Ok, I have a quick question.  

 

I have a tournament this weekend and I am a little late to the shakey head fishing game.  It really has never been a big weapon in my box.  But, I was planning to use this method this weekend, so I have no confidence in it at all!  I was thinking about taking say a Zoom Finesse worm and fishing it bullet weight (3/16 oz & 2/0 hook EWG) and fishing it T-rig.

 

Are those methods close enough to be effective, or do I need to take a tournament on the chin and get my shakey head "sea legs," together?

 

 

If so, any tips, tricks, superstitions are greatly appreciated!!

 

Wdy

I drag a shakey head across bottom.  Texas Rig i fish up and down in the water column.  Two different approaches IYAM.

Tip #1...........if this is how you fish tournaments....Please PLEASE enter tournaments I fish in.

I wouldn't really "plan" on using a Shakey or trigged worm in the tournament... Only if I can't get bites on any other searchbaits would I then switch to a slow technique like that, you should have been practicing with the shaky head weeks before the tourney if you wanted to be good with it, not pull it out on tourney day and expect to get great results. The competition isn't till this weekend so you still have time to go get an pattern together and find the fish, then you can get a real "plan"

Ya really do you really want to fish low confidence in competition?

I'd work out everything in practice and just execute my gameplan in competition.

No confidence under pressure situations = not working the bait right = no fun = no win

No reason to fish something you have no confidence in during a tournament.... shaky head if the bite is really slow but T-rig to move up and down the water column more. use what you are confident in

I agree use a search bait to find fish. A shaky head for me is if I know I'm on fish and they have shut off, then I'll pull it out. As far as shaky heads go, the owner ones are tough to beat!

Shakey heads just seem to work so well here in the VA waters.  Normally, give me a Rapala DT series, or something like that and let me make long casts.  But, the last three tournaments all had people in the top three using a shakey head.

 

Thanks guys,

Just throw it wacky.  then throw it T-rig, and then throw it Shakey.  see which preforms better.  Fishing Tournaments is a great time to try something new.  Beginners luck might pay off!  

There is no absolute rule on this but I tend to fish the Texas Rig when I am pitching/ casting into grass and the shaky head on sandy, rocky areas or where the grass is light. What I like about the shaky head if using a buoyant plastic with a well designed jighead the bait will stand up and give you an opportunity to tease reluctant biters. If you do a search for shaky head fishing you will find a number of tutorials on how to do it, I basically drag, shake and sometimes hop the bait. I personally would not use this technique in a tournament until you get an opportunity to catch some fish on it and are proficient at it.

 

My favorite combo for shaky head fishing are Senko style baits that I have custom poured without salt on a 1/4 oz ( sometimes 3/8 oz ) Picasso football shaky head. The reason I like the football head style is won't tip on you and the flat spot on this jighead tends to let me rock it in place if lightly shaking on slack line. With my no salt Senkos I have a bulky worm sitting at a 60 degree angle at the bottom of the lake and nearby bass have a hard time resisting it. Watermelon Candy is my most consistent color. 

I posted this a few minutes ago on the other ShakE2 thread:

 

Also try lifting the ShakE2 just of the bottom and letting it sit before

moving it forward. I caught a +/- 6lb bass yesterday using this presentation

riggrg with a GYCB Kut Tail (green pimpkin/ black flakes).

Here´s something for you to think about and make it more confusing, my friend Rigoberto can´t catch a cold with a Texas rig, nada, nuthin´, not even a nibble, all he catches is with a shakeyhea; the interseting thing here is that we´re in the same boat separated buy a few feet, casting to pretty much the same spots and I´m catching them with pretty much the same bait but with a Texas rig.

I'm new to them as well and I had a real good few days on the water thanks to shaky heads last week.  I prefer to use creature baits with lots of wiggly bits such as the Flappin Hog II and Rodent instead of a worm.  The hot bite for me has been to make those perfect pitches to fixed wooden docks and let it sit and then gently move it slowly.  

 

The T-rig does not encourage the bait to stand up like a shaky head.  If I need to pitch a bait to fish and have the bait stand upright in it's face, then the shaky head or jig is my go to rig.  If I'm looking for slow fall and to get bit on the fall, then the T-rig is what I'm going to be pitching.