TackleTour

Looking to try a Damiki Vault and was wondering how you would work this type of bait ?

I fish blades during ice-out, or anytime I need to get to a deep school of fish in 20+ft of water. Fish them like a lead spoon sometimes. I feel them down to the bottom, when the bait reaches bottom it's "zip zip zip, pause it in the water column, zip zip repeat. (1/2oz is good to about 20ft) 3/4oz beyond that. Cold water less zip is better. Once you fish them you'll know what I mean by zip. Just a few inches of zip in sub 50 degree water. Deep summer schools of white bass, drum, or smalles will hit a very aggressive long lift of zip. I know I know the zip thing seems weird until you use them. You'll see. They are one of my all time favorite baits. I prefer the Venom Blade bait.

You can also toss them around like a crank bait. If your no Losing them your not using them right. I break'em off like mad, so I started fishing them on 17lb flouro with light wire trebles so I can just bend them out if I snag. Also I have used cheap weak snap rings that way they just break off and you replace them and the hook.

Demoman described it perfectly, that is exactly how i fish mine too. I use either a bladed plade like that or tail spinners. You just zip zip and let it drop and they will hit on the drop as the lure feathers down.

This is a video of a Nories tail spinner, but you fish the bladed bait exactly the same way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8UzRseVkU4

sometimes a single pump/zip of the bottom just a couple inches also works well. other days you might need to rip it off the bottom 2 or 3 feet fast and hard. I have had more success with single pumps/rips then letting it fall to the bottom and repeat. Keep changing the retrieve till you find the one that works best.

i've been looking to pick some of these up myself, i've heard many say they've been productive in their waters

One of the best overlooked cold water bait out there.

Demoman wrote:I fish blades during ice-out, or anytime I need to get to a deep school of fish in 20+ft of water. Fish them like a lead spoon sometimes. I feel them down to the bottom, when the bait reaches bottom it's "zip zip zip, pause it in the water column, zip zip repeat. (1/2oz is good to about 20ft) 3/4oz beyond that. Cold water less zip is better. Once you fish them you'll know what I mean by zip. Just a few inches of zip in sub 50 degree water. Deep summer schools of white bass, drum, or smalles will hit a very aggressive long lift of zip. I know I know the zip thing seems weird until you use them. You'll see. They are one of my all time favorite baits. I prefer the Venom Blade bait.

You can also toss them around like a crank bait. If your no Losing them your not using them right. I break'em off like mad, so I started fishing them on 17lb flouro with light wire trebles so I can just bend them out if I snag. Also I have used cheap weak snap rings that way they just break off and you replace them and the hook.

Same here with the zip zip approach. I rarely find water deep that 10-15' when i fish them. I have found nothing better for striper and hybrids than a blade bait.

665 almostevil wrote:One of the best overlooked cold water bait out there.

Yup.
And they are bullets.

Here is a good little bit of info. Blade's excel when water is in the 40's and even below...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLOoWcoPIK4

Demoman wrote:I fish blades during ice-out, or anytime I need to get to a deep school of fish in 20+ft of water. Fish them like a lead spoon sometimes. I feel them down to the bottom, when the bait reaches bottom it's "zip zip zip, pause it in the water column, zip zip repeat. (1/2oz is good to about 20ft) 3/4oz beyond that. Cold water less zip is better. Once you fish them you'll know what I mean by zip. Just a few inches of zip in sub 50 degree water. Deep summer schools of white bass, drum, or smalles will hit a very aggressive long lift of zip. I know I know the zip thing seems weird until you use them. You'll see. They are one of my all time favorite baits. I prefer the Venom Blade bait.

You can also toss them around like a crank bait. If your no Losing them your not using them right. I break'em off like mad, so I started fishing them on 17lb flouro with light wire trebles so I can just bend them out if I snag. Also I have used cheap weak snap rings that way they just break off and you replace them and the hook.

This is a great explanation!

A very productive way here in Oklahoma is to let it go to the bottom and give it a short jerk off the bottom-maybe 6 t0 10 inches and let it fall back to bottom-repeat the jerk.You must feel the vibration. Works very well for largemouth and what we call sandbass as well as drum and catfish. I hate to catch catfish this way because they often roll and wind the line around their head and can be very difficult to unhook. The silver buddy and the gold colored one as well as Heddon Sonar and the Vibe bait. We use spinning gear with braided line and a short mono leader.