HotTicket Lures can be cast, jigged or trolled. In fact, if you can imagine it, give it a shot, it’s the hot ticket for catching fish.

Trolling

HotTicket lures have many ways to be trolled. We’ve generally trolled these lures from speeds between 1MPH and 3MPH. You’ll need to check your lure in the water to ensure there’s some action, or flutter to-and-fro, and that the lure is not just ‘spiraling’ or ‘twisting’ (which will cause you rat nests of pain later). If the lure is just twisting, your speed may be too high. Slow down a little and check again for active flutter that is not spiraling. If you don’t have a gadget to indicate your speed, simply look at the bank to see that you’re at a brisk walk, and that the lure is not spinning.

Trolling the HotTicket solo. We troll these lures often on very light tackle, using light line. One common rod we use is a 7ft casting rod for lures to 1/4 oz. We run 8lb test on these rods. We use a size-0 (the smallest) quality ball-bearing snap swivels to help prevent line twist.

Trolling the HotTicket behind a dodger, sling blade, or set of flashers. This is a good way to tow the HotTicket. Where one might use a 12 to 16 inch leader for a threaded nightcrawler behind a dodger, you’ll need to go to about a two foot leader so that the HotTicket is able to also use it’s own action, in addition to the action departed by the dodger, sling blade or set of flashers. It’s a little tougher to test than ‘solo’, but put it in the water and check to see what the action looks like. You may have to put the tip of your rod under to get a good view of the action.

Trolling the ‘cheater’. We have had some success trolling the HotTicket as a ‘cheater’ on a fishing line attached to a down rigger. You create a leader that is a little longer than 5 feet. You tie the line-end of the leader to the barrel end of a snap swivel, then you can snap the cheater onto your down rigger line once you have it set at depth. Then you tie a swivel to the other end of the line, and attach your hot ticket lure (or omit this, your call). When you connect the ‘cheater’ to the down rigger fishing line, it will move down the water column to about 50% of the depth you have set, as generally it settles at the maximum arch of the line in the water column. So, in essence, if you set your down rigger line at 40 feet, the ‘cheater’ will slide down the line to about 20 feet deep. In our experience, when fish hit the ‘cheater’ they generally pull the line loose from the down rigger release. Your experience may vary based on your down rigger release.

Casting

We have had great success casting HotTicket lures on a light line. In our experience lines between 4lb and 8lb of mono work really well. Remember, there is not a lot of weight in the HotTicket lure itself, so if you need more distance, you may have to go with some splitshot weights, or to a setup with a splitshot to give a couple feet of leader, and a sliding bullet weight. Adding weight also helps when casting in waters with deep drops or currents.

Jigging

Jigging is a way that we presume HotTickets also get used. As I type, I’ve not yet jigged HotTicket lures. As HotTicket lures are fairly light, a light line and patience in between the drop and the jig motion is important.

Tuning

HotTicket lures are somewhat tunable. You can alter the scoop by flattening or curving it with a little pressure with your fingers to suit the preferred action you see in the water. Our default shape is the HotTicket right out of the package.

Mono or Floro or braided? This is a personal choice and we will leave that to you, as HotTicket lures don’t seem to mind what’s pulling them forward in the water.

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