Kayak
Fishing With Jeff McGovern
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by Jeff McGovern:
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MAGICAL, MYSTICAL REDFISH LURE
For the past three summers,
I’ve brought an inexpensive and unassuming lure to Canada for our
family fishing trip. That lure is the Redfish Magic Glass Minnow
spinner from Strike King Lure Company and it can be found in almost
every tackle shop in the southern United States. It works well
here in the South and we catch a number of fish on them. However,
northern fish species apparently have not seen this lure and we load
the boat with them day after day, time after time.
I made this discovery three years ago when I arrived
for our yearly adventure and found a dozen or so of these lures stuck
in the corner of a tackle bag. On a whim, I tied one on and the
fun began. I caught smallmouth bass, northern pike, walleye, and
musky while other lures were ignored. The baits are easy to work
and can be used on anything—casting or spinning gear--with equal
results. For rigging them up north, I use the same set up I use
for flats fishing in Florida from my W kayak. The absence of
unnecessary line hardware, so effective in southern waters, transfers
to success in northern waters.
To begin with, I tie on either a 15 or 20 lb section
of Fluorocarbon leader directly to my main line. For 8lb spinning
tackle, the leader is the 15 lb product. For higher line ratings
and superlines, I use the 20lb material. The best knot to use is
the four turn surgeons knot explained in one of my previous articles
here on Wavewalk's website. The leader itself can be attached to
the Redfish Magic with either a small clip or a canoeman’s loop knot
(also explained in that previous article). My personal preference
is the loop knot, since it allows for complete elimination of any extra
hardware on the line (such as clips and swivels). However, a
small clip is fine, if someone finds the few seconds it takes to tie a
loop knot a serious loss of fishing time. I would not recommend a
swivel in any case, since it allows the Redfish Magic to roll over too
much and create an aggravating line twist problem.
The final part of the rigging is one of those little
known secrets of fishing. Place a small section of 1/8 inch clear
plastic tubing over the “R” bend of the Redfish Magic lure before
attaching it to your line. This little section of tubing creates
a closed loop attachment point and will prevent the line from sliding
around on the “R” bend, ruining the action of the lure. This
trick can be applied to any “R” bend style lure on the market.
The other advantage is that the connect point is now free hanging and
allows better action in the water.
There are not many lures on the market that are as
simple to use as the Redfish Magic. Simply throwing it out and
reeling it in is an excellent place to start. Because of the
large blade and paddle tail grub, the lure has tremendous vibration in
the water. The flash and commotion this lure causes attracts fish
from long distances to see what all the excitement is about. Many
times on our Canadian adventures, everyone in the boat has had fish on
at the same time, on every cast.
Pricewise, these lures vary from around 99 cents to 4 dollars,
depending on where you buy them. Extra tails can be had in packs
of five for the same price and, at times, far cheaper. Recently,
I was shopping at one of the national chain sporting goods locations
here in Florida and picked up 20 packs of spare tails for 38 cents per
package on clearance. By keeping extra tails and various sizes of
jig heads to clip onto the Redfish Magic frame on hand, you are ready
for any number of fishing scenarios.
This is one of the lures every angler should
try. Like the Beetle Spin I reviewed a couple of years back,
Redfish Magic is a classic lure that has a place in everyone’s tackle
box.
Jeff
