Rainy Mystery Tackle Box Morning

16.25" V&M Wild Worm

5:00-8:30AM GOMH NE, Culvert, Bulldog, Rock, Peavy
Conditions: 60℉, Cloudy Light Rain, Calm to Windy ESE, water flowing into Sullivan pretty good.

Maybe the sky was spectacular this morning and I missed it because I was wearing the hood on my rain jacket.  The main objective this morning was to catch fish on the rest of my Mystery Tackle Box plastics.  I did just that and got a bonus fish on the Ima Pinjack.  First Bite was on the Buddha Baits Swagger Worm.

15" Buddha Baits Swagger Worm

I did some reading up last night on the V&M Wild Worm.  I was rigging it weightless, which is wrong because it's designed to be fished on a shaky head; The weight of the jig makes the thing swim.  The fish really liked it when I put the jig with it.  I lost a good one, then caught the 16.25" in the first picture and a 14" later on.

Chowed It On the Jighead

I then got missed a few hits on the Netbait Paca Slim on the Z-Man Shroomz Jig before I landed a 14" and 11" on the combo.

14" Z-Man Shroomz Jig/Netbait Paca Slim

The last fish of the morning was a pike on the Ima Pinjack.  The water at the GOMH is to shallow for the Pinjack, especially now with the low water.

21.5 Ima Pinjack

So I have now caught a fish on all the Mystery Tackle Box plastics.  I really like that Paca Slim.

Here's where I am in fish caught on MTB baits to this point.

Operation MTB: Netbait Baby Mad Paca✔

16" Baby Mad Paca

I got a couple bass and a pike last night on the Netbait Baby Mad Paca fishing out in the Trophy around some docks.  That means all I have to do is catch something on the River2Sea Double Plopper Buzzbait and I will have reached the goal of catching something on everything that came in MTB #3.  I've had hits on the Plopper Buzz,  so it's just a matter of time before I hook something on it.

Operation Mystery Tackle Box Is Underway

12.5" Z-Man Shroomz Micro Finesse Jig/Crusteaz 

8:30-9:45PM Platte River Culvert, GOMH NE
Conditions: 60℉, Partly Cloudy, NW Wind

14.5" Jenko Premium Spinnerbait

So tonight the aim was to catch fish on as many of the lures I got in my three Mystery Tackle Box's this winter as I could.  I started out fishing the River2Sea Double Plopper at the Platte River Culvert and had something small hit it but not hook up.  The same thing happened when I went to the GOMH.  I got the first bullhead of the night on the Z-Man Shroomz Micro Finesse Jig with Z-Man Crusteaz trailer.  Then I put on the Jenko Premium Spinnerbait and got the biggest fish of the trip on that.

14.5" Jenko Spinnerbait

   I then put on the LiveTarget Hunt For Center Crawfish Crankbait and got a bullhead on that after switching from the 6'4" Avid X Rod to the 6'8" Avid Rod.

13.5" LiveTarget HFC Craw Crank

Last bullhead of the night came on the Savage Gear Armor Tube Worm.

11.5" Armor Tube Worm

I originally had it on the hook Texas rigged, but switched to wacky after missing a coupe of bites.  I got the fish, but lost the worm.  I then tried a Netbait Baby Mad Paca and missed a couple of bites on it before the skeeters became to much.

So basically I got 4/6 of Box #3 taken care of,  1/5 of Box #1, and 0/5 of Box #2

  4 Jumpers (4.96lbs)

Mystery Tackle Box NOT Disappointed, Finally!

LiveTarget HFC Crawfish Crank:  Should be a real winner at the Grumpy Old Man Hole provided a pike doesn't steal it.

River2Sea Double Plopper:  I am aware the reviews on this bait have pretty uniformly registered disappointment.  I still wanted one anyway, but sure as heck wasn't going to pay to buy one for myself.  Now I have one for myself.  MTB came through with a topwater bait for me.

Z-Man Project Z-Shroomz Micro Finesse Jig and Crusteaz: This mini jig-n-pig combo is sure to be a fish catcher until a pike steals the two jigs from me.

Netbait Mad Paca: Brush Hog style creature baits are something I have never fished.  I guess you have to buy them to fish them and I never bought any.  If they live up to the hype, I'm pretty sure I'm  going through this bag fairly quickly; not because Netbait are a fragile plastic, but because this style of bait catches 'em so well.  If these prove to be a winner, and I have no reason to believe they won't be, I may add this creature bait to my bag of tricks.

Jenko Fishing Premium Spinnerbait: A very nice looking white spinnerbait made with quality components.  Absolutely will catch me some fish.

I am giving this box an A+

If all of the boxes were this good I would wholeheartedly recommend Mystery Tackle Box, unfortunately I don't believe they were.  If my opinion changes after fishing the baits I have received you can bet I will revisit my opinion in another blog.  Until then, good night and good fishing!  

My First Mystery Tackle Box

The box actually arrived about 3 weeks back and I just haven't felt like blogging about it until now.  Here is a list of the things that was in it.

 The Lucky Craft Moonsault: It's supposed to be a lipped bait that performs a lot like a lipless one.  I guess I'll see how well that works out.  I see they are on sale right now at Cabela's for $6.99 where they retail for $16.99.

The Ima Pinjack: Another 6-8' running crankbait that is supposed to come through weeds fairly well.  The trick with this on is to back off rather than ripping the lure when you hit a weed.

Nichols Saber Swim Jig:  It's a swim jig with gimmick for locking plastics in place with a toothpick.

Netbait Paca Slim: Sort of similar to a Chigger Craw

Savage Gear Armor Tube Worm:  Has a nylon mesh that is supposed to make the bait last a lot longer than your average Senko.

VMC Wacky Weedless Jig:  It is what it is.  I've never used a wacky jig before.

I believe I should be able to catch fish on 100% of the lures that came in this box this year provided I think to put them on.

I can't say I am blown away by the value in this box do to the Moonsault being a lure I can get new for more than 50% off retail and the fact that they only gave me two of the VMC jigs.

I don't see anything in here being something I would buy for myself with the exception of the wacky jigs.  But who knows maybe something will jump out at me and prove itself to me.  I'll keep an open mind.

Right now I grade this box out as a C-.

Hopefully I'll be more impressed with the next one.