the reel ess

Shallow water is my bag. I caught this 7.2 lb. bass August 8th by skipping a jig way back under this canopy of overhanging trees. I had to go get the bass out by hand. I've done this with positive results for several years. Fish think they're safe back there. Get a bait to them and they'll probably bite.

nm

If you don't know whether you want to use braid or not, try putting on a braid leader. If it doesn't affect your bites, just spool up with braid. But I still use cheap mono for backing when I use braid. I have gone back and forth on this issue. I use straight braid on frogs. I use braid on my spinning rods, usually with a leader. I use 50# braid with a 20# mono leader on jigs. I don't know if it makes any difference at all as far as number of bites. I imagine a bass can see heavy mono almost as well as braid. But I cast the jig into some gnarly cover and on the rare occasions that I have to break one off, I'd rather not break 50# braid. That's hard to do from a kayak and usually I end up trying to cut braid with a pair of pliers. I've had to wrap it around my flip flop to hold it to break it off. Not ideal. Another reason to use a leader is ease of retying. Braid is not easy to thread through small bullet weights. I don't think you could get it through a Carolina Keeper. I had to break off a jig recently and it broke at the leader knot. I lost all the mono and didn't have any in the kayak. I had to retie straight braid on a new jig. I had a hard time just getting the braid in the eye of my brush jig. I made up a knot because I couldn't get the line through the eye twice for a palomar knot.

That would be my spinnerbait, buzzbait rod. It's also useful for heavier topwaters that cast a long way, like Spooks and the bigger Whopper Plopper. Those baits tend to produce some slack in the line when you're moving and the heavier action helps you get a hookset with a lot of line out.

Or 6" lizard.

It's better to make noise and present a lure than it is to not present the lure. Now I'm not suggesting you throw your jig up against the side of someone's $40K boat. But I've made noise and still caught even a big bass. When you put that bait right in their face their tiny brain will often say "KILL IT!!!". But if you don't get it near them, sometimes they won't swim over to get it. I saw Ike hit the end of a pontoon once trying to skip under it. He caught a big one on the very next cast, same dock.

It is much easier to skip with a spinning rod. But when you have to yank a big bass out of heavy cover, heavy BC gear is the ticket. When you hook a real bruiser in some gnarly stuff you had to skip a jig to get to a MH spinning combo might not get her out. Also, when you're trying to skip a jig, thumbing the spool and lifting the rod at the end is part of the motion that creates the skip. I don't know anyone who can skip a jig with a spinning combo like some people can with BC. B Lattimer's advice was good. Use some cheap mono when you start. Big Game is fine for this application. 15 LB is plenty heavy enough and dirt cheap. In fact, I use BG as a leader when I want one as well as backing on reels with braid. It used to be my go-to for pitching/flipping.

Nah, you got me last time.

Do you have a preferred jig weight?

It must have sold poorly because I can't find one searching. I think it was an Uncle Buck's el cheapo. I think they did away with that line of bass baits and replaced them with more expensive baits. I still have some of their Uncle Buck's spinnerbaits that flat out work.

My dad had this theory that you could always catch them on any color worm as long as it was purple. He did pretty well. I always have a black/blue jig and craw tied on, year round. I have a dedicated frog combo, so that's always tied on it. I just leave it home when it's really cold or tie a jig on it and use the other jig rod for T rigs. I usually have a Trick Worm on. This year I've had a Chug Bug on an awful high percentage of the time. War Eagle 3/8 oz. gold spinnerbait double willow in gold shiner pattern.

I had a BPS inline buzzbait like that. It had the worst hookup ratio of any lure I've ever fished. I finally gave it away.

Since you're in shiner country, do you use the gold ones?

A toad is something I have not tried yet. That's a killer idea because I've feel certain these fish haven't seen one as a jig trailer. And it's likely more durable.

Good stuff here. I use a lot of these tactics. Do you rig the Johnson spoon with a trailer or just use it bare? I have one of these that I've only used for saltwater.

I can dig that. But I was using the same trailer on both. What's your best skipping trailer? I've been using a 1/2 oz. Arky from Seibert with a Rage Craw, exclusively.

I was out Sunday and had to break off my "standard" 1/2 oz. black/blue jig. I was in the kayak so I didn't have all my tackle with me. I had a 1/4 oz. gold shiner grass jig (used as a swimjig) tied on another rod. Well, I put a black/blue craw on it and went to work. Man, it skipped easily, with way fewer "professional overruns". And I caught fish on a gold shiner jig/black and blue craw. Got me thinking I need a lighter jig to improve skipping. I like to get way back under overhanging stuff where bass think they're safe. I hooked this big gal so far back I almost needed a machete to go get her out. I had a kayak full of spiders and insects afterward. I was on the lookout for snakes. What's your favorite jigs and weights for better skipping?

I like to do a finesse C-rig in summer if I can't buy a bite. I'll do between 12-18" for that and I use a bobber stop with about an 1/8 oz. weight. But normally, it would be around 2'. I like the Carolina Keeper for that application so you can adjust the length without retying. It may take two keepers for heavy weight.

This all depends on how you like to fish, where you like to fish and how much money you feel like spending. Growing up, we had a house on a big lake so we always had boats. Fast forward. My parents are gone and we sold the lake house. I fish a small lake 2 miles from my house now. It's electric motor only. I can easily get around the lake once in about 2.5 hours. I also have access to about 4 other ponds that don't even have a landing. I rarely fish anywhere public. So the kayak is the obvious choice for me. But if I was fishing a big lake I'd have to have a real boat. I eventually found the big lake scene to be a rat race.

Rebel Micro Critters. Crickhopper is one of the best about anytime there are insects buzzing around. They'll also eat up that tiny craw crankbait. You'll also catch some bass on it. These are killer creek lures.

If you don't want to buy a frog-specific H-F rod, you'll be amazed what just using braid will do for your hooksets. A stiffer rod is of course better, as is a longer rod (huh-huh-huh). Better leverage. But I got by with a 7' MH-MF for a long time. It did triple duty as my jig/T-rig/frog rod by just switching to braid..

Yeah, he looks like maybe 50 lbs. ? Was the length measured? There are charts available online with average weights by length. I'd guess about 5 as well.

I feel like, for me, 90% of the time the fish bit it on the drop. A large portion of the other 10% they also bit it on the drop, but I didn't feel anything. I started the retrieve and noticed the jig moving by itself. ? Tighten up and BAM! Game on!

I always fish them weightless. I guess it's the slow sinking horizontal presentation that gets a reaction. I used a keel weighted hook once in a canal that was deep in the middle and caught a couple. I have used the swimming Super Fluke the way you describe with success. It wobbles when it swims. It worked for me in sparse vegetation in early spring. Honestly, it would have better action if it was keel-weight hooked.

The glass bead is a killer trick. When I use a craw or even a worm on a T rig I like to use a bobber stop for the weight and put a bead between the weight and hook, leaving enough play to make them click.