@casts_by_fly for weedless shakeyheads you have 2 options.  Offset or weed guard.  Like I said, I throw a football head with the exposed hook more than the shakeyhead now.  

@TOXIC- I get you.  the first is basically my Ned head (bass union) for lighter weeds.  The second is another Ned head (I have them in that head type and with a football head with weed guard) that I’ll fish around rock plus a little wood or docks.  Neither is coming through heavier weeds as well as other options.

 

I’ll give the shakies a try on the rock lakes and probably stick to the other choices on the weed lakes.

On 12/13/2025 at 9:50 PM, casts_by_fly said:

You shaky head guys must all have hard bottom lakes with no grass.  Being away from bas fishing for a while there were a few techniques that got popular from 2005-2020 that I had to get acquainted with when i picked it back up again.  A shaky was one.  I picked up a pack or two of heads and there is no chance i could get them through the grass in lots of my lakes.  I can completely see it for grass less lakes, but not in grass.

If you want the same worm presentation but vegetation friendly look into the jika rig, it was one of my staples during my tournament fishing years down in Florida, mostly with fat roboworms and senkos.

On 12/13/2025 at 5:30 PM, MN Fisher said:

My two best catchers this past year were a 1/16oz shaky with Zoom Finesse Worm, or a 1/8oz shaky with a Zoom Trick Worm.

Try the Zoom Swamp Crawler, it has replaced both the Finesse and Trick worm for me. 

 

Allen 

I had a really good day with the shaky-head at Clearlake.  not sure why it just fell off the radar for me.  

its like a big long ned-rig in my mind.  I went to the store and bought official heads and everything and just never went back to it.  

I love fishing a shakey head.  

A lot of guys went to ned rigs for a numbers bait, which I completely understand.  

What I think really hurt the number of guys who fish them is the Neko rig.  The neko gives you bottom contact without having to worry about beating up your knot or leader.  The neko also fishes much cleaner in grass and rocks when compared to the SH.  Decoy and Ryugi make a weedless neko hook that works really well.  Ryugi markets it as a backsliding hook.  

 

If you have you have trouble fishing a SH in grassy water, the first thing I recommend doing is fishing with a 1/16oz head.  Even when Im not in the grass I dont use more than 3/32 in water <10".  That lighter head wont dig into the grass or slime nearly as much, but gives you enough weight to keep a smaller straight down. 

Some of my lakes are loaded with milfoil too heavy to be efficient with a SH.  A T rig gives a similar look, but for a finessey look I do something else.

I take a 4" straight tail,(some guys prefer a 4" sickletail, its just preference) like a bubbling shaker, hit worm, cutdown airtail, fat roboworm/open pour swamp crawler and so on.  A light (1/32-1/16) darter head (or ballhead in a pinch) (1/32 or 1/16) with a small lighter wire hook (#1 or smaller 1/0 but no bigger) work the best for me.  I fish the grass lines, trying to get the bait stuck in the grass.  It wont get too deep because of the light weight.  The small light wire hook makes it easy to pop the bait out, almost like ripping a bladed jig or trap, just with more subtlety.  This works all year, but really shines in the fall on those days where I cant buy a bite.  As long as you can find some healthy grass, it works pretty well. 

  

Shakey head blew up when KVD used it to win on Lake Lewisville in TX back in '05 (and caught the lake record).  He was using a standard jighead and rigging his worm weedless.  

I didn't know that KP, thanks for the info.

On 12/14/2025 at 12:50 AM, casts_by_fly said:

You shaky head guys must all have hard bottom lakes with no grass.  Being away from bas fishing for a while there were a few techniques that got popular from 2005-2020 that I had to get acquainted with when i picked it back up again.  A shaky was one.  I picked up a pack or two of heads and there is no chance i could get them through the grass in lots of my lakes.  I can completely see it for grass less lakes, but not in grass.

I fish them in grassy lakes throughout the whole year.  Seemingly like everything else, Ive done the best with them in post frontal conditions late winter/early prespawn.  

One thing I have learned fishing with a lot of friends and club members is that using 1/16oz head vs 1/8 or even 3/32 in some cases makes all the difference in the world. 

The shape of the head, size and design of the hook are important as well.  

The Gami Tricky Head is my favorite for thinner finesse style worms over 4.5" or slightly thicker worms/stickbaits.  The shank on the hook is a little long for your average 4.5" finesse worm, but I feel like i can get away with shorter baits that have a wider profile, like hula stix or big trds.

Its hard to find a SH with a shank that isn't too long for those 4 and 4.5" finesse worms, but there a few. 

Bite me tackle makes a finesse shakey head with a very short 2/0 gami available in 1/16 and they're a steal compared to other SH prices.  The keeper tends to tear worms up, and I'm not crazy about the horizontal eye in grass, but they work really well. 

Davis Baits makes a great short shanked shakey head elite.  I just haven't found anyone who carries the 1/16 heads, so I have to order them direct from Davis.  I like to get them in red.

When im fishing slightly thicker baits or fishing in and around grass/cover, I use an EWG head, the finesse rugby head specifically.  The standard rugby is a good option too, but I prefer the 90* line tie on the finesse rugby as opposed to the 60* on the standard rugby.  For whatever reason VMC decided to discontinue the finesse rugby.  There are several alternatives available and the BU EWG would be a good replacment.