Suspen Strips/Dots

[PotterSims]

I use all kinds of crankbaits, but began using jerkbaits more in the Fall and discovered how much I liked them. They were the suspending jerkbaits of three different colors. Someone told me that using Storm suspen strips/dots enhances your ability to keep your jerkbait or crankbait at the level where your fish finder shows the depth where fish are schooling.

1. Has anyone used the suspen strips or dots?
2. If so, how did they perform?
3. Do you think they increased your strike to cast ratio?
4. Which did you use the strips or the dots?

Thanks!

[A-Jay]

 I use them - but less than I used to.  The baits today are better at suspending and there are enough options that I can usually find the one that fits the bill without the lead.   For me, this product is a tool, and as such, it does offer some level of effectiveness when used correctly.  However, there's a line where over doing it doesn't help.    I use the dots & strips interchangeably according to how much weight I need.  A bait that is designed to sink and can be counted down is almost guaranteed to be a better fish catcher than a floating or suspending bait that is loaded down with lead.

There are other rigs that an angler can utilize that will allow a bait to be presented deeper and still retain most or all of the baits designed "action". 

A-Jay

[PotterSims]

A-Jay,

Thanks. My instinct is that less is better. Keep it simple, don't overthink or overwork it. Rapala crankbaits, for instance, are designed extremely well and tested, so why try to do "it better" than the designers did it. Each time you add some tool or new gadget to fish with, you take time away from actual fishing and using what you have, especially if you have arsenal of cranks from deep diving to top waters and all in between. I appreciate your response. It validates my instinct.

John

 

[Crestliner2008]

About a half dozen years ago or so, I did a lot of testing on suspended jerks, trying about a dozen different brands. Most will suspend under specific circumstances. What that boils down to is it's all about water temperature. If a bait is designed to suspend in 50 degree water, it will sink (slowly) in colder water and rise (again, slowly) in warmer water. A pure law of physics. If a bait promotes itself as guaranteeing that it will suspend, that's just pure hype.

Personally, I do not like using Suspend Dots or Strips. Reason being is that affixing weight, of any kind, to the body of the bait will change it's sitting characteristics. Most quality jerks shimmy and shake a bit on the pause. SD's or Strips have a tendency to dampen that critical action. It could affect your strike ratio.

The only way I alter any jerkbait is by carrying with me a small spool of welding solder (or pipe solder). You can get some very thin diameter spools of this stuff in any hardware store real cheap. I wrap a small section around the shank of the front treble. By changing the amount you use, the plug can still do what it was designed to do, yet position itself where you want it - rising, falling, or suspending. This gives you quite a bit of flexibility. I actually prefer the bait to slow fall, especially in cold water.

 

[Fishes in trees]

I carry all those weight varying items, i.e. suspend dots, strips, various diameters of solder and wire and I experiment with all of them from time to time - with varying degrees of success.   I have yet to find the perfect combination of weights that will have the 5, 6 and 7 pounders that are available in the lake to line up and strike one after another.

Early in the spring I fish the Pointer 78 DD quite a bit.   I think that it works better with one suspend dot, exactly centered directly behind the bill.  The reason that I do this is because years ago, at a BPS sales event in Columbia, MO, ( toward the end of the Lucky Craft craze)

Stacy King told me that is the way that he rigged his Lucky Craft Pointers 78 DD.  Good enough for me.   With the regular size pointers I generally use either 2 dots, kinda stacked on each other or 1 strip.   I think that it is important to have it centered to the keel of the bait.

[MDBowHunter]

At most I would just add a split ring or two to the bait or even a small piece of solder wrapped around the hook shank. But as AJ stated earlier there's a specific tool for each job.

 

[PotterSims]

1 hour ago, PotterSims said:

A-Jay,

Thanks. My instinct is that less is better. Keep it simple, don't overthink or overwork it. Rapala crankbaits, for instance, are designed extremely well and tested, so why try to do "it better" than the designers did it. Each time you add some tool or new gadget to fish with, you take time away from actual fishing and using what you have, especially if you have arsenal of cranks from deep diving to top waters and all in between. I appreciate your response. It validates my instinct.

John

 

 

2 hours ago, PotterSims said:

I use all kinds of crankbaits, but began using jerkbaits more in the Fall and discovered how much I liked them. They were the suspending jerkbaits of three different colors. Someone told me that using Storm suspen strips/dots enhances your ability to keep your jerkbait or crankbait at the level where your fish finder shows the depth where fish are schooling.

1. Has anyone used the suspen strips or dots?
2. If so, how did they perform?
3. Do you think they increased your strike to cast ratio?
4. Which did you use the strips or the dots?

Thanks!

“The most authoritative forces in our lives are things that we do not see.”

[gardnerjigman]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

 I use them - but less than I used to.  The baits today are better at suspending and there are enough options that I can usually find the one that fits the bill without the lead.   For me, this product is a tool, and as such, it does offer some level of effectiveness when used correctly.  However, there's a line where over doing it doesn't help.    I use the dots & strips interchangeably according to how much weight I need.  A bait that is designed to sink and can be counted down is almost guaranteed to be a better fish catcher than a floating or suspending bait that is loaded down with lead.

There are other rigs that an angler can utilize that will allow a bait to be presented deeper and still retain most or all of the baits designed "action". 

A-Jay

I use the strip but only in cold water when you really have to let the bait sit there and suspend forever. I run it along the belly just under the bill or wrap around the first hook. I want a nose down, very VERY slow sink. 

As A-Jay said, baits today are better, so I don't use then nearly as much as I did 5 years ago.