I am having a bit of trouble with these things. Ill get to the fish part later 🙄
My issues are in the regular models, as apposed to the pro dawgs, both mag dawgs and pounders, with the solid wire harness instead of the hinged harness. When I am fishing them they eventually foul a hook on the leader, after hours of casting all of a sudden you go to pull and it feels like you hooked the titanic, and set the hook, only to realize that its fouled… this then bends the begeezes out of the wire harness, only for the lure to run straight without turning upside down on the lightest of pulls… How do i fix this?!?!?!
I am sure there has to be a trick to it, because I have spent at least 10 minutes a piece trying to get them to run right, and finally throw it in the box and grab a different one that hasn't been destroyed yet.
anyhow, I appreciate any help, and hope there is something that doesn't continually take up casting time just to use a bait I don't have any luck on… yet.
If you are getting 'dawgballs' during the retrieve then you are most likely letting it fall too much. Like Will said, you should be able to bend it one way or the other to get it to run correctly unless you have some defective baits. Bring some to the Bruce and we can check them out in the water. If you can't get them to run correctly just give them to me 😀
I've only had that happen to 1 of my Dawgs, and it took me a little while to figure it out. I kept testing it by the surface to make sure it was running straight. I'd pitch it out 10 feet and give it a couple rips. It would run perfectly. But, after some studying, I found that the Dawg was bent slightly so it had a "hunchback", causing it to nosedive when it wasn't being pulled. I didn't notice this at the boat, just because of the angle of the line to the lure when it's so close. But, somehow, my leader must have been sinking just a tad faster than the Dawg, enough to where the Dawg would throw its nose onto the leader causing it to get hung up. I guess the other possiblitly it maybe your leaders are too heavy?? What lb wire did you say you are using?
Thanks guys. I have been trying hard to keep these things down… seems weird having to try to keep a 1 lb lure down, but I have been working on retreiving at all different depths. It is when I am going probably too slow. Jim I am using single strand in either 140 or 174 lb. I have both. thinking about upping the weight too, the 140 kinks way too easy
"vano397" said:
thinking about upping the weight too, the 140 kinks way too easy
The longer you throw them, the more you will get used to them and you will rarely get dawgballs which will stop kinking your leaders. A lot of people try to 'overcast' these baits which sends them flopping around in the air. This leads to lots of dawgballs which leads to kinked leaders, fewer productive casts, and fewer fish caught.
"jasonvkop" said:
[quote="vano397"]thinking about upping the weight too, the 140 kinks way too easy
The longer you throw them, the more you will get used to them and you will rarely get dawgballs which will stop kinking your leaders. A lot of people try to 'overcast' these baits which sends them flopping around in the air. This leads to lots of dawgballs which leads to kinked leaders, fewer productive casts, and fewer fish caught.
Yeah, Im getting good at the cast, and better at boat control… give me that new boat that doesn't get blown off the water in a soft breeze, and that part will get a lot easier 
its really just depth control, and the dawg balls are coming consistently about half way through my retrieve… however after one gets all kinked up and wants to swim in circles, it happens on the fall every time… I guess Ill just keep screwing with them and hope they run right.
Do you all prefer the wire harness to the hinged harness??? or the other way around?
Here is what I know about Dawgs:
1) Cast them from straight behind you (over your head) and not sidearm. Keep a little tension on them to keep them straight as they go.
2) I "skin" the back hook in the bait and I cut off the top single hook.
These are good baits but they can be very frustrating if you get alot of dawgballs but they will catch you fish so it's worth working at.
That's some solid advice…..I don't have issues with the retrieve, but used to get frustrated with casting part. Over the top and try to keep the thumb on the spool keeping the head of the lure pointing at u until it hits the water. 270° and flop. The only movement in the tail, with the back hook "skinned" it rarely hooks itself. I wont use anything less than a xxh 9', even for mags now, just better control for me.
Seems like most of my problems are in the air, especially if the wind is really blowing. As previously stated, I feather the spool to control the flight of the dawg and watch very closely as it lands. 95% of the time when I get hawg-tied (dawg balled), it happens in the air. I have gotten fairly good at knowing when this is going to happen. Nothing worse than setting the hook into a dawg ball!!!
"mskyprey" said:
Good stuff,
I am open to any advice on these baits, I havent had much luck converting strikes into landed fish and I have been fishing them alot more this fall on Long and Austin.
Converting fish on a Dawg is a whole different story! If they are going to eat it, they will when it's swimming in. I think I've only ever had 3 fish eat a Dawg at my feet. My best advice is to make them eat when they are still out. Always pretend like there's a following fish. So, 1/2 way back to the boat, do something different with it to try to initiate a strike. Some of the smallest things can make them more interested. I had it before while slow rolling a Pounder, and couldn't get any fish interested. So, I varied the retreive, and every 4th or 5th crank, I sped up for just 1 revolution. Almost instantly, fish started showing themselves.
"vano397" said:
[quote="jasonvkop"][quote="vano397"]thinking about upping the weight too, the 140 kinks way too easy
The longer you throw them, the more you will get used to them and you will rarely get dawgballs which will stop kinking your leaders. A lot of people try to 'overcast' these baits which sends them flopping around in the air. This leads to lots of dawgballs which leads to kinked leaders, fewer productive casts, and fewer fish caught.
Yeah, Im getting good at the cast, and better at boat control… give me that new boat that doesn't get blown off the water in a soft breeze, and that part will get a lot easier its really just depth control, and the dawg balls are coming consistently about half way through my retrieve… however after one gets all kinked up and wants to swim in circles, it happens on the fall every time… I guess Ill just keep screwing with them and hope they run right.
Do you all prefer the wire harness to the hinged harness??? or the other way around?
I like them solid, not the pro dawg.
"edalz" said:
Here is what I know about Dawgs:1) Cast them from straight behind you (over your head) and not sidearm. Keep a little tension on them to keep them straight as they go.
2) I "skin" the back hook in the bait and I cut off the top single hook.
These are good baits but they can be very frustrating if you get alot of dawgballs but they will catch you fish so it's worth working at.
Hooking up the back hook also results in a dawg that swims differently. The action completely changes, there are times when it helps to have that back hook pinned for sure but I would estimate that I leave it hanging 95% of the time.
"mskyprey" said:
Good stuff,
I am open to any advice on these baits, I havent had much luck converting strikes into landed fish and I have been fishing them alot more this fall on Long and Austin.
Remove the top hook as mentioned above and it will improve hooking. Other than that keep lots of pressure on the fish, I horse fish with all lures but especially with dawgs. Many times I don't think the fish really get pinned until the first time they open their mouth.
thanks for all the info guys. I need to learn to straighten them back out faster. I notice they get hump backed and twisted, but I really think maybe the eye gets out of whack too. I am sure the first time I get it, it will make it quicker from there on out, but for now its frustrating… judging by the fact that people have an actual term for it is reassuring [smilie=brows.gif]
"mskyprey" said:
Good stuff,
I am open to any advice on these baits, I havent had much luck converting strikes into landed fish and I have been fishing them alot more this fall on Long and Austin.
Speed and direction changes are key. When I start a retireve with a dawg (or similar rubber) I like to start by sweeping my rod to one side and then doing a pull pause routine, after a few pulls, I'll quickly sweep my rod back to the other side. With a 8'6" or 9' rod this creates a nice direction and speed change. I will usually do this 2 to 3 times during the retrieve and throw in one or two good hard rips upwards as well. As I get to the boat I then continue that pull/pause routine or jig it around as opposed to keeping the bait in constant motion on a figure 8 as I mentioned in another thread. My figure 8 strike percentage has went way up with my figure 8 routine, they love to hit it after the first turn when I pause it momentarily.
The fish at Long Lake have seen many many dawgs over the years. Many of them from me the last 4 years and it is by far the most used bait I see out of other musky fisherman down there, especially the out of state guys. You have to do something different to make yours stand out. That or what has worked best for me is swithc it up with a similar but different bait. Most guys I see are throwing normal or maybe mag sized dawgs. Medussa, Pounders, and now the last couple trips, the double dawg have been producing very well for me.
So I have one last questions about these cursed things… I have a couple that have bent tails (right at the base) and crooked fins, from being stored improperly, or being allowed to get too warm while stored. I also notice the UV dawgs are 3 of 4 that hae this issue. Is there a way to fix this??? can I heat it with an alcohol burner or something to get it soft and preposition it, or am I screwed…
Getting lots of action on them now, a few missing tails, and teeth marks, it will happen soon!
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