....something new will pop up that trips my trigger. Early on in the winter I saw some commentary on this neat little crank bait from Eurotackle called a Z-Viber. These in the picture are 1/16 ounce baits, the smallest they come in. The single hook is how they are packaged, but I pitch the single and add a Mustad treble in the size 14 shown. The baits are less than an inch long.
What got my attention was the bait's size. Many years ago I was ice fishing a local lake catching crappies at a fair pace and decided maybe I'd keep four or five for the table and scooped a five gallon pail half full of water and had my keeper fish in it. When I was ready to head home I noticed that the crappies had puked out a bunch of small sunfish, some still kicking. These sunnies were between 3/4" and an inch in length, obviously that year's spring hatch. But it was the first I'd found that crappies fed on those tiny sunfish. After that I started looking to use larger baits for the crappies and eventually rounded up a box or two of maybe different tiny crank-type baits, some floaters and some sinkers, and started using these occasionally when the crappies seemed to be on a tear and I did real well with them all winter long. Since that winter I have been open eyed looking for new "peanut" baits [as they are referred to] and now have maybe fifteen or so different brands. Most of these I use in open water now but I never stopped the hunt for these little guys. Then I heard about the Z-Vibers from a ice fishing acquaintance. I looked for them all over in Rochester and drew a blank. People in the Twn Cities were finding them hard to track down too so I leaned on the internet and ordered a half dozen and they arrived today. I also was in the Cities with Carole today and stopped at a shop and found a mess of them there so of course some followed me home. Now the count is up to ten.
These are smallest of all the peanut baits I have but at 1/16 ounce should cast pretty darned good come open water. I may just rig one on a rod and take the hike over to the local lake that has open water just above the dam and crappies are always found in that hole. Its always fun to put a new toy to work and the weather says mid 30's in the morning, maybe windy though. If it isn't too windy I will go fishing. I'm itching to try these little guys.