Fishing - Mack`s Lure

September 2016
Fishing: A Family/Friends Time To Bond
By Lance Merz
Lance Merz
During the course of the fishing
season, I’ve written about the
experiences I’ve had fishing various
lakes and rivers. The season in
and of itself has been a good one
but more importantly, the times
that I’ve spent with family and
friends while fishing have given me
memories that will last a lifetime.
Last month, my daughter came
to Central Washington for a visit
from California. It seemed like
eons that I had last seen her, but I
would always take her fishing no
matter where I was stationed while
in the Army when she was younger.
Fond moments indeed, she would
almost always land the biggest fish
whether it be small mouth bass or
catfish during the times we lived in
Virginia. She expressed her desire
to go fishing while on vacation here
in Washington, and I was happy to
oblige.
I really wanted to take my daughter
to catch six Sockeye, but the weather
report showed wind gusts of up
to 20mph, so I decided to take her
fishing for Chinooks. I had heard
through many anglers that in recent
weeks past, Chinooks were being
caught on Sockeye gear. Although
it has been known to happen, there
is selective gear to be used when
fishing for Sockeye and Chinooks.
I wasn’t sure if we were going to
catch a fish that day, but just being
on the water spending time with
my daughter was enough for me.
Suddenly however, the rod tip began
to dance! I set the hook then handed
the rod off to my daughter who was
really surprised at the power and
fight this fish was giving her. It was
her first Chinook ever! As the fish
began to slowly approach the boat
after fighting with it, I realized that
it was a hatchery fish, which made
it all the better for her first fish.
I was using a Mack’s Lure Double
D™ Dodger with a Double
Whammy® Sockeye Pro.
My
leader was about 12” behind the
dodger and I was trolling a tad faster
than I normally do for Sockeye;
1.5mph. The Sockeye Pro, tipped
with shrimp as bait, was set back
about 15ft behind the boat. The
reason I like Double D™ so much
is that it covers water. It literally
spreads out the lines and serves as
a side planer as well, making tight
turns easy without the fuss of lines
getting tangled.
Faith Merz with her first Chinook
Salmon.
After landing the fish and in the
boat, the look on my daughters face
was priceless. The smile couldn’t
be removed and I’m safe in saying,
she’ll be fishing again. Whether it
is fishing with family or friends,
it really doesn’t matter if you’re
catching a fish or not; what’s
important is having memories that
you can look back on and cherish
for years to come. Each year fishing
changes in some way, but spending
time with the ones you love will
never change. Tight Lines!
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Gary’s Fishing Corner
with this technique as they tend to
snag less often.
September Fishing
Reactionary Bites
They Wiggle While They
Work
By Hall-of-Fame Angler
Stan Fagerstrom
By
Gary Miralles
Using two Sling Blades™ in
conjunction to the lure will create a
more erratic action, which will help
with reactionary bites.
Night temperatures are falling
and that’s a sure sign that fall is
just around the corner. It also
means that fishing for Kokanee and
landlocked Chinook is coming to an
end. On a positive note, September,
is a month when you can catch
some of your biggest fish of the
year; catching these big fish can be
a challenge. Like all Salmon, these
fish are reaching the end of their life
cycle. They are no longer feeding
and they are only concerned with
one thing and that’s spawning. This
of course, presents us with a greater
challenge of how do you get them
to bite? There are a few simple
technique changes that will help
you to convince a pre-spawn fish to
bite.
Before I get ahead of myself, let’s
talk about locating these big fish.
Electronics are crucial to locating
fish this time of year. Look for paired
fish hanging close to the bottom or
in areas of structure. Working the
bottom is important for catching
pre-spawn fish. However, dragging
the bottom creates some serious
concerns. You need to pay close
attention to your electronics and
watch your downriggers closely.
Unless you have a real consistent
bottom or the benefit of having
digital downriggers that are
programmed to track the bottom,
you may need to stand over your
downriggers ready to raise or lower
them has you troll. A good ten
pound bar weight is a real benefit
Stan’s Space
I have to chuckle a bit when I
recall the first time I held one in my
hand and took a really good look at
it.
“Holy Mackerel,” I said to
myself, “the guy that designed this
hook must have had a couple beers
too many if he expects this thing to
catch fish.”
Well, friends, it wasn’t the first
time my first thoughts have been
dead wrong. And this time they
were big time haywire. The hook
designers for Mustad Hooks knew
what they were doing when they
developed the strange looking
hooks I’m talking about. So did
the good folks at Mack’s Lure when
they put those hooks together with
their wondrous fish-catching Smile
Blade®s ®to make a lure that has
been putting fish in the boat all
over the place ever since it was
introduced.
Now let’s talk about changing
our technique up a bit. Remember,
these pre-spawn fish are no longer
feeding, so we need to use a more
reaction type presentation. A tactic
that often works well for me is to
double up Sling Blade™. Actually
connect one Sling Blade™ to the
other. This will create a much more
aggressive action. The front blade
will wobble, which will occasionally
cause the back blade to throw
harder and even spin at times. This
more aggressive action will create
more vibration and will incorporate
a more erratic action to your lure.
Behind this double Sling Blade™
setup, I like to run lures with greater
action. For Spoons, I like the
Hum Dinger and the Cripplures™.
The rolling lateral action of the
Cripplure™ is hard to resist in this
presentation. If your preference is
to use squid or hoochie type baits,
go with the spinner type hoochie
with the larger Sling Blade™ or
even a Wiggle Hoochie™, which
has a more aggressive action. There
is one more important suggestion
while using this technique. We’re
not talking a trolling speed of 1.2
mph with this setup; we’re looking
to get that reaction strike so we’re
going to troll up to 1.8 mph. I like to
get my speed up to where the back You’re missing a bet if you don’t
blade will actually roll completely have some of these Mack’s Lure
around occasionally. Varying your Smile Blade® Slow Death Rigs to
speed faster or slower can also help. see how the walleyes in your area
Go with bright colored lures. Glow react.
What that purposely bent hook
is always a good choice. Good
and the Mack’s Lure Smile Blade®
Fishing, Gary.
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Continued from Page 2
and beads are designed to do you
see, is come rotating and wiggling
along the river bottom like a
wounded or dying aquatic critter
almost knowing it’s likely to get
gobbled. And again---that’s what’s
been happening ever since this lure
was first introduced.
One of those places the lure has
proved itself is the Columbia River.
If you’re up to date with current
fishing prospects in this big river
you’re aware that it is now known
for something besides the migratory
species. In recent years it has been
kicking out some of the largest
walleyes caught anywhere in the
world.
Sometimes in the big rivers of the
West you’ll find walleyes holding
where the water is deep and the
current has great strength. New
models of the Mack’s Lure Slow
Death rig are designed to hold these
monsters once you hook ‘em.
If that doesn’t get your attention,
you should be aware that the
Columbia now is also producing
some of the West’s best action for
smallmouth bass. And all this has
pretty much transpired despite the
efforts of fish management officials
in both Oregon and Washington to
not let it happen.
They are calling the hook Mustad
came up with came up with “Slow
Death.” It’s well named. I had a
chance recently to get more of
the details on just how successful
this Smile Blade® Slow Death rig
has been with some of the anglers
who’ve been clobbering fish with it.
One of the guys I talked to was Bob
Schmidt, the president of Mack’s
Lure. In the past it hasn’t been
uncommon for me to find the top
dogs of some of the country’s major
lure makers who were spending
more time on the golf course than
they were out there on the water
actually using their products.
That’s not how Schmidt operates.
If he tells you one of the Mack’s
Lure products does this or that you
can believe it. I say this without
hesitation because I’ve been right
there in the boat with him as he has
proved it in both the United States
and Mexico.
Here’s another view of one of the
best walleye lures you can get your
hands on. Other sports fish often
also find it of interest.
One of the things Schmidt pointed
out for me was that the Smile Blade®
Slow Death rig now available from
the Washington State based lure
company is slightly different than
the original. For one thing the rig
now has a slightly larger profile
than the one you’ve been seeing the
past two or three years.
The hook itself is also now built
of slightly heavier metal. It was the
outstanding success of the original
rig that brought these changes
about. It didn’t take anglers long
to discover that the Smile Blade®
Slow Death Rig didn’t just clobber
average size fish, it obviously had
a strong appeal for those big hogs
that often can be more choosy about
what they grab.
Don’ be surprised if you hang a
hog like that pictured here when
you fish certain of the big rivers in
the West. The current Washington
State weight record for Columbia
River walleyes, for example, is
19.3-pounds. That’s where this one
came from.
Another Mack’s Lure executive,
and another of the best anglers I’ve
known ever since he was a kid,
is Bobby Loomis. Bobby is the
director of sales and marketing for
Mack’s. Like Schmidt, Bobby says
experienced anglers, especially on
waters where the walleyes run big,
are especially going to welcome the
changes in the Smile Blade® Slow
Death rig.
“The original Slow Death hook
is a fine wire design designed to be
fished on the bottom with minimal
bait so it rotates like something
dying on the bottom as it is slow
trolled.” As I’ve already mentioned
it did that job and then some.
But as Bobby also pointed out,
world class walleye fisheries like
those you’ll find in the Columbia
and the Snake Rivers for example
require the Smile Blade® Slow
Death rig to be fished at deeper
depths and heavier currents than
you’ll usually find in fishing for
walleyes in other areas of the United
States.
One of the key secrets to any
kind of fishing success is matching
your gear to the problems we’re up
against. That’s why we have lines
and leaders with such a wide range
of breakage tests. Rods also come
in wide range of different strengths.
Fish in or around Alaska for
Continued on Page 4
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Continued from Page 3
example and you’re going to need
a much stronger rod for halibut than
you do for salmon.
That’s exactly what Mustad and
Mack’s Lure have done with their
new Smile Blade® Slow Death rig.
Those overgrown monsters it’s not
uncommon to hook in the Columbia
won’t straighten out the hooks on
this new model.
You’ll need a cap like that shown
here to keep the sun out of your
eyes when a lunker walleye grabs
the Mack’s Lure Slow Death rig
you have doing its thing out there
behind your boat.
Schmidt and Loomis will tell you
the new Slow Death hook also has a
larger bend. This is something else
you’re going to like about it. “The
larger bend,” Loomis says, “permit
you to run a full length nightcrawler,
plastics or whatever you want to use
with it and the the rig will still rotate
the way you want it to.
Loomis also says “I fished the new
rigs last fall a few times and the way
they work is fantastic. I had some of
the best days that I have ever had up
here in North Central Washington
State between the rotation of the
Slow Death Hook, the high UV
beads and our Smile Blades®. The
combination works really well.”
That’s saying a mouthful for a
guy who has the long time fishing
experience of my friend Bobby
Loomis. You can find more details
about this remarkable fish catcher
right here in the Products listing at
this Mack’s Lure web site.
I’ve already got some of these
new rigs in my own tackle box.
I’m convinced you won’t go wrong
doing the same thing.
Trolling The Sonic
BaitFish™(SBF)
By Captain Pete Rosko
30 years ago, I received a phone
call that dramatically changed my
mind set on how to fish a metal jig,
including the Sonic BaitFish. The
call was from Capt. Ed Ruuck, a
respected Lake Michigan salmon
trolling charter skipper. Ed wanted
to share what occurred on a recent
Chinook salmon trip with a Crippled
Herring, the first metal jig I created
in the early 1980’s. Prior to Ed’s call,
I never bothered to consider trolling
because I was having too much fun
catching Pacific salmon, and Lake
Erie walleyes, by vertical jigging. I was shocked after listening to Ed,
sharing his story about my 2oz pearl
white Crippled Herring.
Here’s how that event unfolded. A group of five boarded Ed’s boat,
that early morning, to troll for
Chinook salmon. One of the five
anglers recently returned from San
Francisco where he purchased a 2oz
pearl white Crippled Herring metal
jig. After several hours of trolling
with an assortment of trolling
spoons, Capt Ed was still waiting
for that first bite. About that time
the fellow with the Crippled Herring
(still in its original package) started
bugging the skipper about trying
his lure instead. This went on for
about another two hours until Capt
Ed couldn’t take it any longer. In
order to stop the badgering once
and for all, Capt Ed figured a way
to finally silence the guy with
the Crippled Herring. Unlike his
trolling spoon set-up, “cagy” Ed
attached the Crippled Herring
directly to the downrigger ball,
about ten feet behind it. That was
it, no attractor of any kind, just
a plain Crippled Herring. Then
with a smile (probably a smirk) the
good captain returned to trolling
once more. Well, it did not turn
out exactly as Ed planned. There
were some good salmon that ended
up being caught, nine as a matter
of fact. Eight were caught on that
lowly Crippled Herring and one
was eventually caught on Capt Ed’s
favorite trolling spoon.
Bob Loomis holds up a Small Mouth
bass he caught while trolling for
Walleye with the Sonic BaitFish.
Thanks to that call from Capt Ed,
I have trolled metal jigs in Alaska,
the Pacific NW and the Gulf of
Mexico. What I have learned is that
a metal jig can out fish traditional
trolling lures most of the time. The
reason is its erratic and darting
action. It does not need an attractor,
especially a dodger, since a sideto-side acting attractor deadens the
lively action of a metal jig including
the Sonic BaitFish. At times, for
extra flash and sound, I will add a
small Indiana blade on the back side
of the single hook on the SBF. It’s
attached with a small snap to the
split ring. Do not use a snap swivel
because a 360 degree spin does not
work as well as a side-to-side blade
action. I always try to simplify any
of my techniques including trolling. I do not bother with downriggers
unless I’m on another boat with
them. I flat-line troll or use divers
on my vessel. My favorite SBF
trolling finishes are glow chartreuse
for walleyes, cutthroat trout and
kokanee then glow white and silver
blue for rainbow trout and all salmon
species. Don’t forget the two new
fish-catching additions to the SBF
family…the 1/16 and 1oz sizes.
As always, thank you for
subscribing to the Mack Attack. It
is our sincere wish to increase your
catch rate, and enjoyment on the
water, through our monthly tips. Capt. Pete
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Question of the Month
Have a question? We’d love to answer
it! Contact us at MacksLure@MacksLure.com if you have a question you
would like to see featured!
Q: How do you stack rods on a
downrigger?
A: That’s a great question!
Stacking rods on a downrigger
can serve as a great tool in that it
puts multiple lines in the water,
depending on the rules set forth by
your Department of Fish and Game.
Trolling with multiple lines in the water
also covers more water where fish may
be. As a general rule, you should stack
your lines 10ft apart, so it doesn’t
tangle with other lines attached to the
downrigger. First, let your first line out
to whatever set back you desire, attach
it to the downrigger clip, then drop the
ball 10ft below the surface. You can
then use a stacker clip to set out your
Photo of the Month
line, and another, and another. Take
caution when dropping the downrigger
to desired depth as dropping it too
fast will tangle lines. Another way to
stack lines on to a downrigger without
bringing up the deeper line is by using
a Shuttle Hawk™. Let out your first
line as normal, then drop 10ft. Instead
of using a stacker clip however, place a
stopper bead on the downrigger cable,
then drop your first line to the desired
depth of which you want to fish. Setting
out the second line, attach the Shuttle
Hawk™ to the downrigger cable, then
clip in the line with the release. The
Shuttle Hawk will automatically dive
to the stopper bead 10ft above your
lowest line. Once a fish takes the lure
on the line with the Shuttle Hawk™, it
will automatically come to the surface,
allowing you to keep the lower line in
the water and still trolling. NOTE: The
Ultra Release™ on the Shuttle Hawk™
will have to be adjusted according
to the diameter of the line that you
are using for the release to work
effectively. Once tuned in, the release
will automatically pop off the release,
allowing you to play the fish.
Video of the Month
To see the Shuttle Hawk in action,
watch the video Click Here.
Other videos can be viewed as
well, Click Here.
If you have video’s to share, we’d
love to see them!! Send your video
links to: MacksLure@MacksLure.
com.
Hailee Huddleston and Matea Ivory are holding up their catch of
Kokanee on Lake Roosevelet located in Central Washington. Great
job girls!
Send your photo’s to media@MacksLure.com for consideration to be
included in a future Mack Attack edition or on Facebook.
See more pictures by clicking here: Mack’s Photo Gallery
www.MacksLure.com
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