This soft-plastic lure will really put the crappie in the cooler
Charlie King loves to catch crappie, as well as watch his clients catch crappie.
That love affair extends these days to a Mister Twister soft-plastic bait that hit the water last year with less fanfare than usual because of COVID-19 restrictions and concerns. Nevertheless, King has been smitten with the Sassy Stingum.
King, who operates Charlie King Professional Fishing in northwest Louisiana, is quick to heap accolades on the panfish bait that is growing in popularity in-state and out-of-state.
“Sassy Stingums just came out about a year ago,” he said. “They wanted me to try it. It works real well. Funny thing is, (panfish) prefer it over live bait.”
It’s slaying the crappie now, but the best, perhaps, is just ahead for the Sassy Stingum.
“That’s going to be a killer in the winter,” he said, noting that he has caught doubles on tandem-rigged Sassy Stingums.
King is looking forward to the winter, because after getting his hands on baits from Mister Twister in January, he had hip-replacement surgery 2 weeks later and barely got to try out the Sassy Stingum in cold weather.
“I’m excited about it. This winter, I (just) got a taste of it before I had surgery,” he said.
It was a good taste, as the panfish bit and bit consistently.
How to fish the Sassy Stingum
This winter he plans to tie Sassy Stingum on multiple rods in a spider-rig pattern on his favorite north Louisiana lakes, including what he regards as his home lake, Lake Bistineau. Crappie will get a chance to eat Sassy Stingums from around Thanksgiving to the end of January.
King, who focuses his guiding trips on bass in the spring, then returns to crappie fishing early summer through fall, fishes the 2¼-inch soft plastic on a plain silver or black 1/8-ounce jighead tied to 10-pound Vicious flourocarbon.
He’ll often tip it with a tiny crappie nibble-type bait that add scent and color to the soft plastic or hair jig on the business end of a line. He’ll add a minnow or, he said, he’ll fish it “naked.” The Sassy Stingum produces any way it’s fished, he said.
King fishes Sassy Stingums over brush piles of willow and/or sweet gum trees in 20- to 25-foot depths. He plants them regularly so they are as fresh as possible. His favorite colors are grenada gold, Cajun cricket and electric chicken. He’s learning about other colors that help fill ice chests with crappie.
“It was red thunder,” he said. “A friend of my caught some the other day and they had a box (full) on that color.”
According to a Mister Twister spokesman, red thunder was one of many colors introduced at first. It was discontinued when the color chart was pared but will be reintroduced in the next two months.
Special design
The shape and texture of the soft plastic appealed to King from the start. Obviously, a Sassy Stingum’s shape and texture appeals to crappie wherever they are targeted by anglers.
A Mister Twister spokesman said the Sassy Stingum has a super-soft formula that maximizes the artificial lure’s action in the water. King agrees with that, because the bait’s spear-shaped tail twitches and dances at the slightest movement.
“(Mister Twister) had the designer put a little longer tail,” King said. “It’s a little-bit longer tail. It also has a little, minute ball on the end of it, a little bump on the tip. I think it adds more thump to it.”
He’s ready to put it to work, overtime.
For more information on the Mister Twister Sassy Stingum and other Mister Twister products go to www.mistertwister.com.
The post “Mister Twister’s Sassy Stingum has Louisiana guide excited” first appeared on LouisianaSportsman.com.
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