Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3823 Oct 25-Nov 8 | Page 14

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Oct 25 - Nov 8, 2019
Nor Cal Trout Anglers Challenge
Stay In The
Strike Zone With Flatfish!
he first working prototype of the
Flatfish crankbait was completed
by Charles Helin, a Detroit autoworker, on
September 12, 1933. Flatfish caught fish then
and they still catch fish now, yet few anglers
use them these days for anything beyond
river salmon.
Here’s a news flash, as effective as those
massive T-55s are at eliciting strikes from
river run kings, smaller versions of the same
lure are super effective for trout
and mackinaw, when a slow
moving erratically
wobbling bait is
needed.
Why are Flatfish
such effective
trout catchers?
Clearly speed
and action are the
keys to the lure’s
effectiveness. The
lure provides lots
of wiggle, putting off
a ton of vibration and
flash, yet do to it’s design it
creates this disturbance at very low
speeds. This means that the Flatfish offers a
bunch of action and vibration, while staying
in the strike zone for an extended period of
time.
A glance at the Yakima Bait catalogue
reveals that Flatfish come in 2 million
colors and 1 millions different sizes… Okay
I’m exaggerating, but there are a bunch of
choices to sort through.
For trout stick to baits in the F-2 to F-7 size
range. I use F-4s and F-7s almost exclusively
by Cal Kellogg
although I’ll upsize if magnum size trout or
macks are in the mix.
As a general rule, you want to match the
size of the Flatfish to the size of the bait you
believe the fish are feeding on.
For trout the all time hands down favorite
color of Flatfish is Yellow Dot Frog. If you
are a trout angler and you don’t have a Frog
pattern Flatfish, it concerns me!
When the conditions are dark I like to
run Flatfish in Frog and black
w/chartreuse dots. When
the conditions are
bright, I like to go
with flashy baitfish
colors, with
the California
Watermelon
finish being a
real favorite of
mine.
Bright orange,
yellow or char-
treuse hued Flatfish
come out when the water
is stained and at times when
I’m probing deep water for trout or
kings, I’ll often put a chrome/blue Flatfish on
my line.
I don’t run Flatfish with blades or attractors,
but I’ll often wrap or tip them to make them
even more attractive. For tipping I use either
a small anchovy fillet or a tiny piece of worm.
For wrapping I employ nylon thread and a
small anchovy or shad fillet. I apply it to the
plug just as I would for river salmon, every-
thing is just done on a smaller scale-www.
yakimabait.com
F
Flashers Flat Out
Catch Trout!
lashers or more correctly,
“lake trolls” have been a
cornerstone tool of trout and land-
locked salmon trollers for at least a
century. When all else fails you can
slow troll a fly or threaded worm
behind a set of flashy, jangling,
rotating blades and you’ll likely
hook up…This tactic worked for
our great granddads way back
when and it still works today.
Like dodgers, flashers are
attractors. Their job is to
attract trout and
salmon close
enough to
see your
trolled lure
or bait. They
accomplish this
task by putting out
vibration and flash.
A New Twist on
The Iconic Ford Fender
Originally fashioned in the
1930’s from the headlight reflector
of a Model A Ford, few fishing
products in the world have as
glorious a history as the Ford
Fender Lake Troll. Trolled at slow
speeds, the Ford Fender produces
maximum flash and vibration
that draws fish from extremely
long distances. Experiment with
Pro-Cure Super Gel For More And Bigger Trout
I
n the world of fish scents many
anglers feel that Pro-Cure Super Gels
have no rivals. As good as Super Gels
were they got even more effective with
the addition of UV enhancement. It’s like
attaching a lit light bulb to your lure or
rainbow trout? There are a long list of
bait. The visibility brings fish in to investi-
scents that appeal to rainbows and of
gate, and the scent gets them to feed.
There is no other product on the market that course having confidence in the scent
you are using is a huge part of success.
even comes close to performing like Super
Gel. Made from real bait and enhanced with Here are a few tried and true Pro-Cure
trout scents.
powerful amino acids in a sticky base that
sticks and sticks to lures, Predator
This is Pro-Cure’s No. 1 all around
spoons, spinners, soft
baits, etc. for an excep- scent blend. It’s is made from ground up
salmon eggs, shrimp, fish oils, pure anise
tionally long time.
oil and bite stimulants, this scent has
Every serious trout
proven effective for trout, salmon and
angler should have
steelhead.
a solid selection of
Garlic Plus
Pro-Cure Super Gels to
This is a great all around trout scent.
choose from. So what
Amp up your favorite floating bait by
scents work best for
™
TopKnot™ 100% Fluorocarbon Mainline is extremely
abrasion resistant and super durable. Outstanding diameter
to strength ratio. This is a must have for any angler!
Yo-Zuri.com
VOL.38 • ISS. 23
Zack Birge
Yo-Zuri Pro Staff
distances of 18” to 48” between
the Ford Fender and trailing
lure as
sometimes
fish
come
right
to
the
troll and
other times
they like the
lure back a
bit further.
Needlefish,
Super Dupers,
small Hot
Shots
and
similar are all excellent lure
choices behind a Ford Fender.
Traditionally Ford Fenders
featured all metallic blades in
chrome, brass or chrome and brass
with a flat or hammered surface.
Recently Luhr Jensen has added
several new colors for the Ford
Fender line including pink, char-
truese and blue. These colors are
sure to be a hit throughout Cali-
fornia when anglers hit the water
in search of trout and landlocked
salmon this spring.
for more visit Luhr Jensen
online at www.rapala.com.
by Cal Kellogg
putting a small dab of
Super Gel Garlic Plus on
your baits. If you are
in a system with lots
of folks soaking
floating bait, adding
this scent could
be magic! If you
are fishing the new
Pro-Cure Bad Azz
Single Salmon Eggs
try adding a squirt of
garlic oil.
Garlic
Nightcrawler
Big trout love crawlers, and adding
the garlic scent just
improves performance.
Beware, some days the
addition of garlic is red
hot, and some days it
isn’t. This is a terrific
alternate scent, but
should not be your only
choice of scents to use.
Crawfish
The ultimate crawfish
scent! Big trout love
crawfish, and this
scent is made from
real whole crawfish!
Perfect for use on jigs,
soft plastics, hoochies,
crank baits, etc.
Kokanee love it too.
Krill
Made from real arctic
krill. Use the oil as a
marinade on eggs for
steelhead, trout and
salmon, or squirt onto
corn or floating bait.
The super sticky gel
is great for spinners,
spoons, lures, jig heads,
etc. A little bit lasts a
long, long time.