now if the bite is fast & furious or even normal, 1/16 oz ball head jigs (unpainted always), tied on a 4# or 6# test fluorocarbon leader, most times of the year does fine.

Another lure I discovered by accident was Leland's Crappie Magnet grubs: - some of the double tail grubs with segments in the above pictures for example. I couldn't believe how well they work on four fish species - crappie , perch, sunfish, bass. But then I connected the dots and recently discovered why. Note the shape of the hand poured lure below:



Bullet shaped right?! Well the Crappie Magnet is the same shape except for the split in the tail. The Bullet Grub as I call it, I accidentally discovered four years ago and caught a bunch of fish on it first time out. I began to notice what happens to the lure with slight rod twitches and changes in a very slow retrieve speed. It shakes and wobbles. That's it!! Too bad I ordered about 150 of the Magnets in different colors. Heck, at least I don't have to pour more.

But as nice as the design is, recently it didn't catch fish until I shortened it by one segment and rigged it on a shorter #6 jig hook, downsized from #4 and a 1/32 oz jig head. Colder nights, cooler and murker water from over and inch of rain and dying suspended algae, have made conditions a bit tougher, though not by too much.

Except for the high wind and too many anglers on the lake on Labor Day, it was a nice day to fish. After catching only 32 fish, I got off due to the wind, (plus I didn't wan't to give my spots away.)

Hope some of the above is informative.
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