Apparently lighting can strike in the same place twice. We had to know if it was a fluke or if the Magnet would knock ?em dead twice and if it worked in more than one pond. Bottom line: The Trout Magnet is Killer King Kong bait, period.
Here is the plan. We would go to a different tank and use different colors. We followed the plan this Saturday morning and hit a different tank in the Vealmoor, Texas area. By now my buddy was convinced and we had both purchased the Trout Magnet Neon Kit. We had 10 each of 6 different colors and 12 1/64 oz darter jig heads.
The first of the two tanks was much smaller than the tank we normally frequent. However, the Magnet took up where it left off, we started catching fish immediately. I got 7 in about 30 minutes, from 6:45 am to 7:15 am. Four gills and three bass each could not resist the charm of the Magnet; the color was the green w/ black back very similar to those seen in Beetle Spin outfits. Buddy had done 10 in this time and Grandson had one on Jitter Bug top water. Went to our old standby tank.
I will spare you the now too familiar details. Suffice it to say we really caught fish. Again we got shad, gills and LMB?s. The LMB?s came in all sizes from hatchlings to 3.5 lbs. Colors, I used the green/black, the orange/pink and meal worm. All worked and worked well. My buddy caught continuously on the Magnet also and wound up with 20 fish total and I had 17.
Here are some of our conclusions. Gotta be the perfect combo of jig head action and size, both length and girth, of the bait that gets ?em. The action in the water must be what brings them in cuz we caught on many different colors. I mean how can ya get shad, gills and LMB of all sizes to hit this, they have to be seeing something they think is alive and ready to eat. The means of attachment needs work. For fly guys ya gotta super glue the body to the jig or it will fly off. It would be good to get a premium quality jig head. These heads are the heart of the thing but are very low quality. I lost my first 5 fish at the second tank cuz the hook bent out and released the fish. Need high quality hood w/ a front facing barb or two to hold the plastic part of the bait. If ya buy some, here is a tip, use a file and cut two very small small slots in the head near where it connects to the hook. These will help the head stay attached and will hold super glue that also hold the bait on.
I wonder if high-quality unweighted jig hooks would fit the bill? I am wondering how important the weighted head is in the presentation? Just brainstorming…
Looking forward to more reports. hope you fellows have a good trout trip out westward.
MarkF,
Is this the same trout magnet that you’ve been using? http://www.troutmagnet.com/TM_lures.html
If so, what do you think is the real attracting factor to these things? Obviously the color doesn’t have much to do with it since you’ve used multiple colors with good results. Is it the wiggle action they have?
I wonder what kind of “more traditional” materials could be used to create a fly like this…it certainly looks a LOT like a BH Wooly Bugger to me…
I read somewhere that the appeal at least in the designers eyes was because the lure stays horizontal like most of the natural foods.
My guess is that most jigs unless you had a a heavy body would hang horizontally.
In the winter( 40 to 50 degrees) we fish for crappie and gills with a 1/124 oz marabou jig suspened under a strike indicator. The retreve is slow strip and sit. We also catch the occational big bass this way. Its a killer!
We also catch trout this way if you match the color and size of the local minnows. We usually drop a small nymph 18 inches off the jig hook. The jig serves as weight and
catchs more than the ocassional trout while drifting and really shines when you tighten up at the end of a drift
If the action is both the wiggle and the horizontal fall, then yes it is the action.
Point(s) I still cannot believe:
A. Shad, never caught a shat before, why would this thing catch shad.
B. Bass from hatchlings to mature, again, why?
C. Gills, what about this appeals to 3 different species of fish.
Fished this pond MANY times w/ wooly boogers etc and done great, but never to the extent and range of size and types of fish, something is definately up.
