Table Rock Lake Fishing Report For May 9Th. 2012

[Bill Babler]

Boys, I don't think I ever mentioned putting any additional weight on a Fin. If I did, I am very sorry and misrepresented what I was meaning. My Fins are weightless. I have not talked to much about the process I go thru on them. Somewhat trial and error. I have hundreds. When I loose one that is perfect it is s disaster. You can put all the tweeks and moneyyou want into one, and still only a percentage will do what you ask of them.

Capt. Don House and I had a discussion on the Old Forum about them and tuning them. I will guess he also has a bucket full that will not work. it is only a percentage that work correctly and not a large one. There is also a lot of tenique in using one, and for sure the right equpment, to throw it.

All is not so simple in the World of the Redfin.

[denjac]

Bill is right . For me its about a 1 in 4 ratio out of the box that works well. And you cant do anything to the crummy ones to make em run better.

[vacation]

I am batting about 1 in 3 for a redfin that works correctly..I too have spent many hours tweaking my baits. I ran into Charlie Cambell a few years ago and he gave me pointers on tweaking the spook and when I loose one I almost cry. Be well!

[Champ188]

One tip on a Fin ... throw it on nothing less than 17-pound line. Nearly any topwater tends to work best on heavy line because the bigger the diameter, the better it floats. I would throw mine on 25 except at some point, you lose casting distance. And with today's smaller-capacity reels, you're limited as to how much big line one will hold. My personal choice is 17-pound P-Line mono.

That's my contribution, other than to agree with Bill ... the World of Fin is not so simple but can be one heckuva fun (and profitable) deal if you are willing to put in the time and money it takes to figure things out. Then again, that can be said for any aspect of fishing.

[dtrs5kprs]

Blame me for the weight issue if you want. Have posted about slapping a couple of dots at the end of the front section to keep the nose at an upward angle. Can't remember where I picked that up. Honestly thought it was from Bill, but might have been from Hughesy in days gone by at TU. Seems to help the good ones work better. Does not make a bad one into a good one.

When you get one that runs mark it somehow so you don't loan it or treat it carelessly. Play with them before you get on the lake at oh-dark-thirty and waste time on a good bluff end or runout point.

Champ is right on with the line. Get that drag going from the heavy line on the water. Harder for the bait to pull the line down.

There are some non redfin V wakers that work better, but they are $$$. Some are $$$$$$!

Chuggers should be going soon. Yellow Magic time...

[abkeenan]

Sorry to hear about the fin being lost Bill. I am sure you would probably pay over $100 to have it back even though it costs $7 in the store. I have 4 or 5 redfins and I don't think any of them work right to be honest. I am going to need to be with someone that has one that "works" to see just exactly it should be doing and then maybe I can fiddle with the "useless" ones to get them to be "useful". I have an older balsa j-7 jointed rapala that I let my buddy use and he cracked the bill in half on a cast. I took the bill off an old rebel jerkbait (slid out pretty easily) and I then shaved the angle on the rapala so it I could insert the new bill with superglue at more of a 90 degree (maybe more like 80 degree) angle than the original 45 degree. I threw it in a pond and man does it have incredible action. The balsa really keeps it from diving and talk about "wiggle diggle" galore. Just one problem.....I can only cast the thing like 40 feet because it is so light. I will have to tinker some more so it is castable but I would think it would be deadly. I also have a Jackall Mikey I have yet to throw that is in the box and it is just massive. Its 1 1/8 oz which puts even the super spooks at 7/8oz to shame. Shall see how it goes next weekend. I also use 17# trilene XL on all topwater. Usually topwater lures are heavy and aerodynamic so line size for casting distance isn't an issue as I can just about spool out a spook/super spook so I go up to 17# as might as well have that assurance of heavier line for the big girls on top of making the baits float better. My 2 cents.

[Bill Babler]

One tip on a Fin ... throw it on nothing less than 17-pound line. Nearly any topwater tends to work best on heavy line because the bigger the diameter, the better it floats. I would throw mine on 25 except at some point, you lose casting distance. And with today's smaller-capacity reels, you're limited as to how much big line one will hold. My personal choice is 17-pound P-Line mono.

That's my contribution, other than to agree with Bill ... the World of Fin is not so simple but can be one heckuva fun (and profitable) deal if you are willing to put in the time and money it takes to figure things out. Then again, that can be said for any aspect of fishing.

Just about as well said as it gets. Couple of deals with me is I am throwing extremely small profile BC reels Diawa Steeze. I throw the fin on 15 pound Maxi. on a 7'2" Cara T7. My drag is set extremely loose and there is no hook set as the bait if modified properly will just eat the fish up most of the time. The lure will usually get them multiple times if they are not biggins. My clients for the most part are throwing it using a 7' Cara T7 Spinning Rod M with a Shimano Sustain 3000 series reel I am fishing it on 20 pound braid on the spinners and it will throw a mile and works great. The floating braid lets you work the bait at the right wiggle diggle mode.

A Redfin reminds me of a Christmas tree ornament. If they touch anything, they will explode. I have been fishing them for 20 yrs. and have only had a handful that were perfect. There is for sure more than throwing it out and winding it in. I will catch fish doing anything, but if properly modified and fished correctly it is a complete monster.

On the Jackall Mikey, again Capt. Don House used to fish this bait alot. I have not had the luck with it he has and would not be the person to discuss this bait. I know before you can operate it you need a Capt's license and it needs to registered with the state and get numbers to put on it. Any bait that size with that many moving parts scares me.

[dtrs5kprs]

Have a small Mikey Jr. For me, it needs to run faster than our fish will chase in order to wake correctly. Big one may be a different deal.

[Bill Babler]

Maintenance schedule is just to much on the Mikey for me. If you have to change its lower unit grease and pay personal property tax on a personal water craft it makes it beyond my means.

dtrs5- Have you tried the Buckeye Wake bait? I got a couple and they really cut a wide swath. Just have not tied it on much, but it seems like a big fish bait. Guy might get his arm broke on one when the water clears from Campers on up the James.

[dtrs5kprs]

Maintenance schedule is just to much on the Mikey for me. If you have to change its lower unit grease and pay personal property tax on a personal water craft it makes it beyond my means.

dtrs5- Have you tried the Buckeye Wake bait? I got a couple and they really cut a wide swath. Just have not tied it on much, but it seems like a big fish bait. Guy might get his arm broke on one when the water clears from Campers on up the James.

Have a couple of Buckeyes, a couple of CLU's, some Brian's, and some homebrew critters. Of the high end jobs there is not anything quite like a Brian's, but wish they had a better paint job. We were all spoiled by Tim.

Strike King's wake bait is pretty fair. Some of the floating swimbaits will wake (spro, the poorly reviewed but effective tru-tungsten) and work when the fin is on. I have not really hit the fin right since 2010.