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Silent Stingers Splash the Black Waters in 2014........A Diary of Tooty's Finest Creations

I will follow the success of a great line of baits known affectionately as the "Silent Stingers".....New for 2014 are several refinements with the most significant for me being the creation of a # 6 bug........Will I ever be able to take off that Cotton Candy this year?........Fine out here first with testimony and great photos along the way......

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Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on April 2, 2014 at 4:32pm: Ya know Jeffrey that Cotton is the easiest thing I make until today. Made one so simple it's laughable but looks great in my opinion , THE NO NAME BUG ...........Check em out buddy when time permits .....

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on April 2, 2014 at 4:21pm: THANKS JEFFREY FOR ALL THE POSITIVE REMARKS and glad they are holding up. Can't think of a more durable way to tie em other than the way I do it now .........Man in May can't wait to see the Stable results this year and thanks for going to all the work of posting specifics like this blog .......

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on April 2, 2014 at 4:09pm: With rising water temps and active Crappie I wanted to employ a #6 Cotton Candy Stinger tipped with a live minnow and it was being crushed by the spawners......

It was fished under a float for a couple dozen sharp dressed Black Crappie and several bass......

The top end fish were in the 13" class last night.....getting good hook sets on the #6's and the baits are very durable......

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 15, 2014 at 6:12pm: Had challenging conditions today but I boated a few nice fish including a fine daily double of Black Crappie that took a #6 Cotton Candy tipped with a live minnow........

You can't go wrong with slabs like this.......nice 13" class fish....caught shallow at 18" in two to three feet of water tight to wood......I told Tooty these would do great.......the gills are going to tear this bait up too...

Comment by carl hendrix on February 27, 2014 at 7:33pm: great looking bugs tooty!! going to be fun watching all of jeff;s post on his testing of baits!!

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on February 27, 2014 at 5:55pm: I can't wait to see it in person buddy !!!!!!! My humble bugs maybe catching fish out east, JUST DON'T GET BETTER THAN THAT, THANKS.....DON'T FORGET THE RED AND YELLOW BUDDY !!!!

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on February 27, 2014 at 5:52pm: Not to mention all the color varieties......Really!

These bugs slow falling on top of shallow coppernose at the Stables in May......Just Wait!

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on February 27, 2014 at 5:49pm: With out your input Jeffrey I'd have never made a bait this big. When I compare it to the old standard #12 Micro the difference is astounding . Now I only tie #10's and a few #6's for Andy and me . Your logic in going to a bigger hook for strength is sound and look forward to trying the new stuff this year, in another 6 months or so when the ice finally leaves........

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on February 27, 2014 at 5:37pm: One of the most exciting refinements for 2014 is the # 6 Silent Stingers......I'm really getting pumped up as we're down to 20 days until spring and these will get crushed......

These are my personal favorite and affectionately known as "Cotton Candy".........This bait was responsible for more than a thousand gills last year in a size #8 but Tooty up sized it per my request and it's truly going to make it hard to tie any other bait on.......

This is another nice blend of two solid tannic water colors......pink and olive.......

Here's a big gill from last Saturday....going to be interesting to see what happens......I caught bass to 7 pounds last year on the smaller # 8 but I lost some fish that I expect to land this year....Stay tuned as I will update the bait blogs often during the 2014 season.....

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on February 17, 2014 at 5:13am: I'll proceed with caution Andy.......I won't fish them every single day as to give the gills a break from time to time...I'm real excited to have proven patterns in #6 now.....it's essential in my area to go larger on the presentation to get the bigger fish out of the cover consistently........