By: Mark Romanack
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| Josh Crabtree a Yakima Bait pro staffer from Michigan loves to modify his Mag Lip plugs for maximum performance. |
Not many anglers
are as enamored with crankbaits or what many anglers simply call “plugs” as I
am. For more than 20 years I’ve spent a significant amount of my “on the water”
time both fishing with and testing the diving depths of these hard baits for
our Precision Trolling Data apps.
The reason I
have so much faith in crankbait fishing is I’ve witnessed time and time again
how effective these lures are in catching all sorts of fish. Also, I’ve also
come to the conclusion that when I can catch fish on plugs, chances are they
are going to be bigger fish than I might have otherwise caught on live baits or
soft plastics.
Out of the
package a lot of crankbaits are fish catching machines. That’s cool, but in
many cases crankbaits or plugs can be improved upon by tweaking them in various
ways. Adding a personal touch to your fishing lures with the intent to
modify/improve the performance isn’t exactly new. Cave fisherman probably did
the same thing to his fishing lures to impress cave woman with his fishing
skills.
COLOR TWEAKS
No matter what
color or finish a lure has, there is a pretty good chance that an angler out
there is going to be dissatisfied. One of the easiest and most effective ways
to alter the finish of plugs is by using various color Sharpie pens to
customize the look. Recently while steelhead fishing with my buddy Josh
Crabtree, I was amazed to see he had “touched up” literally all of his Mag Lip
plugs. Mostly Josh adds key colors at key locations like creating red bills and
tails or uses black to create ladder back designs, eyes, etc.
Josh’s finished
baits aren’t exactly works of artistic design, but they catch fish and often
they catch fish better than the factory versions. A Sharpie adds color that
resists washing off amazingly well, making them not only functional, but pretty
darn cost effective as well.
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| This pink salmon fell to a 4.5 MagLip wrapped with a strip of anchovy. Modifying plugs is a great way to get the most out of these hard baits. |
REMOVING HOOKS
In many cases it
makes sense to remove one or more of the hooks on a crankbait. In some places
hook restrictions mandate that fishing lures only have one hook. Normally a
treble hook is considered one hook, so plugs that have two or more treble hooks
can be modified to make them “legal” fishing lures by simply removing one of
the hooks.
In this case,
removing the belly hook is the logical choice. Not only does removing the belly
hook not usually harm the lure’s action, it can actually make the bait a better
mouse trap in terms of hooking and holding fish.
With only one
hook on a bait, a struggling fish can’t leverage the lure out of its mouth as
easily. Problems with the baits snagging are also reduced when only one tail
treble hook is used.
LARGER HOOKS
Lots of anglers
like to replace the factory hooks on their plugs with larger hooks. Generally
speaking a larger hook will stick fish and hold them better in most fishing
situations. However, it’s important to tread lightly when replacing treble
hooks on plugs. It’s safe to go up one hook size, but that is about it. Using
too large a hook can destroy the lure’s nature action.
SINGLE HOOKS
Replacing the
factory treble hooks on plugs with single Siwash hooks is also a popular
option. A single hook snags less and has the benefit of making it much harder
for a hooked fish to throw the bait. The best way to add a Siwash hook to a
crankbait is to add a small swivel to the split ring, then add a second split
ring to the Siwash hook and connect them. This rigging option allows the hook
full freedom of movement and makes it very difficult for hooked fish to shake
the hook and escape.
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| This 3.0 Mag Lip was modified by removing the belly hook. This fish was taken by fishing a rocky bottom and removing the belly hook helps to reduce troublesome snags. |
OFF SET BEND HOOKS
Most crankbaits
come factory equipped with round bend style treble hooks. Replacing the factory
OEM hooks with round bend style trebles is another way to insure the fish that
bite are hooked and landed.
Mustad started
this trend with their popular Triple Grip hook, but now Eagle Claw and Matzuo
also have similar wide bend treble hooks on the market. All of these tend to
hook and hold fish better than conventional round bend hooks.
ADDING SCENT
Any crankbait
that catches fish is going to catch more fish if it is treated with a quality
fishing scent. Adding scent to lures not only helps to attract fish, but it
also works to conceal unnatural odors like human scent.
The trick when
using fishing scents is to start with a lure that is free of any foreign odors
first. Plugs can be cleaned using dish soap like Lemon Fresh Joy to rid them of
any odors, prior to adding the fish scent of choice.
Not all fishing
scents are created equal. Some are made of natural forage fish and fish oils
and others are more like perfume than fish attracting scents. I like natural
fish scents and oils that set up a appealing and natural scent trail in the
water.
One of the
leaders in the production of fishing scents is west coast based Pro-Cure. They
produce some of the finest fishing scents, oils and other fish attractants on
the market. The Super Gel product Pro-Cure produces is produced using a host of
natural forage species including herring, alewives, crayfish, smelt and many
others. Even better this gel is not water soluble so it sticks and stays on
lures much longer.
No matter how
attractive a fishing scent might be, it’s useless if it washes off the bait
quickly.
PLUG WRAPPING
Another popular
way of customizing plugs and also adding a scent stream to these wobbling lures
is a practice known as plug wrapping. Plug wrapping involves using a thin slice
of anchovy or herring and attaching it to the bottom of popular plugs like the
Flat Fish and Mag Lip. The strip of meat is held in place using a few wraps of
stretchy thread.
Plug wraps work
great, but must be replaced about every 30 to 40 minutes.
FINAL WORDS
Mod Plugs are
amazing fish catching lures. By modifying these baits in various ways they
become even more productive fish catching tools.
