WRB-2.0

Fishing a jig from shore uphill is difficult. Making cast more parallel so you are working at an angle uphill works A lot better for me. The problem with an Arkie jig is the jig is designed to be more compact, the hook point about 1" from the jig head to have a space for the weed guard behind the hook eye, usually a 60'degree bend hook. You can trim the brush type weed guard and find some Arkie heads (Wadda jig) that uses a fine strand weed guard the help to improve hook setting, the point Is still nearly over the jig head. When the bass bites down on the jig, the hook often rolls 90 degrees missing any mouth tissue and in the inside ridge of the lips, then you miss the hook set. The further bck the hook point is into the bases mouth and the more upright the hook point, the better chance the point will find tissue, giving you a higher % of hook sets, when casting a jig. I do not sell my jigs. I do have some photos, but still don't know how to post them, could email. Nu jig isn't an advertiser on this site, so I don't want to post the contact info. Tom

I wrote a horizontal jigging artical for In-Fisherman magazine over 17 years ago, Jan 1995. This presentation was considered old back then! horizontal jigging is another term for casting a jig and retrieving back along the bottom structure and works best in deep structured lakes during seasonal periods where bass and prey are migrating; pre spawn and fall transition. The presentation relies on a jig designed to achieve a hook set when the line angle is less than a 45 degree angle down in the water, when the jig is more verticle or more than a 45 degree angle like straight down or 90 degrees you are fishing vertical and close to the bass; pitching and flipping presentations. My average cast is about 90 feet or 30 yards out to 120 feet or 40 yards, rarely longer. I designed a modified football head that more resembles a viper snake head shape and use 5/0 Gamakatsu #114 forged hook; very strong and extremely shape, the hook point about ***/4" behind the jig head, this is a critical factor to achieve hook set sets. I don't use a traditional weed guard, I use a CPS or Hitchhiker spring and attached a ***/4 to 2" split tail section of finesse worm and insert the jig hook point into the crouch of the razor cut split in the worm tail to cover the hook point to help prevent snagging when fishing light cover or brush. A standard football head will work, but tend to hang up more often in broken rock. There is a new jig coming out called a Nu Jig that has a unique double weed guard and head shape that works very well without adding the finesse worm to cover the hook point and slides through rocky structure very well. The key to my success is the tackle and how I hold the rod, the line and position the rod during the retrieve. The rods should be at least 6'6" fast action 4 to 5 power light weight sensitive jig/worm rod. My rods are custom 4 and 5 power, 6'10" Hydra rods made by ALX, very similar to Loomis NRX rods, any good rod will do. Any good quality casting reel like Ardent 1100, the older Shimano Curado and Lewis 's pro series reels are all good, in 6.3 to 1 ratio. Line is another personal choice; I like Sunline Shooter 14 lb, it's pricey and also use P-Line FluroClear 12 lb, about the same diameter and good performance at 1/4 the price. My jig is a custom 7/16 oz, a good quality 1/2 oz football head like Cody's Phenix jig or the Nu jig would be good. I tie my own custom buck tail hair jigs in 3 color combinations; black back, purple middle and rust brown belly and call this anytime anywhere. The second is rust brown back, green center and brown belly and call,this spring craw. Trilers are pork died 1 of the colors in the jig: usually rust brown or purple. At night or low light the trailer is usually black or purple. I make a long cast and let the jig fall on a controlled slack line while watching the V the line makes in the water. When the jig hits bottom you will see the line jump, see and feel the jig hit bottom. I hold the rod in front of the reel, with the line over my index finger, the rod pointed at the jig, rod tip near to parallel with the water surface. The retrieve is very simple, I just turn the reel handle 1 to 3 turns depending on the bottom slope contour; I want the jig to jump forward about 6" to 12", and let it come to a stop then without raising the rod tip, I watch and feel the line for any indication of a strike; the line moving to one side, a thump, a bump, a tick or nothing no feed back like the jig was cut off. My reaction to any of the above is quickly to turn the reel handle serveral turns to tighten up the line and if I believe a bass has the jig, then I keep reeling until the line is tight and sweep the rod back hard. If it's not strike, just lower the rod back down and continue the retrieve. if you encounter a obstickle like rocks or wood limb, then gently raise the rod tip to lift the jig over the obstickle and continue the stop and go retrieve: turn the reel handle, let the jig fall and stop and repeat the retrieve . This sounds simple and it is, but you must concentrate on every cast, the bass that eat a jig cast a long distance don't know you are there and they often big bass. You can substitute soft plastic for,the pork trailers and appeal to a wider range of bass sizes, pork seems to appeal to bigger bass. The depth I fish depends on the thermocline, but rarely deeper than 35', usually between 3' to 25' . Good luck. Tom

The question could be when to use a spinnerbait vs a crankbait. Both these lures are fast moving and appeal to active bass through flash and lots of vibrations. A jig is more like a soft plastic worm, moves slower usually appeals to bass that are less active. Now if you are asking about a swim jig, a chatter jig or a Scrounger jig that have similar actions to spinnerbait bit or crank bait, the decision is less obvious , the answer is the same; use faster moving lures for more active bass and slow down for less active bass. How do you know? Trail and error. Tom

Get yourself a copy of Don Iovino's book Finesse Fishign and the Sonar Connection. You are catching bass with finesse presentations and Don has a few good tips on how to rig and fish small soft plastics. Hard small lures tht work very well are surface lures like a Splash-It, Owner Zip N Ziggy, Jekyl baits like small Pointers, crankbaits like Little N's. The key ro finesse fishing is balanced tackle; lighter line, smaller hook when fishing soft plastics, so the lure ha the right action to appeal to larger size bass. Roboworms and Bassrrix both make variety of finese soft plastics, check on ***. A 3" reaper split shot rigged is often over looked and one of the best. Tom

The impact on harvesting bass is directly perprotional to the size of the lake and the fishing pressure, amount of fishing hours a lake is subjected to. Bass are prolific fish and can easily over populate smaller lakes without any harvest. Over harvesting occurs on smaller lakes with high fishing fishing pressure or adverse seasonal conditions that kill off a year class. I my opinion C &R has become a cult with today's bass anglers and believe any bass angler that doesn't ALWAYS practice C & R is not a good sportsman. The simple facts are a % of bass catch and released die as a direct result of being caught, placed in a livewell and released hours later. You are killing bass and wasting them. In regards to trophy size bass, they are very rare bass, most that are caught are killed by both recreational and weekend tournament anglers and the vast majority end up tossed in a dumpster. How sporting is that! So let not be hypercritical; practice C& R and release heathly bass, keep and eat or give away bass that have little chance of survival. The 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 size bass are common, the size most likes have a high population of and the size to harvest and eat occasionally. The trophy bass deserve to be handled with care and released as soon as possible. The big bass are not nearly as strong in a livewell as smaller bass, they require more DO and better water temperature control...the should be released back into the lake sooner than later. My generation grew up catching and eating fish and releasing fish we didn't need. Jason Lucas, editor of Sorts Afield, was an early pioneer of C & R and he hs an impact on me and I started releasing the bigger bass and tried to promote releasing bigger bass long before B.A.S.S. Ray Scott finally adopted C & R, make no mistake, it was a battle to get B.A.S.S. to reduce limits from 15 to 5 bass and promote C & R. Today the pendulum has swung far to the opposite side from the early days and somewhere in the middle is a good balance. Tom

You have a few choices; Cabelas and BPS sale items, if you are looking for a new rod/reel combo, or want ads on the forum sites and EBay. A lot of bass anglers are always upgrading rod and reels, last years top of the line is this years close out. Buy the best brand you can afford; try to avoid any rods/reels made China. Made in Japan or Korea make up the vast majority available tody. Sometimes rod makers like Dobyn's, Powell and Phenix will have close outs on some excellent rods. Reels EBay may be your best chance for a good deal. For those of you who think Garcia is made in Sweden! , try made in China for the past 10 years! It's difficult to buy used rods, never know if it was damaged and shiping is costly. Reels can and should be serviced by a good technician at a reasonable price. Good luck. Tom

Catch & release bass fishing has only been popular with Americans since the mid 1970's, a little,over 40 years. B.A.S.S. coined the term to appeal to a boarder audience, prior to C & R, B.A.S.S. held fish fry 's and donated the bass to local churches. LMB, SMB and spotted bass are managed as renewable resource with harvest rates to sustain the fisheries. Public lakes relay on the general public to harvest a % of bass populations. Bass tournament fishing in most of Canada is very limited in comparison to the general public and fishing for other species is far more popular. Walleye and musky tournaments out number bass tournaments in Canada. The bottom line is the culture of C & R bass fishing in the US is established, in Canada and other countries were bass are located C & R isn't established because organized bass tournament are few and far between. Without tournaments, C & R bass fishing would be limited to a few individuals. Tom

Personal message. Rip rap is man made broken rock with a lot of crevices and sharp edges. The key to fishing a jig is use a lighter weight head and keep in moving so it doesn't settle down into the crevices. There some specialty jig heads that work well. A round head or a shaky head in 1/4 oz with a trailer like a beaver should work. Tom

Personal message.

It sounds like youndidn't get a hook set to start with! The only way a hook can penetrate the basses mouth tissue is you must move the hook forward with enough force. You can create a lot force with a snap set to drive the hook home, but only with a few inches of slack line verses a few feet of rod movement. The reel and sweep set also works well, but the same dynamic must occur; force applied to the hook to move it. If you haven't loaded up the rod and the bass isn't fighting hard, then give it a second shot. It also sounds like you are pegging the sinker? Bass bite down on prey very hard and if the sinker is being clamped down on, it's harder to move the hook! You should have a higher % hook set ratio with a straight shank hook vs the EWG off set, everything being equal, Tom

It depends on 2 factors 1. The temperature of the water before and after a sudden increase in water level. 2. The DO and PH of the water. LMB can't survive a sudden water temperature change that is more than 10 degrees, unless they can more ro water within that temperature range. Rain water is low in DO (dissolved oxygen) and low in PH, if the water was already low in both that can also shock the bass. When rain water flows into a lake as run off it picks up DO, the PH depends on the surrounding soil content. It is better for the bass if the water level rises slowly so they can adjust to the changes. Tom

I am not a fan of off set J bend hooks for T-rigs, however you are using a premium hook and large enough for most worms. When you miss the hook set Iis the worm pulled down into the hook gap(bend)? This is a common problem with T-rigged worms. There some gadgets to help prevent the worm from lodging down the hook shank, the easiest is to avoid inserting the hook point deeper than the J bend; about 3/16" to 1/4", about the depth of the hook barb, you want the hook eye flush with the worm nose. The next step is inserting the hook point/bend is the right spot; hold the hook nest to the worm to see where the point needs to be inserted, it's where the hook bend ts lined up with the bottom of the worm. Push the hook point completely through the worm, straighten the worm outso the hook point lays on top of the worm, exposed.. The worm should be straight, the hook eye flush with the worm head. To cover the hook point with the worm soft plastic; pull the hook bend back about 1/8", pinch the worm body to create a bulge nd slide the hook point under the skin of the worm, so the point tip is covered.. This is called skin hooking and take fr Miles's pressure to hook set a skin hooked worm. Straight shank worm hooks have small barbs to hold the worm head onto the hook shank nd you rig nd skin hook the straight shnk hook the same as the off-set hook. The big difference is in the angle of the hook point; the straight shank point is angled up, not parallel to the worm body, easier to get good hook sets. 10 lb line with 4/0 heavy wire worm hook like Gamakatsu EWG iMay be a little light, unless you are fishing gin cler water. You could go up to 12 lb, better knot strength. I assume you are using a sliding sinker (classic T-rig)? What size is the weight? 3/16 oz? The weight size should be heavy enough so you can feel the worm on the bottom, not any heavier. If give a bass enough slack line so the fish doesn't feel any line pressure, the bass will swallow the worm most of the time. If the bass detects line pressure or rod tip pressure it may spit out the worm, depending on how aggressive the bass is at the time it strikes.. With a pegged sliding sinker you must hook set quickly, with a sliding T-rig sinker you have time to drop the rod tip and point it at the bass, reel in most of the slck line, then snap set, or continue to reel in slack until you feel slight pressure and sweep set; both techniques work. There is no reason to cross their eyes hook set with a premium sharp hook, all you do is risk breaking off a big bass. When bass move off with your worm, it's because there are other bass close by or the bass is in water too shallow for it's comfort and the bass will usually move straight out into deeper water if it's a big bass. Regardless, reel quickly and set the hook firmly. Tom

The old sting that bass don't have hands is true! There is another; swings are free, both apply to plastic worm fishing. Discernible your tackle; rod/reel/line/hook/ worm amd what rig? With this information it will be a lot easier to suggest the most effective hook setting technique. Tom

Your intro mentions Hamlin lake, is that in Michigan? Is this the region you do your spinnerbaits fishing? A spinnerbaits should have basic colors that flash like the baitfish the bass are feeding on. Spinnerbaits work well when bass are active and willing to case down a faster moving lure with a lot of flash and water movement. The blade type are selected to keep the spinnerbaits at a preferred depth, speed and produce vibrations the bass feel and see that indicate the baitfish they are looking for. If the lake pelagic baitfish like herring or aliwifes then nickel/polished brass willow blades orn1 willow and 1 Colorado blade to slow it down would be good choice. Pearl/lime green would be a food skirt color choice. Pearl white split tail spinnerbaits trailer. Same combination for baby bass during the summer. If the lake has crappie, bluegill, green sunfish and peach, I would slow the spinnerbaits down nd down size the blades and use Indianna polished brass or gold. Good skirt color would fire tiger; green/chartreuse/blue. Chartreuse with a orange maker stripe spinnerbaits split tail trailer. You would work willow blade 1 to 4 feet deep along weed breaks and docks for LMB, over rocky flats deeper water beeline for SMB. Work the Indianna blades 4 to 8 feet deep in the same areas and add rip rap,break walls. You may have some big toothy predators eating your spinner baits up,north. Tom PS; this gives you 2 basic color combinations and 2 different spinnerbait types for a total 4 spinnerbaits. Size depends on your preference and the baitfish size.

Thank you compliments, they are appreciated. I tried to send. PM and didn't get beyond the subject bar? If you want an address for the jig referenced send me a PM, the site my not be online yet. Tom

A jig relies on the trailer to provide life like movement when moving through the water column or sitting still on the bottom. The only other jig element that provides movement is the skirt and most of the skirt movement is very suttle until the jig makes a sudden stop when it hits the bottom and flares out, otherwise the skirt simply adds bulk and color. What this means is the trailer becomes the fish attracting component of the jig...a good trailer should be capable of catching bass without being attached to a jig! Think of the trailer in this light ; would you fish it on a C-rig, a T-rig? If you would what prey do you think the trailer looks like to the bass? Live bait Crawdads anglers look for Crawdads that are 2 1/2 to 3" body length, with small claws or no claws, that have molted recently and have brighter color shells. Bass don't like Crawdads with big claws, they prefer lively Crawdads with no or smaller claws because they are less dangerous to eat. This doesn't mean bass will avoid big clawed Crawdads, it' s a preference issue. The big clawed plastic trailers are more like a bluegill or bait fish profile and movement than a Crawdad. What all this comes down to is; select a trailer that moves like the prey the bass are targeting. Crawdads are slow moving and only move fast to escape a predator. Baitfish rarely move along the bottom, unless the baitfish are bottom feeders like sculpin or gobies. Larger adult size bass know what they are hunting for and you should also know if the bass are eating Crawdads or baitfish; jig trailers represent both. The trailer with twin tails and big flapping claws appendages have the profile of a baitfish to bass. The reason the old #11 pork frog works so good is it has suttle movement, small compact size, about 3" long when attached to the jig, without big claws, perfect Crawdad profile! When the trailer and jig overall length is 5" you are fishing a baitfish profile jig and can move it a little faster and more erratic to trigger strikes. Tom

Nick, I have been fishing jigs a very long time, the questions I asked were aimed to help you fill in a few missing details. Being a west coast bass angler where football head jigs first became popular back in the late 50's, I am aware of the advantages and limitations. Back in '71 I redesigned the football head to improve it's ability ro go through all types of rocky structure and improve strike to hook set ratio's. This jig has never been on the market. I fish for giant bass in a highly competitive high pressured small deep structured lakes in SoCal and have caught hundreds of giant bass on this jig. Weed guards are necessary only when fishing in cover that may snag the jig, otherwise I don't use a traditional weed guard because of missed strikes. When a LMB bass strikes a jig, it engulfs it into the back of it's mouth, then crunches the jig between it's tongue and roof of the mouth to kill it. This strike happens very quickly and the larger the bass, the faster the jig will be rejected. The only chance you have at setting the hook is to detect the strike. The problems a weed guard creates are hook point protection and leverage to roll the jig so it sits flat inside the basses mouth. When the bass opens it's mouth and the angler pulls the jig out without making any contact, due to the angle of line pull when casting a jig horizontally. This isn't as big a problem when fishing the jig vertically, because the line pull direction will sometimes rotate the jig slightly and the hook point finds mouth tissue. Hook sizes are also very important; most off the shelf jigs come with hooks sized for the average application and not optimized for specific presentations. The quality of the hook is usually selected for price, few jig are made with premium hooks that can cost .40 each, a Mustad .15 hook are common hook for the cost. The problem is most casting jigs have a hooks made from heavy wire, this makes it more imore difficult getting a good hook set with 50 to 90 feet of line in the water. Medium forged wire hook that are very strong and penetrates with less line force are an advantage when casting a jig. I prefer 3/0 hook for 1/8 to 3/16 oz, 4/0 for 1/4 ro 3/8 ps and 5/0 of 7/16 to 3/4 oz, Gamakatsu or Owner. The Arkie head by design is a short compact jig, good for verticle presentations and cover, not ideally suited for a casting jig. There is a new jig coming out called *** by Bo James. This jig resolves a lot issues with weed guards and head shape issues. The *** head shape works very good in all types of cover nd rocks. The weed guard is a dual flat plastic design that doesn't cover the hook point and prevents roll over when the bass crunches it. I would take a serious look at this jig, it should be available now. I do not sell my jig because it is very application specific for my own use. I believe the *** will become a main stay with jig anglers, because it can be used for both casting horizontally and pitching vertically. Tom PS; I have no ties to *** or any other jig manufacturer, just passing along the information.

Nick, I read both your articles, well written for your personal experiences fishing Hiil-land and high- land deep structured reservoirs south of the Mason-Dixon line or the heartland of largemouth bass fishing. There is a lot more bass fishing regions that don't have thread fin shad populations and northern strain LMB. Believe it or not there are more weekend non-tournament anglers than tournament anglers. Sometimes we need to remember bass fishing forums target all types of bass anglers and all skill levels. For me bass jigs come in 2 basic categories; jigs you fish vertical in heavy cover by flipping or pitching and jigs you cast and retrieve horizontally. Your article touched on horizontal jigging in or near cover break lines. Ideally the horizontal jig has a longer hook with a head design that keeps the hoop point upright for higher percentage hooking percentage. The most common head design being the football head or a modified version with a flat bottom. The problem with almost all commercial casting jigs is the weed guard design. So just focusing on the basic casting jig; what weight and hook size do you recommend and how do you modify the weed guards? You did an excellent write up on everything else! Tom

1 quart of water weighs 2 lb, 1/2 gallon weighs 4 lbs.. Your rod my not have enough power to handle 4 lbs of dead weight, so be careful trying to lift 4 lbs. You set it with 2 lbs dead weigh, lift the weight with the reel mounted on the rod, the line through the guides, lift the quart of water ans set the drag so it hold the weight and you can pull line off the reel withi light pressure. Check the rod guides with a cotton Q-tip, the cotton fibers will stick to any cracks. Tom

Set the reel drag at 1/3 the line strength. Run the line through all the rod guides, tie an over hand loop and have someone hold the scale while you put tension on the rod; 14 mobs use between 4 to 5 lbs. Always wet the knot before you cinch it down tight. Wit a clinch knot, use 5 turns. Improved clinch knot you run the line through the top loop and back down through the bottom loop. You shouldn't get bit off by pike using spinnerbaits. If that is a problem buy 6 to 8" commercial wire leader. What type of line are you using? Tom

It really depends what type of rain; a storm with high winds and down pours is not safe to be out on the water. Same with a high pressure cold front system, high winds make for tough fishing conditions. Light rain, showers are ideal fishing conditions. Cloudy post frontal conditions with light wind have little negative affect of bass fishing. If the rain raises the water level, the bass tend to go into the newly flooded areas and position near inflows and out flows to ambush prey and good fishing usually occurs. High pressure post frontal conditions can be a challenge; the shallow bass tend to be less aggressive and tighter to cover; good time tp practice your flipping & pitching. Another option is going deeper and looking for bait and bass on structure and practice your drop shot or shaky jigs. Get out there if it's safe and enjoy your time on the water and don't worry about things you can't control. Tom

Spawning coves are almost always in wind protected areas with deeper water access close by. If you look at your lake start with the north west areas first. If the lake is larger than 2,000 acres and is a man made reservoir, look at the area the opposite end of the dam. LMB prefer to make nests in a spot that has 1 side protected from eaters like sunfish, bluegill and Crawdads; look for boulders, brush, dock pilings or weed pockets with a cleared area. The nest site should not be shaded, sunlight warms the eggs. The water temperature should be warming daily from 55 to 62 degrees at the depth of the bed site for pre spawn and you should be some cruisers in the areas. When the weather is stable, the water has warmed to 62 to 65 degrees, the first wave do spawner's will show up; smaller males staking out nest sites, the larger females cruising, but not holding on beds. When you see pairs of bass on the bed site, the spawn has started. It's best to time your bed fishing at the very beginning of the spawn cycle, the big females will not stay around very long, about 2 days max.! With 2 to 3 cycles. The drop shot rig is ideal for bed fishing, the weight about 6" below the exposed point hook. A jig is also very effective. Colors that you can see well: pearl white/chartreuse works everywhere. A compact jig also works, takes a little more skill to excite the bass into striking. I would start with water 2' to 3' feet, unless it's clear enough to easily see deeper. A wide bream sun shaded hat and good polarized sunglasses are a must. It's often easier to see a bass leaving a nest, than to see the net itself. The bass will return if you back off and then you know where the net is. Please release bed bass immediately; do not transport them away from the nest area. Tom PS; best guess would be Feb/Mar in your area, depending on weather conditions.

The most important feature any man made reservoir has is the bottom contour. I didn't open the links, but did look at the photos attached and the lake looks to be close to full pool, definitely a positive. Summer LMB have a lot of prey choices, it is up to you to determine what the preferred prey choice is at the time you are fishing. Summer is transitioning to fall, so things will change quickly. The key to catching bass consistantly is to locate active bass. The suspended fish you may have metered on your sonar unit (?) are inactive fish, I have no idea if they are bass or not! Few questions; describe your fishing tackle and boat. Do you know if this lake has a thread fin shad population? Do you have a topographic map that shows bottom contour in 1 or 2 foot elevations? Depending on your tackle, let's choose a few lures that should work and stay with those for a few months. Tom

Kentucky's are northern spots, rarely exceed 14", average about 12".Few bass anglers would be happy catching dinks all day! Tom

Depending on the region you bass fish there are at least 2 separate largemouth bass and spotted bass species that tend to get lumped tougher as the same bass. Northern largemouth bass are micropterus slmoniddes, the Florida Largemouthbis is a separate bass micropterus salamoides floridanus; different scale counts and DNA, grows to be at least 25% larger. When transplanted into the same lakes as northern largemouth the Florida largemouth behave differently, more wary and prefers larger bait fish. The same is true with spotted bass; the northern spotted bass punetulatus Pune, the Alambama spotted bass punetulatus henshalli. The northern spotted bass are smaller than the Alabama spotted and far more agressive when stocked in the same lakes and rivers. The Alabama spotted bass grows to nearly 50% larger size than the northern spotted bass. Both spotted bass species are more agressive than largemouth bass and prefer habitate similar to smallmouth bass; less cover and deeper structure areas. Spots will put up a good strong fight pound for pound equal to smallmouth, very strong bass! If you know how and where to catch smallmouth, you should be able to locate spotted bass. If you prefer larger size spots, fish waters with Alabama spots and the same is true with largemouth; Florida largemouth grow larger. Spots will inter grade with smallmouth and northern LMB inter grade with Florida LMB with living in the same waterways and creates problems trying to determine if you have pure species with several bass species today. Tom