Turtle Man

Turgeon’s Tech Tips.

- Bob Turgeon

It was three days into our season opener Canadian trip and we were struggling. A week of high pressure, no wind and bluebird skies seemed to have the fish in a funk. We were moving fish but had only generated a few bites on blades — size-9 Junior Double Cowgirls, size-9 Indianas and Double Showgirl 8’s — and that was the only consistent action we could generate. We may as well have left the rest of our lure selection at home as nothing else would even generate a look.

As we prepared to head out for Day 3’s late afternoon/evening period, I was wracking my brain to come up with the answer to the last piece of the puzzle — triggering strikes. Before leaving the dock I pulled out my “arts & crafts” box of spinner components and twisted up a small spinner using easy pulling and quiet size-8 black chrome turtle shell blades, and dressing it sparingly with black flash rubber skirt material. I used large size 7/0 hooks (even though it was a smaller lure) in case a tanker showed up. My inspiration was a flashback that I had as I awoke from my midday nap.

Years back I remembered reading the final report from the University of Esox summer camp, then out of Monument bay on Lake of the Woods.