The Phenomenon of the color PINK in Brackish Waters for Sunfish......

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

As an active member of Bigbluegill.com the last several years, I have learned a lot and shared many ideas that have proven successful for Sunfish in the waters I fish. Prior to becoming a member I had several secrets that remained in my pocket and only my closest fishing buddies had ever even shared in this success. This isn't to say others weren't fishing the same baits in a similar style and catching fish or using baits of their choice and finding similar success.  I was a young kid with numerous anglers in my extended family and I learned early from my grandpa Foster Abney, who always told me to listen when I got around fishermen and think about things that might help me or work where I was fishing.  I was fortunate to be pretty close with an Uncle on my mother's side of the family that lived one town over in Southeastern Louisiana. He grew up and lived near the banks of the Tcefuncte River in the small town of Madisonville, Louisiana and only fished two bodies of water during his eighty plus year life.  A fact that many folks close to him never knew is he fished live grass shrimp for some 60 to 70 years and I couldn't begin to tell you how many Bluegill, Shellcracker, Warmouth and Crappie that he caught over the years.   One Thanksgiving day in the early 1970s as our 100 member family assembled in Folsom, Louisiana for the best dinners we ever ate, Uncle Kenny walked out to an acre pond that was dug on the family farm to stock with fish for the 20 plus grandkids in the Sharp family.  I was there casting a beetle spin when he asked if I had a scoop net with me. I did and we went over to some grass beds near the shore and made a quick scoop and filled a bucket up with little crustaceans called Grass Shrimp. He said put a cork and a bream hook on there and let me show you something. I eagerly followed his instructions and a few moments later we were pulling out big bluegill one after another.  This went on for quite some time and my Uncle explained if you ever run out of Grass Shrimp "Jeffie" and can't find more, take a pink soft plastic jig and fish that in the same areas. He explained that I wouldn't be disappointed and don't be afraid to tip the hook with a worm, grasshopper or a cricket if you have some.  I went home armed with the advice and went through seven or eight tackle boxes my dad and I had but no pink in any of them. I couldn't believe it but surely I'll find some the next time at the bait shop.  A few short days later my dad and I visited the local bait shop and I rushed the fishing tackle, both shelves and found two packs of little curly tails that had a mix of white and pink, they were mine and I was excited to let Uncle Kenny know I had found some and was eager to try them as soon as I could. His only clue was Pink was the best match for live grass shrimp in our brackish waters. He explained saltwater anglers have realized it for some time but freshwater fishermen have failed to make the correlation and they are truly missing out. In the weeks ahead I will go into detail how I fish these jigs and hopefull answer many of the questions I have received about the mystery of pink.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Small pink micros are the ticket in the coastal N.C. brackish waters right now.....give them a try in your neck of the woods...just might surprise you......

[Kenny Rogers]

I caught several gills on a "cotton candy" ( pink) 1 1/2" crawfish yesterday beside a bridge, off the point. Pink is definately working in the backwaters of the Tennessee river, north of guntersville dam in a place called "Mud Creek"

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Thanks for sharing that information Kenny.....good to hear it's working in other locations.....

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

I just had a seven species trip on Sunday using a powder pink grass shrimp......it's amazing how well this color works in this dark tannic water.....all species will hit em"........

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Pink has been productive once again this year in coastal Carolina but we had a surprise bait jump out to lead the pack in 2013 and we couldn't put it down in June......helping my dad, nephew and I top 1,800 for that month and it just kept catching fish......I will post a blog around Christmas time with my top five baits of 2013......I'll give you a hint, (4) of the baits were produced by members of bigbluegill.com with one lone commercial bait cracking the top five........

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Got some incredible new creations in pink.......rascals from Carl Hendrix, #6 stingers from Tooty, beautiful bugs from Bluto, Tabbert Grass Shrimp, some new twists from the River Critter collection by Gronaw...beautiful jigs from Allen Morgan and McScruff is at the drawing board to name a few.....the hardest part will be deciding which one to tie on next.....should be a lot of fun in 2014.....

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

JEFFREY HOPE YA GOT TIME TO TRY EVERYTHING WE ALL SENT YA AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE RESULTS FROM THE "GILL SLAYER"...........

[carl hendrix]

I just hope you have as much fun catching  the gills as I had making these for you jeff!!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

You know I will Carl......I love this stuff and still can't sleep at night before an early season spring fishing trip.....goes back to my childhood.....

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Going into this season with some awesome new patterns in the pink family.....can't wait to get out there and try out the new ones and see how they do against the proven champions.....I really think some of the new ones might be very special when it's all said and done......

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Here's a few of the new ones for 2014.........in no particular order......

The recent addition of the "Pink Mantis" tube style jig in 1/32 ounce is a custom designed bait to my requests by Bigbluegill.com member Allen Morgan.....I prefer the 1/32 ounce jig seven to eight months out of the year on the Albemarle.........These will attract multiple species but should work great on our local Black Crappie and Coppernose Gills......

The "Silent Stinger" constructed by Tooty has been refined for 2014 to accomodate my liking of a larger hook....These new #6 varieties should work great as their smaller cousins are already proven in area rivers....This lava lace design also has a pinch of olive which is my second favorite color in coastal North Carolina....

The "COTTON CANDY" is a returning top five bait from 2013 but now constructed with a #6 hook the possibilities are endless......Tooty has experimented with many facets of this design and I'm totally satisfied with the end result.......

James Gillete sent me a few patterns with pink and I look forward to testing these out in the tanic waters....James makes a durable bait and I also like his ball jig construction as well......Thanks again for providing me a few to try James.......

Carl Hendrix went wild on this pink creation and has dubbed his creation affectionately as "Phyllis Diller".....I'm certain the Black Crappie here will pound these baits......

McScruff put together this glass bead design on a #6 hook to my liking and I like the simple design to support tipping......Smaller versions have already proven successful in colder waters and I look forward to splashing these larger ones....

Carl Hendrix designed these rascals after he had very good success on his Tennessee waters for multiple species.........I've already caught bass, crappie and gills on a similar design in yellow.......the pink version is new for 2014 and I'm excited to get these on the flooded cypress.......

Finally I was fortunate to receive a few of Dick Tabbert's grass shrimp and what a life like replica this bait is.....I did amazing on an olive twin late July of 2013........I have assembled an amazing collection from talented tiers that are also members of Bigbluegill.com.........Look forward to sharing the results in 2014........

[Donald Schmotzer]

  Those all look good, please post pictures of the fish you catch with these. All we need now is warmer weather....Don in SC