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Posts: 24
| I've two 6" Hawgs, one is Green Perch, the other is Black/Pink Sucker. Both float tail down. The first one actually glides a decent bit with no adjusting.
The second one...I just have a feeling about it. Originally, it only pulled straight up/down no matter what I did. Took a good long look at it and the hook hangars weren't aligned with the center of the body. Turned the nose ring vertical. It now is a slow sinker! And it gets SOME glide...feels a little too heavy on the nose still. Turn the nose ring even further past vertical, and it's a hair off of what feels like it will go truly wild on any particular pull, but it's just a touch too nose heavy; the head wants to dive down if I apply too much force on a slack jerk.
I have experimented with lead tape on the rear/middle hook shanks and the result is more consistent "taps" but the moment I stop pulling it begins to sink tail down. And tape near the balance point in the middle causes more severe head pull down or a return to the only up/down action it previously had. All lead tape additions have created a sinking fashion I do not like compared to the default weight with the turned nose.
What would you do in this situation? In retrospect i'm probably overthinking this and should probably let the fish tell me what's good. I am using a 6" 174# Single Strand Wire Leader with 65# line for reference. |
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Posts: 1535
Location: Brighton CO. | They have a mind of there own, back when I lived in a place it didn't have muskies and my Grandparents were alive I had a place to store my stuff up North I would have them put then in a bucket of water with a rock on top before I came up. (they run better when they are water logged.) And of course sometimes you get a dud. |
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Posts: 1370
| ^^^ I was going to suggest soaking them. They might run completely differently. |
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Posts: 24
| I suppose I should have added I soak both before most outings, and waterlogged is when I approach tuning the one in question. |
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Posts: 1264
Location: Walker, MN | Roughly 1/4 of mine run the way I want them to, but some really have the magic. The 8"ers on average run better than the 6"ers imo. |
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Posts: 2305
Location: SE, WI. | There was a post many moons ago on these 6” reef Hawgs. Do a search. Some good info. I’ve custom weighted many 6” reef Hawgs for guys, and guides and also inserted rattles. Densities of wood creates the inconsistency of tracking/ running , swing, & glide. If you looked at them straight on from front, you seemed to be able to find the true runners. The front cut was a dead giveaway for the majority of the good swingers. I’ve always weighted them slightly back heavy, which seemed to create the nice swing! Remember the Late Great Dick Wanasek co/ owner of MW Marine would give me 3-6 of these every spring to weight for him. He worked them Fast! JD |
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Posts: 2305
Location: SE, WI. | Masqui-ninja - 5/7/2024 7:27 AM Roughly 1/4 of mine run the way I want them to, but some really have the magic. The 8"ers on average run better than the 6"ers imo. Captain Phil, you’re exactly right. Had many problem child’s;). After my Mods, I could just about get every 1 to glide with quick short twitches. JD |
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Posts: 24
| jdsplasher - 5/7/2024 4:26 PM
There was a post many moons ago on these 6” reef Hawgs. Do a search. Some good info. I’ve custom weighted many 6” reef Hawgs for guys, and guides and also inserted rattles. Densities of wood creates the inconsistency of tracking/ running , swing, & glide. If you looked at them straight on from front, you seemed to be able to find the true runners. The front cut was a dead giveaway for the majority of the good swingers. I’ve always weighted them slightly back heavy, which seemed to create the nice swing! Remember the Late Great Dick Wanasek co/ owner of MW Marine would give me 3-6 of these every spring to weight for him. He worked them Fast! JD
Yeah, there's been plenty to read - the difficult one I notice doesn't have the hook hangars aligned with the center of the body. I'm going to perform more weight tests just behind the center of balance, I need a touch more weight to keep the nose from wanting to dive so hard |
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Posts: 356
| Bell sinkers and prayers.
Back in the day,Tom F made some 'fatties' that were much more consistent but very few made and hard to find. |
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Posts: 238
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota | Has anyone had success with adding split rings to them? I bought a few 6’s at an antique store a few years ago and always been hesitant with them not having split rings. Would this kill the action? The few I have all seem to run great |
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Posts: 1535
Location: Brighton CO. | I cut the hooks off mine and added split rings. |
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Posts: 323
| Listen to JD and research his old post on the mods. I’ve been buying old 6”ers and redoing them and have been 100% on getting what I want from them. Gotta love how random the movement is on them. Side to side a couple times and then an up down movement. The key is getting more weight in the rear than the front and cleaning up the nose. It’s a worthwhile winter project. |
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Posts: 2305
Location: SE, WI. | ToddC - 5/10/2024 9:01 AM Listen to JD and research his old post on the mods. I’ve been buying old 6”ers and redoing them and have been 100% on getting what I want from them. Gotta love how random the movement is on them. Side to side a couple times and then an up down movement. The key is getting more weight in the rear than the front and cleaning up the nose. It’s a worthwhile winter project. 100% Correct Todd. Out of the 50-60 I’ve done for guys, and guides, there’s been a couple problem child’s  But mostly successes. Never had the insecurities again buying these 6” ers after I figured out what made them Tick! JD ….thumbs up |
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Posts: 24
| After turning the noses on both, I think i've come to a happy medium:
The green perch does a very nice side to side darting action and stays mostly near the surface of the water. This is effective for areas where I'm not too familiar with what the river structure looks like and I want more of a traditional glide bait style, with some random behavior after a good pull.
The 'problem' hawg I think just needed more water. Perhaps the adhesive left on the hook shanks/body from the lead strips was enough weight, i'm not sure - after continuing to soak the lure for long periods of time i'm very satisfied with how 'random' it is compared to previous. I now have a sinking hawg and a suspending hawg, and while they haven't seen teeth yet, the bass sure seem to love 'em.
JD, I'll likely get one or two more and use them as project pieces loosely based off some of the concepts you've applied.This is a very entertaining lure to use. |
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Posts: 373
Location: Browerville, Minnesota | You mean to tell me that Reef Hawgs are glide baits? Get outta here!! I have been throwing Reef's for almost 30 years and have never had one glide for me. Most of mine have the action of a person with Tourette's Syndrome having an Epilepsy siezsure. I snap, crank, pull and rip em as hard as I can but man they are still productive baits. Couple only have 1/2 the paint left on them and they have "tracks" across the bottom of the bait from the hooks rubbing. Thinking that I finally got them broken in! |
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Posts: 1149
Location: Minnesota. | Manta18 - 5/13/2024 2:21 PM
You mean to tell me that Reef Hawgs are glide baits? Get outta here!! I have been throwing Reef's for almost 30 years and have never had one glide for me. Most of mine have the action of a person with Tourette's Syndrome having an Epilepsy siezsure. I snap, crank, pull and rip em as hard as I can but man they are still productive baits. Couple only have 1/2 the paint left on them and they have "tracks" across the bottom of the bait from the hooks rubbing. Thinking that I finally got them broken in!
 Love this....
I ended up tossing mine in my campfire and bought a bunch of Suicks...
Loved your reply though... |
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Posts: 2305
Location: SE, WI. | Jeremy, if you had my mods of the 6” reef hawg, you’d be taking them to bed with you, you’d love them so much! ;);) |
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Posts: 1149
Location: Minnesota. | jdsplasher - 6/3/2024 12:27 PM
Jeremy, if you had my mods of the 6” reef hawg, you’d be taking them to bed with you, you’d love them so much! ;);)
I'm not doubting that JD....thanks much.
If I weren't so taken by my Suicks.....#*^@ed things. Had to get a whole 'nother tackle box for 'em.... |
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Posts: 3156
| I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this???
The best reef hawgs are the ones that crack right along the back,,they have a sweet action when this happens and take on water.
One way to accomplish this is to let one soak overnight in a bucket then take it out and attach it to your snap. Have about a 3-4ft tag of line out and then standing on a dock "SLAM" the reefhawg has hard has you can against the surface of the water just has if a snake was trying to climb in the boat.
Do this 10-20-30-+ times to see if you can create a crack down the back. Its easier to accomplish witty 6 inches but on 8 inches its hit or miss.
The other technique people use but I have never tried is put an 8 incher in the freezer for a day or two then take it out and repeat the slapping procedure, evidently the frozen wood is more brittle.
I always look for cracked reefhawgs at swapmeets. |
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Posts: 24
| what wound up happening was similar to what you described - both developed a crack after enough hours of soaking and being casted. at the time of posting I was about ready to give up on the one, both needed a little more time. I make sure to let them sit in some water for several hours/overnight before I use them now. |
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