biffle bug

[gunning]

Well the bait has been around for a few years Tommy Biffle has won 3 or 4 tournaments in the last couple of years on the Elite Series using the Gene Larew Hard Head Jig with a Biffle Bug trailer. Mark Davis has been crushing on the Elite's this year, leading the AOY standings and has been throwing the Hard Head With a Strike King twin tail grub. I think they are throwing it over hard bottoms or in places where you would throw shallow or mid depth crank baits. Has anybody used this set up how has it worked for you in Minnesota.

[bonebaby0]

The biffle bug works great as an aggressive football jig presentation or if you want to fish 'fast'. If fish are on rocks/gravel (even sand) and are aggressive I will throw the biffle bug instead of the football jig. When the bite is right they really knock the socks off this bait. Downside however is it not nearly as versatile as the football jig. For me the biffle bug is a fun "extra" however not an essential part of my arsenal.

[RK]

I haven't used them yet but kind of want to mess with them. I've used swinging head baits for a while - there was one called the Duh! head that was kind of before its time. They just never really caught on and went out of production, but I have some I've used ever since.

I also kind of do something similar with a regular football head and a swimbait - just crank it steady so it's stumbling and bumbling along the bottom over gravel or mixed sand/rock. Done well with both LMB and SMB doing that. What's interesting is, at least with the football head/swimbait, largemouths don't hit it that hard, You just get dead weight all of a sudden. Smallies, though, just murder the thing.

I also will fish a fluke on a lighter football head around docks where it's a sand bottom. Can be killer on smallies. Looks like a minnow doing whatever it is minnows are doing when they're rooting around in the sand.

What I did like about the Duh heads, and I expect newer types will be similar, is that they seem a lot harder for fish to throw on a jump than a regular football head.

[gunning]

I think the first time I saw him fishing it on TV it just looked like he was swimming it. I've been reading up on how he fishes it, he is throwing it with a 7/16 or 9/16 head which is heavier than most swim jigs I throw. It sounds like he's banging it off the bottom almost the whole time over so he's getting that deflection/reaction bite and reeling it pretty fast with a 7:1 reel. I have to order a few of these heads and give it a try.

[gunning]

I guess one other thing about this bait is not look at it like a jig, but look to use it where I would be dragging bottom with a crank bait. Davis was saying that in practice he watched two boats go through a spot throwing cranks and not catch a fish. He went in after them and caught 3 and he knew he had something going with the Hardhead.

[RumRiverRat]

I have used this technique.

Works best when done over a hard bottom. Preferably golf ball to basketball size rock.

Make a cast, let the bait hit the bottom then retrieve steadly along the bottom.

Contact with rocks is key.

Want to try swimming it just over the bottom.