Paul Roberts

Got the RD Shad to wobble on the fall like the DOA. I glued the two opposing tails together which stopped the tail action altogether, giving it a straight glide and with twitches it would walk subsurface. Kill it and it would fall with that wobble. Will try the DOA too.

Oh yes, there was another challenge I had to deal with on this first fishing trip of 2016. I am back to fishing left-handed, after having torqued my right elbow again. The first time this happened -a few of years ago now (my Doc's first case of 'bass elbow' lol)- it took me some time to get used to my hands switching jobs, as my hands and brain are obviously grooved for their respective jobs. It feels strange fishing left, not only in terms of coordination but my attention is thrown off, strike detection always having been the job of my right hand/left brain hemisphere; Reminds me of my experiences driving in Thailand -driver's seat on the right and in the left lane. Talk about confusing. Strikes today were lethargic though, they just being weight I'd pretty much reel into. Some of this was due to the breezes playing on the line, and it was helpful that the fish hung on long enough for me to feel the little rod load. I did feel one 'tap' strike during a dead calm spell, set, and had the fish on for a second or two when he came unpinned. Jig fishing, esp with light stuff and smaller fish, can require some real detection and I'm going to have to just get used to lefty fishing -again- for a while anyway. I'll say this, it's much easier the second time around.

Any appropriate lure to the water and conditions, as long as you can detect the takes.

Pretty fish. How were you fishing the jerk? Are you standing on the NW bank?

Nice start!

Wow. I've been playing with a similar bait -the Big Bite Real Deal Shad. The tail action isn't as strong as the DOA, and I'm not convinced I will actually be able to make much use of it -action and hooking. Might go ahead and nab some DOA's -not more expensive than other SPLs. I really like the look of that bait on the fall. Will try to see if I can get the something similar out of the Real Deals as well. It's close but stiffer, having a less active tail. Got some more tinkering to do with it. Thanks for the head's up, PT.

Yup! If you search you'll find there are some threads every now and then.

Very nice workspaces, Will! Now go in there and muss em up a bit and make us all feel better!

Agree w/ smalljaw67. The only diff compared with standard FnF jigs is the smaller size and sparser body. The heads look crudely variable but two are somewhat flat sided making for a wider profile and possibly, if they truly are pill-shaped, they may skate a bit to one side or the other on the pendulum retrieve. That's what I suspect from what I see. Otherwise what may be working for them may simply be the small size. Realize that you can always experiment. Jigs are easy to tie and there are so many heads available or easy to modify with lead being pretty soft (although toxic, so beware of lead dust). Lots of body materials can be used too. Have fun and don't worry too much about doing stuff wrong. You'll almost certainly come up with some fish catching concoctions of your own. If they don't work, the reasons can often be seen in the bathtub. Then you modify your design. Fun!

Very nice, CJ. Have you ever tried making fish tails with trimmed feather ends? Here's an example using a turkey flat:

So that is a relatively young fish. Looks like you are at the right place at the right time. Enjoy the hunt!

Congrats! How long was that fish? 25, 26? Fins are really clean too, esp the tail. Open water forager? Relatively young fish? Interesting.

Yes!

Sounds great. I have a similar water -although smaller- generally shallow with depth at the dam and the wash (can't quite call it a creek) it flooded. 14ft max. The best fishing is around the deeper more convoluted areas. Cover is vegetation and a little wood. Interestingly, there are some bass in the depths too away from anything but the depth of that main basin (not at the dam). Found them dragging a lure while crossing it, then casting to them. I'm sure they have some things they like to hang around but I never found anything that jumped out at me. Might just be deeper vegetation changes, or tall isolated clumps. A mystery for the future. So much water, so little time.

Oooo! I see a small knoll/point with both submerged cover and overhead cover (overhanging tree, high bank, and shoreline shrubbery). What kind of lake is it?

Remember Dan Gapen's Ugly Bug? It was a grub with rubber legs. It also had a special jig head that was made to glide over rocky cover and wobble a bit. It really worked and I took some very nice smallies with it. Looks like it's still made, although as I remember it the original had no tail and just single strand legs.

Small water. Habitat is most critical during winter and reaching it can be impossible on many, esp larger, waters. Oh! I see you're in FL. Same deal although if you are far enough south you may be in prespawn, even spawn about now.

Ditto Tom's reply, and to add: Those transition areas can offer something for bass to orient to, and provide a diversity of substrate that has the best chance of adding diversity to the food web by increasing surface area -nooks and crannies- for life to grow on and in. Hard bottom areas break up vegetation increasing structural, water flow, and lighting diversity. Hard bottoms also can promote food production in that they can be more oxygenated compared to muck and organic build up that harbors lots of oxygen-burning bacteria. Further, largemouth's most often live over soft bottoms, often with vegetation -at least that's where the lineage developed. "Hard areas" also offer corridors and openings for bass to hunt along and in. Prey fishes, bluegills in particular, are safest when they have dense vegetation to hide in. Cracks in cover help bass hunt. Lots going on down there in those "transition areas".

That's a tilapia fed fish huh? Wow.

That's often the big question: Are there fish in front of me? Or are they just not interested? Without a boat and sonar you are going to have to go chip away at it the old fashioned way. Talk with other experienced anglers, search the internet, and your area warmwater fisheries biologist to see what you might glean. Someone fishes bass there in the winter and may give you some info on wintering depths. Then there’s simply casting. But you need to be smart about that, chip away at the odds, make some good bets: Water clarity will factor in greatly. If your water is clear (or normally clear) it may be a deeper water fishery, even moreso in winter. If it is normally turbid then it is almost certainly a shallower water fishery although the bass will most probably be at their deepest of the year during winter. If your lake is normally clear, but you've got turbidity from rains, I would probably fish elsewhere for the time being. Fish can go a long time without eating, esp in winter. While we like to say that anytime you can get out to fish is a good time to go that doesn't mean you can't alter your plans due to conditions. And cold muddy water in winter when it's normally clear is about as bad as it gets. Classic winter habitat: In winter you are usually looking for lack of current and steep contours in “main lake” (large mass of water) areas. In a big lake a large cove may fit the bill, as well as the main lake. If there are any fish from 40ft in at your location they are probably related to cover: chunk rock, maybe the deepest docks, pier walls, rock walls, .... . I'd concentrate on bottom mostly, despite the floating docks and boats I see in your pics. You say featureless bottom… then I’d be hoofing, looking for steep shorelines, esp those outside of spring/summer areas (maybe like your marina), with chunk rock. A transition from rubble to chunk rock could be the ticket. If that kind of stuff isn’t in your marina, start hoofing. You say you are approaching spring, and it's true in some waters some fish are known to start moving at ice-out, or even just prior. So... it's coming. However, that 48-50F number is a rare lone number -one that does hold some biological relevance for bass in terms of activity level. But by the looks of your water you aren't quite there yet. The sun has just started to get high enough to start warming things. But water takes heat slowly and that is a big body of water to heat. In terms of presentation, the trick to really cold water appears to be greatly reduced horizontal movement. I like the look of the bladebait there, and the lipless if fished in pumps and falls -slowly in terms of forward speed. The tube (as rigged) and jerk look like they're too shallow yet -just a guess. The bottom line is, all is moot if there aren’t any fish in front of you -yet.

Yeah, I know. But there's more to the story.

Now how's he do that! Problem is, Bandit CB's -for one- don't use much lead.

Keep at it. It sure is a fun game, eh? Being so cold -and the turbidity adds to it- your fish are not likely to be cruising around. There are some key winter spots. Trick is to find them.

scaleface, I've done the exact same thing. I'm longtime fly-tier. Bugs, of all types -and durable ones- can be made at home.

Hooks are definitely part of things, as smalljaw67 mentions, esp in jigs. I have lots of those old heavy ironed, mega-barbed (lol), Mustads -which were the premium hooks back then. They worked if you knew how to use a hook file, and bent the barbs down a smidgen. But the argument for quality hooks in terms of steel, sharpness, and design is hard to argue against. This is not all that's going on in lure prices, but it's part of the equation for jigs for sure.