Bass Fishing Tip of the Week Official Post.

[ocf1]

Deitz, how about a whats workin now?

[Cecil]

Im in

[ShoreGuy1984]

I am in

[pureinsanity]

Tip of the week December 27th.

My name is Deitz and I Kiss Bass...

Remember to always kiss your bass before your release!!!!

[delmuts]

Just got done watching a Hank Parker show. One of the things he did with his flukes,jerk shads, or etc.; was to tie his lure to a swivel. Then he would wrap some solder around the swivel to add just a little extra weight to it. Claimed this added a different action to it also.

[Cecil]

I also saw that. As long as you don't harm the swivel, great idea!

[Stick in Mud]

I also saw that. Do you think it'd make any difference for a senko? Maybe it'd allow a little extra wiggle on the way down??

[Comit 2]

Quote:

Just got done watching a Hank Parker show. One of the things he did with his flukes,jerk shads, or etc.; was to tie his lure to a swivel. Then he would wrap some solder around the swivel to add just a little extra weight to it. Claimed this added a different action to it also.

Wow! you would think a piece of split shot would be so much easier. Plus you could adjust the weight. Or don't real fisherman use split shot? Rubber core sinkers?

[katoguy]

Wow! you would think a piece of split shot would be so much easier. Plus you could adjust the weight. Or don't real fisherman use split shot? Rubber core sinkers?

It has to do with being more weedless.

[Comit 2]

Quote:

It has to do with being more weedless.

Really??? Please explain.

My tip.

With Ice out coming, don't forget to throw those small 1/8oz Little Cleos in the shallows/Crappie waters. Bass love them too.

[Comit 2]

Quote:

Just got done watching a Hank Parker show. One of the things he did with his flukes,jerk shads, or etc.; was to tie his lure to a swivel. Then he would wrap some solder around the swivel to add just a little extra weight to it. Claimed this added a different action to it also.

Back in the day when sluggo was the only game in town, it was, insert a finishing nail(of different sizes)in to the bait for a new look.

Quote:

I also saw that. Do you think it'd make any difference for a senko? Maybe it'd allow a little extra wiggle on the way down??

It looked like he was popping the sinker/swivel up and down with his rod using a "walk the dog" action. It would give the lure a softer stop and go action.

[artman]

HA, I HAVE NOT SEEN A FUNKEY CHICKEN HERE IN VIENNA FOR A LONG TIME . HOW ARE YOU DOING IN THE COLD MINNESOTA .....I THINK ABOUT THE TIME IN WE SPENT IN THE BOAT ALOT

I MISS IT AND YOU.

ARTMAN

[Deitz Dittrich]

AAAARRRTMAN!!!!!

Just finished with the NW Sportshow and Muskie Expo.. Quite a few people asked about you. Shoot me an email if and when you have time...

deitz.dittrich@ gmail.com

GOOO FUNKY CHICKEN!

[RK]

OK I think I'm way overdue for this, but here's my ToTW on jigging in clear water:

Power fishing jigs for clear water largemouths

I'm something of an anomaly when it comes to water clarity. The clearer it is, the better I like it. If I can count rocks in 10 feet of water, I'm happy. Can't see bottom clearly in 5 feet of water? I start getting uncomfortable. When visibility drops to 2 feet or less, I'm ready to panic...

I like clear water for the aesthetics of it (there's just something cool about being able to see a big bass fighting 12 feet below you in gin clear water) and because I think in some ways clear water bass are easier to solve than their dark water counterparts.

But, it seems like for a lot of anglers, clear water bass fishing is synonymous with finesse fishing - light line, small lures, and sneaky presentations.

There's some merit to that, at times. Clear water can be unforgiving of careless, loud, clunky presentation. But finesse has its limitations. It's often slow, and not efficient at covering water. Finesse techniques can also make it difficult to trigger reaction bites, whether from aggressive fish, or fish turned off by weather, fishing pressure, etc,. For for bigger fish, and more often than not for numbers of fish, a more aggressive approach can often outproduce finesse, and do so across a wider range of conditions than the opposite.

Here's the conundrum.

Many traditional 'power fishing' tactics like spinnerbaits, loud crankbaits, etc., can be less than effective in clear water. Too much sound, too much flash, too big a bait - too much of what in other contexts is a good thing - can definitely be counterproductive. I've watched a lot of clear water bass actually spook when big, noisy lures go by.

The key, then, is adjusting power fishing techniques to a clear water environment. Not all of those adjustments are obvious. Some of the most critical are completely counter-intuitive.

Jigs as deep water search lures

One of the best examples of this is fishing a jig and pig in deep water. When most anglers think of jigs, it's usually in the context of flipping or pitching to shallow cover. If they're fished deep, it's a slow, meticulous approach along a weedline, or a slow drag with a football head. Rarely are jigs thought of as a tool for covering deep water quickly and efficiently.

In dark water, that's likely the case. But in clear water, jigs can be an incredibly efficient and effective as search tools. Unlike crankbaits, jigs aren't limited to a specific depth range. They're also far more weedless than cranks.

What transforms a jig from a slow-moving finesse bait into a clear water power fishing search lure? A combination of things, really. But first and foremost is drop speed.

Since speed is primarily a function if weight, the jigs I use in clear water water are heavy compared to what most anglers seem to throw. I use 5/8 oz jigs the vast majority of the time in depths from 10 to 18 feet, and will occasionally go as heavy as 7/8 oz. Sometimes 1/2 oz, but rarely lighter. Generally speaking, I use the heaviest jigs I can get away with.

Drop speed is also affected by trailer choice. I use trailers like Chigger Craws, Paca Chunks, or Strike King KVD Chunks - compact trailers with that offer some vibration but without large, water-resistant appendages that significantly reduce drop speed.

Color factors in as well. I *want* my jig to be hard to see. So I choose colors to blend in with the background - watermelon (far and away my favorite color) or green pumpkin along weed edges, and brown or amber over sand and rock.

The combination of heavy jig, compact, low-drag trailer, and color that blends into the surroundings results in a jig that sinks like a bowling ball, and that is visually indistinct from its surroundings in motion or at rest.

Why? To trigger reaction bites, I don't want bass to get a real good look at the bait as it slowly drops through the water column, but rather to force them into reacting to something zipping past their heads...a reaction strike, not a hunger-based bite. Even when the jig is at rest, I want bass to have to hunt for whatever it was they just saw, piquing their predatory instincts. The combination of speed and invisibility is a tremendously effective trigger for clear water bass.

Technique

To fish these heavy jigs, I fire short casts to or just inside the weed edge, then let the jig fall on a semi-tight line. Line watching is critical. Most bites happen on the drop, so the line jumps, or just stops before the bait hits bottom. If I don't get bit on the drop, I fish the jig a short distance past the weedline with short, sharp pops and very short (2-3 second) pauses between hops. If the jig hangs up on a weed stalk, a short snap of the wrist will usually pop it free, and snapping it out of the weeds is a tremendous trigger in and of itself.

As I move down a weedline, I also fire longer casts parallel to the weed edge as well to pick off fish roving away from cover outside the weedline. In clear water, fish roam from cover, far more so than they do in darker water frankly, and if you aren't covering water outside the weed edge, you're missing fish...

The main thing, though, is to fish the jig aggressively. This is decidedly not a slow lift/drop. Short, sharp 1 -2 foot hops...

No bite? Reel in, and fire it out again with a short underhand roll cast. Get into a rhythm, and you can move down a weedline in a hurry, cover the entire water column efficiently, and get responses from not only active, feeding bass, but reaction bites from inactive fish besides.

Equipment

For fishing weedline jigs, I use 7' to 7'3", heavy power, x-fast action rods. As an example, my current jig rod is a 7'1" heavy power, x-fast Powell Endurance. I prefer heavy power over a medium-heavy that's probably more typical for jigging. They handle the heavy jigs I use better, and allow me to hammer the hook home on fish even on a long cast. People who have fished with me can tell you that my hooksets with a jig are something to behold... Plus, heavy power rods have the backbone to root a big fish out of thick coontail or cabbage. An x-fast tip helps snap jigs out of weeds cleanly, while giving you plenty of feel. I match the rod with a high speed (7.1:1) reel to quickly pick up slack between hops, and to quickly get the thing back to the boat and back in the water at the end of a retrieve.

To me, line choice is critical, and fluorocarbon is a must. Fluoro is inherently more sensitive due to its density, and the lower visibility is a definite plus in clear water. Whether or not you buy claims of 'invisibility' (I don't), it's definitely less visible than braid. Plus there's the simple fact that you can't feel slack line bites with braid. With fluoro, a slack line bite will sometimes rattle the line in the guides, which is actually kind of cool. At any rate...having fished braid and fluoro side by side in clear water, I can say for sure that the results are pretty lopsided towards fluoro. I use 16# Toray Superhard, but most premium fluorocarbons will do the job. 16# may seem heavy, but Toray is relatively small in diameter, and since there's relatively little advantage in going lighter, I go as heavy as I can get away with. It's nice having the extra break strength when a 6-pounder burrows into the base of a coontail clump 18 feet down...

Are there times when lighter jigs or a slower fall works better? Certainly. Along deep weed edges, the top of the weed edge meets open water, forming a corner of sorts - what I call the 'pivot point.' Especially during stable, mid-summer weather, the pivot point is a key zone for active fish, and if I'm getting a lot of bites on the initial drop along a weedline, it's a sign that fish are suspending around that pivot point. Switching to a lighter, slower-falling jig, or simply swapping out the trailer to something more water-resistant like a Rage Craw, or a bulkier body like a Beaver to slow it down can keep a jig in the strike zone a little longer.

For anglers conditioned to take a stealthy, sneaky approach to clear water bass, big, heavy jigs fished fast and aggressive can seem like a bizarre approach, especially when other, more traditional power fishing tactics fail. But if you focus on triggering strikes rather than tempting bites, jigs as deep water search lures start to make a lot of sense.

[JP Z]

Very informative article RK, I've learned quite a bit. Thanks!

[jalberg]

Awesome article!

[RuddyDuck]

Good article. Do you use rattles on the jigs or not for fishing in the clear water?

[mwal]

Nice article. The lake my cabin is on has a sechii disk reading of 26 ft and is frustrating to fish to say the least. I will absolutely try this technique. We have charra weeds down to 22 to 25 ft. Cabbage to 20 ft

Mwal

[slopmaster]

Great article RK! Always enjoy reading your wisdom.

I just posted my tip of the week in the other thread and came over here and noticed our articles share some similarities. Yours is far more detailed and mine focuses on the ROF/Drop speed aspect.

[JeremyCampbell]

Nice read! Learned alot as jpz said.Good points on line choice and working the weed line methods.Hope to get a little into largemouth this year and appreciate your advice.

[bassfshin24]

Great article RK. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge!

[Lals]

Great info RK and thank you for the knowledge! We have a mutual friend that was trying to "teach" me about this approach. I have had some success with it and in fact, it saved one trip for me last summer. I need to work this more consistently... in clear water situations. Is there a jig head design that you prefer? I was using a Grass Master Jig which is great for sliding through weeds but not sure if it is good off the bottom?

[SteveD]

I know this is a Bass fishing tip post but when you guys finally get sick of catching bait size fish and want to do some real fishing - here is a tip from your cat fishing friends.

When dealing with live bait it can create a mess in the boat. If you are handling nightcrawlers or cutting large baits up for cut bait this tip may be just what you want. If you are looking for a cheap and easy cutting board for preparing bait, pick up one of those plastic Frisbees. Turn it upside down, and start cutting away. They are plenty sturdy for cutting suckers or shad on and the rim doesn't allow slime, blood or bait chunks to leave the cutting surface. You can pass the bait plate to your buddy with ease and they rinse off and store easily too.

[Juan Grande]

Great post RK, you articulate your bass knowledge very well!

[RK]

Hiya -

Thanks for the kind words all.

RuddyDuck - You know...I like having rattles, to the point of having a hangup about it. I have to have them. Bugs me to fish with jigs without them. I buy the Northland Rattle Claws in bags of 25 to add them to jigs that don't have them or replace ones that get torn off. And I'm picky about the rattles themselves. The rattles with colored barrels work better than the ones with clear barrels. 100% convinced of it.

How's that for OCD behavior...

Rattles on jigs are different than a rattling crankbait though. First of all, they don't make a whole lot of noise really. It's intermittent, and subtle - I kind of think of it as the auditory equivalent of a little metal flake or a few strands of a contrasting color in a jig skirt. But I do think it helps trigger fish.

Lals - I definitely have jighead preferences. I like the Grassmaster type for pitching/punching, but not so much for casting. If you look at a Grassmaster, the hook eye is in line with the shank. I think that's fine for short line hooksets where the angle between you and the fish is pretty steep, but I don't think it's ideal for long casts. I much prefer jigs with a 60 degree eye. That might be overly analytical, but I really think hooking percentages are better.

The two jigs I use, almost to the point of exclusion, are Northland Jungle Jigs, which are just a good, versatile as heck all around jig, and North Star's Knock Out jigs, which you could describe pretty much the same way. They're both great in weeds.

If you look at them, they're somewhat similar heads - bullet nosed more or less, with a line tie that won't catch weeds. Both also have very good hooks. The classic Arky head isn't bad either, although it does tend to pick up weeds and gunk a little more so than the more bullet shaped heads.

If I could design a casting jig, it'd have a slightly lighter wire hook than most multi-purpose jigs like the Jungle Jig and Knock Out do. With fluoro I wouldn't be as concerned with springing the hook as I would be using it pitching with 60# braid, and I think it'd penetrate a little better maybe. I might also have either a more sparse or a softer weedguard, again, to help with hooking percentages.

That having been said, I don't miss many as it is as long as I get a decent hookset, so I'm not complaining really.