Jigging Rap vs Shiver Minnow vs ???

These baits are getting lots of attention in the tournament world.

1. What’s your bait of choice?
2. What size/color?
3. When and why (casting, vertical jigging, etc)?
4. Do you fish them through the ice or just open water?

For me…

1) Shiver Minnow, though I’ve seen Jigging Raps outshine them by a wide margin at times. Don’t know why. Perhaps a slower fall?? Dunno… However, I been suffering from tendonitis in my right elbow for the last 11 months due to an epic morning of ‘Shivering’ last Sept., when I found a mega school and caught a walleye on nearly every cast for an hour and a half.
2) I start with the largest size and downsize only if necessary. I believe that even the largest size Shiver/Rap is a ‘small’ forage item for a large walleye. Color…will be dictated by prevailing water/weather conditions.
3) I cast them in the open water season to cover lots of deep water quickly and create reaction bites to fish that have seen a lot of other presentations. For a caster like me, I can’t think of any other presentation that covers the deepest part of the water column so quickly and efficiently.
4) They are always on a rod, both during ice and open water seasons. Under the ice, we sometimes tip them with a minnow head, sometimes not – depending on the mood of the fish.

The downside of this bait is that they are poor at keeping fish pegged AND they have a tendency for the belly hook to flip-up and stick on the body of the bait. We’ve been working on solutions. One, while not perfect, has helped a great deal. I added a larger premium treble hook to the belly, attached to the hook hangar with a split ring, then placed a section of super small diameter, soft surgical tubing on the hook shank and up onto the hook hangar. This mod keeps the hook from grabbing the body of the bait and improves hook-up/land ratio significantly. We still lose fish, but not nearly as many as with an unmodified version.

Brian

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Jigging rap in largest size is the only size I use.

Have not used shiver.

I have all colors.

It is a staple in walleye fishing for me, that box of baits is always in the boat when I’m walleye fishing at least.

Always done vertical, not casted.

I cut off the end hooks and only use the treble. Very rare I lose a fish after hooking it. Do get plenty of bumps without a hookup but I can also catch plenty of small mouthed fish with just the standard treble. I’ll never go back to the standard jigging rap. Front and rear hooks go bye bye.

I only use them open water… What is Ice fishing?

Excellent bait, my experience with them is strictly on the St Croix or Mississippi.

Thanks for the quick replies. What is it about a Jigging Rap/Shiver Minnow that’s more attractive than a slab spoon/one eye presentation?

Always had one tied on for ice last season. My luck has been on the other side of size, smallest one was extremely productive for all species but definitely for eyes. Caught fish up to 25″ on the small ones, and had excellent hookup and retainage. Actually can’t think of one I didn’t get through the hole with 4# flouro.

Good post, I got to find my box in the boat for the fall season upon us, haven’t tied one on yet this soft water.

Some great tips from Al Lindner about the jigging rap.

It’s the same as using two different brands of crankbaits with different actions. Sometimes fish prefer one over the other and other times it makes no difference. I use both and let the fish tell me what they prefer.

Using heavier test fluoro as a leader also reduces hooks hanging up on the line. 15 lb. fluoro works for me.

Interesting

I’ve had limited success to date and am curious about the action others put into the jr/shiver. Are you putting large jigging motions in place like when snap jigging or is there more success with subtle small motions?

y question is do you tip either with a minnow head or crawler?

Have raised fish 10+ feet before hitting.
Have caught fish with rod in rod holder.
Suttle jigging
Aggressive jigging
Pounding bottom
Hold on the lift, hold on the fall
Whatever
Etc etc etc

It’s like any other hard lure… There’s no 1 way to fish it.

Pay attention to what you were going when you get bit.

That’s the one lure that never ceases to surprise me with a hit when your not ready!

I like to watch them on the graph just like you would ice fishing and react accordingly. Have even had success at high noon, mid summer, clear water bright sky in 12 feet of water when you’d think you would be spooking then terribly.
And there are days when they don’t work too of course.

I don’t tip it with anything ever.