Great report Dick. Sounds like a good time was had by all. Now I really can't wait until Monday when I can finally get back on the water! Only 9 more hours of work left...yuck
I guess you would say the shiners were sewn on but it nothing like the old Maine style. The #2 light wire aberdeen goes twice , center and just forward of the eyes (leaving loop) than through stomach just forward of the caudal fins and out the anal hole. Push the hook eye back into the second hole and take up any slack by tightening the looped line at the nose. it takes about thirty seconds.
The shiner should live for long time and troll upright with NO SPIN. Small shiners are best because they are to imitate small smelt and bigger Arkansas shiners tend to lose the silver sheen and turn gold.
When we fish off the dock we just lip hook the shiners. Although more Ame's Farm salmon come on crawlers below a bobber.
Yup! They should be alive and swimming upright. You don't want them to spin. That trick is left over from a past age and just results in line twist. Believe me we have done both. We now go to a great deal of trouble making sure the shiner doesn't twist before we drop it back. We are also limited to a boat speed far less than 2MPH.