Red: A 50 year test report.
I am 64 years old, and was first taken fishing by my dad on Tar Blue =
Creek in SE Missouri when I was only 4 years old. I still believe that =
creek was the only muddy creek in the entire state. We caught bluegill =
until I could no longer hold that little cane pole, and a life-long love =
of fishing was born.By age 10, most of my fishing was on Flat River creek and the Big River, =
both crystal clear at that time. Dad had me on a fly rod by then, using =
live grasshoppers, small craws, black gnats and other flies, mostly red. =
We really caught a lot of fish... bass, bluegill, goggle-eye, and Lord =
knows what else. A few years later I was wading those and other crystal clear streams =
with that fly rod, and by then also using a 5' steel casting rod, silk =
line (I think), and a Pfleuger Akron baitcasting reel. I owned 2 =
"plugs": a Fred Arbogast Jitterbug and a South Bend Bass-O-Reno. Both =
were 5/8 oz. lures with red heads & white bodies, which was the most =
popular color pattern of the time. Even in water so clear that it was =
almost invisible, that red would draw strikes. =20 As time went on, the selection of color patterns in fishing lures grew =
faster than the national debt. All those colors seemed to catch fish =
somewhere, but few really survived the close scrutiny posed by those =
clear Ozark streams. Like most non-thinking, follow-the-leader humans in =
a world where style was more important than brains, I found my catch =
rate sinking fast. On one trip in the 70's, where valuable fishing time =
was being squeezed to a bare minimum by the demands of my job, I was =
getting skunked on the upper Gasconade river in SW Missouri. The =
Gasconade is, IMHO, one of the most beautiful streams in the world. The =
only thing that has kept it pristine is the fact it flows through both =
Fort Leonard Wood and the Mark Twain National Forest. Completely =
undeveloped, it is a wild, unspoiled river than can be absolutely =
miserable to navigate. That's how it was that beautiful day in =
September. A dry summer has the river so low that we had to drag that =
loaded 18' Jon boat over rocks more than we got to paddle. The fish were =
easily visible, with almost all bunched in numerous gravel bottom =
potholes. We fished every lure we had, with the same results. They would =
rush our lures the second they splashed in the water. They would nose =
them for a few seconds and then swim away with a total lack of interest. =
Even I was losing interest, and was beginning to focus all my attention =
on the case of beer we had on ice, and being grateful that my supplies =
would keep the day from being a total loss. It was still a little before =
noon, but I had declared the drinking lamp lit and was reaching for a =
cold one when I heard my buddy Jack shouting from behind me: "Big one =
on!" I dropped the lid of the cooler and spun around to behold a beautiful =
sight; Jack was tied on to what proved to be a fat 4# SM bass. Our first =
of the day.=20 "What did he hit?" I shouted. I first have to tell you about Jack. Jack loves Rapalas more than Al =
ever could, and he even pays for his. What Jack loves most is a #7 =
Rapala standard floating minnow in silver with black back. In fact, he =
loves them so much that on the Gasconade, which we fished together every =
fall for over 30 years, he never used anything else. Nothing! I would =
experiment all day changing lures, depths, retrieves, and more than =
everything else. Jack would simply cast his same Rapala as close to =
cover as possible, wait, twitch, wait, twitch, then a steady retrieve at =
a medium speed. On a really good day, my catch might equal his. =
Frustrating!=20 Now, a major fishing secret is revealed: Anyway, as he released that smallie (neither of us ever ate fish), he =
showed me that he had cut a piece of fabric out of his favorite red =
T-shirt. He actually experimented with something, and scored big time! =
He had cut it to about 1/8" wide & 1-1/2" long, and stuck it on the =
front treble of his little Rapala. It not only drew that strike, but =
drew strikes from many species the rest of the day. I was fishing a fat =
little Texas rigged, hand-poured 4" worm-colored straight tailed plastic =
worm. I pulled the point out of the worm, put about a 3" piece of the =
same width red cloth on the hook, and replaced the point into the worm, =
and Bingo! Fish on! It worked. After that day, 1/8" wide red cloth in various lengths became a =
mandatory part of my tackle. It didn't always make a big difference, but =
at times really saved a slow day. I never found it to hurt anything. =
Oddly enough, I never found that simply painting some red onto my lures =
made much difference. The red needed to have some kind of action of it's =
own, such as the rippling & flexing of the cloth strip (which is much =
more durable than a simple piece of red worn, or whatever.) I would hang =
it on the front hooks of topweaters, crankbaits, etc. and on a =
spinnerbait hook. I also used it on jigs and soft plastics, both Texas =
rigged and open hook. When I started sending out evaluation samples of our Secret Weapon =
spinnerbaits back in 2000, one of the first models was our "Bleeding =
Minnow," a with shad colored skirt containing a few strands of red. It =
was far ahead of it's time, and was an instant success (and still is). =
Now the "Red Revolution" is in full swing, resulting in some lure =
manufacturers presenting entire lure model series with some kind of red =
application. We at Secret Weapon will NOT be coming out with a "Red" =
series. Instead, we have a much more simple, cost effective and fish =
producing solution: we are offering small red blades to be used in the =
front of our spinnerbaits in tandem configurations. This is a cheap, =
quick, easy and absolutely the best way to modify a spinnerbait with =
just the right amount of active red. I can't keep them in stock. Those =
who use 1st generation spinnerbaits can change the front blades of some =
of your lures to achieve a similar affect. A quick note to the Spam Screamers: this is a damn good fishing tip, at =
no charge, and is not Spam! =20 --=20
Bob Rickard
(AKA Dr. Spinnerbait)
www.secretweaponlures.com
-----<=3Dx O')))>< -- |
Bob
Jan 28
2005
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