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TEST REVIEW #2 3:16 MINNOW


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The 20 guys that were picked for the Minnow were......

 

Reelfish

Speedbead

Rubberdaddy

Justin66

Paynefish

Buttaluns

Bass

JDHanson79

Bigworm

Boomah21

Jam170

185VSfrog

GrantG

SethB

Reelreport

Luke V

Jtelarkin08

SwimbaitsatLMV

Jolley

Motomania

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SethB

 

 

316 Mighty Minnow

 

The most versatile bait on the market.

 

 

 

Facts: Hollow body soft swimbait.

 

5.25"

 

Just over an oz. in weight.

 

Comes in a 4 pack with 8/0 gammie G-mag hook.

 

Good selection of colors.

 

Sink rate is about R.O.F. 3.5 - 4.5.

 

 

 

Opinion: I feel like I should tell you that this is not one of my favorite baits. It gets bit for sure and rigging options are endless.

 

the Minnow is a hollow bodie soft bait made with the quality you would expect from 316. I doubt that there is another swimbait made that can be effectively fished in as many situations as the minnow.

 

The minnow is somewhere in between a mission fish and a rising son. With endless rigging options.

 

Bait can be rigged on a lead head and fished deep,Texas rigged weightless and fish in frogwater and everywhere in between.

 

Texas rigged with just the stock hook a med - med fast retrieve feels about right and fishes in the 1' to 5' zone. You can fish it slower but the bait looses most of its action. It can be fished faster but tends to roll out on the burn. With just the stock hook, 15# floro. and a med retrieve the bait has a quick little tail kick and nice head wobble. If you start with a fairly fast retrieve to get the head wobble going you can then slow down quite a bit and still keep the wobble going. Most shallow water situations this would be the starting point for my retrieve. As slow as I could go and still get that head wobble.

 

Add a 3/32 nail weight and you loose most of the head wobble but fishes very well on the bottom down to around 10 or 12 feet. Bait is as weedless as they come. and with the soft rubber head hit bounces right through some pretty sanggy rock that would eat most other baits.

 

Add a lead head and you can go as deep ad you'd like. Makes a nice swim jig trailer as well.

 

By hooking the bait a little lower on the nose and holding rod tip high on the retrieve it fishes alot like a buzz bait. but in areas where you couldn't throw a buzz bait. I haven't perfected the rigging yet but, I've been messing with rigging the bait upside down and fishing it like a super slow buzz bait.

 

I'm sure it would work great on a spreader or Alabama rig also.

 

The options really are endless. If you like the whole basstrix hollow body style of bait this one should be at the top of your list.

 

The bait is small and lacks the draw power of traditional "Swimbaits " but hey its a 5" bait.

 

Even being small and lacking the draw power I know of a few guys catching some crazy numbers of big fish on this bait.

 

For me this is a fun fishing/numbers kind of bait. Not a pig hunting kind of bait. But it has been proven just as deadly on big fish.

 

Being how soft the bait is fish will hold on a little longer and with proper tackle hook up ratio is high. I prefer to fish it on a 7' -7'11 heavy action rod or med heavy swimbait rod. with 15-20# floro. or 65# braid depending on the situation. They do get tore up pretty fast but with 316 glue they repair very well. Depending on how you rig it you should be able to get 5-10 fish per bait.

 

In conclusion : For what it is (5" hollow body soft bait)this bait performs very well, is affordable,readily available and a fun bait to fish.

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Paynefish

 

 

Andy and the 3:16 Minnow

 

 

 

Andy was an average sized guy in an average sized town. He worked at an average job for an average wage. Everything about Andy was average except one thing. Andy was not your average angler. Andy was far above average. It was almost as if he had a special sixth sense. Andy could always find the fish, regardless of the body of water. He fished lots of average baits on pretty average rods and cranked in all those fish on mostly average reels. After a life of average everything, Andy decided to look for something better than average. What better place to start than with the thing that brought him great joy. Fishing.

 

With not much money, Andy went on a great search. He was looking for a better way to fish. He wanted a bait. One new bait that people were just discovering or maybe had long forgotten. He was tired of slugging 80 or 90 pounds of lures around every time he went out. He wanted it to be versatile. It needed to be able to fish in open water, through lilly pads, through bull rushes and swampy shallows. It needed to be able to go deep and stay shallow. Andy knew if he found it, that would be a bait that would ease his back aches from lugging lures. He would be able to fish it in a boat or on the bank and get bit. With a few hooks and a couple of these magic baits, he could fish all day. But where was this bait?

 

His internet searches began fast and furious and he read about all the types of baits. Spinners had their place but it wasn’t versatile enough. Jigs worked some but were a constant problem from shore. Worms were pretty good but they were hard to throw as a floating bait. There had to be something. After several weeks, a friend told him about these crazy baits from California. They had hard baits and soft baits and were made 100% in the USA. Andy’s curiosity was piqued and he decided to check it out. The hard baits were cool but had different sink rates and were a bit out of range of his average salary. The equipment needed to throw these and the price of the bait was just a bit more than Andy could do. But then he saw it. The web address that forever would burn in his mind.

 

http://www.316lurecompany.com/baits/minnow.html

 

Could this be the one? Could this be the ultimate for the average Joe, or in this case, Andy?

 

The 3:16 Minnow came in 22 different colors. That’s something Andy hadn’t really considered. Does the bait come in a color I can use on my home lake? It sure did. From trout colors to sunfish, these colors covered the spectrum of all the conditions and forage bases he would be fishing. He did become a bit skeptical at the bubble gum colored bait called “Sissy†but figured, to each their own. It was listed on the site as coming with an 8/0 Gamakatsu hook so he wouldn’t need new hooks to fish this. Another win he thought. At 1.2 oz Andy felt sure he could throw it on his existing rod and reel setup which was another win. The final straw was the price. How much would this bait cost? When he saw it, he couldn’t hit the “Add to Cart†button fast enough. $10.49 for 4 baits! And the hook!

 

Two days later the 4 pack of 3:16 Minnows arrived. The sunfish color was perfect for his waters. Those shiny eyes and yellow gills were going to really stand out and draw in the bite. Andy read on the 3:16 website about how the Minnow would float. After he had the bait in his hands he could see why. It had an air bladder between the head of the bait and the hook slit in the belly. The waiting had bubbled his curiosity to percolation and it was time to go fishing. He grabbed his average pole with his average reel and loaded up the truck with his new baits.

 

20 minutes after leaving the house Andy was standing on the bank of one of his favorite lakes. The lake had tons of cover, slightly stained water but had lots of pressure. He bet himself that no fish in this lake had ever seen one of these baits. He tied the hook to his mono line with a Palomar knot and proceeded to Texas rig his new bait but without a weight. The hook slot was a little further toward the tail then he would have liked. Andy had to bow the bait in to get the hook into the hook slot which caused a little bit of a problem putting pressure on the nose of the bait. This could cause some tearing if thrown with a lot of force he thought but decided to give it a try.

 

Andy rared back and threw the bait as far as he could without a weight. It launched! The problem was he was a little out of control, (which is average for fishermen anyway) and the bait landed at the very back of a cattail forest. He figured he had just lost the bait. He said a few curse words and then started yanking on the bait. To his surprise the bait swam right through the cattails and when the line got wrapped, the bait wouldn’t hang up, just twist and turn through the nastiness. Also surprising to Andy was the condition of the bait when he got it back. The nose hadn’t torn! Within a few more controlled casts, he realized what he was looking for as a nice three pound fish t-boned his Minnow as he swam it across the surface near the cattails. Not only was the bait versatile through the slop but it also worked just swimming it. Now to test the deep application he thought.

 

Andy set up a Carolina rig with a 36 inch leader on it and hooked up the minnow. Though he wouldn’t be able to see it, the buoyancy of the bait would allow it to suspend off of the bottom and draw in some strikes of some hopefully larger fish. 15 minutes later it happened. He felt a hard thump and then his line heading hard and fast to the right. With a hard sweep he set the hook on what would later be weighed as a five pound fish. Not too bad he thought.

 

For an average Joe, on average tackle, on an average day, he had found a bait that was far from average. It was a bait he could afford, fish anywhere and fish where he fished with what rod and reel he had. It was more than just a Minnow. It was a Mighty Minnow.

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Luke V

 

 

The following is my review on the 3:16 Soft Minnow.

 

 

Specs:

This bait is 5.25" long and weighs 1.2 oz.

 

Gear:

I throw this bait on and LDC 8' Production MH.

Curado 300e.

20lb big game.

***This bait is small enough to be thrown on traditional tackle.***

( when I first started throwing swimbaits I threw this bait on 14 lb flouro and I did fine, however I recommend something stronger)

 

Price:

$10.49 per pack of 4 minnows.

 

Packaging:

The baits arrived in a padded envelope in about 2 business days. The baits are in a plastic box in rows of 2 with an 8/O gamakatsu beast hook.

 

Colors:

The Soft Minnow is available in 24 different colors. I received the "sunfish" color for testing. Although I also have owned the "bass" and "sissy" colors.

All of these colors look really nice and they match the intended baitfish perfectly(other than sissy for obvious reasons).

 

Sink Rate:

When rigged with no weight out of the package: the bait sinks VERY slowly almost suspending. This is very good when fishing near the top in the summer(warmer/hotter) months.

When rigged with 3/16 oz bullet weight in belly: the bait sinks at a rate of around 1ft/second. I prefer this technique year round, I prefer floating baits when fishing near the top of the water column.

 

Action:

The action is a tight thumping action. I fished the bait with a 3/16oz bullet weight superglued in the belly, which added more "wobble" to the mid-section/head of the bait. Here is a short clip I made of the action:

As you can see the bait wobbles very nicely with an added weight.

 

Techniques:

I enjoy fishing this bait mid column in open water. As well as around weedlines, rockpiles, and rock "shelves". The majority of my bites have come from these areas/techniques. The hardest(largest) hits were in open water. I have only had one fish on this bait in the testing period and that was in open water with a bullet weight glued in the belly.

 

Durability:

Overall the durability is great. I had one fish on the bait in the testing period, there was a small amount of ripping in the nose, as well as where the hook protrudes from the bait. This is common with any bait this style so it is nothing to be worried about. However, I do recommend investing in some type if soft bait glue(preferably 3:16 as it is made specifically for this plastic). Along with the fish, I did cause some tearing to the bait on miscasts up on docks, into trees, and in rocks. Again the damage was minimal and was equal to if not less than what you would expect from a soft bait of similar design, and again can be fixed quickly and easily with the correct type of glue. I highly recommend investing in the glue, it prolongs the life of the bait and saves the user money when not having to replace the baits after tearing.

 

Modifications:

Like previously mentioned, I added a 3/16 oz bullet weight to the belly with superglue. I prefer sinking soft baits. I have also messed with it by adding small amounts of weight just behind the hook slot to make the bait slightly suspend upright. I have not done this enough/perfected it enough to comment on it. I also sometimes use a smaller(4/O-5/O) hook and the bait will sit with the tail surfaced, when twitched, this adds a nice popping action to the tail as it sucks water down.

 

Details:

The Minnow comes with very realistic 3d eyes. It also has an air pocket with a hook slot behind for easy rigging. Included in every package is 1 hook, I recommend purchasing another pack of hooks form the 3:16 site under the "Apparels & Misc." tab.

 

 

I want to say a HUGE thank you to 3:16 Lure Company, Mickey, Rina, And Micah. This would not be possible without them and I greatly appreciate it.

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SPEEDBEAD

 

 

3:16 Minnow

 

 

 

I was asked to review the Minnow for the second round of testing. While I had seen the bait on the website before, I had never held one in my hand. From looking at the pictures, I assumed it would be similar to the Mission Fish. That is not the case at all.

 

First Impressions

 

The baits come 4 in a pack along with a single 8/0 Gamakatsu G-Mag hook. They are neatly arranged in the standard 3:16 box packaging. When I took the baits out of the pack, the tails were all straight and there were no imperfections in the plastic. I received the Sunfish color and as with all the soft baits from 3:16 the color looked amazing. They have large realistic eyes and the plastic feels very soft to the touch and pliable. The body of the bait is not tall but the back is very broad. From the side, this gives the illusion of a smaller bait but there is still quite a bit of plastic in that compact package. The fact that the bait is a little over 5 inches long, weighs 1.2oz and has no weighting system in it shows how much plastic is actually there. As a comparison, the 5 inch Mission Fish has a nose weight and only comes in a 1.1 oz. The bait also has an “air bladder†that is said to act as a flotation chamber.

 

Rigging

 

The bait is simple to rig up. Before entering the dark world of swimbaits, if you have ever texas rigged a fluke or worm then you are able to rig a 3:16 Minnow. Take the hook into the nose of the bait and out through the bottom. Pull the hook through until the eye buries into the nose. Rotate the point of the hook and drive it through the bait immediately behind the air bladder. When you finish pushing the hook through, it naturally lays down flat against the back of the bait. I didn’t find it necessary to bury the hook point in the plastic but the weeds have not grown up in my lakes yet. I can see that as the weeds emerge, I will begin to skin hook the bait. The G-Mag hook has the perfect throat to rig this bait. There is plenty of space for the Minnow to collapse on a hookset, yet it doesn’t hang so far beneath the bait as to look unnatural.

 

The important part: Fishing the bait

 

I will admit, the fishing around me so far this year has sucked. We are just now getting water temps in the mid 40’s and in my opinion, this is not really the time to fish the Minnow in a conventional manner (unweighted and texas rigged). This bait will shine once the bass begin to move a little more shallow however this time of year I can imagine the most effective way to fish this particular soft bait would be on a Carolina rig or even one of the new umbrella rigs. This would allow the bait to be fished at a different part of the water column where the fish are wintering. I didn’t do much experimenting due to time constraints and a desire to fish the bait as intended. The gear I used initially was my Loomis BBR custom, 301D Curado and 20lb CXX P-Line. This past weekend, I received an LDC Production H and also threw the bait with it. While both rods threw the bait, the BBR has a softer tip to throw such a relatively light swimbait. I can imagine that the MH Production stick would be tailor made to throw a bait this size.

 

I took the bait to some local ponds and let it rip! The bait casted well with no issues of planing; it casted like a rocket. The bait swam well at a slow to medium speed but tended to roll and rise to the top at the highest retrieval rate. This is not a problem as the bait will fish well over emergent vegetation at a slower speed, exactly what I want this style of bait to do. It has a subtle tail kick and sinks VERY slowly on the pause. It is about as close to a suspending soft bait as I have seen. One little trick that I tried had two different positive outcomes. I slid a worm rattle into the air bladder of the bait. This not only gave the bait a nice little “ticking†sound as it rolled through the water but it also gave the bait a little more weight and sank just a bit faster. There is plenty of room in the air bladder for worm rattles, nail weights or a mojo weight to really get it to sink.

 

Unfortunately, as you can see, there are no feeshy pics to accompany my write-up. I had a grand total of ONE fish grab the bait by the tail and run with it. He never took the rest of the bait into his mouth and my hookset made the bait come flying back toward my face around 150 miles per hour. Obviously, I am aware that the bait has a time and place. That place is not in 40 degree water in Pennsylvania in March. I have a trip coming up in southern Virginia on March 16th-18th on a tidal river where the water temps will likely be hovering around the 55-60 degree mark. I plan on giving the bait a more thorough workout at that point and hopefully providing some pictures to back up the looks of this bait in the water.

 

Overall

 

My impressions of the bait are positive with only a single “want.†I really wish this bait was available in the current body configuration with a line-through option. I realize a Rising Son has this option, but the suspending aspect of the minnow is even more pronounced than the Son. Whenever I find the appropriate material, I plan on trying to make my own line-through on the minnow. Besides my single “want,†I believe this bait performs flawlessly as intended. I can see it being a very viable option for tournament anglers looking for a kicker as well as someone who is new to swimbaits and possibly intimidated by the size of the larger plastic baits. It is high quality, very affordable at $10.49/4 baits and readily available for purchase on the 3:16 site.

 

Thanks again for reading and allowing me to share my thoughts on the bait.

 

The Beard

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Jam170

 

 

Bait Reviewed-

 

* 3:16 Minnow

 

 

 

IMAG0506.jpg

 

 

 

Bait Specifications-

 

* Length - 5 ¼â€

 

* Weight - 1.2 oz.

 

* Model - Weedless

 

* Colors - 24

 

 

 

IMAG0507.jpg

 

 

 

Rigging/Terminal Tackle-

 

* Owner Beast Hook 6/0

 

* Toothpick

 

* 3:16 Glue

 

 

 

I insert a tooth pick from the side of the head, through the nose spring. This gives the spring a much stronger hold, and increases the life of the bait.

 

 

 

IMAG0534.jpg

 

 

 

Castability-

 

* This bait casts like a bullet. Due to the compact profile of this bait, it casts with ease even in heavy wind. This bait also skips tremendously well, allowing you to put a swimbait where the fish usually don't see one.

 

 

 

Set Up-

 

* Rod - LDC Custom H

 

* Reel - Daiwa Pluton 200 H

 

* Line - 60# Sunline FX2 Braid

 

 

 

I prefer a long rod with a stiff tip with this bait. This is one swimbait that can be thrown effectively on a flipping stick. This bait lends itself to long casts in heavy cover, so a longer rod with braided line is preferred for hook ups.

 

 

 

Performace-

 

* An air bladder allows this bait to fish higher in the water column then other “paddle tail†swimbaits. The flat back makes for cleaner hook ups. This bait is highly weedless and can be thrown anywhere with confidence. The pours on all the baits were clean, and consistent. Very high quality.

 

 

 

Durability-

 

* The bait is durable, being a nose hooked bait it generally holds up for several fish. The nose however, can and will rip at times. I prefer to use a spring lock hook in the nose, with a toothpick pushed through to maximize the longevity of the baits. After the bait has ripped 3:16 glue can be used to make repairs, allowing the angler to catch additional fish per bait. One other point of weakness is the tail. A short biting fish can take the tail clean off.

 

 

 

IMAG0509.jpg

 

 

 

Applications-

 

* The best bite I have experienced with this bait has been during pre-spawn and post-spawn when fish are using shallow heavy cover, and somewhat active. This bait also excels in the fall when the shad bite is on due to its size, and weedless capabilities. Also any time fish are tucked tight into cover where a skip cast may be needed to reach them, this is a great option.

 

 

 

Opinion-

 

* The 3:16 Minnow is a very fun bait to fish. It is not a big bait but still can catch quality fish. It excels at catching numbers of fish, making it a great tournament swimbait. The smaller profile of the bait allows you to match different hatches through the seasons with a weedless bait.

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JDhanson79

 

 

3:16 Minnow

 

DATE: March 2012

 

LURE TYPE: Soft Plastic Paddle tail swim bait

 

MANUFACTURER: 3:16 Lure Company

 

 

 

REVIEWER: Joshua Hanson

 

 

 

 

 

Over all first impressions are; this is a very versatile small swimbait. With this review I wanted to make sure that I covered as much as I could think of as far as where, when and what. Let me elaborate on the three (3) W’s.

 

-Where: Where to fish the lure

 

-When: When to fish this lure

 

-What: What type of presentation or how many can or should I use

 

So where should you fish the lure. During the testing period, I found that you could truly fish this lure anywhere you can think of. A few applications that I really think that this lure excels at is in and around brush, lay downs and weed lines. Here are some examples of the presentations that I used to fish these situations. The first example is a double rig. The tackle I used is an 8’ LowDownCustom (LDC) Heavy (H) paired with a Shimano Curado 300E and 25lb PLine CXX. The hooks I used were Owner Beast 8/0. I used a 3/8 ounce for the bottom bait to make sure the baits swam at different depts. I used a Spro swivel on the mainline with an 18†to 24†leader tied on for the bottom bait, the swivel allowed the bottom bait to slide up and down the main line and helped prevent any tangling. I was able to use this presentation around brush piles and in lay downs with minimal hang-ups. Where this presentation shined, the best was along weed lines.

 

 

 

 

 

Another presentation that I found this bait to do well in was taking the 8/0 Owner beast weighted with 3/8 ounce and casting to lay downs. The shape of the hook really allowed the bait to come through the trees without hanging up. This allowed me to fish it nice and slow really banging the bait into the tree and popping it off when I was looking for that reaction strike.

 

I also found that with the weighted hook you could fish this bait much as if you would the Mission Fish. The weight on the hook allows for a nice vertical fall and when the bait hit bottom it stays standing nose down. Situations you can use this presentation, anywhere you would throw a jig i.e.… stumps, rip rap, lay downs, lily pads and brush piles.

 

With any bait you fish, you always want to think outside the box. Therefore, I decided to stick this bait on a chatter bait to see how well it preformed.

 

 

 

Over all I was impressed with how much more wobble the chatter bait put into the swim bait. Areas I would fish this in would be grass lines, stump fields and lily pads early before they get thick. The one problem I found with this presentation was the exposed hook. This allowed for far too many hang-ups.

 

 

 

The next application I tried was the Alabama Rig or “A†Rig. This was my first experience with this rig so I will have to put more time into it to really understand it’s potential. As for the Minnow, I used the Owner Beast 8/0 weightless hooks for this. They allowed me to use the snaps on the “A†Rig instead of modifying the hook that came with the bait.

 

My overall favorite way I found to fish this bait was on top. At first, I was fishing it on top with the stock hook. However, the bait keeps rolling on me. So I switched to the Owner Beast 8/0 weighted hook. The weight on the hook act’s like a keel keeping the bait running perfect. You can pop it chug it or burn it leaving a really nice wake. You can also fish this across the top of mats or pads and if you skin hook it the bait comes through clean 95% of the time.

 

Durability: With any soft plastic, you are going to have tearing and a lot of it if you are catching fish. I found that if you repair your baits with the 3:16 glue you could triple the life of the lure.

 

Final thoughts: This is a 5 ¼†1.2 oz paddle tail plastic swim bait. Cost is $10.49 for a pack of four. There are 24 different colors to choose from when ordering. I feel that there is a place for some of these in every ones tackle bag. The applications with this lure are left up to the angler’s imagination.

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Reelfish

 

 

3:16 Minnow Autopsy andAlabama Rig Review

 

 

 

 

Initial Impressions:

 

Iwas excited to receive my package after being picked to participate in Test #2.When I opened the package I was familiar with the bait inside: The 3:16 Minnow.I spent some time throwing it last year on a Carolina Rig and an Owners BeastHook and wanted to spend more time with the bait this year. Immediately thefirst thing that popped in my mind was throwing it on the A-rig or UmbrellaRig. Unless you have been living in a cave the last year “A-rigging†has been allthe rage within the bass community. Every boat on my home waters is eitherthrowing one or has one on deck. Thecolor that was sent to me was “blueback.†It is not a color that I wouldtypically pick out for myself since I am a “baitfish†or “chartreuse shad†typeof guy. However, it is always nice to workoutside the box. You will also immediately notice an air pocket that collapses withslight finger pressure.

 

 

 

 

Autopsy

 

Overview: I wanted compare the 3:16 Minnow to some of the otherswimbaits on the market. I picked 5â€Basstrix and a 6†Berkley Paddletail because 1) they are hollow bellied swimbaitsand fit into the Minnows class (contains an air bladder) 2) I have used thesebaits before with some success 3) all of these swimbait retail around 10dollars for 3-4 swimbaits. The Rago Mini BVD3 was used to help put in prospectivethe size of the 3:16 minnow and show the level of detailed found in the minnow.The results are displayed below.

 

 

 

 

Physical dimensions: The3:16 Minnow is 5 ¼†long and approximately 1.2 oz according to the 3:16 site.An initial glace shows that the 3:16 Minnow, Berkley and the Basstrix swimbaitshave a similar profile. However, a Top-down view of all the swimbaits showsthat the minnow is slightly over an inch wide at its widest point. That isdouble the size of the Basstrix and Berkley swimbaits and larger than the Ragoat its widest point! A huge plus for those of us who like bulker baits withrealistic profiles.

 

 

 

 

33m9xlx.jpg

 

 

 

 

Plastic: I could not physically tell the different in the qualityof plastic between the baits. The 3:16 minnow might feel a little softer just becausethe air bladder is huge (see below). A close up of heads of the Minnow,Basstrix, and Berkley swimbait shows the level of detail found in the 3:16bait.

 

 

 

 

2307f5.jpg

 

 

 

 

The minnow has an imprintedmouth, gills, fins, and imprinted scaling along its back that is not initially noticeable.This type of detailing is not typically found in baits of this class andsimilar to the level of detailing on the more expensive Rago Mini BVD3. Another difference between the baits is theeyes. The eyes of the 3:16 seemed to be gluedon whereas, the Basstirx and Berkley eyes are inserted under the plastic (seephoto). I seem to prefer the eyes being embeddedinto the bait. In the past I have had an eye fall off a rising son afterextended abuse and the Minnow’s eyes seems to be attached the same way. Nothuge deal since losing an eye never effected the bait action.

 

 

 

 

Air bladder: According to the site the description of minnow the “airbladder acts as a floatation device and a hook pocket.†An exacto knife was used to cut all of the swimbaitsin half. The air pocket of the minnow measured 11/8 x 1/4â€x ½.†For being hollowed bellyswimbaits, the Basstrix and Berkley swimbaits didn’t have an air pocket (ifthere is one it is not noticeable, but a thin space between two pieces of plastic).That was a surprising and leads me to believe that the large pocket of theMinnow will allow the plastic to collapse for better hook ups. So that youcould see the size of the air pocket, a pink magnum crappie tube was stuffed intothe Minnow’s air pocket. Also shown is apicture a weighted 6/0 Owner Weighted Beast Hook with Twistlock to give you anidea of how the hook placement through the pocket. I have used this hook with all of these paddletailswimbait without any problems and is my go to hook for swimbaits of this size (5-7â€).

 

 

 

 

140eo1z.jpg

 

 

 

 

Tail: The tail of the Minnow is rough the same size of the Rago,but smaller than the Basstrix and Berkley. I always assumed that the bigger thepaddle tail the more pronounced kick bait has in the water. It is interestingthat I could not feel a noticeable difference between the Minnow, Berkley,Basstrix on a simple cast and retrieve.

 

 

 

 

Alabama Rig review:

 

 

 

 

Equipment: Loomis 955 swimbait rod, Shimano Curado 301 spooled withBerkley Big Game Green 20 lbs test, Luck-E-Strike Umbrella Rig.

 

 

 

 

Conditions: Sunny with wind: Temp: 37 Wind: 15-20 mph. Water Temp: 59-61.

 

 

 

 

Report: I decided to head out to the local power plant lake that providesyear around fishing opportunities for up to double digit largemouth and wipers. As a test, my partner had an Alabama rigarmed with 3†storm swimbaits (white). My Alabama Rig was constructed using aLuck-E-Strike Umbrella rig and Owner Beast w/ Twistlocks hooks and the stockhook that comes with the Minnow. Theimage below shows a picture of the A-rig and the two different hooks used forthe rig.

 

 

 

 

znls9k.jpg

 

 

 

 

I wanted to use two differenthook configurations to look at nose wear over time. Two minnows with BeastHooks were attached directly to the bottom arms of the A-rig. The stock hookswere used for the Minnows attached to the top arms. Estimated weight of the rigwas ~5oz. Notice how bright the blue shad is under clear skies. With the sunnyconditions it was very visible coming through the slightly stained water.

 

We started out fishing a warmwater discharge where water temperature was low 60s degrees fighting sustained15 mph winds. We were fishing shallow (6-8 ft) and I was able to work the rigon the bottom and burning it along the top. Estimated ROF for this rig was 1 to 1.5ft/sec.

 

 

 

 

My take after fishing the rig fora couple of hours: The A-rig is a lot of fun to chuck around and it is a very versatilelure. You can feel the swimbaits kick on the retrieve and this bait looks great coming through the water. It can be count down,slow rolled on the bottom, and burned to produce giant wakes under the surface.A suggestion would be to take a minute before you get started to distribute theMinnows weight evenly along the rig. Also the rig seemed to run better with hooksare skinned into the back of the Minnow rather than being exposed (one baitwith hook exposed wanted to roll). Hook type didn’t seem to matter or effectnose wear. In the future, I would probably rig them all up with the Owner hookjust because I like the twist lock feature.

 

 

 

 

After 3 h and burning a more fewmore spots I ended up losing the entire rig to a submerged tree. I triedfreeing the rig using a couple different lure retrievers, but it was a lostcause. I was bummed. I ended up throwing switching over to a FS shad because I didn’thave a backup on the boat. As far as fishing goes the day was a bust. I didn’tland a single bass and my partner who throws his A-rig all day struck out too.I am looking forward to giving it another try later in the Spring when the weather warms and the fish stack up underdocks.

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Rubberdaddy

 

 

 

Round two of the Swimbait Underground testing shall focus upon the 3:16 Minnow

 

 

 

 

Bait specifications:

 

5.25" long

 

1.2 ounces

 

Available in over 20 color combinations to match any forage fish found throughout the country

 

$10.99 per pack of 4 baits with an 8/0 Gamakatsu G mag hook included

 

 

 

 

The 3:16 Minnow may possibly be the most overlooked weedless swimbait available, likely due to it's smaller size. The weedless rigging option allows this bait to be fished everywhere and anywhere a big bass lies in ambush. The first and most prominent feature of the minnow is it's hollow air bladder which starts just behind the head of the bait, and extends about an inch and a half towards the the tail section of the bait. This hollow air bladder is what truly defines this bait in my opinion, and allows it to have an extremely slow ROF. The top of the bait is flat and the sides taper into a rounded belly. The belly has a hook slot about 3/4" long where the bladder terminates. This allows for various size hooks to be used, and results in much less plastic that needs to be penetrated for sturdy hook sets. The tail section thins quickly providing excellent tail kick at even the slowest of speeds, and is anchored by a good sized tail for a bait of this size.

 

 

 

 

The Minnow also features the small details needed to accentuate realism. Sculpted gill plates, pectoral fins, pelvic fins, and an anal fin all contribute to the realistic styling of common forage fish. Attention to detail is a hallmark of 3:16 Lure Company and the Minnow fits true to form. The final layer of the illusion is a set of lifelike 3D eyes recessed to fit above the jaw line, and a lateral line that spans the entire length of the bait

 

 

 

 

My initial and most extensive presentation with this bait has been to slow roll it just under the surface amongst thick cover, mainly lily pads and matted weeds. The natural buoyancy creates a tantalizing target as you work it in cover that is prohibitive to nearly all other swimbaits. Speed the retrieve up slightly and the tail will bulge along the surface creating drawing power usually reserved for much larger offerings. Pause the retrieve and the bait will gradually nose dive emulating a wounded struggling meal in distress.

 

 

 

 

Although the Minnow shines as a shallow, heavy cover offering I found it's true strength to be it's inherent versatility. Numerous rigging options combine to provide a tempting presentation regardless of seasonal patterns and ever changing conditions. The Minnow can be rigged on a jighead and crawled along rocky bottoms similar to a Huddleston. This is a well established cold water pattern here in New England for deep water Smallmouth. Typically anglers here use smaller boot tailed grubs, but the Minnow can offer a much larger meal. I use a 3/8th oz Kalins Ultimate jighead for depths of 15-25 FOW and 1/2 oz to maintain bottom contact in depths greater than 25 FOW.

 

 

 

 

I also experimented with 5 Minnows on an Alabama Rig, but didn't have the proper weight jigheads to keep it swimming slowly and off the bottom. Once I find a suitable head in 1/8th and 1/4 oz with at least a 4/0 hook I believe the Alabama rigged Minnow will produce effectively for schooling Smallmouth. I also plan to rig it with a belly weighted swimbait hook in 1/8th oz and 1/4 oz in hopes of finding a solid mid depth producer when a slightly smaller presentation is needed to trigger feeding fish. Mickey also mentions the possibility of Carolina rigging it as well so the only limitations are the creative instincts of each angler.

 

 

 

 

I haven't caught any true giants with the Minnow, but it has produced bites for me under several different situations. This versatility combined with bargain pricing and consistent availability ensures it's place in my arsenal. If you need a finesse swimbait with a jack of all trades disposition the Minnow may be your answer

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