The short answer to my grandson's question is "I'm not swishing it, I'm crippling it." His next question,of course, was "Why?"

Here's why...

A few years ago (mid last century) Luhn Jensen may a lure called a Nordic Herring (NH). It was similar in many regards to the P-line Laser Minnow (PLM) but lacked the flashy colors.

Back then, nearly all of the gentleman that I fished with crippled the Nordic Herring by putting a very slight bend in the lure. This bend added an erratic circling motion (much like a wounded bait fish) when jigged or mooched.

So, applying the old tried and true crippling technique to the Laser Minnow seemed as natural adjustment as cutting one of the prongs off of the treble hook. (See: "PapaD, why are all of your treble hooks broken? The beauty of duplex hooks" for why you should try this.)

I've fished with my partner using the exact same lure jigging no more than 4 feet apart and ended up hooking up nearly 3 times more with my crippled version than his factory straight as a whistle.

Here's the how part...

The lure can be hard to bend between your fingers and thumbs and gets even harder the bigger they get. It's also difficult to control how much bend you get (i.e. goes from not bending to too much fast). Locking them up in a vice would probably mar the pretty colors.

The best (and safest) way that I've found to get just the right amount of bend is to lay them over a bamboo skewer (or anything else that is approximately same diameter) and push down on both sides until you get the results you want.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

GO OUT AND GET SOME!!!
PapaD