Daiwa Silver Creek Minnow

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The first Japanese minnow lure I ever got was a Daiwa Silver Creek Minnow. I thought it was a wonderful lure, and I caught a quite a few fish with it. Initially, I was reluctant to import it, thinking it might be too expensive to sell well. After all, lots of other minnow lures are available here in the US for lower prices.

Three things together overcame my resistance. First and foremost, it really is a very good lure.  Second, from the very beginning, customers asked me if I would import Japanese lures, and the ones I did import sold well. Third, all the JDM rods, reels, lines, etc. are more expensive that what you can find at the big box stores, yet people who appreciate high quality gear have been quite willing to pay higher prices to get the higher quality.

As with nearly all lures designed for stream fishing, the Daiwa Silver Creek Minnow comes from the factory with a pair of treble hooks. I would replace the trebles with single hooks! That stems from my gut reaction to catching the rainbow shown above. Somehow, it managed to get two points from each of the two factory trebles firmly embedded in it's mouth. It was not at all easy to remove them and although I released the fish, I am not sure it survived the ordeal.

I have fished the Dawa Silver Creek Minnow lures after replacing both trebles with single hooks, and also after removing the front treble and replacing the rear one with a single hook. Personally, I prefer just one hook in the rear. Although I have caught fish that were hooked on the front hook, nearly all of the fish I have caught with this and other minnow lures were hooked on the rear hook.

I also found that the front single hook often caught the line, which made the lure spin wildly on the retrieve. Eventually, I just removed the front treble hook and now fish the lures with only a rear single hook. There is no way to know how many fish I could have caught if I'd had the front hook. Also, there is no way to know how many fish I could have caught if the lure didn't spin on the retrieve.

If you replace the front treble with a single hook, whichever hook is not in the fish will be in the net. That complicates the release of the fish. If you remove the front treble and replace the rear one with a barbless single hook, the lure will nearly always come out by itself as soon as you get the fish in the net. Release in that case could not be easier.

Hooks aside (and of course you are free to leave the factory trebles in place) the Daiwa Silver Creek Minnow is a very effective lure. It has flat sides and low center of gravity, which produces a very enticing wiggle with a steady retrieve. If you pulse the lure on the retrieve, which Japanese stream fishermen generally do, you can produce well-controlled twitches to make the lure look like an injured minnow.

Some YouTube videos of Japanese anglers show them making rapid, exaggerated pulses during the retrieve. However, the few underwater videos that show those retrieves also show that fish have a very hard time catching the lure - not because the retrieve is too fast but because the lure jerks too wildly from side to side. Personally, I think either a steady retrieve or gentle pulses will yield more actual hook ups.

The Daiwa Silver Creek Minnow does very nicely indeed with a steady retrieve. If you wish, you can add action to the lure with subdued pulsing.

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Finesse-Fishing Home > Single Hook Lures > Daiwa Silver Creek Minnow

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