Little Creeper All American Sunfish

[toddmc]

I looks like TT finally did a write-up. This bait shines around grass during the day. I catch fish on it a night, but I like something that pushes a little more water.

[toddmc]

Very few pretend to know anything about swimbaits, yet almost everyone is buying them. I can't be the only one that has ever fished this bait. It is often sold out.

[Cagey]

Very few pretend to know anything about swimbaits...

OK, I'll bite. I am a swimbait fan so tell me what I don't know! I am always open to learning something new so please explain your swimbait techniques?

[IlliniDawg01]

Only if you share some of your fishing spots first...

DaveJ

[toddmc]

Very few pretend to know anything about swimbaits...

OK, I'll bite. I am a swimbait fan so tell me what I don't know! I am always open to learning something new so please explain your swimbait techniques?

And, I just went and looked up this particular swimbait and found some interesting comments out there including one from I suppose is the owner of the company who makes the swimbait you are referring to in this thread:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishin ... sick-fish/

""Hi folks, This is Benno from Little Creeper Baits. I have seen some of the posts about the Berkley Sick Fish. I just wanted to clarify that the design was not stolen and we are not getting screwed by the big guys. When the our Trash Fish first came out I sent a few to Skeet and a few other friends who fish at the pro level. Skeet loved them and used them to great effect that season, he even was able to get us a little national attention because of his 5th place finish on Clearlake. About a year and a half ago Skeet contacted me and wanted to make a version of the design for the mass market. At the time we were struggling through our darkest days. I made a deal with Skeet that allowed him to use the original Trash Fish design and allowed us to continue making our Trash Fish. At the time we received enough to get us through those very dark days and survive long enough for people discover our baits and give us a fighting chance at success. We also have the promise of a modest residual income once their bait started to sell. Hopefully the future income will help us continue to keep going. Skeet has done his part to honor our agreement, and we have done ours. I new when the deal was struck that Berkley would be making a very different bait with the same shape. To us the design only half of the story. The materials we use and way we make them is at least as important in making the Trash Fish (and eventually all of our baits) what they are. My hope is that people will be exposed to the design and get curious about what our baits are all about. We really appreciate that people have come to love and rely on our baits as a well made tool that fishes like nothing else made. We also are very humbled and grateful that people are recognizing what we trying to do and really want us to succeed. We are still a very small company working very hard to make the best baits possible. We are not rich, or even very comfortable at this point. But with your support we think we have a chance at a solid future that will allow to make many more baits that will help you catch a ton of fish. We thank you again for your support. We will continue to make our baits by hand in the USA, and do our best to continue bringing you the best lures we can possibly make. Thanks again to everyone."

Here is a link to Little Creepers website:

http://littlecreeper.com/


Now don't bite my head off, but I think my number one swimbait is made by Berkley and I get them real cheap on the fisherman's factory outlet website for like $2.00 a bag or something like that. I just rigged my new Alabama rig with all Berkley swimbaits so I hope I catch something with them.

And after reading what Benno had to say above, they are the kind of company I like to support and I will buy some soon so thanks for the tip, now spill the beans on your techniques please!

Most people in California that fish their baits are familiar with the origins of the company, and I won't bite your head off, but simple comments like "I,m having better luck with this hook" or "I don't like the way that the hookpoint tears a hole in the top fin" are all anyone can expect. I don't think anyone expects anyone else to "spill their beans". A casual conversation is what it is all about.

[toddmc]

Only if you share some of your fishing spots first...

DaveJ

Nobody expects GPS coordinates, or even the mention of a specific lake. A simple reply like "the crappie color is my favorite in the fall because my lake has a lot of crappie" or "I can't get a good hook-up ratio with mono" tells us what might work for us. It gets a little boring talking about what color parts we like on a reel or how cool a specific rod company is.
My home lakes probably have more exotic swimbaits thrown on them than the rest of the country combined. I regularly see guys throwing $400 Mother's and every expensive Japanese and American bait that you can think of. An attentive angler knows what others are throwing. This bait is not a "secret" in my area.

[Cagey]

... I don't think anyone expects anyone else to "spill their beans". A casual conversation is what it is all about.

I agree with you about keeping some info to ourselves like our super secret fishing spots, but when it comes to fishing techniques I don't see why we can't open up and share those ideas? I see no harm in fishermen helping to teach other fishermen how to be better fishermen.

[Farnorth]

With swimbait fishing I really believe it's more about practice and persistence when learning how to fish a certain bait than about having something the fish has never seen before. Find a lure that emulates the bait fish in your area and then fish it in a variety of weather conditions and at different times of the day. After a couple of days I find that I really get a feel for how the bait acts and what makes fish respond to it. If you do this for a few different styles of swimbait (Glide, Topwater, Jointed, Soft) you will gain some confidence about what to pull out given the conditions for a specific day.

I am guilty of buying far more baits than I really need but am really starting to zero in on the ones that work for me. As time goes on I am aquiring a variety of colors for these go to baits and will likely start to sell the ones that don't seem to work for the way I fish. The one nice thing about quality swimbaits is that there is a strong secondary market for used ones so it doesn't always cost a lot to buy something nice and then resell it if it doesn't work for you.

[toddmc]

... I don't think anyone expects anyone else to "spill their beans". A casual conversation is what it is all about.

I agree with you about keeping some info to ourselves like our super secret fishing spots, but when it comes to fishing techniques I don't see why we can't open up and share those ideas? I see no harm in fishermen helping to teach other fishermen how to be better fishermen.

I'll go first and hope you will share with all of us some of your proven techniques.

As a kid I developed a unique way of fishing my central Florida freshwater lakes. I followed in Jesus' footsteps! I walked on water to hunt big bass.

I had a little canoe and I stood up in the center of the boat at the widest point and paddled around lily pads and cover and drop-offs's while standing up literally walking on water.

I made my lures swim around structure like a real baitfish would do. I would cast a rapala minnow lure right into the lily pads and then use my rod tip to make that lure looked like it was swimming around lily pads- pull it to right side of that lily pad, pull it back to left around another lily pad twitching as I reeled it in making the lure move side to side like a real baitfish might letting it come to a full stop occasionally always keeping my line tight and ready for an instant hook set.

I was swimming every lure imaginable around the lakes down here including rubber worms.

Most fishermen I know just love to throw weighted worms. Not me. I despise using weights on rubber worms. I rig 'em Texas weedless style with a #4 hook for my added weight. And I learned to swim the worm in heavy cover very successfully.

I tried using the lead weights too, but it was futile in my fishing environment. In Florida most lakes have thick eel grass covering the bottom of lakes. The eel grass can grow to 3 feet in height. Put a weight on a rubber worm it goes right straight down into the grass and to the bottom. Not too good.

I learned to just throw 'em weightless and swim them through the eel grass or just above it letting it sink slowing down into the tops of the grass before twitching the rod tip to move the lure to the next spot.

My whole fishing game in central Florida lakes is all about presentation and swimming various lures around cover. I can't stand any lure that instantly goes to the bottom like lightning. I don't want it to fall through the water that fast. I really like suspending swimming lures for big bass.

So when they came out with swimbaits it was perfect for me and the way I fish. I use the heavier swimbaits with some weight to it about the same as I would a rattle trap trolling through deeper clear waters (and when I say clear I mean without structure or weeds, grass, etc. & not water clarity.)

Today I use some weightless swimbaits and make them swim around cover, bumping into it, letting it come to a full stop suspended in cover, twitch the rod tip and reel slowly through the lily pads letting it fall ever so slowly.

I can not even imagine jigging for fish. To me that is not fun fishing. If I were doing it strictly for food that would be one thing, but I fish for the shear enjoyment of it and if I catch food fish then hey a bonus. But for me around here, most of the waters I fish are less than 8' deep with some lakes going to about 30' maximum.

I like the weightless weedless setup because I can work it like a rattle trap but not as fast, and I can hit bottom or more cover without hanging up. I'll cast it over top of tress laying down in the water. I am not afraid of any cover I come up against. I fish it and I use only braid on spinning reels and no leaders so it is straight braid from reel to lures and I will drag the fish in with the cover if I have to.

I have always let the Florida environment dictate and guide my techniques in fishing it. And I tend to go where most people will not or can not go to fish. The following images are from private lakes not open to the public. You gotta know a land owner to even get on a lot of our lakes down here. If it has a public boat ramp it means it is fished heavily. No boat ramp. No public access. It has my name all over it!

Here are a few photos I took while fishing like I describe above...









The above photos come from a private lake in the Deltona, Florida area.



Aerial image of St. Johns river overflowing the banks at the north river exit to Lake Harney showing Deep Creek somewhere in this image...

And here is a video of Capt. Tom Van Horn landing a nice 9 pound striper right at the north exit to Lake Harney- where you will find him if he is not out in the Atlantic ocean fishing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYNmC_aLqkY
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYNmC_aLqkY[/youtube]



This image is from a super heavy cover swamp located just off the St. Johns River accessible only by a small creek called Deep Creek.

Now you know a few of my spots...

I grew up fishing the hundreds of golf course ponds in the Coachella Valley and fishing remote backwaters with a float tube in any place that had fish. So, I can identify with your small water passion. We have so little water comparatively in Southern California that I fear that I would probably have to abandon my wife and kids if we had that much good looking water here. Thanks for the pictures. Do you have a lot of bluegill in the areas that you fish? Our golf course ponds are loaded and any swimbait with a bluegill profile tends to do better than the more slender styles. I used to love reading about Doug Hannon hunting giants on the St. Johns River.

[toddmc]

With swimbait fishing I really believe it's more about practice and persistence when learning how to fish a certain bait than about having something the fish has never seen before. Find a lure that emulates the bait fish in your area and then fish it in a variety of weather conditions and at different times of the day. After a couple of days I find that I really get a feel for how the bait acts and what makes fish respond to it. If you do this for a few different styles of swimbait (Glide, Topwater, Jointed, Soft) you will gain some confidence about what to pull out given the conditions for a specific day.

I am guilty of buying far more baits than I really need but am really starting to zero in on the ones that work for me. As time goes on I am aquiring a variety of colors for these go to baits and will likely start to sell the ones that don't seem to work for the way I fish. The one nice thing about quality swimbaits is that there is a strong secondary market for used ones so it doesn't always cost a lot to buy something nice and then resell it if it doesn't work for you.

Yes, I have too many swimbaits also and persistance is important. The secondary market is very good. One of my team partners estimates that he has a $20,000 collection of swimbaits. He is constantly buying and selling exotic baits. He has lost a few custom painted baits worth hundreds when he has been with me.

[Cagey]

A float tube? I'd like to see you try that around here! We have lots of 12, 13, & even 14 foot alligators in these waters that would look at that float tube like it was dinner!

Yeah, I don't think you would want to use that around here! lol

[toddmc]

I grew up fishing the hundreds of golf course ponds in the Coachella Valley and fishing remote backwaters with a float tube in any place that had fish. So, I can identify with your small water passion. We have so little water comparatively in Southern California that I fear that I would probably have to abandon my wife and kids if we had that much good looking water here. Thanks for the pictures. Do you have a lot of bluegill in the areas that you fish? Our golf course ponds are loaded and any swimbait with a bluegill profile tends to do better than the more slender styles. I used to love reading about Doug Hannon hunting giants on the St. Johns River.

A float tube? I'd like to see you try that around here! We have lots of 12, 13, & even 14 foot alligators in these waters that would look at that float tube like it was dinner!

Yeah, I don't think you would want to use that around here! lol

But yes, we have tons of bluegill and there are some hefty ones in the St. Johns with some of them going well above a pound and even some whoppers probably reaching upwards of 2 pounds and more. Our state record is 2.95 pounds caught by John LeMaster in Crystal Lake in Washington County back in 1989. I use to catch them as a kid in the St. Johns river between 1 to 2 pounds too.

Today I do not target bluegill at all. I catch a few on bass lures, but those fish have too many bones for me to bother cleaning to eat- unless I was starving... but I have some young kids who will enjoy catching them with cane poles soon enough.

I will look up Doug Hannon. Not familiar with the name.

Oh, you mentioned fishing ponds... I do catch some nice bass in small ponds, but some of my favorite ponds to fish are what we call stock ponds which were dug out back in the 1950's on cattle ranch lands and the woods grew up around them and completely closed them in. I have a friend who owns just such a property here in central Florida with about 600 head of cattle on the front part of the property which extends into the woods and following narrow one lane dirt and mud roads way back into the woods you eventually come upon the row of stock ponds filled with bass, catfish, bluegill and specks and no one fishes it. So just about anything you throw out there is getting hit on. Here a couple of photos of them:







These stock ponds are surrounded by forest and thick palmettos and the only access we had to them was where the cattle had worn down some openings to drink water which is why those stock ponds were dug out in the first place. So about 4 years ago the land owner and myself went back in there with a bobcat, chain saws and we opened up a lot more of the bank so we could have better fishing access. Today he has a nice 10 pound bass mounted and hanging on his wall from one of these stock ponds.

Here is another one of my so called "secret" fishing spots called the little Econ river. It is actually in books around the world famous for its jurassic park type of scenery and when out there you kind of half expect a large T-rex to come stomping through the jungle at any minute out there. This small river is used by canoeists from all over the world usually from Snowhill Road all the way to hiway 50 Colonial Dr in Orlando. I generally fish this small river just outside the canoe course a lot closer to where it empties into the St. Johns river. The property those stock ponds are on shown above sits alongside this awesome river! It is called the Little Econ river and is a dark water run-off river that flows into the St. Johns river just South of Lake Harney also shown above.

But if you want to bring a canoe or kayak, there is a place you can put in at the Snowhill road bridge on either side is parking provided for the canoe tourists. If you head west from the bridge you are on the canoe course and on your way into town. If you head east from the bridge as I do, it is about 5 miles out to the St. Johns through twisting winding river and woods and pure jungle out there.

This little river is world famous for its scenery. I just like it for the fishing and boating fun. Usually the water is real low sometimes only ankle deep in places while in other places there are deep holes 20 feet deep. I catch nice bass and even schooling shad run up and down the river and I caught one on a rooster tail recently. Surprised the heck out of me.

The little econ is a challenging river for boaters. You have to have shallow draft only type of boat and with thousands of trees laid down in the river everywhere with limbs sticking up and tree trunks hidden just below the surface of the water you can not fly through here. Gotta go slow. And you will not see big fancy bass boats back in these waters. Simply not possible. And thank god for that! Don't want them around anyhow!









Not only is this little river a great place to fish for big bass and boating, but it is also a great place to swim and have a cookout in the middle of the Florida jungle on perfectly white sandy beaches out in the middle of no where. It simply does not get any better than this! And for those of you here on this forum , if you ever want to try this river out, there are no boat ramps on this river. You gotta put in at C.S. Lee park on hiway 46 just South of Lake Harney and travel South on the St. Johns river about one mile and find the entrance the little econ that way. Good luck not getting lost out there! You will need GPS and mapping out there unless you know the area...

When you fish places like this nice little river, you really have to adapt what you know about fishing to this environment. I use a lot of weightless weedless rubber lures that carry easy with the current right into nice spots and holes and under trees laid down in the river. This little river can be very productive at certain times of the year and at other times it isn't. And this little river is very unforgiving and can be a difficult fishing experience for some. It is nice to have someone at the controls of a boat at all times while others fish. If not, you will get hung up and quite often cell phones do not work out there and help is a long way off but the gators aren't!

I will be buying some of the little creepers mentioned in this thread and use on these waters in the near future. I'll ask old John Bitters at Bitters Bait and tackle if will carry them or maybe he already is. I will stop in there tomorrow and see. If not, I will order some online. Thanks for the tip on them. Florida outlawed years ago using sport fish for baitfish or I would use live bluegill to catch big bass, but the state of Florida now says that would be a crime. So little creepers could be the next best thing.

Yes, I don't want to be gator bait in my tube. I have used a canoe and a kayak in a few remote places and I really like the new kayaks. I've been tournament fishing for over 25 years out of a big boat and the scene doesn't change much. I can always pick up where I left off when I want to fish competitively again. I'm in the market for a kayak to get back to fishing more remote waters. Your pictures remind me that I need to get a better camera for my new adventures.
You should find a lot of info on Doug Hannon. He is a Florida legend they often called the "Bass Professor". I read a few of his articles where he wrote about chasing giants on the St. Johns River. He threw a lot of big worms and Rapalas. He also marketed a rubber snake and helped invent Microwave rod guides. It would have been interesting to see him fish a swimbait for the hundreds of bass over 10 pounds that he caught back in the day. I bet he would have fished the Little Creeper.

[cornmuse]

If you're interested in the Little Econ - here's a link to an article I wrote a few years back. Great little creek to wade, too! http://www.flyfishohio.com/Little_Big_Econ.htm

[Cagey]

Thanks Joseph! That was a great read and I loved how you spun the jungle aspect of the river!

[Cagey]

And now that I know of the little creeper bluegill lure, it is absolutely the perfect bait for those deep holes out there! I am gonna give 'em a shot out there here soon.