Northland® Fishing Tackle reminds anglers that tinsel still tempts walleyes, crappies and more.
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BEMIDJI, Minn. (January 29, 2024) – Take a look through grandpa’s tacklebox and you’ll find an assortment of effective baits, but many have fallen by the wayside in favor of hotter, newer lures…
Consider the comeback that bucktail jigs have made on the walleye scene—and marabou for panfish and smallmouth bass—yep, they caught fish 50 years ago and still do today.
Look in those old cork-lined tackle box trays and you’ll probably find some tinsel jigs, too, once a go-to for walleyes, crappies, pike, lake trout, and more. But today? Not so much. Sure, you find tinsel tied into muskie bucktails and fly-flingers’ creations, but tinsel jigs have largely fallen by the wayside.
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Enter Northland’s Deep-Vee Flashtail Jig
Resuscitating the category, Northland’s new Deep-Vee Flashtail Jig is dressed in mylar tinsel and holographic flash strands for optimal flash and lifelike, minnow-mimicking action. The flamboyant bait is built around the super-successful Deep-Vee Jighead with its keeled design that’s thicker on top and thin on bottom to track straight and fall fast. It also features oversized eyes that exude a “match-the-hatch” realism.
Northland pro and veteran fishing guide, Brian “Bro” Brosdahl beta-tested the jig extensively throughout the 2023 season, even letting inexperienced to avid anglers try the bait.
“The Deep-V Flashtail Jig gets a walleye’s attention because of the reflection from the tinsel and holographic flash strands. It doesn’t look like one minnow; it’s more like multiple minnows—meaning more food to the walleye,” explains Bro.
Although there are times when he’ll fish it bare-bones, no meat or plastic, Bro typically adds a small to medium local run minnow with the tail barely sticking out past the tinsel skirt. He’s not trying to create a giant meal but rather adding a little mass and scent.
Bro adds: “Tinsel also gives the jig a slower fall—and then, with the Deep-V head, you get a nice side-to-side action when you jig it, which helps the tinsel get maximum flash.”
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So, when is Bro fishing the new Deep-Vee Flashtail?
“I fish it for walleyes from early spring on the rivers, through opener, and well into summer. It’s in my arsenal for triggering reluctant walleyes during cold fronts into hitting. And it’s also a big fish catcher. Your mid-20s and bigger walleyes love it. I’ve caught fish on it in everything from ultra-clear lakes to bog-stained lakes—plus, it’s a must-have on rivers like the Rainy and Mississippi.”
In terms of rod, reel, and line set-up for fishing the Deep-Vee Flashtail, Bro fishes his typical 10-pound braid with a 8- or 10-pound fluorocarbon leader. He likes 6’8” to 7’3” medium-light to medium power, fast to extra-fast actions rods depending on jig weight, coupled with a size 2500 or 3000 spinning reel.
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Experiment With Colors
“I’ll run through colors ‘till I hit the magic,” offers Bro. “But it seems like you can’t go wrong with the Watermelon and Walleye patterns.”
Bro continues: “And there’s definitely a time and place for brighter patterns with yellows and greens that imitate juvenile sunfish, like Firetiger and Bubblegum.”
Match Jig Weight To Depth
After decades fishing the waters of northern Minnesota, Bro has his jig program refined to a very specific weight-by-depth approach.
“On lakes, an 1/8-ounce is perfect for 8 feet or less – easy to remember. From 8 to 20 feet, I’ll fish a ¼-ounce jig—and for depths over 20, 3/8-ounce is the ticket.”
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Tip With Plastics, Too
By no means do you need to tip your Deep-Vee Flashtail Jig with anything, but if walleyes are aggressive, extra bulk can be helpful. As far as tipping with plastics, Bro uses a couple different Northland Eye-Candy shapes.
“With the perch explosion on many Minnesota walleye lakes, adding a plastic to the back can really grab their attention. For me, that means the Eye-Candy Minnow or Paddle Shad. Especially in darker waters, this combo creates a bigger disturbance. And in clear waters, the Eye-Candy Paddle Shad helps the bait fall even slower,” adds Bro.
As far as his jig pitching program, Bro will use his MEGA Live forward facing sonar to snipe individual fish or excite pods of several roamers with the above combo.
“You can also jig-troll it at a slow speed in stained water. That works really well. We also drift ‘em over pods of walleyes; that works, too. Then, when we’re fishing weed-walleyes, we’ll jig troll or drift toward those clumps, pockets and turns, or weedlines and cast into them. They’re great ambush locations and can produce a lot of fish.”
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Under A Slip Bobber?
Bro has also fished the 1/8-ounce Deep-Vee Flashtail Jig under a slip bobber—typically tipped with half a ‘crawler.
“Pitch that combo into a school of walleyes and it’s game on. All you have to do is twitch it and the combo draws fish up to eat it. Once they smell the ‘crawler, they inhale it.”
Crappies & Bull ‘Gills, Too
Also available in a 1/16th ounce version, Bro adds that the Deep-Vee Flashtail Jig is a great bait for crappies and bigger bluegills. For crappies, Bro—like a lot of other crappie anglers—gravitates to Pink, tipping the jig with a small crappie minnow.
As far as ‘gills go, Bro will tip it with a piece of ‘crawler or panfish-sized leech.
“The thing about tinsel and big bluegills, sunfish, pumpkinseeds, is the tinsel seems to upset them and they hit it with vengeance—like it makes them mad or something. Gets those bigger fish we all want to catch and photograph.”
Takeaway
Tinsel ain’t just for muskie baits and fly-flinging; it’s a material that caught fish for grandpa and will for you, too, many decades later.
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FEATURES:
- Keeled “DEEP-VEE” design tracks straight and falls fast
- Realistic 3D eyes “match the hatch” and entices strikes
- Flashtail dressing moves and acts like an injured baitfish
- 12 colors
- SIZES: 1/16 oz. (#2 hook), 1/8 oz. (1/0 hook), 1/4 oz. (2/0 hook) and 3/8 oz. (3/0 hook)
MSRP $7.49 (2 pack)
AVAILABLE SPRING 2024!
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ABOUT Northland® Fishing Tackle
In 1975, a young Northwoods fishing guide named John Peterson started pouring jigs and tying tackle for his clients in a small remote cabin in northern Minnesota. The lures were innovative, made with high quality components, and most importantly, were catching fish when no other baits were working! Word spread like wildfire, the phone started ringing… and the Northland Fishing Tackle® brand was in hot demand! For 40 years now, John and the Northland® team have been designing, testing and perfecting an exclusive line of products that catch fish like no other brand on the market today. Manufactured in the heart of Minnesota’s finest fishing waters, Northland® is one of the country’s leading producers of premium quality jigs, live bait rigs, spinnerbaits and spoons for crappies, bluegills, perch, walleyes, bass, trout, northern pike and muskies.
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ABOUT Bagley Bait Company
The personality of any company comes from its founder. Jim Bagley was an inventive, fun-loving, passionate fisherman who became one the most respected legends in the fishing tackle industry. In late 2010, Jarmo Rapala and a group of investors bought Bagley Bait Company. As an admirer of Jim Bagley for his attention to quality and of his product ingenuity and innovation, Jarmo initiated significant changes in operations, enhanced production processes and quality control. Now in 2020, Northland® Fishing Tackle, along with Jarmo as its Chief Lure Designer, maintain the legacy of creating premium balsa crankbaits and topwater lures, as well as jigs and spoons for both freshwater and saltwater anglers.
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