Evolve RX - Vibra Grub

I first heard of these lures a few months back when Rich Lindgren had a giveaway for them on his blog and Facebook page.  I had entered and joked that if I won I would review them here, well, needless to say I wasn't able to hold out for the winner to be drawn and ended up buying a couple packs before the contest was over. 

The only experience I have with these are the trip that I took to Canada and another outing with a good buddy to a small lake by Marine on St. Croix.  Not enough to give a full on objective review, but enough to provide a first impression kind of feel.

When I first saw it, my mind immediately went to using it as a swim jig trailer.  However the baits that I picked up are only 3" long (same size as the grubs I use now), so when I tried it the action of the trailer was inhibited by the jig skirt.  I could have "nose hooked" it and probably would have gotten the action I wanted but I was worried about throwing the bait on a cast or having it get bit off on a short strike.  They do make them in 4" so those may provide better action as a jig trailer, in addition to adding a little more bulk.

On the other hand, while in Canada and not having fished swim jigs much on that trip, I put it on a Beetlespin jig and the bait really shined.  The action of the bait is hard to describe except to say that it looks like a couple of fins going crazy as it comes through the water.  Here is a video that demonstrates the action:




The only criticism I have is the packaging.  They come in a tray, which is bulky and is a pain to stow when you are trying to pack light so I ended up storing them in my box of frequently used baits too keep the bulk to a minimum.

Pricing isn't awesome, $5.79 for a pack of 8 baits.  I've paid more for trailers, but not much.  The question is whether or not you get the value for your dollar and while I was in Canada catching toothy critters, the answer to that question was a resounding yes.  The bait handled well after several walleye catches until the flavor of the moment changed and I had to fish another bait.

In conclusion, I have a good feeling about this bait and can't wait to try it out using a couple other techniques if I can get out this coming Labor Day weekend. 

I noticed a few days ago that a better promo video of the Vibragrub has been added:

The Bare Essentials

Ok, here's the deal.  MNAngler has taken the opportunity to post a series of various challenges in order to help us all learn more.  This is pretty much why I started this blog to begin with, not only as a place to analyze my own time on the water and improve my outings, but also in the hope that others may learn something from my misadventures in bassin', birdnests, snags, and successes. 

So, I've decided to participate in MNAngler's first challenge:  Lure Limitation.

Context: I've made it no secret, currently I spend my time on Bald Eagle.  It is super clear in the spring and nearly week old pea soup as of this posting.  I don't think it'll clear up again until fall turnover.  Prior to this, I considered the Sauk River Chain my home water as I spent nearly every weekend there that I could spare.  It is a chain made up of flooded rolling farm land - the result of the dam in Cold Spring.  The "backwater" areas can be crystal clear in the spring (becoming a sloppy mess of pads and curly leaf pond weed in the summer), but in my experience, the main channel has been consistently pretty dirty. 

Challenge:  If I were to only limit myself to five lures for the rest of my life, they would be as follows (in no particular order):

• All Terrain Tackle Swim Jig.  Color:  Bluegill  Size: 1/4oz.  
• Being that bluegill is widely spread, this should go without out explanation.  I've done well with this bait nearly every where I've fished.  It fools fish in clear water and I think it's dark enough to provide a good silhouette in the dirty looking stuff.
• Johnson's Beetlespin.  Color:  White w/red dot.  Size:  1/4oz.
•  This is as versatile a bait as you can find.  This compact spinnerbait will yield everything that swims.  Particularily in the spring and fall, gills, crappie, bass, pike, and even walleye will grab them.  Get yourself into a weedbed, fish it right over the top and you never know what you'll end up with at the other end of the line. 
• Megastrike Shake2 Jig.  Color:  Pumpkinseed.  Size:  1/4oz.
• Sometimes Roland Martin can hit on something a little more useful than the helicopter lure, which induced more twist than Chubby Checker.  I use this jig with a craw imitation and primarily while wading the river for smallies.  However, I haven't used it enough while on a lake to get any opinion one way or the other because when I'm fishing this, there's usually a couple feet of ice in the way.  Although I posted the remedy for this inconvenient problem here.
• Reaction Innovations Smallie Sweet Beaver.  Color:  Pumpkin Seed.  Size:  3.5"
• I use this as a trailer for the Shake2 jig.  I've also used watermelon, but pumpkinseed seems to be the ticket for me.
•  Lake Fork Ring Fry.  Color:  Watermelon/Chart/Pepper.  Size:  4"
• I reviewed this lure a couple years ago, and I still stand by what I said.  It is versatile and produces when faster presentations will not.  It also reeks of garlic and the bass seem to like that as much as I do.  Yes, odd.  I know.  But I like pasta and what goes better with that than garlic bread?

 None of these lures will break the bank, unless you get into a pile of pike, of course.  The only one I've had a hard time finding is the Megastrike jig, it seems the only retailer that stocks them in MN is Cabela's, but the rest you can find in most tackle shops and can be less costly alternatives to bigger brand names.

I've also noticed that these are all fairly small in size, and yes, I do think that affects the size of my catch.  But if I'm stuck with these for life, I want to know that I'll catch something!  After all, it's all about confidence in this list.

Now, as a bonus and because I could not resist, until next time.  Enjoy!

Flying Solo.

I finally made it out for my first solo trip of the year on Friday.  With the cold front that came through I was wondering if it would be worth ignoring things that needed to be done at home in order to make the trip to Hugo.  When I got to the lake, there were slight wisps of fog coming off the water yet.  The only thing surprising about that is that there wasn't more fog, given the morning low of 48°.  What did surprise me was how far the water temp had dropped.  From 82-85° a few weeks ago to 70°. 

Well, needless to say, it was tough.  I worked a swim jig most of the time looking for fish and had a few bites.  Mostly small 8-10" fish with my best measuring out at 16".  I found a small school that I worked with weightless Ring Frys but again, no quality bites.  I also spent some time experimenting with the North Star Custom Baits Flip n Swim jig, which was an interesting experience.  I'll detail that in another post once I've had more time to play with them.

Evidence of a fun morning, or rather, time well spent:

Kabeelo Lodge - Perrigo Lake

As I said last week, my Uncle, Dad, and I spent last weekend in Canada fishing a fly-in lake called Perrigo in search of toothy critters.  We went out through a lodge called Kabeelo - my Uncle has known the owner, Harold, for quite a long time so it was an obvious choice.  It was nearly a twelve hour drive to get there, but that included a quick return trip because one of us forgot his passport (not me!) and a stop for breakfast in International Falls at a place called Shore Lunch Cafe (highly recommended if you're up that way). 

Opting for the extra night, we got there Thursday afternoon and since there wasn't anyone at the cabin already, Erik, Harold's son and pilot, flew us out to the lake when we arrived.  This was a fun experience as it was my first plane ride, ever.  I was able to sit up front and I got a great view of everything and took a video of the take off and landing, which still needs editing before being posted

Once we arrived at our cabin, we found a great site.  It sits on a hillside nestled in thick pine trees with a permanent dock  made of pine.  The cabin was in great shape, of course, being built in 2011 as a replacement for the old cabin.  Everything is solar powered or propane - meaning no charging my phone, which does double duty as my camera.  That meant it was only on when I needed it, and that was in the boat which is why we were there in the first place.

The lake is secluded, and when I say that, I mean that Kabeelo's cabin is the only one on the lake and there is no boat launch, so we had the run of the place.  However, Perrigo Lake is giant, at least it is when you're cruising around in a 14' boat with a 9hp tiller on the back...  Before leaving, Harold had clued us in to some spots on the lake that had been active for walleye and some for northern pike.  Luckily, we didn't have to go far to find the fish as I caught the first fish of the trip off the dock on an Original Floating Rapala in perch color.

Since we had a little time before sundown the first night we went out to the closest spot and drifted through a channel between an island and the mainland.  There was a pretty large weedbed and my two co-anglers were pulling spinner rigs with minnows as we drifted through.  I wanted to throw something different in case the bite wasn't happening for them so I baited up with a gold jawbreaker spoon and started casting ahead of the boat.  It was a good choice because not too long after that it was fish on!  I could tell from the way the fish ran from side to side randomly that it was a pike, and I don't like those things any better in Canada than I do in Minnesota!  We were only out for a couple hours and only managed three more walleye.
 
The morning of day two was a different story.  We hit our original spot and really nailed down a pattern of pike in and throughout the weedbeds and walleye on the weedlines, both inside and outside. This turned out to be a working pattern for the entire weekend, the only difference between spots was color.  I wasn't getting the bite I wanted with the spoon so I switched to a beetle spin with an orange/yellow grub as I felt it was a good perch imitation and it good fishing from then on.  From spot to spot I'd find myself changing colors, one spot they would only bite on white/red beetle spin bodies, on another only on a yellow Mr Twister..  But, as bass anglers, we adapt.

My boat mates did well with the spinner/live bait rigs, but at the end of the weekend, particularly our last day there, by casting ahead of the boat I was able to target the weedlines better and multiple times as opposed to a spinner rig which only gets one real shot at the spot.  I wasn't really expecting to use my knowledge of bass fishing while chasing walleye, but at the end of the trip I used pretty much the same approach as I would have while chasing bass. 

To sum it up, it was a great trip to an awesome lake from a great lodge.  Harold, Ann, and the Kabeelo staff are friendly and the effort they put into the cabins really shows - just bring a towel for the shower!  We are already planning to head back, the only question is when.