Genz Fatboys

[gill man]

I know there must be a few of you that like the Genz Fatboys for 'gills and crappies. I like how heavy they fish, how well they show up on sonar, and how well they make finicky fish bite. My only problem seems to be with my hookup rate. I don't know how many times I felt good taps only to set the hook to nothing, or get an on the edge lip hook. Has anyone else had problems with these? I've tried bending the hooks out, putting different angles on them, leaving them just like they were in the package, and everything else, but nothing seems to work. It seems to be a bigger problem when the fish are on a tough bite, but I still seem to miss a few when their biting more aggressively. Switching over to a #10 pounder seemed to up my hookup rate, but I like the Fatboy better.
If anyone has some advise on this I would appreciate it. I love the idea of the jigs, but if I can't connect they aren't worth much.

gill man

[CNY Tim]

gill man - I started with systems tackle when I started fishing a few years back and I had the same problem with my fatboys as well it seemed I lost more neutral/negative fish and it's frustrating. The way that body style is on that jig there is a small hook gap window when you think about a fishes mouth. Not to mention I am not to crazy about the hooks on there jigs they rust after a season even drying them off after every outing they pit. None the less the Marmooska is the best jig hook design I have seen for panfish and these jigs can take a beating. I use a Thorne Bros. sweet thing and that is my favorite shallow water rod I accompany it with Berkley Micro ice 2lb. and a Shimano Sedona 500FA reel. I hope this helps.

[This message has been edited by CNY Tim (edited 11-15-2002).]

[Guest]

Gill Man
any time you use a horizontal hanging jig like a fat boy, the best thing to use on your line is a clip if some sort like Al's Kwik Klips. This keeps the jig in the horizontal position and allows for a free swinging action but when a fish hits and you set the hook, the jig comes sraight up and your hook ups will be much better.
If you tie you fat boy drectly to your line and the knot is not centered so the jig hangs horzontally, when you set the hook, it will swim away from the fishes mouth because you're knot may be to the front of the hook eye causing this situation.
Sharpen those hooks on the fat boys. they must use some cheap import hook that doesn't have much of a point because I use a fat boy style jig from a guy who makes them out here and they work great with the hooks he uses.

[CNY Tim]

Good point shadow joe, if you can't find the quik clips just make sure you adjust your jig after every fish you catch so that it hangs horizontal and straight.

[Guest]

I sharpen those hooks on all Systems jigs and love them but they have a tendency to break on me,is it because the hooks are too thin or am I just removing too much meat from them?

[Guest]

When I fish gills with Fatboys I like bend the hook out to the side. This seems to get a better hooking percentage because when the fish takes the jig and you set the hook the hook slightly tips to the side causing an open hook (head of the jig slightly to opposite side) set just as if you had a plain hook. This doubled my hooking percentage when I changed to this approach when using Fatboys. It doesn't effect the action of the jig either.

Good Fishin, Matt.

[Guest]

I also have the best success with bending the hook out to the side. There's not much you can do other than switch to a verticle jig. That's the problem with small thin wire hooks.

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[gill man]

Thanks for the replies. I might try a couple new angles on the hooks, and I'll give bending it to the side a try. I figured that would make it spin while you jigged it, but it couldn't hurt to try.
I was surprised that I had trouble with these. I assumed that they would work well with Dave Genz using them all the time, but who knows. They seem to work pretty well when the fish are hitting a little better. It seems like the light bighters/finicky fish are the tough ones. When you have to try hard to get one to take, it's pretty frusterating when you can't connect-time after time, especially when the slabs are running close to an honest foot, and the gills are hovering around the 8 inch mark.
Enough of me boring the heck out of you guys. If anyone else has something to add feel free. Pray for ice!

gill man