WEBVTT 00:00:20.119 --> 00:00:22.200 Welcome to InFisherman's Strike Zone. 00:00:22.360 --> 00:00:25.240 I'm Corey Schmidt, InFisherman Editor-in-Chief. 00:00:25.340 --> 00:00:33.980 And today, like we're going to be doing in the coming weeks and months, is we're going to be talking about some of the coolest lures that, you know, a lot of us just don't have an opportunity to fish. 00:00:34.060 --> 00:00:36.300 There's so many lures out there, so many great lures. 00:00:36.360 --> 00:00:40.600 We're going to shine the spotlight on just some overlook stuff, some just some cool stuff. 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:44.360 It's right in the middle of the ice season here in the North Country. 00:00:43.900 --> 00:00:49.740 It's getting to be that time of the year where a lot of anglers start thinking about panfish, bluegills, crappies, perch. 00:00:49.900 --> 00:00:55.580 And I'm just going to show you three or four different jigs and lures that I've used and relied on over the last 20 00:00:55.760 --> 00:01:00.559 30 years, some of these baits are of Russian origin or even Latvian origin. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:05.840 Now, they're fishing for different fish than we are, but they're also fishing for very particular fish sometimes. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:09.840 And so, I'm going to start with something that probably not too many of you guys have seen it. 00:01:10.080 --> 00:01:11.440 Maybe if you have, then you're lucky. 00:01:11.759 --> 00:01:12.799 This one is made by 00:01:13.540 --> 00:01:14.420 Bentley fishing. 00:01:14.580 --> 00:01:16.020 It's called the Bentley Tarantula. 00:01:16.100 --> 00:01:23.060 There's a company called Fiscus that I'm going to be talking about quite a bit today, also, and they make a version called the Fiscus Tungsten Devil. 00:01:23.220 --> 00:01:25.860 Now, as you can see, this is a really unique looking bait. 00:01:25.940 --> 00:01:30.100 So, we've got basically a tungsten weight and it's streamlined like a torpedo. 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:32.260 So, it sinks straight down, sinks really fast. 00:01:32.420 --> 00:01:35.140 It's great for deep water perch, deep water crappies. 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:39.420 And then you've got these three little hooks, and they're free swinging. 00:01:39.580 --> 00:01:41.900 So you can put a plastic tail. 00:01:41.979 --> 00:01:44.220 I like to use like a Fiskas micro. 00:01:44.360 --> 00:01:49.000 Nuggy or just any real thin, slender plastic on each of those hooks. 00:01:49.320 --> 00:01:51.159 Of course, you can put a little larva on each of them. 00:01:51.479 --> 00:01:57.960 When you drop this down to the bottom, these hooks fold up, and we'll show you this in the tank so you can see what it looks like. 00:01:57.939 --> 00:01:59.460 But it basically just plummets straight down. 00:01:59.539 --> 00:02:00.740 The hooks fold up like that. 00:02:00.979 --> 00:02:04.020 When you stop, they drift back down. 00:02:04.180 --> 00:02:07.380 And every time you jig that little jig, it's just a beautiful 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:09.160 Just a kicking action and flutter. 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:11.880 It almost looks like a little miniature squid or octopus down there. 00:02:12.200 --> 00:02:15.400 Honestly, one of the greatest perch baits I've used to the ice, especially when the fish are a little 00:02:15.480 --> 00:02:16.040 Bit deeper. 00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:18.360 This is a, you've got different size hooks on these. 00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:19.799 Some have 14, some have 12. 00:02:20.040 --> 00:02:21.000 This is, I think, a 10. 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:22.599 They're pretty flimsy little hooks. 00:02:22.760 --> 00:02:28.840 Use something like a panfish toothpick pick or a really small forcep because you can break these hooks fairly easily. 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:31.260 But again, this is just an incredible little bait. 00:02:31.420 --> 00:02:36.220 Again, you don't have to always use bait because these little red attractor beads on here will get bit. 00:02:36.460 --> 00:02:39.820 And the other thing that's worth mentioning is that when you get a bite on this jig. 00:02:40.040 --> 00:02:46.440 These, because these hooks are free-swinging, it moves and it pivots right into the fish's mouth, so there's no resistance there at all. 00:02:46.760 --> 00:02:51.640 So, again, Fiskas, tungsten, devils, you can find them at yourbobbersdown. 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:52.920 com. 00:02:52.700 --> 00:02:56.620 They've got all the good cool Fiska stuff, all the stuff that the tournament guys are fishing. 00:02:56.940 --> 00:03:01.260 So, give these things a chance for any deepwater panfish, deepwater perch. 00:03:01.500 --> 00:03:03.580 Incredible little cool lure there. 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:07.560 So, we're going to just continue on this theme of just super cool, kind of off-the-radar jigs. 00:03:07.640 --> 00:03:09.000 And we got another one from Fiskas. 00:03:09.319 --> 00:03:11.560 I don't know how this thing has flown under the radar. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:14.879 Fisk is N24 balance, they call it the Gil Getter, and I'll explain why. 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:21.120 If you've ever fished a jigging wrap, you fished what they call in Europe F 00:03:19.260 --> 00:03:19.820 A balance. 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:24.300 It sits horizontal, stationary in the water, and you've generally got hooks on both sides of the jig head. 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:27.740 If you've been on tough bluegill bites, you know what happens a lot of times. 00:03:27.200 --> 00:03:30.239 The fish will come in and they'll nudge the head of the jig a lot of times. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:32.400 They'll kind of just push it or move it out of the area. 00:03:32.640 --> 00:03:38.720 The N24 kind of came on the radar when it helped win a couple of national NAIFC ice fishing tournaments a number of years ago. 00:03:38.880 --> 00:03:41.280 I believe it was in either Michigan or Wisconsin. 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:44.180 That they were using this little jig and just clean it up. 00:03:44.420 --> 00:03:47.860 And again, it's just a tungsten head, so it gets down fast. 00:03:48.180 --> 00:03:52.500 But what I also like about it, beyond the fact that no matter where they bite this jig, you're going to hook them. 00:03:52.440 --> 00:03:56.920 Is that you can put plastics, you can experiment with a plastic or live bait like larva. 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:02.200 I've experimented with like little TPE like Z-Man style plastics that float. 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:11.579 So you can change the angle that the jig falls by changing the buoyancy, like I said, using live bait and plastic, mixing plastic, one type of plastic with another. 00:04:11.820 --> 00:04:16.859 And you also get a different kind of spiraling action on the drop by changing those different baits. 00:04:16.940 --> 00:04:18.540 So you can, like I said, and the look. 00:04:18.620 --> 00:04:21.100 You can change the look and the action based on what 00:04:21.500 --> 00:04:23.020 Jiggy, or what plastic you use. 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:26.780 So, again, I really like just really fine, wispy plastics. 00:04:26.940 --> 00:04:29.420 Wedgies are great on a jig like this. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:30.560 It's pretty straightforward. 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:39.200 It doesn't have a lot of action on its own, but you can change that whole spiraling and the pivoting and how the jig moves again based on the plastics and things you're putting on it. 00:04:39.280 --> 00:04:40.720 So it's just a matter of 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:43.600 Very efficient jig, hooking every fish that bites. 00:04:43.919 --> 00:04:47.040 And in tough bites, boy, this is going to get you a lot more fish on the ice. 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:49.840 That's the Fiska's N24 Balance Gil Gitter. 00:04:49.960 --> 00:04:52.360 And I know some of you guys out there are probably doing this already. 00:04:52.599 --> 00:04:57.000 You know, we use hair jigs a lot all through the open water season, spring, summer, fall. 00:04:57.319 --> 00:05:04.520 A hair jig, a little marabou or a little bunny strip jig, any number of different fur and feather materials on the back of a jig head. 00:05:04.820 --> 00:05:07.300 Are about as money as it gets when it comes to panfish. 00:05:07.380 --> 00:05:09.300 And for some reason, I've never figured it out. 00:05:09.540 --> 00:05:12.260 When the ice forms, everyone puts the hair and the feathers away. 00:05:12.340 --> 00:05:19.060 And I don't know why that is, because these things can be one of the deadliest little baits under ice for bluegills, crappies, and perch. 00:05:19.340 --> 00:05:20.780 Big crappies, really. 00:05:20.940 --> 00:05:26.220 If you can't get them to eat anything else, they will put on a little micro maribou jig and you'll catch them. 00:05:26.540 --> 00:05:26.860 So 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:32.200 One little kind of refinement to the whole program, and this was kind of started by some anglers out in Michigan. 00:05:32.760 --> 00:05:36.600 Probably the only area that I know there's a pocket of anglers that are really into using the hair. 00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:38.360 There's a guy named Barry Williams in Michigan. 00:05:38.440 --> 00:05:41.080 He's got a website called Spooky Spiders. 00:05:41.320 --> 00:05:44.040 And what he's done is combine tungsten with hair. 00:05:44.280 --> 00:05:52.760 Now, the reason that's so deadly is because tungsten, of course, is heavier than lead, so it does a lot of thumping and it really activates those hair fibers a little bit better than lead. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:06:01.040 You just get a little bit more movement when you're when you're kind of pounding that jig, and even when it's sitting still, if you're using Maribou especially, you just get this little 00:06:01.420 --> 00:06:04.380 All kinds of different layers and dimensions of different movement. 00:06:04.540 --> 00:06:08.220 Whereas with plastics, you just kind of have a one-dimensional or a two-dimensional movement. 00:06:08.380 --> 00:06:12.780 Whereas with hair, you've got things happening all the time and it just looks like something alive. 00:06:12.940 --> 00:06:15.180 Again, tungsten combined with hair. 00:06:15.500 --> 00:06:17.260 You know, I tie a lot of my own stuff. 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:20.060 It's pretty simple, especially if you're just dealing with mariboo. 00:06:20.140 --> 00:06:22.060 You can easily do it yourself. 00:06:22.700 --> 00:06:28.220 VMC's got these roach, these tungsten roach jigs, which are really probably the only ones I know of. 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:32.900 I think Gyrotackle has some as well that are very good. 00:06:32.980 --> 00:06:34.500 The Strider Fly, I believe it's called. 00:06:34.580 --> 00:06:35.700 That's a great-looking moor. 00:06:35.780 --> 00:06:37.700 I haven't tried a chance to use that yet, but 00:06:37.840 --> 00:06:46.400 Anyways, when you're on a tough bite for panfish, you don't need bait, you can use hair, big crappies, perch, and bluegills 00:06:46.699 --> 00:06:49.099 If you're having trouble catching fish, try here. 00:06:49.340 --> 00:06:55.259 And I'm telling you, not only does it work, but you don't have to rebait, you don't have to put new plastic on. 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:59.099 Pretty durable stuff, so you don't have to take your gloves off, get your hands cold. 00:06:59.039 --> 00:07:01.199 But don't put away the hair when the ice forms. 00:07:01.440 --> 00:07:11.919 One other thing I forgot to mention, besides using the hair on like a jig head, is you can just use a lot of the traditional trout flies you may already have: nymph patterns, emerger patterns. 00:07:12.900 --> 00:07:21.140 Like midge midge emerger patterns that look like a little seronymid or a midge fly, or I'm sorry, a midge larva, which is a bloodworm. 00:07:21.620 --> 00:07:22.740 Those can be excellent. 00:07:22.900 --> 00:07:23.860 Fished on a dropper. 00:07:23.940 --> 00:07:25.220 So, in other words, you don't need weight. 00:07:25.300 --> 00:07:26.740 You could just use a regular fly. 00:07:26.979 --> 00:07:30.820 You anchor the rig with a heavier tungsten or a regular jig head, and above it. 00:07:30.760 --> 00:07:35.240 A foot or two, you've got a flyer to tie it in, and most places this is legal now. 00:07:35.400 --> 00:07:38.840 You can do two to three droppers in addition to your jig head. 00:07:39.080 --> 00:07:44.360 So, just another wrinkle or another use for these hair jigs, it's really great at times. 00:07:44.340 --> 00:07:47.940 Okay, I'm going to give you guys one more, and this one might be a little more familiar to some of you. 00:07:48.020 --> 00:07:52.740 If you've read Infisherman Magazine, we've written about this for quite a few years, actually. 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:57.160 But it's that whole series of what we call through-headed tungsten jigs. 00:07:57.400 --> 00:08:01.800 So you've got basically a tungsten jig or a ball-headed design. 00:08:02.120 --> 00:08:05.800 Instead of a traditional line tie, there's actually a hole in the center of the jig. 00:08:05.940 --> 00:08:10.340 that you run line through and you tie a knot like a like a uni snell knot or a markham knot. 00:08:10.500 --> 00:08:16.260 I wanted to talk to you guys about this jig because this remains one of the most overlooked, once again, jigs for panfish. 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:20.340 And it was really brought on my radar by Mike McNett and Tony Boschold. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:32.400 We won a bunch of NAIFC championships years ago, and the gold disco ball jig was the one they always talked about as the money winner, the one that always caught the panfish, the tough ones, when nothing else would. 00:08:32.740 --> 00:08:33.460 would produce. 00:08:33.620 --> 00:08:38.900 So the deal is with that gold disco ball in particular is it's it's faceted like a disco ball. 00:08:39.060 --> 00:08:46.260 So no matter where it is under water, if there's any amount of light from any angle, you're always gonna get a little reflection or just little micro 00:08:46.740 --> 00:08:53.300 Flashes off that jig head because, like I said, it's faceted, so you're always getting light shining off one surface or another. 00:08:53.460 --> 00:08:55.060 So, that's one of the talking points. 00:08:55.140 --> 00:09:00.420 The other thing, overall, gold by itself is just a really overlooked color for panfish. 00:09:00.660 --> 00:09:00.900 So 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:04.280 If you're really on a tough bite, try a gold jig, if nothing else. 00:09:04.520 --> 00:09:10.600 But the other thing with these through-headed designs that's so cool is the knot system that we were going to show you. 00:09:10.540 --> 00:09:14.220 Again, it requires not a traditional knot, but the knots are really, really simple. 00:09:14.380 --> 00:09:17.660 It's just if you know how to tie a uni knot or a snell knot, you can do this. 00:09:17.980 --> 00:09:20.700 And what's neat about it is that the knot itself is recessed. 00:09:20.860 --> 00:09:24.140 It's not on the nose of the jig, it's around the collar. 00:09:24.140 --> 00:09:31.900 And what happens when you put that knot around the collar, that's the snell portion, you've actually created a little micro keeper for your plastics. 00:09:32.060 --> 00:09:32.620 So you can 00:09:32.940 --> 00:09:35.020 And what I do is, I'll leave a little bit of a tag end. 00:09:35.100 --> 00:09:43.020 And if you thread your plastics on, and that's what you should be doing for your plastics in the winter, thread them on just like you're threading them onto a jig head or a Ned rig. 00:09:43.740 --> 00:09:46.700 But use that little line for your keeper. 00:09:46.780 --> 00:09:50.940 And if you want, you could even do a piece of super glue on there, and that'll hold it on forever. 00:09:51.180 --> 00:09:53.420 And the real story that I've kind of missed here. 00:09:53.760 --> 00:09:55.200 The need to be horizontal. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:58.080 And so that's the real story with these three-headed designs. 00:09:58.160 --> 00:10:01.360 So you've got the line coming out, the top of the jig head 00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:05.480 You never have to reposition your knot to make sure your jig head is riding horizontal. 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:11.000 What actually people say horizontal, most of these jigs they ride slightly hooked down, what happens 00:10:10.940 --> 00:10:18.940 But that's what you want because that's hooks in perfect position to define a spot right in the upper lip of a bluegill or whatever. 00:10:18.560 --> 00:10:20.080 So, you never have to reposition your knot. 00:10:20.160 --> 00:10:22.320 You've got a jig that always rides horizontal. 00:10:22.560 --> 00:10:24.800 You can put plastics, live bait, whatever you want. 00:10:25.040 --> 00:10:27.120 Learn to tie that uni snell knot. 00:10:27.140 --> 00:10:30.420 Some of these European designs, these Russian designs, they're hard to find. 00:10:30.660 --> 00:10:33.540 The best source for these, yourbobbersdown. 00:10:33.700 --> 00:10:37.220 com, there's also a website called Sportsman's Direct. 00:10:37.380 --> 00:10:37.620 com. 00:10:37.700 --> 00:10:40.340 That's not Sportsman's, it's Sportsmen's Direct. 00:10:40.560 --> 00:10:43.200 And they've got a bunch of these European styles, these true heads. 00:10:43.280 --> 00:10:45.120 So, give all these different things a try. 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:47.840 It's something different, and that's ice fishing. 00:10:47.920 --> 00:10:50.640 It's a lot of fun experimenting with the different baits. 00:10:50.400 --> 00:10:54.160 So until next time, in Fisherman's Strike Zone, we'll see you on the water.