Hi all, had a quick question about the scrounger head. I've been trying to fish more scroungers this fall heading into winter. The ones I purchased are the Aaron Marten models. Their wobble is not near as pronounced as the videos I see online. I do have the Long bill models and I was just wondering if anyone else sees a difference in action depending upon the size of the bill and the size of the bait. Thank you!

Bait choice will definitely have an effect.  I threw a lot of scrounger heads in Florida and kept my trailer selection to longer, more slender baits to get the most action.  

While I can not offer a definitive reason as to why your baits are not running like the one's in videos,

I will say that my most successful presentation with this bait is always low (on or near the bottom) and super slow.

There are times where a lift & drop (on a semi-tight line) has proven effective.

Regardless on the 'retrieve' you'll note a common theme amongst the trailers pictured below.

These are time tested selections that work well with where & how I fish a scrounger head.

Although not an all inclusive list - it's a fair representation of what I prefer to use. 

 

A-Jay

To answer the op's question the shorter the bill the faster a Scrounger oscillates or wiggles depending on how ridgid the bill is and trailer used.

The original Scroungers back in the 70's had a thicker medium length bill compared to the variations copying it after the patent expired. The 1st copy was made by Lead Master in SoCal called a Wiggle head and used a thinner stamped bill that was longer to achieve a similar oscillation as the original shorter thicker bill. 

When Aaron Martens tried to market a 3rd version he offered both short and long bill Scroungers the same thickness as the original, neither versions duplicated the original medium bill. A 4 th version called a Tremmer head uses Aaron's 3rd versions bill with larger hook and offers heavier jig heads, I have fished all 4 versions.

I haven't tried Aaron's new 5th version, my guess is he corrected the bill design and added larger hook and heavier jig heads with smaller diameter collars.

Scroungers should have a tight wiggle similar to the original Rapala minnow and not a wide wobble when a trailer is added.

The original came supplied with a spear shape tail soft plastic worm as a trailer and that is the shape that works best for me. I use a Sluggo as the trailer and haven't found anything better over the nearly 40 years fishing them.

Very versitile lure that can be retreived like a crankbait, slow rolled spinnerbait or jigged on or near the bottom.

Tom

 

Thank you fellas, great info.