When high pressure makes for a tough bite, don’t fish in vain, hook on a chain. VMC’s new Treble Dropper Chains, Octopus Dropper Chains and dropper chain-equipped Rocker Spoons will convert sniffers and short-strikers into biters.
“On really high-pressure days – when the fish might be a little bit sluggish – dropper chains are key,” says ICE FORCE® Pro Brad Hawthorne, an in-demand walleye and panfish guide on and around Minnesota’s famed Mille Lacs Lake. “It’s good for those days when you have to have some separation between your bait and your spoon.”
VMC’s new Rocker Spoon comes equipped with a dropper chain. The new Treble Dropper Chain and Octopus Dropper Chain are accessories you add to your other VMC® spoons to get bites in tough conditions.
Whether you’re fishing for panfish or perch, walleye or whitefish – and whether its early ice to late ice – “on high-pressure days, you’re going to want to have a couple of dropper chains to add to whatever spoon you’re using,” Hawthorne says.
Gamefish are notoriously finicky during periods of high barometric pressure. Such days generally follow the arrival of a front and are signaled by sunny, bluebird skies devoid of clouds. On such days, fish often strike short at baits, sniff them then turn away, or ignore them altogether. Artfully jigged VMC spoons armed with Dropper Chains increase your odds of hooking some of those fish.
“You have your attractant, which is the spoon, and then you have your food, which is the meat on the end of the hook – a little worm or minnow head,” Hawthorne explains. “A lot of times, those fish are curious and they’ll come in to investigate the flash and the action and then they’re like ‘Oh, there’s some food here too.’ They wonder what’s making all the flash and the noise and then they see that tempting little offering hanging on the bottom there and then bam, they hit it.”
Pay close attention to your sonar screen and/or underwater camera to see how fish are relating to your bait. “If you’re seeing the fish come in and get really close and then go away, adding a dropper chain to your spoon – adding that one layer of separation away from your bait – a lot of times, that’s enough to get them to come in and bite,” Hawthorne says.
Featuring an exceptional, slow, horizontal, rocking action on the fall, VMC’s new Rocker Spoon comes standard with a black-nickel dropper chain and No. 6 octopus hook dressed with a glow-resin bead. 3D holographic eyes adds realism to the spoon. It comes in three sizes:
- 1 ½-inch, 3/16th spoon; 1 ¾-inch chain
- 1 ¾-inch, 5/16th spoon; 2-inch chain
- 2-inch, 7/16th spoon; 2-inch chain
Rocker Spoons come in 11 color patterns – Glow Blue Shiner, Glow Chartreuse Shiner, Glow Gold Fish, Glow Orange Fire UV, Glow Pink Fire UV, Glow Green Fire UV, Glow Red Shiner, Gold Shiner, Perch, Shiner and Yellow Perch.
VMC Treble Dropper Chains and Octopus Dropper Chains feature black-nickel construction and a built-in glow-resin bead that will hold a charge for as long as 15 minutes. Available bead color patterns for both are Glow, Glow Chartreuse, Green Orange Glow, Orange Chartreuse Glow, Pink Chartreuse Glow.
Treble Dropper Chains come two-per-pack in two sizes, each with a No. 14 hook – 1 ½-inch chain and 1 ¾-inch chain. Octopus Dropper Chains come two-per-pack in two sizes, each with a No. 6 hook – 1 ¾-inch chain and 2-inch chain.