“my ‘go to’ lures…” “I’ve won matches using NMs almost exclusively.”
Steve Wilson
Case Officers Assessment Build Quality: Generally very good. Value for money: Great value especially considering the detail. Performance: Very good and versatile. Overall: A great lure that has made its way into my trusted set.
Introduction Steve Wilson has been one of the most successful canal lure match anglers in the country for a couple of years now. Steve has proved again and again that he can catch canal predators on lures when others struggle and has shown he is particularly adept at catching large numbers of smaller fish, using small lures and recognising when to change his presentation style and choice of lure to maximise his catch rate. In this review, Steve looks at Fishin’ Addicts Nano Minnow, which at just 3.5cm long is diminutive in size. Steve has fished with many, many small lures, trying to find out which will catch him more fish, most consistently, so there are few UK anglers better equipped to carry out a LureTour review of these cute looking little soft plastics.
First Impressions The Nano Minnows are very precise with basic colours determined by the base material with painted detail over the top. They have glued on eyes. They come in a strong re-sealable pack than can be used for other lures after the original batch has finished. It’s unusual for lures this small to have glued on eyes and I think the eyes are very important particularly when the water visibility goes above about 4 inches and the target fish have more time to see the lure. I often glue eyes to my jig heads for just this reason, it gives predators a target to hit.
Testing The majority of my fishing is on Midlands canals using drop shot or UL jigging. I use a lot of small lures as the fish in the areas I fish are either naturally small or highly pressured. I have a small set style/type/brands of lures that I trust and it takes me a long time to replace them or add to the set. This has very much been a long-term review as I came across Nano Minnows (NM) some time ago. They were pointed out by a friend and slowly I have come to rely on them in certain circumstances. After many, many hours of fishing I have confidence in using them and they have won me a few matches when other lures caught, but not as well. Finding lures and techniques that give me an edge is one of the things I love the most about fishing, so to manage to work their way on to my list of “trusted” lures, means the Nano Minnows have proved their worth to me, many times. I mostly use them on drop shot but they are good on UL jig heads. You need a jig head with a very light wire hook and mostly I would be using heads around the 1g mark. My recommendation would be an Ecogear
Shirasu light size 8 in 0.9g weight. The Shirasu heads are designed to look like the head of a fish, so I generally cut the lure back to accommodate this and then glue the eye from the lure on to the jighead. While these lures work well on a jighead set-up, it’s drop shot where they really come into their own. When the fish are feeding hesitantly I find it best to hook them as in the lower illustration in the photo below in the same way as you would hook a jig-head, with the hook fed down the body. When the fish are feeding more confidently then a classic drop shot nose hooking style as illustrated in the top method is best. This gives the lure a little more articulation and allows it more freedom of movement and when the fish are “on it” they will inhale the whole thing, no problem, so there is no need for the hook down the body. Hook wise I tend to favour a Sasame Wormer 875 hooks in size 8 or 9 and most commonly use a 2.2-3.5g tungsten DS weight. Many different speeds and styles of retrieve will work when drop shot fishing with these lures, but very often “less is more” and a slow steady retrieve with plenty of pauses will work on most days. When the water gets colder and the fish want less, rather than more action, cutting off the paddle and slitting the lure at the rear (as in the photo) improves the number of bites. You are basically turning the lure into a miniature split tail, but it seems to work best if the tail is slit horizontally rather than vertically.
Variations Nano Minnows come in a wide and expanding range of colours but only one size. My favourite colours are Roach Fry, Chartreuse glow & Glitter SnP.
Conclusions When the visibility is low in canals I think any small, bright shad with an easily mobile tail works as well as any other, but once the visibility starts to improve I’ve found the Nano Minnow to repeatedly out score other shads. I’ve found this again and again when I have alternated between Nano Minnows and others in clearer water to the point where they are my ‘go to’ lures in these circumstances. I’ve won matches using NMs almost exclusively.
The drop-shot rig is a finesse technique that has taken the USA bass fishing world by a storm. Recently it has started to be popular on UK waters and is proving to a killer technique for perch. A drop-shot rig will often catch fish when reaction baits won’t do the trick.
Steps
Drop-shotting is a finesse technique that requires light line, so use a spinning outfit spooled up with 6- to 10-pound-test line.
Using a Palomar knot, tie a small drop-shot hook onto the line, about 18 inches up from the end. Tie so that the hook stands out perpendicular from the line.
At the tag end of the line, about 18 inches from the hook, tie on a drop-shot weight.
Put a small bait on the hook. Four-inch worms, fry and grubs are good drop-shot baits.
Drop the rig straight down over the side of the boat or bank. When the line goes slack, reel up until the line is taut and the weight is on the bottom.
With the weight on the bottom, shake the rod gently. You just want to wiggle the lure without lifting the weight.
A bite may be anything from a tug to a sideways movement. If your hooks are good and sharp, all you have to do is reel hard to set the hook.
Reel the fish in gently. Remember you have light line on.
After landing a fish, check your knots and hook and go back to it. On a good piece of structure, there may be several good fish.
Tips
You can make your own drop-shot weights by pinching one end of a barrel swivel in a split-shot. The swivel helps reduce line twist.
Fluorocarbon line costs more, but since it is crystal clear and has no stretch, it is ideal for drop-shotting.
Once you get good at drop-shotting vertically, you can start to experiment with casting out and dragging the rig back, and fishing it over breaklines and other kinds of structure.
You don’t have to tie a hook directly to the line. You can add a barrel swivel, and extend a piece of line, and hook approximately 2-4″ from the swivel
