Tail wag
 

Learned something this weekend.

Took a burned out, over the hill necro-Zappa fan fishing. Along the lines of a monkey with a type writer he out-fished me at my own game. Obviously it was the plug, a design he had shamelessly stolen from Gary2, specifically a G2 Slim clone.

Now years ago, before internet forums, braided line, and tattoos on sane people, I first started to build wood swimmers. Not having much to go on, I relied on an account by Ralph Gray reported in Reading The Water about his success with a wooden Atom that swam with its tail up and thrashing out of the water. For years this was my definition of a good swimmer, the more wag the better. But some years ago, because of plug building mistake, I stumbled on the effectiveness of a slower action and since have avoided thrashing plugs like the yard work.

So Friday I and this make-weight fishing partner, who I invited primarily to save me a trip to get muffins, find large bass in clear, shallow, still water under a high sun. Nothing unusual about that in this spot........I often see them there.......and sometimes they'll hit a swimmer or pencil.......but usually they blue-ball me as I watch them roll on tiny sand eels (and yeah I've fly cast for them and had guests throw eels at them but not with great success). So for the next hour I throw everything I own and get ignored while he throws a blue/silver G2 Slim clone and constantly has fish draped all over it.

What I think was happening is that these fish needed something more active than a slow swimmer to excite them into striking, but the water and their mood was too lazy to get triggered into hitting a faster moving spook or pencil.

I feel this experience emphasizes two things; first the importance of tail shape for swimmers and second the importance of not fishing with other people. Here is a picture of some surface swimmers to show my point.
Top down they are a skinny donny (my creation)
a Musso donny clone
a Pichney danny clone
a surfster clone
a G2 Slim clone (the plug that he was using)

You can see that the G2 Slim is basically a surfster with a smaller lip and elongated tail. The concave thin tail on the pichney, surfster, and G2 slim drop water resistance and let them work with a faster tail action. The forward belly of the surfster and G2 acts as a pivot point to lift the tail and wag it more. Because of the smaller lip and greater length the G2 slim has a slower action than a surfster, but still more tail wag than a danny (because of its forward pivot point). Whatever, it is what the fish wanted on this given day and testament to Gary2's skill as a fisherman and plug builder.

Hopefully the unnamed gas bag I was fishing with will post a picture of his fish and plug. For now I put in a picture of him with a second fish that took a slope head version of the G2 Slim.......but that is another story. Sorry I didn't crop out his face.

You took Ron Jeremy fishing?

At least we can't hear him! LOL!
:rotf2:

I learned alot fishing with him a few times myself..that guy can fish, that's for sure.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

you should have he is hideous looking.

Don't let George sell you on the he caught everything. Without him I would have never even caught those fish probably.

The story goes like this- I had the plug in my bag all morning and didn't use it. It was a little slow catching, not seeing, them. There were plenty of them as we could see them in the clear water. So I put on plug and make a few casts. I don't like the way it is swimming and complain to him. By now we are just kind of experimenting with plugs, critiquing the action, as he was saying we are probably not going to catch these fish as the sun was high. I reel it in again and say the plug sucks he says bend the eye up. I do and throw it out so we are both looking at the plug and no sooner do I say I still don't really like the action a bass comes up and makes a spectacular hit on it and I get it in. It pretty much never left my rod rest of the day. Sometimes what you don't like so much the fish do. I too learned a lot and always do when I fish with a numbskull.

Posts like this is one of the reasons i love this site. It has it all, funny, informative and pictures.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Nice 1 Paul. always learning, (and busting balls at the same time) another key to success!

sounds like a great day OTW with two fishing buds and some killer fishing spots...

Thank you for sharing this , ah hem, gentlemen.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

very entertaining and informative George
:uhuh:

Un named gas bag...:rotf2:... sounds like a great time... nice to have the luxuray of seeing fish, especialy ones that are not activly feeding, knowing they are there and being able to sort out what stirs the critters into a geen eyed rage so they want to crush your offering ...:btu:

Looks like you guys had a good time. That's all that's important. You can bet that our old friend gary2n was enjoying it.

Nice pic of your dog

:rotf2: