Cordell Red Fin ~ Plastic Lipped Minnow for Striped Bass Fishing

Name	Model	Size	Weight	Depth	Hooks	Type
Cordell Red Fin	C09	5" (127mm)	5/8 oz (18g)	0-3 ft	#2	Surface & subsurface swimmer.
Cordell Red Fin	C10	7" (177mm)	1 oz (28g)	0-2 ft	3/0	Surface & subsurface swimmer.

The 5" Red Fin is best used with relatively light spinning gear when the water is flat and wind calm. The 5' Red Fin is also legendary for fishing in the back bays and estuaries.

The 7" Red Fin is mostly used on open ocean beaches with medium/heavy spinning gear. The 7" Red Fin is best used for calm to moderate conditions.

Legendary lure designer Cotton Cordell recalls how he originally made the first Red Fin with freshwater bass in mind.

“I made the first Red Fin back when the government was busy impounding many new lakes. Ouachita and Sam Rayburn were two brand new lakes where I perfected the Red Fin, wiggling it through freshly-flooded treetops on these and other newly-made waters at that time. It proved deadly for largemouth," recalls Cotton.

"It wasn’t an original idea. The Rapala Floating Minnow had recently come into the country. That was about fifty years ago and it was revolutionary. They [Rapalas] were selling for $5 apiece, and everything else, other lures sold for $1.25. I didn’t have the money to buy Rapalas, so I built the Red Fin.”

“The Red Fin became an immediate success almost fifty years ago,” says Cotton. “People who were the first to use Red Fins on different lakes, what happened for a time was if you used a Red Fin, you caught fish. If you didn’t have a Red Fin, you caught nothing. Why it was better than the rest [other minnows] is because I was the first to make the lip and body in one piece. By integrating the lip and body of the Red Fin, the lip couldn’t loosen, it was never crooked, and the Red Fin’s nose was light in weight, enhancing the swimming action. Other lipped minnows, the lip was glued in (not always straight). To keep the lip from breaking loose, the heads of other minnows had to be bulked up with plastic and reinforced, making their noses so heavy they don’t sit level on top, and the nose pulled them under too much. That was a problem with other minnows fifty years ago, and still to this day."

"I made Red Fins just for largemouth, but Red Fins have proven to be far more popular in saltwater today, and they are probably the one bait that every freshwater striper angler has in their box for the spring night bite."

The integrated lip and resultant lightweight nose is a key to the Red Fin's early and ongoing success.

A black Red Fin, even if you have to paint it yourself, is one color that many striper anglers use for night fishing in fresh and saltwater.

Make a Super Vee Waker

Here’s one more trick. The lip of a 5" Red Fin can be carefully and slowly warmed so you can bend it downward more. The modified Red Fin spends most all its time on top of the water, leaving a vee wake on the surface. It does a deadly surface dance for bass.

Red Fin on bottom has been made into a Super Vee Waker.

Add a Teaser

And another trick. If it is legal on the waters where you fish, tie a dropper loop in the line no more than fifteen inches ahead of a plastic lip minnow like a Red Fin, and tie 2-3 inches of line with a small single hook on it in order to Texas rig a tiny, weightless soft bait. A bit awkward to cast and tangly, but well worth it. Many days (or nights) you will catch more fish on the flimsy teaser than on the plastic lip minnow. Who knows why, just enjoy!

A small 3" Senko (9B-series) tied as a teaser ahead of a Red Fin.