Many years ago, I read the story of LJ Brasher. He became well known for catching many huge bass on the muskie jitterbug while night fishing.                                     After reading about him, I bought a black muskie jitterbug, and, tried several times using it at a local lake.  I never caught a single bass on the big lure.                                  I did have good success on the standard size 3/8 and 5/8 oz Jitterbugs, and caught many bass on night trips with them. I'm not sure why I never did well with the muskie jitterbug. I may try it again this summer.                        I will say, if you've never used a jitterbug at night, your missing out on some exciting fishing. The bass blast these plugs at night, and the strikes are very hard, often, right next to the boat or the bank.                                        Has anyone else done well at night with the muskie Jitterbug?

I love giant jitterbugs. I’ve used a 3 ounce 5 inch wooden jitterbug made for salt, and some 8 inch jointed ones. They get bit day and night 

I must have read the same article and bought one too . Never caught a fish with it. Couldnt cast it very well either because my equipment wasn't sufficient.

Check out Big Bass Podcast, if you haven't already.   Recent episode nerded out on it for  about an hour last month.

 

I have never owned one.  I do have a muskie wake plug that I never considered for bass....but now that I think about it, it probably isn't much, if any bigger than a Lunker Punker... hmmm

Big lures catch big bass...sometimes. I have caught some of my biggest bass at night on wakes. Sometimes the jitterbug and crawlers just make too much artificial noise IMO and seem to scare big fish away in pressured waters. 

 

I have had the best luck with more subtle wakes like a Wad3 Hogg or other 3 piece lipped wake.

21 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

Big lures catch big bass...sometimes. I have caught some of my biggest bass at night on wakes. Sometimes the jitterbug and crawlers just make too much artificial noise IMO and seem to scare big fish away in pressured waters. 

 

I have had the best luck with more subtle wakes like a Wad3 Hogg or other 3 piece lipped wake.

Thats an interesting theory.  I love fishing at night with wakes. I do fish mostly slow subtle baits. I know of guys who crush it locally (MA) with crawlers. Like 8lb fish.  I haven’t broke 7lbs at night. All my big fish were during the day. 

They're very effective on calm, dark nights. If using one, then the mentality should be BIG fish. Not always will this happen but when it does, it's like a smashing like no other, a very angry hit. Brasher "tuned" his jitterbugs. He reshaped the aluminum cup to make different sounds. He also relocated the rear treble hook to the very end of the lure, probably for better hookup ratios. Seems to me that most of these big guns who fish at night for DD fish always end up "tuning" their lures. Same with Pat Cullen, he "tuned" his buzzbaits. Nothing stock seemed to work for them. So they all resorted to making their own modifications, which obviously worked! 

5 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Thats an interesting theory.  I love fishing at night with wakes. I do fish mostly slow subtle baits. I know of guys who crush it locally (MA) with crawlers. Like 8lb fish.  I haven’t broke 7lbs at night. All my big fish were during the day. 

I am aware - some of that IMO is those MA fish are caught in ponds. Pond fish/small body of water fish are different animals. They aren't pressured in the same way as reservoir fish and don't see tons of different techniques. They also can't get away from the angler and are used to be the biggest predator there - they literally eat everything that comes there way. For a pond bass to get big they need to eat a lot because they lose a lot of growth period in the winter months when it freezes over. 

 

A bass is a bass is a bass....right? I disagree. I constantly see people from the south and out west preaching about ways to catch big bass. Northern bass are hella different than those bass. The biggest bass in the NE are a LOT older than Florida strains in warm places. To get as big as some Northern bass they do they need to:

A. Have an aversion to chasing down every lure they see.

B. Hunt at night.

C. Find cooler water to not burn as many calories. 

D. Have the right food sources and plenty of easy access to it.

 

I equate it to a big 500 lb person...they want lots of food but they surely aren't going to chase down a food truck to get that meal. So a big fish is looking for big easy meals that aren't necessarily gonna get away from them or give them a hard time. A lot of times they like to pin their bait against a wall...for them that is the bottom of the lake or the surface. 

 

This obviously all my opinion but is based off of years of night fishing, fishing big baits and looking for big northern fish.

 

I have a good friend who throws a modified Muskiebug and catches huge bass. There’s an article about him in Bassmaster this month. He modifies them like Brashere did with a few extra tricks. 

I love these crawler type of lures! I have the smallest Jitterbug. I recently got a sized down version in soft plastic by Raid called the Micro Dodge. But the full size version is the Deka Dodge and catches fish! 

 

And of course the incredible Jackall Pompadour! 

 

These baits are just fun to throw and I love the racket and sounds they make.

4 hours ago, BigBassnMan said:

I follow this dude on FB.....he posts monsters weekly. 

 

He's the modern version of LJ or Pat.  He was on the big bass podcast referenced above as well. 

I have been throwing the modified Muskie Jitterbugs on a few night trips as well as early morning & late evening on daytime trips. Big Bass eat them! 

  While I haven't yet landed a DD on a Modified Muskie Jitterbug, I have caught one that was 2 ounces shy of 8 pounds, another they was 7 pounds and multiple 5-6 pound fish on the technique so far. (And I have unfortunately dumped a few other big ones).  It's an exciting bite when they eat it. It's violent! 

 I am a huge fan of LJ Brasher's History, and Happen to own the Last remaining jitterbug that belonged to LJ (Gifted to me by his Son). The man's legacy is something that should be applauded. Very unique story about a super hardcore Trophy Bass Hunter....

Jimmy Zinker is a living expert on the technique and modifying the old wooden bugs to be as close as possible to the way that LJ modified them. I think Zinker logged 5 DD's on the technique in just a short window of time earlier this season. 

 

I recommend the technique to anyone who wants to target big fish by way of excitement. It's truly something Awesome the way they eat the Jitterbug! 

These original wooden jitterbugs are very expensive! So I just made my own out of cedar at a fraction of the cost. Not so hard to tune them, either. Just work the baits until the right pitch/tone is achieved, which is by repositioning and bending the front lip. The area that I fish is very shallow, so the modifications would be different from, say, deeper water. Works great! 

 

 

Never had good results on the wooden musky jitterbug on a dark night. They shine from dusk to about 1/2 hour before total darkness where I fish. You don’t work this lure it’s just a boring slow crawl that works best.

Tom

On 9/17/2024 at 12:00 PM, Zcoker said:

These original wooden jitterbugs are very expensive! So I just made my own out of cedar at a fraction of the cost. Not so hard to tune them, either. Just work the baits until the right pitch/tone is achieved, which is by repositioning and bending the front lip. The area that I fish is very shallow, so the modifications would be different from, say, deeper water. Works great! 

 

 

 

Tom,

Where do you get the lips? I've got a lathe and can make bodies easily. 

1 hour ago, Kevin Coffey said:

 

Tom,

Where do you get the lips? I've got a lathe and can make bodies easily. 

I can't answer for Tom, but I've seen them at Barlows.

22 hours ago, Kevin Coffey said:

 

Tom,

Where do you get the lips? I've got a lathe and can make bodies easily. 

Just buy the cheap plastic ones and use the lip from them is what I did. Held on with deep thread stainless screws. Then I modify or “tune” them just right. I reposition the rear hook directly out of the rear end instead of dangling from the bottom. Heavy duty saltwater split rings along with BKK saltwater hooks hold the big girls. Works wonders in the shallow dead calm glass-like water of the everglades. The explosions split the night wide open!
 

BTW that same lure in the photo has seen the mouth of two alligators and how I got it back both times I can never say lol Just an example how much abuse it can take and still perform flawlessly. 

On 3/14/2024 at 9:18 AM, JediAmoeba said:

I have had the best luck with more subtle wakes like a Wad3 Hogg or other 3 piece lipped wake.

 

What models do you have good success with?

I believe the first Whopper Plopper was a Muskie size lure.  When anglers began regularly catching Bass on them, River to Sea began creating smaller size versions.

44 minutes ago, Tackleholic said:

I believe the first Whopper Plopper was a Muskie size lure.  When anglers began regularly catching Bass on them, River to Sea began creating smaller size versions.

 

Oh I've got a couple large whopper ploppers that haven't touched water yet.

 

I can't catch them on the smaller ones I sure as hell probably can't catch them on the larger ones.

 

LOL

El Choppo er Choppo is better. 😆

Would a wake bait perform better at night than a popper?

 

Advantages?

 

I went out last night and smashed them with a PopMax.

 

Caught at least 20, maybe 30 total. Some on a swim jig but most on the popper.

 

Wasn't much size to them though. Mostly foot longers.

 

Not being able to see the bait and just hearing the splash will never get old.

 

Ton of fun.

13 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Would a wake bait perform better at night than a popper?

 

 

I've wondered as much.

 

My OSP Buzzin Heavy Hitter and Deps Buzzjet seem like they'd get smashed at night.

On 10/1/2025 at 11:36 AM, HawkeyeSmallie said:

 

What models do you have good success with?

You can get Toxic Baits Wade Hoggs. I have the resin models but there are ABS models available. Other good cheaper baits would be the fishlab biogill wake, river2sea tacticalwake and a Bullshad wake. Some of the rats are ok, but the 2 piece ones seem to work better for me...

I have a few...