Friday, January 05, 2007

Guaranteed Fish Catching Karma

One of the major benefits of winning the CrazyFish rods contest was that I got the chance to get some custom lures made up. One of the companies, SmallJaws Spinnerbaits, offered up the prize of 5 custom spinnerbaits. I had a lot of fun researching what exactly I'd like in a spinnerbait, and I think I came through with 5 lures that will work wonders around here, especially at the Nock, Galena, and the Delaware. On most, I tried to 'match the hatch' so to speak, and imitate the natural baitfish that are prey to the Micropterus dolomieui, the fish I target most often. So, to give you a little peek into the sexy world of custom lures, and into my mind's eye here are the 5 spinnerbaits that I created, and that were executed beautifully by SmallJaws.


size: 1/2 oz. weight, chartreuse with purple top jig head, strike spots, and red eyes.
blades: #4 silver willow followed by #6 silver indiana.
skirt: Purple on top of chartreuse to mimic a shad.
intended use: To be used in clear water. also the blades were chosen because when I researched it: "the front Indiana creates a water flow that seems to prevent the Willow from rotating normally. Instead, the Willow exhibits a lazier, faltering and errant type of spin in the wake of the Indiana blade. This creates a more lifelike blade action than the typical mechanical spin of a Willow blade. Bass rarely see this blade pair".

size: 1/2 oz. weight, chartreuse with purple top jig head, strike spots and red eyes.
blades: #4 and #5 silver indianas.
skirt: Purple on top of chartreuse to mimic a shad.
intended use: To be used in clearer water. dDouble indianas for a moderate speed retrieve. as an aside, "a double Indiana blade spinnerbait won back-to-back-to-back Bassmaster Classic world championship tournaments in 1974, 1975 and 1976", and I've not seen that combination in a store, so i figured id give it a shot.

size: 1/2 oz. weight, black with gold fleck jig head, and red eyes.
blades: #4 gold willow followed by a #6 gold indiana.
skirt: the skirt was to follow a pattern of crankbait that i like, black back, chartreuse sides, and orange belly. I found a matching skirt pattern on the net for smalljaw to follow.
intended use: For stained and murky water, the gold blades for flash and the black and chartreuse skirt for bulk and silhouette, and contrast.

size: 1/2 oz. weight, white with red throat jig head and red eyes.
blades: 1 #5 silver colorado.
skirt: pearl white and chartreuse/black stripe skirt to imitate an alewife or herring.
intended use: For cold water and ultra slow retrieves, also called a slow rolling retrieve.

size: 1/2 oz. weight with white jig head, splash of red on throat.
blades: #4 gold chopper followed by #5 silver chopper.
skirt: pearl white and chartreuse/black stripe skirt to imitate an alewife or herring.
intended use: The chopper blades are for very subtle action and vibration, for fishing clear, calm, and highly pressured water.

These pictures don't do these lures justice, as they are amazingly vibrant, or subtle as each was designed. I would definitely get more from SmallJaws, as they are incredibly inexpensive. about 3$ each, which, if you compare the same quality of spinnerbait in the store, you'd pay about 6$ to 7$. The lures were obviously made with as much care and attention as the thought I put into how I wanted each to perform in each of their specific niche. The link to SmallJaws Spinnerbaits can be found in the links section to the right.