A Bigger Ghost Minnow

Rebel's 2 1/2-inch TD47 Tracdown Ghost Minnow has long been one of my absolute favorite lures, especially for trout streams, but also smallmouth streams, ponds and assorted other settings. It casts crazily far, offers super versatility in terms of how it can be worked and has a narrow profile that matches a minnow and looks like an easy meal. It's pretty small, though, so it's limited to settings where I'm content with a fairly small offering.

Last year, Rebel delivered a bigger version of the Tracdown Ghost Minnow. Everything about the TD57 matches its little brother, including the six colors it comes in, but this Ghost Minnow is 4 1/2 inches long. I snatched some up as soon as I could get my hands on them, and have been using them ever since. So far, I've been delighted and have used the bigger Ghost Minnows to catch a lot of fish in wade range of situations. They cast great, even on baitcasting gear, and the weighting allows them to manage current extremely well.

I'm actually the most excited about throwing one of these dudes during high flows in a big cold-water tailwater that's home to big brown trout. I haven't gotten to do that yet, but I have caught a couple of bass on them from the tailwaters of Wilson and Kentucky dams, so I've seen how nicely they perform in the big water.

Either size of Tracdown has a tight wiggle with a straight retrieve but gets very erratic when you jerk it, so the possibilities for presentations are virtually limitless.

I leave today for a trip that will include several days of fishing, and you can bet that I'll have plenty of TD47s and TD57 in the car!