Glow Devil Spoons- Not just for walleye anymore!

[GullGuide]

The Glow Devil continues to impress!
Yesterday on the Horseshoe Chain near Cold Spring, Fishhead and I went out in search of catfish through the ice.
Drilling our holes over some deep water right off of a breakline, we decided to go with Glow Devils tipped with a chunk of shiner minnow as our bait. As the baits neared the bottom, large blips appeared on our locators. Soon afterwards the first cat came shooting up the hole, the first of 30 in 2 hours time!
This, by far, was the best day of icing cats I have ever experienced. And they were all caught on a Glow Devil Spoon.

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Gull Guide Service
fishingminnesota.com/gullguide
Brainerd-Mille Lacs-Willmar
Bemidji-Ottertail

[IceNutt]

GullGuide is right on! Finally got to fish for lakers out here in Colorado. Devils came in first with a close second by Angels. These guys really triggered an aggresive hit. Used the Vex to put the spoon in front of their noses and Wham!

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IceNut

[sorenson]

Add kokanee salmon to the list too! The red glow is hot for the kokes (in fact, most of the glow colors work well). Was using them bare (no bait) with no appreciable decrese in catch rate when compared to using them tipped with wax worms. A friend and I have caught over 90 of them in 3 trips (his daughter was with us on one of the trips). All but about 10 of these fish were caught on Glow Devils. Needless to say, Jeff should be seeing more orders from Utah in the near future!

[Bushwacker]

I was fishing for a week on LOW and caught 5 burbots total. All were caught on the red Glow Devil and nothing else. So you can add eel pout to the list. I don't know if that's a good thing, but you can still add them.

[Pig_sticka]

if any fisherman doesn't have these, it would be great to get a few off the site. i have seen them used and they are awesome. expesially the glow. what sizes are the best though? rick are there any mixed bags for the glow devils? if not the 1/8 should be just fine.

[Guest]

If you have questions about size or presentation look back to the thread on the Glow Devils in the Ice Main Page. It has some pretty good info on the Glow Devils. Scott Steil

[mjhowe]

Icenutt and Sorenson,

Seeing as my season is just starting here in MT and I will be fishing both lakers and kokes, and seeing I have a card of these glow devils, would you mind supplying some more specifics about what you were doing? Either here or private email? Last year was my first year for icing kokes and as you know, them light biters are hard to get used to. As with most, my rookie year was tough and I need an edge!

Also, last year we discovered that a large amount of kokes were laying right on the bottom, feeding on mysis (sp?) shrimp and growing to 3-4lbs+. These fish were in 70-75 feet of water which made it even harder to detect the bite, its hard enough when they are suspended 30-45'! Have you experienced this in any of the Kokanee waters you fish?

And as far as lakers go, I had a hunch them glow devils might be a secret weapon! I got the smaller ones, which ones were you using?

I appreciate any info you can share as will others I am sure
[email protected]

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Mike
Kalispell, MT
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[Guest]

Don't forget Slab Crappies on this list of Glow Devil's victims...

PCG

[sorenson]

mjhowe,
There really wasn't much of a secret to getting them where I was, except maybe the Glow Devil (GD) itself - no one else was doing very good even though we were slamming them. I started with a red GD with a 3" dropper and a glow Rat Finkee tipped with a wax worm (partner was using pink & white GD). I put 4 fish on the ice that way, having caught 3 of them on the dropper. The 4th I caught on the GD. I then clipped off the dropper and caught the rest on the bare GD. Did this 3 days in succession. We definately caught and released far more fish than we kept (daily limit is 4). The fish were coming through at various depths, so a graph or flasher of some type REALLY helps, if not completely necessary. My partner was either going to the bottom and reeling up 3 cranks or listening to my direction as to where the fish were coming thru (he had no flasher). In all honesty, he was doing about as good as I was. We were fishing on the side of a mid-reservoir hump in about 55' of water (max reservoir depth about 85'). The reservoir does not have Mysis shrimp, so I can't help you there, but I would guess that if the kokes are actively feeding, the GD will work on those bottom huggers you mentioned. By the way, the second and third days we discovered that the blue & white and the chartreuse & orange worked good too. I just think that the GD/tipped dropper method would work fantastic for you (where legal - some places only allow 1 lure w/ hooks per line).
If you don't mind telling me, where would you be fishing for these 3-4 pound kokes? The ones we have generally run about 12" (great for smoking, but not really much of a fight)! One other thing that we were doing was mostly using 2 lb. test line - don't know if that was the difference or not - did catch some on 4 lb. For the depths you are going to be at (75'), I would definately suggest a non-stretch superline of some sort with a mono or fluro leader. Hope this helps!
We were using the small GDs.

[This message has been edited by sorenson (edited 12-28-2002).]

[IceNutt]

mjhowe, Sornsen covered the subject real well but I'll add alittle. It's interesting that the blue GD was our best spoon for lakers. For lakers it is really helpful to use a Vex. Lakers come thru from bottom to top so raise or lower your spoon as needed. Gotta keep the spoon moving to trigger a hit and remember to hold on tight or bye bye rod. We tip our spoons with sucker meat or crawlers. PS I'm jealous of 4 lb kokes at 75'. That's gotta be a hoot.

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IceNut

[GullGuide]

Toad and I hit the chain again on Friday and once again the cats just nailed the Glow Devils. It's awesome to hear that the lakers and salmon love em too!! These lures are by far the best that Scenic Tackle have put out. Great lure Jeff!!

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Gull Guide Service
fishingminnesota.com/gullguide
Brainerd-Mille Lacs-Willmar
Bemidji-Ottertail

[Dano2]

Read some about this horshoe chain at the St. Cloud thread,
I live in moorhead, and was wondering were it is from here.
Also, does anyone know if there are any cat hot spots CLOSER to were I live?
thanks

P.S> I haven't received my Glow devils yet, but I am assuming you are using the 1/4oz.
I ordered the 1/8th I wish i would of got both.

[Guest]

Went cattin' today myself and you can bet that 1/4oz green/chartruese Glow Devil was the hot ticket.My buddy tried every thing even look alikes and no luck.I was up 16 fish before I lent him one of mine.It really make one a believer!

[mjhowe]

Sorenson and IceNut,

Thanks for some great extra info! Gives me some more stuff to try.

These big Kokanee are in Little Bitteroot Lake in Marion, MT. Its about 40 mins west of Kalispell. The fish biologists last year were really scratching their heads trying to figure out why these fish, which they determined to be in the same age group as the 10-13" fish which were the norm, were growing so big. They determined that since they were being caught literally "on the bottom" and by looking at their stomach contents that it was the high protien diet of the shrimp that allowed them to grow so big.

And I tell ya, at that depth, as lite as they bite, its tough. This year I am going with Fireline Micro ice for the low stretch, sensitivity that is needed. And it sounds like I have an edge with the Glow Devil. We normally use a Swedish Pimple or Z-Ray as the attractor with a 6-10" drop line with a glow hook or Rat finkee tipped with maggots.

I now have an FL-18 which should help me get a little closer to them also. Cant wait for the deep lakes to ice up to give it a try.

Thanks again for the info guys!

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Mike
Kalispell, MT
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[Rick]

Guess I get to give some cats a shot with the Glow Devils later today.

[Steve Foss]

Dano:

Cats in winter in rivers will congregate in big numbers in the deepest hole within a few-mile stretch. So get a river chart from the U.S. Army Corps and find the deepest bottom and drill a bunch of holes various distances upstream from that deep water.

Depending on the current, your weight/hook/cutbait will drop right into that hole. Within the large number of channel cats in that hole, there won't be too many that are active, but since there are so many cats to begin with, there will be enough active to hit your baits.

[Rick]

I saw it for myself on Wednesday. I'd guess it was a 7-8 lb channel cat on a Glow Devil.

I had a nice one coming up using an Angel Eye JR regular. I didn't get to see it.

Better luck next time.

[Dano2]

Finally got mine today, going to see how the wallys like em tuesday night.
Have had most my luck with a gem-n-eye and a fathead minnow, not much with the spoons, maybe just the fish that live in this lake,
we'll see

[Dano2]

the wallys were turned on tonight,
caught about 14, released most ofcourse,
they seemed to like the red blow devil the best, although the perch wasn't to bad either.
when the bite was good I even tryed without bait and got a couple hits.
I was cutting my fatheads in 3 pieces, worked great with these glow devils and saves on bait for sure

[Rick]

Nice catch Dano2,

For those wanting to see the Glow Devils go to:

http://fishingmn.com/sportgood.html

Scroll down until you see them.

Any other species caught out there?

[Guest]

I caught 4 channel cats on gervais in the 3-5 pound range with an angel eye tipped with a minnow head.

[Perch Jerker]

Rick,
I purchased a 1/4oz size card last week because the eelpout are calling my name on Walker Bay this weekend. I'll let you know how they work.

ps. I have a Pic of you & the 37lb (I think) flathead that you & fishhead caught last summer when the two of you stopped by Flashman & I in the early AM. The pic has some great colors in the sky behind you and a nice sized cat, however you & fishhead lower the 'beauty' factor with your faces
Is there an address/po box I can send it to so you'll get it?

[Guest]

Speaking of pictures, you should see the perch Adam Adler (Flyingfish) caught in SD last weekend on the Orange/Glow Glow Devil. 1 lb 12 Ounces, the biggest I have ever seen alive. Scott Steil

[Minnetonka]

I ordered a card of 1/8 glow devils last night. I will be heading to Winni in a couple of weeks to do some perch jerking and maybe some bonus walleyes. Can you recomend the better colors to start with on Winni?

PS: What criteria do you use to chose between the 1/8 and the 1/4 size?

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[Guest]

I liked the All Glow one on Winni. However, they all glow really well on the back and some glow all the way around. I prefer the 1/8 ounce for perch and caught 7 walleye last saturday fishing perch. Unless I am strictly fishing for walleye I usually use the 1/8 ounce. The perch/glow also worked well on Winni. But, that all glow one worked so well I didn't bother trying anything else. Scott Steil