The First Mystery Tackle Box Review!

I signed up for Mystery Tackle Box last month, and got my first shipment right on schedule – it consisted of the Dahlberg Diver Frog from River2Sea, a green Culprit Spinnerbait, a set of 5” BioSpawn ExoSticks in deep blue, a set of KVD Fat Baby Finesse Worms by StrikeKing, the Raptor Tail Chunk Craws from Xcite Baits, and a 2 pack of VMC 7316 Wide Gap Hooks in 5/0 (all of the items are pictured except the hooks).

The plastics come in small sample packs (usually 2 – 4 baits), and there is always one or two nice crank baits or other another more expensive lure. This month the premium bait was the Dalhberg Diver Frog, one of the nicest frog baits I have seen or fished. The lip is clear plastic and serves double duty, propelling the frog underwater; it also acts as a weed guard for the hook, and unlike many frog baits this one has legs. The legs are made of a nice, supple soft plastic and are replaceable – there is an extra set with each lure.

As seen in this lure, the legs can achieve a very neat action, actually looking like they are propelling the frog with a steady crank – twitch action from the rod. With the rod tip up, the lip makes a bit of a splash; with the rod tip down or submerged the frog dives under the water. The website says it doves down to 30”, but it did not look like it was going quite that deep on the style of retrieve I was using the first time out.

Unfortunately, I did not catch any fish on this outing but I did try out all the baits. The next up was the Strike King Perfect Plastic KVD Fat Baby Finesse work. I rigged this worm in a hybrid manner, sticking it on a weighted swimbait hook. The paddle tail provided excellent swimming action, but you do have to hook a substantial amount at the front of the worm to get it to slide over the hook weight without tearing the worm.

I tried rigging the Raptor Tail Chunk Craw a couple of different ways, but my favorite was putting it on a weedless shaky head jig. A nice, soft pump and retrieve action , bouncing it along the bottom looked great, especially since the claws are ridged and formulated to make them float.

The BioSpawn Bait, the ExoStick in blue, was another of my favorites from this month’s Mystery Tackle Box – I used the VMC hooks and rigged this bait Carolina style with a ¼ ounce weight. It looked great on the fall, as well as being pulled through the water with a variable speed retrieve, and as a jerkbait with a quick, pumping retrieve. The color was excellent in the shallow murky waters of some of the coves pictured below, and the rubber was supple but very durable, unlike the StrikeKing KVD bait, which would probably need to be replaced every fish or two (not that that is a bad thing).  

The Culprit is a classic spinner bait, 2 bladed with a bright green skirt – these are versatile baits, can be fished shallow with a steady retrieve, or worked like a jig, allowed to fall and then bounced along the bottom; they are also excellent thrown at the base of bushes and worked around shallow cover like the fence and the logs.

I will be covering all these lures in greater detail in future posts – it is my goal to catch a fish on each one. Last year I was concentrating on improving my soft bait game; my short term goal for this June is to catch a fish on the new Diving Frog, and to work with the included soft baits. The value for lures is there; even though with careful local shopping you can buy as many or more lures for the same money as the Mystery Tackle Box, one of the big draws is exposure to baits you would not normally see, especially (for me) soft baits.

Lake Norman on a Fine May Morning

I catch these views whether or not I catch fish - and it makes it all worthwhile!

The other think I really like about the Mystery Tackle Box set-up is the emails I have been receiving; they are a good mix of fun emails and very informative articles based on hard science, like the article seen here about whether the color of lures really matters. Color is not that important, but the rule of using lighter colored lures in clear water and darker colored rules in dark or murky water does seem to be valid – I will be putting that to the test in the coming weeks too!

I will be reviewing the next few Mystery Tackle Boxes and other aspects of the membership in the coming months; so far, I am quite happy with the money I have spent, and the lures I have received!

This post has been brought to you by Gaston Music & Pawn - remember, when you want good used fishing gear, come to the pawn shop Gastonia residents have depended on for over 25 years!  

Spring - No, it's Winter, it's 31 degrees - Nope, Spring Again. The Uncertainties of Fishing!

Spring is here - and then it is gone again. The difference of one day can never be overestimated when bass fishing - or as I often like to call it, lure fishing. There are anglers who strive to catch nothing but largemouth, and big largemouth. I am not that angler; I love to use lures, and big mouth bass are my theoretical target, but the lures I use are chosen to optimize fish caught. In general, these fish include largemouth, crappie, white bass, black bass, rock bass, bluegill - and believe it or not, catfish and carp.

These last two are fish you don't expect to see striking at lures, and yet here they are! And may I say - sometimes a net is just a mess waiting to happen, especially when there are crankbaits involved!

But, after the crankbait was freed, the fish quickly followed - fisherman John Thompson did an excellent job removing the hooks; catfish are never easy with treble hooks, but a nice pair of long nose pliers helkps tremendously.

This is a ncie sized cat - note the lure John used to catch this channel cat, a small red and brown Rapala in a crawdad pattern. The fish was caught on a sloping shelf off of a shoal at 10 - 12 feet on 4-21-2014 at a slow troll.

This one was caught on the same day a few minutes later with a soft, green and brown Super Fluke swim bait on a weighted hook.

There were schools of cat's swimming around the shallows - only after we came in did I realize that it was schools of males chasing larger females; the ones we caught were not in the chase yet, or had already completed the yearly urge.

Just a few days before, on similar crankbaits and slighter lighter green swim baits the day was much faster - like many days, it happened when I was alone on the water; such days are much more enjoyable with company, but alas, the fates of fishing are not friendly to our schedules - they come and go with no predictability.

Fortunately, a slow day in Spring is usually a few fish over a few hours, as opposed to the winter time, when a slow day is no fish and a lot of cold to boot. On a good day, about five or six days before the catfish, I had about 6 fish in 2 hours, and a good mix at that.

The water on that day ws a bit warmer - around 65 - 67 degrees. This one was caught with a Carolina rig in 8 - 12 ft of water - in fact, all the iswh below were caught at the same depth.

The largemouth above was caught around the semi-submerged bushes against the bank. I have now way of knowing, but I think the fish followed the softbaits about halfway to the boat and hit the bait during a 'slowing' retrieve.

This one was caught on a segmented, suspending crankbait:

As you can see here:

against a field-stone wall. which sloped away from about 1 foot deep to abut 12' deep where the boat was, about 40' away from the wall.

This one was a bit smaller:

Caught around these docks - there was a much bigger fish there I could not entice at ALL!

And, of course, the day would not be complete without some white bass

and a really nice Rock Bass, about . . .

fifteen inches long, and caught next to a dock with the softbait pictured above - this was a very nice fish that I really wanted to deep fry, but I did set him free, and then saw a neat little turtle. Maybe  he was good luck - I have a nice boat, access to good waters, and the time and seasons to enjoy long, lazy days floating, fishing, thinking and talking. And what more could a man ask for?

The answer is not much - not much at all!

At least some of the lures inn this article were purchased at a a pawn shop Gastonia NC  residents, Hunters and fishermen have relied on for years! For fishing gear, rifle scopes and more check our Gaston Music & Pawn!