hook up % with boolies

[NorCoMike]

Hello everyone! So i spent most of today fishing a couple of boolies in a local resevoir. I was getting alot of strikes (mostly stocked trout) but not hooking up very often. I had roughly 50 to 60 strikes and only managed to hook up with 12 stocker sized rainbows. Any suggestions on what I was doing wrong?

Here is a pic of the jig that got the most strikes.

 

[jiggerjohn]

It's hard to tell actual scale from the photo, but I'd say that the hook is too big. When I first developed the Boolie for trout (specifically) I went with a no, 8 VMC short shank hook, from Hawnjigs, on his 1/28 jighead. And tho this is a super sharp hook, I still sharpen each hook before I tie. When my catch rate on bass, crappies,bluegills, even big carp, cats, and saltwater species climbed ,with rare misses, I concluded that the small VMC models (up to size 6) have a way of instantly burying themselves into a fish jaw, without setting on my part, and that once in,the tiny barbs and wonderful leverage of this hook hold on without fail ! I often tell Keith Okimoto (Hawns) that the real secret to tying a PROPER Boolie is his hand selected hooks & jigheads!!

 

[plateboater]

100% agree with Jiggerjohn

 

[LRB]

It's hard to tell actual scale from the photo, but I'd say that the hook is too big. When I first developed the Boolie for trout (specifically) I went with a no, 8 VMC short shank hook, from Hawnjigs, on his 1/28 jighead. And tho this is a super sharp hook, I still sharpen each hook before I tie. When my catch rate on bass, crappies,bluegills, even big carp, cats, and saltwater species climbed ,with rare misses, I concluded that the small VMC models (up to size 6) have a way of instantly burying themselves into a fish jaw, without setting on my part, and that once in,the tiny barbs and wonderful leverage of this hook hold on without fail ! I often tell Keith Okimoto (Hawns) that the real secret to tying a PROPER Boolie is his hand selected hooks & jigheads!!

Right On John !!...:icon14::icon14::icon14:

 

[Hawnjigs]

JiggerJohn being the Boolie inventor is an impeccable authority on the design. His preference for #8 & #6 hooks on minimal heads is the result of years of comparative experiences. Personally, I've noticed that an overlarge propeller might sometimes impede hookset efficiency, so for fewest misses on the mentioned small size hooks a "small" size fly propeller available in retail 24 packs AKA size "0" from mfg. Worth might be best choice.

Used to be 1/16 #4 Boolies was perfect for Front Range reservoirs warm water species but with the severe continual decline of stocks the prevalent remaining opportunity in say Lon Hagler for example is dink bass, gills, and stocker trout. If you really want to sting those bumps a downsize jig might indeed be a best choice.

Of course Boolies can be upsized with better opportunity. I have no trouble stinging trout here with 1/8 #4 hook #1 prop Boolies where a dink is a thick 12".

 

[Kdog]

Great advice! Smaller blades, Sharper hooks and did anyone mention sharper hooks? Although I've sharpened hooks all of my life, the advances in manufacturing make it unnecessary for many out of the box hooks. I find that after they hit the tackle box, a quick tune up is adviseable. I have sharpeners several but this one is always in my pocket and the 30 seconds it takes seems in my experience to make a bih difference.

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/EZE-...APPENTP.html?gclid=CM_YotjhzcQCFdgOgQodJD8AgA

 

[Fatman]

If the stockies were only put in within the last month or so they could be knocking the jig around. I've had it happen when fly fishing, a bunch all go for it and end up not hooking any of them. When I find pods like this I move somewhere else, they still taste like liver from the feed pellets and I'd rather find harder to catch fish till they start splitting up and get rid of the taste.

 

[NorCoMike]

Thanks for the replies every one! That jig is a 1/32 with a #6 sickle hook. Im going to have to get some smaller hooks to tie some boolies on. So far they have been productive on trout but havent caught anything else on them yet but I will be fishing them often this year.

Keith I was actually at lon hagler haha.

 

[jiggerjohn]

NorCoMike, The 1/32 oz jighead is a great size to be using, but I've had some issues with a sickle hook on a Boolie ;t's gap seems a bit too big. As mentioned the VMC # 8 looks minature by comparison, yet its straight point consistantly stings everything. And, as Keith mentioned, a size 0 Gold Worth propeller doesn't "get in the way" of a hookset like a bigger blade can sometimes do !

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

I agree that with the boolie fish will hook themselves if you let them. Resist the urge to set the hook whenever you feel a tap and wait for them to hook themselves on the boolie. In the beginning I set the hook every time I felt a tap and missed most of the fish but now I just keep reeling steady until the take it in and hook themselves.

 

[LedHed]

"The 1/32 oz jighead is a great size to be using, but I've had some issues with a sickle hook on a Boolie ;t's gap seems a bit too big." X2

Lots to be said about VMC hooks!

 

[jiggerjohn]

Reading above, JungleJim, with his usual fish taking wisdom, reminds me of an important Boolie, trout catching fact! Yes, keep reeling SLOWLY after a trout attack ; I've OBSERVED that larger trout ,in particular, sometimes strike so fast& aggressively that they "bunt" the boolie away,but realize their mistake and instantly circle back (and I do mean INSTANTLY-talk about " turning on a dime"!).If the boolie is allowed a slight slowdown or even a drop, I guess they feel that they've stunned their prey and lap it up -there is almost NO missing on the explosive retake (with good sharp hooks!). Now, if you'd tried to "Set" the hook hard,you jet it away from the vicinity& a hungry,eager trout!

Another trick worth considering -if trout seem closed mouthed on a slow day, try LENGTHENING you boolie to encourage strikes! Last season I went most of a morning with nothing,while my 31 yr old son limited (not that we keep any,but this is a minimum benchmark with Boolies!). I observed that he had tied his Bool with 1 1/2" zonker strip, which HIS rainbows obviously enjoyed! Since we had 10 minutes more to work before leaving for home, I informed the always wisecracking, razzing Sean of my secret catch-up tactic! I placed on the jig a 2"ultra thin strip of light blue plastic grocery bag material. To his consternation I limited out in that short period, to very aggressive takes! By the way, I've just discovered a new grocery stores that have soft purple, translucent carry-out bags -can't wait to "bool" these through the new trout when they stock (hey, that's TODAY !!).

 

[Uncle Grump]

ok - I has to ask - what's a boolie?

UG

 

[jiggerjohn]

Uncle Grump, A Boolie ,as I first designed it, is usually a small round headed jig in the weight range of 1/32 to 1/20 oz with a tiny propeller-size 0 or 1- 0n the hook shaft. It is backed by a small brass cone (sometimes a smooth plastic bead) as a bearing for the spinner. Behind that is a short tail consisting ,usually, of satin/flashing/wool or sometimes a short, thin zonker strip tail. Pictures are readily available around here via the search function. Just over the past few days, following ice out on a local lake, my son and I took 83 trout on 1/28 oz Boolies, worked slowly near bottom, so the season is starting out right!

 

[Bucho]

Very interesting read!
I started out making&fishing large boolies as sand-eel imitations for rather large and aggressive sea-run browns, like the one in my avatar. 1/8th to 1/4 oz, #2-1/0 with finger-long craftfur wings. They worked great both in the salt and for perch but failed terribly in the stocked pond. Freshly stocked trout have no hunting behavior as such and are a complete different ballgame.
Fishing for seatrout, I raise the rod slowly forward and then lower it quickly to create as much slack as possible. The fish will nail it on the steep fall. Bit like a buzz bomb... Then again, that is browns.

 

[Uncle Grump]

Jiggerjohn - interesting idea. Where does the name "Boolie" come from?

UG

 

[jiggerjohn]

Unc Grump, The name came from spirited emails between Hawnjigs and myself ; at first my "Basher" jig was a combo of bunny & flash dressing. Then when I added a propeller and wooly dressing, Keith called it the "Boolie". All kinds of other names have derived from the dressings/heads - a favorite is tied on Hawn's HU head for deeper work and called the "booHoo" ,etc.

Bucho, Yep the trout, even stockers, can't ever seem to resist the "steep fall", as you put it (love that description!). When I first formulated the Boolie concept my intent was to build a jig with a sensitive spinner that would ALWAYS twirl on the straight down drop from below a slip float ; the lure soon proved so hot that I stopped employing the slip float and just allowed a LOT of drops on each retrieve. This past week, for instance, about 90% of our trout took while the Boolie was diving down (steeply!!).

 

[Hawnjigs]

Actually, JiggerJohn named the Boolie. Here's a pic illustrating properly matching prop & hook sizes - from the top down:
1/4 PikeaBoo 2/0 long shank EWG hook #3 prop arctic fox tie
1/8 Skroo #4 standard round bend hook #1 prop skrat tie
1/24 Skroo #8 Sickle #0 prop skrat tie

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[plateboater]

Nice looking jigs Hawn!

 

[AtticaFish]

That big pike bait looks pretty wicked.

(my graphic OCD had to fix the color cast in your photo)

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