How to Properly Rig Fin-tech Jigs?
We’ll just state the obvious. Fishing for walleye is just plain fun. Thrilling and fast-paced, catching walleye means an angler has to be quick-thinking when it comes to fishing this predator. That’s why we asked walleye expert, Dale Gilbert, to share his extensive walleye knowledge with us. A walleye master, Dale, has fished walleye from Arkansas to Canada and Michigan to Montana, and he doesn’t disappoint.
Featuring a standup head design, the Fin-tech is a favorite of walleye expert, Dale Gilbert. Listen in as Dale explains why the Fin-tech works and how to properly rig it.
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Video Transcription
What Makes the Fin-tech Unique?
Hi Folks. We're going to talk a couple of minutes here about how to rig the Fin-tech jig, and if you've listened to me before, you'll know that the Fin-tech is actually one of my favorite jigs just because of the design the way it is, is actually a standup head design. So you can kind of see how that hook stands up and keeps the hook off the bottom and not get fouled up and dull from getting hooked on rocks, whatever. But the Fin-tech is pretty unique.
It's got a 100% hook gap that's exposed, and rather than putting tails on in the way you typically would with most jigs, where you would actually just thread it right up through its nose and all the way up and put it all the way on, with the Fin-tech jigs... And this tail here I'm going to show you is actually the Bio Bait's DNA paddle tail. Awesome bait. In fact, this is the one I actually used last fall.
How to Rig up Fin-tech Jigs
But what you do to rig a Fin-tech knuckleball jig, instead of starting it through the very tip of its nose and running it down, you start maybe a little bit better than an 1/8 of an inch back on its backside, away from the tip. And then you just insert the barb of the hook, push it in there. And you want it coming out the back of the bait as much as you can, and push it on until you have about a hook gap where the hook is coming out here and you can kind of see. And then you just push it up the shank of the hook. But when you get to that bait keeper system, where you've got that little sharp point and that little kink, you get up there, it won't go. You turn it sideways like so, and then push it all the way up so that the nose gets right up into the cavity of the jig.
Waiting to Tie into a Nice Fish
And once you get it there, you pinch it and turn it back sideways. So this basically is what you're looking for is to get the bait to look a lot like this, where the nose is right up into the cavity. It's not going to get fouled up by debris and stuff like that. It's going to pull. You got that whole hook sitting out there, just waiting to tie into one of your nice fish. And it looks just like a little minnow and it's a great setup. And that bait keeper system works really, really well. I mean, you almost can't even pull that tail off, which is really, really super.
So this right here makes one of my favorite set-ups with the Fin-tech knuckleball jig and any kind of plastic. You can use Ripple Shads, your gulp minnows, the Bio DNA, the Keitech Fat Impacts. Well, you can use any of those, but you rig them all the same way by starting about an 1/8 of an inch back from the head, putting it back through, and then paying it back out. It looks a lot like that right there. Give it a try. You shouldn't be disappointed.
If you've got any questions or need any further information, just stop by any of the North 40 Outfitters stores, or check the website at north40.com. Thanks for watching and hope to see you again. Thanks.