I got some new baits from Contraband Baits in Ohio a while ago and had a chance to dunk them yesterday and they work real good. I didn't hit ice, I hit docks for the last time this season.
The docks had slowed way down about two weeks ago so I sort of threw the towel in on them until ice out, but a buddy wanted to take a tour in spite of the water being froze then messed up with almost a foot of snow. But we went anyway. Traveled light with just our poles, pails, the new plastics and some 1/80 ounce jigs from Do-It's semi-custom mold. We got about two minutes up the highway and decided to try a dock on a different lake instead of the river...a little closer to home.
There hadn't been much ice on the water to start with but the 10" of snow that came on Monday sort of shot the ice in the foot. We only had to give the crud a stomp and we had our open water to fish in. The water was down a hair from the 17 feet usually found there...winter pool rules. The first drop I made started off well for the first 5 feet then stopped. I lifted and felt weight. A whopper slab of about 7". Another drop, another annoyance. I gave the dock a good stomp then dropped again and this time the rig made it to the bottom and I started my pet upward jigging sequence. After a foot or two up the line went tight and some better weight was attached. The circular run suggested sunfish but it was a dandy 8" pumpkinseed that flopped on the snow. I'd taken a picture of the rigged bait and forgot to shut the power off on the camera and when I tried to get a photo of this beauty I was met with a dead camera. Cameras and I together in the field are not good company. We fished another half hour and got 5 nice crappies for my buddy's diner table, then we came home.
This new plastic is certainly a versatile bait. While I didn't need to, the tentacles can be thinned by plucking them off the make the bait more focus oriented if the fish want something with less total motion. I don't think I'll be doing much more on docks since some colder air is here now for a few days and what ice was there will thicken, but these baits are going to stay in the pail for when the spring brings some open water around the pilings. I may venture out on the ice with a friend on nice days if we don't have to walk and will have these little gems along. I did get one picture of a rigged bait before death came to the camera. This setup is tied to 1 pound mono. If you look very, very closely to the left side of the hook's eye you can see the know and a sliver of line leading away from the jig. The mono is actually a quilting thread made of monofilament which I prefer over any of the commercial lines offered for cold weather fishing because it will not coil up and dampen the visible hits. Even with a 1/80 jig the line hangs straight. I use a 500 series Symetre reel with carbon drag washers with this line and have landed fish up to 15 pounds using it. The 15 pounder was a carp no less.
Anyway....here's the picture. The link for the company is
www.contrabandbaits.com.
