Hi, I'm Wayne Harkmyer, and I'm going to do a demonstration of the banjo minnow and the
various ways to fish it.
But let's go to the boat first, and I will show you how to use the various products in
the Banjo Fishing System kit and how to put them together.
I have in my hands the three sizes of the banjo minnow.
There is a small, there's a medium, and there's a large.
Now if I was going to fish the small banjo minnow, I would use two to four pound test.
I really wouldn't like to go bigger than that.
Six would be the most.
If I was going to do the medium size, that of course could be fished with two pound or
four pound, but most people would fish this with six, eight, or ten pound test line.
Most of the time, they would use a spinning rod and possibly a spin caster for these two
small size minnows.
The larger minnow can be fished with up to twelve pound test.
That is a good size for the bait caster.
The banjo minnow is used with a nose hook, and I'm going to show you how to put a nose
hook together.
The first thing you want to do is get a pair of needle nose pliers, and I like needle nose
pliers because they're small at the tip and they enable me to work very easily.
There are two types of cork screws.
There's a large size and a small size, and there are two size of hooks.
A large size and a small size.
There is a number eight hook and there's a number six hook.
The number six hook is the largest hook.
You can put the larger size cork screw on the smaller hook and vice versa.
For the purposes of this demonstration, I'm going to use the larger number six hook because
it's easier to see.
The first thing I want to do is put the O-ring on the hook.
So I slip it right over the point of the hook and down there.
The next thing I want to do is take the big cork screw and put that right next to the
hook right there.
I want to then take a pair of needle nose pliers and close the opening on the cork screw
so that it will not come off the hook.
I just pinch it closed.
Next thing I want to do is put another black O-ring on the hook.
I like to put the O-rings on each side to keep it in place so that the hook doesn't
catch itself in the bait.
Now some people only use one on one side or the other and actually some people don't even
put them on a nose hook but I like to to help prevent the bait from hooking itself.
Now that I have the hook tied to the line, I'm ready to attach the minnow.
I just push it right in the front and screw it right in.
And I put it sideways.
The next thing I'm going to do is put on the banjo weed guard.
I take the rubber weed guard and I slip it in the eye of the hook.
If the opening is a little too big, I take my pliers and sometimes I just crimp it to
close it a little so that the weed guard doesn't pop out.
Once I have the rubber band weed guard in the eye, I take it and I put it over two fingers
like that and I pull it up and set it behind the bob of the hook and I've made the hook
weedless.
And now I'm ready to fish.
I have in my hand a number 8 banjo hook and I'm going to now use the banjo nose weight
and I'm going to show you how to assemble it.
I simply take it, stick it on, take my needle nose pliers and crimp it shut.
I make sure that it won't come off.
Now I'm ready to put the minnow onto the nose weight.
Put the weed guard in place and I'm ready to go fishing.
I'm now going to show you how to rig a banjo jig to use with the banjo minnow.
Take one of the O-rings, slip it right over the point of the hook.
This side of the O-ring I take my corkscrew and I pinch it closed.
I'm going to use a medium sized minnow and screw it right in.
But this time I'm going to leave it in the vertical position so it will look like it's
feeding as it comes across the bottom like that.
I don't usually put this on its side.
I like it where it's a feeding minnow as it goes across the bottom.
Here's a trick.
Always on any hook make sure that the hook point is below the rubber band by feeling
like this.
And if you are going out and you ever find it popping off, if you take a pair of pliers
and just twist this down, push the hook point down so it is just below the rubber band,
the lower you push it the more weedless it is.
But usually when you hook it up it will be just right.
I'm going to show you how to put a banjo rattle together.
You take a corkscrew, slip it into the circle and then I pinch it closed so it won't come
off and I'm ready to put it into the bait.
There are a number of places I can put it on the minnow.
Some people like to put it right under the throat.
Some people like to actually put it on the sides, the top or the bottom.
I happen to like it right under the throat because I like it to look, if I'm using the
red rattle, like that the gills have been damaged.
I bring it right up there close to the fish.
Surprisingly it doesn't hurt the action of the bait that much.
But you have to remember you are using this in cloudy or murky water to attract the fish
to it.
So he probably isn't going to see it.
He just sees a piece of red near the throat of the fish or the gill section.
When you get done, you don't want to use it, you're in clear water, you just unscrew it
back out.
In the banjo fishing kit there's a live bait hook.
You hook the minnow through the lips and then use a pair of pliers to hold the hook so that
you can keep the minnow out of the way and attach the rubber band weed guide behind the
bob.
Some people like to put on a black o-ring to keep the minnow positioned at the bottom
of the hook.
We're ready to go fishing now.
The minnow is rigged and it's on a rod and that is the first thing I'd like to address.
You want to use a stiff rod and by that I mean a very fast action tip.
Not heavy but fast action because that way you can impart a lot of action to the minnow
as opposed to a whippy or spongy type rod.
I'm using eight pound test and a medium size minnow and the first two retrieves I'm going
to use a reflex response type retrieves.
The very first retrieve is what I call the skipping retrieve or racing it over the top
of the water like an escaping bait fish.
I keep it up right on top jumping out, jumping out, going fast as can be like it's trying
to get away from another fish.
I use the skipping retrieve on bluefish or when fish are very hungry and very active
and I can cover a lot of water with it and they will grab anything they see.
But normally fish are not that aggressive and I'm fishing other species of fish that
want and need a slower retrieve.
And that is the second retrieve and I call it the swimming retrieve.
The swimming retrieve is a jerking type swimming motion.
I jerk the bait and I wiggle the rod tip as I jerk it which makes it swim.
It's just under the surface and it creates a wounded escaping type of action.
It is rarely used when fish are hungry or they can be induced to hit because they just
reflexively bite it.
The third retrieve and the fourth retrieve are very different retrieves.
They are genetic response retrieves and they are the retrieves that other fishing lures
don't do.
They are a complete stop and go retrieve to create a spastic action.
Now the first one is the simplest of all and it is probably used by more people than any
of the other retrieves.
I simply cast out and I jerk and I create slack.
Jerk and let it go slack.
As I do this I watch my line because when I create the slack a fish might pick it up
and I wouldn't know it.
You must have that lure completely go on its own and the slack does that.
As you pop it and create the slack the lure takes off on its own and creates a very lifelike
action.
It's what makes this lure so different from other lures.
You reel other lures.
This lure you don't really reel it.
You jerk it in and as you jerk it and create slack you reel the line or take the line you've
created that slack and put it on the reel.
You're just reel the minnow because you kill that spastic action when you do that.
You want that minnow to take off on its own to go left to go right and to flood a die.
You can fish a fair amount of water doing this.
You're creating a genetic response type movement on top of the water again and again and again
and you can cover a lot of water.
But sometimes fish just won't come up.
The dying crippled minnow is done like this.
You cast out and you let it die.
You just let it sink and sometimes they'll pick it right up just as it's sinking dying.
If they don't I just take the rod tip and I snap it and I let it die.
I let it die.
I let it die and I snap it.
If I see that line move because I might not feel it I reel it tight until I feel the pressure
and then I pull on it and I reel and pull without really a hard hard snapping strike.
With the banjo minnow and the banjo hook system just a very long pulling strike will hook
you more fish.
Now I've showed you four different types of retrieves.
The skipping, the swimming retrieve, the crippled minnow retrieve and the dying crippled minnow
retrieve.
As every fisherman knows you have to have confidence in the bait you're using and believe
me when I tell you the banjo minnow really does catch fish.
It is a superior fishing lure.
When I go fishing the first thing I do is go high and fast and by that I mean I want
to cover a lot of water.
I want to present the bait to as many fish as I possibly can.
So I'm either skipping or swimming the minnow just as fast as I can do it make it look lifelike.
But if I don't get bites I slow down.
I start to slow down.
So I a lot of times I'll start with a skipping I don't get bites I'll go to the swimming
and if I don't get bites I go to the crippled minnow retrieve the jerk and stomp jerk and
stomp.
But if I still don't get bites it's noon time it's hot it's calm fish aren't biting.
Then I go to pure genetic response.
I slow down and I go deep and that is the key to fishing.
I start high and fast and I end at low and slow depending on what the conditions present
me with.
In many days you can be the only person catching fish because you're the only person fishing
in this manner.
Thanks for watching I'm Wayne Hockmiller for Banjo Fishing Systems and good luck and go
out and catch a lot of big fish.