Minnow lures
Minnow lures are the second largest group among the hard baits, beside crank baits. The term “Minnow” describes a group of fish, which come from the family of cyprinids. Roughly speaking it is a narrow bait fish.
Shape, sinking behavior and areas of application
Hard baits, which are classified in the group of minnows are narrow and elongated. Minnows are often equated with twitch baits. Most of the time this is true, but the term twitch bait describes the running or guiding behavior of the hard bait and minnow rather the shape. Due to their slim shape, they have little water resistance and thus dart out to the sides. This works easier with shallow-running models than with deep-running ones. Deep running models have a larger diving blade, which is why they have a higher drag.
Larger models have the possibility of jerking thus adding a rolling action to the minnow. Tilting around their own axis to one side. This is especially appealing to pike!
No matter if twitching, jerking a sinking (S) minnow can benefit the outcome. If anglers want to fish deep areas, deep runners or sinking models are best suited. For shallow waters or bottoms where snagging is a problem floating models (F) are the choice. The third option is the suspending (SP). Suspending means floating in the water depths.
This is good when the angler wants to present minnow lures in the predator’s field of view for a prolonged time. Even in nature, forage fish are not permanently in motion, but more often take short breaks. These are very often moments when a predator decides to attack.
Jackson Athlete 55S FH
A hidden gem for mountain streams. The Jackson Athlete 55S FH is designed specifically for this use case because many fish like a mild surface flow. Every part of this athlete 55S has been modified and adjusted to make it a freshwater suspending minnow.
Pontoon21 Alter Idem 42SP SR
The balance system on the Pontoon21 Alter Idem 42SP SR is unique. In addition to the Cheerful family’s signature form. A little, silent hard lure shaped like a shad. Because of its small size, it may be used for both ultralight and light tackle fishing.
Zipbaits Rigge 43SP
If there is one wobbler that might be termed the best lure of all time and the best lure for fishermen, it is without a doubt the ZipBaits Rigge 43SP, as many anglers who have gone insane over ultra-light class angling refer to it.