Jig Man

I got mine from Dale Hollow Tackle.

Yep maybe I should be called wormy now. A few years ago I got my butt handed to me from the back of my boat in one of my spots on two different occasions by the same guy who was using shaky. The count got to 7 to 0 on the first day before I got to begging. After the second day I went to the bait store. Now I am equipped.

It is probably the thing that I fish the most. I use a variety of heads and hook sizes depending on the water depth and how much cover and structure there is to hang me up and break me off. I may be using a 2/0 hook in one place and a 5/0 in another on the same bank depending on what is down there. I’ve tried a bunch of things but for the past few years there are 2 constants: a seven and a half foot rod and an Elaztech worm.

1. I use a fluid bed with 2 inch cups so I have room to dip. 2. I hold the eye with needle nosed pliers or hemostats to keep the paint out. 3. I heat the jig with a heat gun being careful to keep the eye away from the heat. 4. I only get the head hot enough for a very light powdery coat of paint. 5. If in the event that the eye gets paint on it I can easily wipe it off before I bake the jig in the toaster oven. This process has worked for thousands upon thousands of jigs for me.

I’m a touchy feely guy. I bought 3 Solixs when I switched to Humminbird. Some of the bugs in mine have never been cured even though some were returned to the factory for repairs. From what I have read and heard the Helix is the trouble free workhouse of the line.

If 5/16 is as large as you are going to assemble you might want to rethink the large blades.

I don’t know where you fish but where I fish time temp and season plays a big role in what I need to have. For me top water, jerks, spoons and cranks are seasonal and stay home most of the time. Jigs, worms, Ned, spinnerbaits are always on board.

X2

I love watermelon red in my Zeros. Most days it’s the best one.

Anything other than braid may develop memory so I’d spray them with KVD Line conditioner.

I’ve never had a Dobyns. I do own 7 HMGs.

I use black in most of my baits but not very much. I use the other colors as accents depending on the main bait color and what I am trying to accomplish.

Tubes used to be my go to bait. I make my own. Green pumpkin, smoke, and black neon were the best three colors. White was a very good producer in the winter. Lately I haven’t been able to get a bite on them so have about quit using them.

Grasshopper, be patient and save your money. When everything closed down due to Covid fishing wasn’t prohibited. Soon there weren’t even kayaks to be had. I’m guessing that your area is similar. I’m also guessing that many of them will “see the error of their ways” and flood the market with used boats and campers in a year or two.

I used to be in the business. If you get a look at the financial status of a many of those guys you will find that they owe a lot of money. The typical guy with whom I dealt was only interested in how big the payment was going to be, not the amount of the loan, the length of the loan or the interest rate. A lot of them even wanted to finance the sales tax because they didn’t have the funds to cover it. They started out “upside down” from day one and stayed that way.

That is normal in today’s world as there are so many choices.

I’ll let you know in a few weeks as mine gets installed on Thursday.

I would but I think I have a previous engagement in Florida.

I’ve tried several and the Zoom swimming chunk is the most productive one I’ve used.

Like Allen stated, color recipes are what it is all about. I keep a book devoted just for plastic recipes. I write down how much plastisol is put in the cup, how many drops of which colorant I use and each glitter color size and amount. One of my best baits is a laminate which only takes 1 drop each of two different colorants per 2 ounces of plastisol while some others take 10 so records are imperative if you want accurate repetition. If you want to see lots of very good recipes, Google soft plastics cookbook.

You have a booth?

Go get some from Walmart. They will get you by for a while as you save up some $$$$ for some good AGMs.

That is one bait that doesn’t work much for me. I have a double tail grub mold and several hundred Yamamoto skirts but even when I am catching on a Ned and substitute them it’s a no go. I hope that swimming them will work once I get Mega Live installed.

One of the hardest things I have ever done was trying to catch the other guy’s fish. Even in the same boat it can be nearly impossible.

I don’t know much about it but I took my favorite shaky rod to a builder and told him that I wanted one similar. He asked all kinds of questions along with what reel I would be using and its weight. He said he needed that to make the balance correct. The completed rod is now my very favorite shaky rod.