Chad,

I prefer an 8' MH or H action rod. I used to walk my dogs with shorter rods but changed to longer rods and like them better. I have several retrieves but I usually use a quick 1.2, 1.2, 1.2 with a snap about every 1/2 second. Once you get the cadence going the tail should slap the water…slap…slap,slap. 😀

I throw a pause in once in a while for good measure. I aslo slow down my speed at times to let the bait swing wider but only on occasion.

Both baits like a stiffer rod and the 8' premier is about as light as you would want to go.

A Weagle can be worked fast or slow or in the middle but it's designed to go slow and works best that way. How slow? Trevor said "this is about as much fun as vertical jigging" I think his opinion eventually changed over the next two hours. If you want a search lure pick something different.

A Wabull was also designed to go SLOW but can also be worked faster with good results. This bait is an unglider or it has been called a dive/glide. A Wabull can be similar to a Reef Hawg, if you let it, or it can be worked like a normal zig zag glider. As with any glider a straight cadence might be the ticket one day and the next day they want it worked with a mixed cadence.

I guess what I'm trying to say (type) is that there doesn't seem to be a "best way" to fish the Wabull. The Weagle is best slow and sometimes slower than slow.

I used to use a 6'9" and 7'2" St. croix premier. The shorter rod gives you a little more control of the bait at times but my hook up percentage wasn't as good so I switched to a longer rod.

I used a 6'9" St. Croix with my Weagle this year with very good results. I did catch a few fish working the Weagle faster than the norm ("Burning the Weagle" as KID and I said), but on days where not many fish were moving… the SLOW Weagle worked better.

As far as hooking percentage goes… I connected with about half of the strikes. I do think the hooking percentage goes UP the slower you work it… easier for the fish to hit I suppose.

As far as the Wabull goes… I haven't exactly figured that bait out. I moved a few fish with mine, and only boated one fish (a nice northern). I think it looks better moving slow… but the fish haven't told me what they like yet!

Scott

"Chasin50" said:
I have not used either the weagle or wabull much beacuase I can't seem to work them if the boat is moveing (i.e. search mode), or if there is any presense of current.

OK, now it makes sense. Controlled slack is key and while some baits control slack line on their own these baits require the angler to control the slack. Too little and it doesn't work, too much and it doesn't work. You need to let the bait control you, if you try to control the bait and tell it what to do you you will get frustrated.

Micxhelle works a Weagle very well and scored her first Weagle fish this year. She waltzs it in 123 123 123 da da da da . ITS A HOOT. Iwish I had a Trombone in the boat [smilie=brows.gif] [smilie=idea.gif] . Will is correct the bait tells you how to fish it. Also light tips or fast tips dont work well. I cant use the heavy 8 footers because my wrist fails me . The rod I use was a 1 to 3 ounce Avid 8 footer. I broke the top 8 inches off the rod by accident. Now its like 7 foot maybe 7 foot 2 inches. The tip is very stiff now and it works wonders with the Weagles even the heavy ones like the 4.8 ouncers I have. I love fishing them out in front of the boat as I am moving slowly forward along a break or shoreline. The boat gives me more slack so I can keep it slow. When the swoosh is working look out cause its clobberin time. Like Will says ,Weagles are not ment to be search baits but I just cant seem to take mine off the rod ha ha ha . I have a blast fishing them. Mike

My favorite time to fish a Weagle is at first light or just before dark. I like dead calm water to light ripples with low light conditions. Heavy dark cloud cover works well to. But the best is calm conditions where the boat moves as I want it to. If I am being blown down a breakline or fighting to keep the boat in position the Weagle comes off in favor of some other lure that fishes easier and or faster. Bucktails and bulldawgs come to mind in this situation. The fisherman or woman needs to be locked on to the bait and not fighting the wind and boat control to be effective.

The Little Claw is much the same but can be fished in windy conditions effectively. I do the best on Claws when I can see the lure all the way back to the boat. This is why I catch so many fish on Little claws in early morning hours and calm days. Both the Weagle and Little Claw twitch bait are Visual lures where it is nessecary to see the lure to get the best results. Mike

It is funny that Mike likes his Weagle in nearly the opposite conditions I do. I like ripples at the minimum and a slight chop up to a 2' chop w/ whitecaps can be magical.

"jasonvkop" said:
am i missing something about this video? I don't see a bait at all; all I see is an underwater video of muskies and other fish. I watched the entire thing too and couldn't see a wabull.

I just looked at the first part of the video and you're right – I just see a fish.