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Posts: 3242
Location: Racine, Wi | Now that tinkering season is here, are there any tricks that you have tried on reefers that won't run right. I was thinking of doing some weighting of some sort, and some hook repositioning. Is there anything you all have tried that could possibly help the sick reefhawgs regain their strength. The baits aren't quite right, so I am willing to try anything.
Good Lungen,
Joel |
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Posts: 827
Location: Minneapolis,Minnesota | You can add weight behind the front hook and that'll sometimes help. I throw lots of 6" Reef Hawgs and the first thing I do with a new one is take it out to the lake and throw it for a while till it gets water logged then while it on the end of my line just start slamming the thing as hard as I can on the water surface till it starts to crack. Then cast it out and see what kind of action it has then, if I still don't like it..then it gets slammed on the water another 20 times and then I cast it out again and it'll have different action. I have at least five Hawgs that all have a different action from doing this. one will walk the dog nice, the other will do a nose dive and then back it's self up almost like a suick, one will sink perfectly ass down and can sit on the bottom and won't snag ( I work this one like a jig, just bouncing it off the bottom), another that's like an undertaker. I can't seem to get the 8"ers to work like this, even after cracking they still run like crap for me but I don't think a 6" can run wrong. They all seem to have their own personality.
You can also change up the hooks and that'll change the action a bit. Take off the middle hook and see what it does, add bigger hooks..etc.
Edited by Phish Killer 12/5/2003 8:37 AM
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| Before you buy one always look and make sure everything is lined up straight. I never by a Reefhawg without looking at it first and making sure everything is staright (you can save a lot of headaches by doing that). Than if you still get a bad one that doesnt do what you want, the weighting with lead behind the front hook hanger works sometimes. I usaully jsut throw them into a bucket of water over night so they crack and get water logged. Than cast them and if they dont work jsut hang them up to look at. A Reefhawg usaully, if its gonna work, has the right stuff right out of the package. Weighting it jsut makes it work deeper and swing farther. |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | It can be a love hate relationship with all Reef Hawgs as many who love them already know. I am partial to the ones that work great right away, but some of my favorites have been weighted. My buddy and I have a system that works pretty well. Put 1/8 ounce weight a fingers width behind the front hook hanger pound the weight in(1/8 egg sinker). Weight will stay after it mushrooms into place. Leave like this and it will take on more water. It will run well like this. Email me for more if you wish. J |
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| Hold the bait so you are looking down from the top. Run your finger from the mouth back to where the cut ends on the side of the bait. Do this on both sides at the same time. If that spot where your finger stops isn't approximately the same on both sides, chances are you'll have a bait that is "sick". Take a dremel and make the grooves meet at the same spot on each side.
Also, a little "lip" where the grooves come together under the nose of the bait seems to help it dig a bit better when you twitch. Use the dremel to achieve this as well.
Agree with the lining up of the hardware. I also remove the middle hook, fill the hole w/ lead, and use a larger front hook. Seems to help on hook-ups. Take out the back hook, use a longer thicker screw eye and replace the tail hook with a larger one. Adds a bit more weight in back (better side to side) and helps with hookups.
Try these tips to give this bait a second chance at life.
BrianF.
Twin Cities |
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Posts: 4266
| Ahhh yes, the love/hate relationship of the Reef Hawg. Here's a solution, do whatever anybody else suggested, but be ready to accept the fact that not all Reef Hawgs "walk the dawg". The ones that are perfect dogwalkers will catch fish, but on days when nothing else is producing, the ones that go left/right/up/left/down/right/right somemore....those Hawgs still produce. I had some perfect dogwalkers that I had to cut the hooks off of, and when I hung new hooks from split rings, the action was gone. Just the nature of the beast I guess. I am very much in agreement on the upsizing of the front and rear hooks and getting rid of the middle one.
If you want lures that walk the dog consistently, try Phantoms, Undertakers, Hughes River Hughies and Shakers, countdown Cobbs, and you'll be more satisfied with the results.
Beav
Edited by Beaver 12/5/2003 3:52 PM
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Posts: 3242
Location: Racine, Wi | Thanks for the tips guys. I will give them all a shot, as I have a couple of reffers to tinker with this winter. I actually have one that never goes side to side and I have good action on that, but a couple don't really do anything. Plus I love modifying baits.
Good Lungen,
Joel |
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Posts: 41
| After making sure the bait is straight. Remove the front and middle hooks. Fill both the holes with lead. Redrill between the front and middle hook holes, using one of the cup washers and a new cotter pin reattach one hook. This always seemed to work on them. The old fatter styles always were better than the newer styles. I agree with the earlier post, get an undertaker. |
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Posts: 1046
| As ReefHawg said,all 6" er`s can be made to work to most eveyones expections!Except that put a 1/4oz. egg sinker w/ a 23/64" hole 3/4" behind the front hook hanger and tap flush with hammer!Then submerge in a bucket of water for 24 hours then let dry in basement for 24 hours and you will then have the best damn Hawg ever!Don`t change the hooks,add split rings or anything like that,cause you just killed a great bait!Also those weight sets that stick out of the body tend to hamper some of the hooking ability of the bait,espically on the 6`ers.I have went through over 40 of these baits to figure this out and over the last couple seasons have had many,many people ask me to make theres run right!With 19 muskys on one 6`er and a dozen on an other just this season,I think I might have tamed the wild beast! I also have the 8`ers worked out,but it will probably take all winter for me to GO NUTS and then I could possiby give it up? Good luck with the hawgs and its great to be back on line! Handy |
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Posts: 3242
Location: Racine, Wi | Rod, that's exactly what I was thinking. That's what I do with my Suicks as well. I have a couple that need some doctoring, so I will give a couple of your tips a try. Thanks again guys!!!
Good lungen,
Joel |
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Posts: 41
| Your welcome, That way has fixed many for me. Make sure you use the original washer and a new cotter pin and recreate the holes. No! split ring. I learned it from a friend that used to pound Pewaukee then got smart and moved to Tomahawk. Yep, your right it also works good on the suicks, you don't need 3 trebles the third always seems to end up stuck somplace you don't want it.
Good Luck!
Edited by rod grimme 12/8/2003 6:42 PM
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Posts: 600
Location: West Bend, WI | (put a 1/4oz. egg sinker w/ a 23/64" hole 3/4" behind the front hook hanger and tap flush with hammer!Then submerge in a bucket of water for 24 hours then let dry in basement for 24 hours and you will then have the best damn Hawg ever!)
Handy,would you recommend this for all 6" hawgs or just the ones that do not run good!! Thx
Edited by plitzzz 12/8/2003 7:38 PM
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Posts: 1046
| Plitzzz,Out of 22 hanging in front of me right now in 6" all but 3 have the added weight.Those 3 were the only ones that ran perfect out the package,and you can tell the wood on those seems harder and heavier.I see some others are changing the whole bait which is ok it that works for them,but that mod I described will work on any 6"ers! Between just myself and reefhawg we probably caught over 40+ muskys in 2003 using that system.Doubtfull many others even came close in a couple seasons!If you try the mod and don`t like the way your hawg works,e-mail me and I will by it from you or give you a new one in trade! Thats how much confidence I have in that system!Just let me know! Handy |
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Posts: 600
Location: West Bend, WI | Handy,great tip.I picked some up the other day so I'm going try this for the up coming season. |
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Posts: 600
Location: West Bend, WI | Does this make them work one particular way ? or just help them become a better bait overall. |
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Posts: 827
Location: Minneapolis,Minnesota | Plitzz!!! if you pound a sinker into that cisco colored RH I'm gonna pound a sinker into you!! I'll trade you back.....there is nothing wrong with that bait.  |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | handy modifies my Reef Hawgs for me, and they work great. I do epoxy over the weight on some of them to keep the consistancy of the original weighting. Some I soak as he suggested. Many of the Reef Hawgs I bought last year were more buoyant than I wanted, but the action was decent. The method provided by handy works well for those too. |
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| Thanks for all the tips guys. I love my Reef Hawgs in the larger sizes and I have never been able to get the 6" to work right. You gave me some great ideas that I will experiment with and see how to save this little jem! |
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Posts: 600
Location: West Bend, WI | Killer,I was going to ask you which one was the good one!!! But I'm taking Handy's advice on the other........ |
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Posts: 827
Location: Minneapolis,Minnesota | Plitzz,The cisco pattern Hawg is a honeybee, it'll catch fish as is. If you don't like it after you throw it DO NOT do anything to it, I will buy it from you or trade you something. It may not look like much but that bait'll move some fish.
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Posts: 600
Location: West Bend, WI | Allright dude, I'll give it a throw!! |
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Posts: 2061
Location: Belgium | three hot colors are the sucker (with red sides), black perch and cisco (the blackbarred one) |
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Posts: 600
Location: West Bend, WI | Handy,you where right!! I did what you said about adding the lead.I took her out to shelbyville over christmas break and landed my biggest fish of the year! Great tip...... Thx |
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Posts: 1046
| You are welcome, just wait till you have over 6 or 8 hours of watertime in on them, they get BETTER!
p.s- congrats**************************
Edited by The Handyman 2/10/2004 8:14 PM
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