| Throw A Throwback: Hair Jigs For Bass |
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| Monday, 10 December 2007 | |
Living rubber and silicone have largely pushed hair jigs off of tackle shelves in many markets, but these old standbys still catch fish, and may be your best lure choice this summer. Sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s, there was a changing of the guard in the world of bass fishing. It wasn’t the switch from fiberglass to graphite rods or the changeover from pushbutton baitcasters to the thumb bar. The change I’m talking about is the switch from hair jigs to rubber and, later, silicone skirt materials. In the 1970s, the change looked pretty good. After all, bucktail is pretty still, and marabou isn’t very durable. It’s no wonder rubber and silicone caught on and ultimately took over most bass applications. More than 20 years later, however, hair jigs are back – and they’re better than ever. No, I’m not advocating a return to bucktail or marabou. Today we have more and better options. Technology has given us acrylic and modacrylic fibers that outperform natural hair and feathers. That’s right: the same fibers that make a toy troll’s hair stand on end will put more bass – bigmouths, smallies and spots – in your boat this summer. Take our experts' advice and you’ll make the switch back to hair jigs. STEPHEN HEADRICK: SMALLMOUTHS AT NIGHT You don’t earn the nickname “Smallmouth Guru” without having a special knack for catching brown bass, and that term perfectly describes Stephen Headrick (www.PunisherLures.com). He’s been fishing and making hair jigs for years, first for his personal use and later for the public. His favorite tactic for tempting smallies during the dog days of summer involves a hair jig and a plastic trailer – and a shift in fishing hours. “In the heat of summer, there’s just no better way to catch smallmouths than by fishing a jig at night.” Headrick said. Especially in the clear waters that brown bass favor, Headrick shifts his attention to the night bite. “Smallmouth hate light,” he said. “They’ll even avoid moonlight during a full moon.” Headrick believes that few anglers give the moon its due when it comes to smallmouth fishing. The fish have taught him to fish the shade – even at night. Headrick’s study of crawfish – the smallie’s favorite food – taught him that the little crustaceans also change colors in sync with moon phases. “During the period of the first-quarter moon,” he said, “crawfish have a reddish tint to them. That’s when I throw a black and red jig with a red plastic chunk trailer. As the moon goes into full, crawfish take on a greenish tint, and I’ll go to a black and green or olive-green jig with an avocado or green plastic chunk.” Headrick always tries to match is baits with the natural forage. His penchant for changing colors continues as the moon completes its cycle. "As the moon goes out of full and into the third quarter, I like a black and blue jig with a blue chunk or a black chunk with blue glitter,” Headrick continued. “For the new moon, the crawdads are at their darkest. That’s when I use a black or dark brown hair jig with a black or brown plastic chunk.” His color preferences apply whether he is fishing during the day or the night. Whenever he’s jig-fishing for summertime smallies, Headrick’s bait of choice is a craft hair jig of his own design – The Punisher – in the 1/4 ounce size. But while he might use 4- and 6-pound test line during the day in the clear waters that smallmouths haunt, at night he opts for 12- pound line and a sturdy baitcaster. Combine the light hair jig with relatively heavy line and you’ve got a bait that will fall slowly and tantalizingly in front of its finny targets. Headrick impales a soft-plastic chunk on his jig’s hook. He’s careful not to choose one that’s had salt cooked in it. “Salt-impregnated baits are too dense and sink too fast,” he said. “I want my bait to fall slowly.” Inside the chunk, Headrick inserts a special rattle. It’s not like the conventional rattles that are built into many silicone jigs. This rattle comes in a sealed metal pouch with a hole on one end. The pouch is pushed into the meaty part of the plastic chunk so that when it’s threaded onto the jig hook, the hook will run through the chunk and the hole in the rattle. “Smallmouths are curious creatures,” Headrick opined. “Sometimes the rattle makes a big difference in drawing strikes, and I want every advantage I can get.” When the Smallmouth Guru is fishing for brown bass, maybe it’s the fish that need the edge. BOB COAN: SWIMMING A JIG When fishing a jig for bass, most anglers hop or crawl the bait across the bottom, thinking that this retrieve best imitates a crawfish as it scuttles across the lake floor. Not so, according to bass specialist Bob Coan (http://www.BobCoan.com), who says he catches more and bigger bass by swimming a jig in a manner that emulates a crawfish that’s swimming for its life. “Sure, crawfish crawl a lot, but they swim in stretches of 3 or 4 feet at a time when they’re frightened,” Coan said, “like when they’re being chased by a bass.” Coan’s bait of choice when swimming a jig is a 1/8- to 3/8-ounce Punisher or Hoss Fly jig in black, black and blue, green and orange, black and red, brown or brown and orange. He typically tips his jigs with a plastic chunk that’s had its claws dipped in fluorescent orange dye. Tie such a bait onto a medium-action spinning rig with 8- pound test monofilament and you’re in business. The weight of Coan’s jig depends upon the depth he’s fishing. Down to about 20 feet, he usually uses a 1/8-ounce model because, he says, “Crawfish move slowly, and I want a slow-falling bait.” Water deeper than 20 feet requires a heavier bait or a good deal more patience for it to fall into the strike zone. Like Headrick, Coan attaches a rattle to his jig via the plastic chunk. He believes the sound of the rattle may emulate a scurrying crawfish. “When a crawfish swims, it has to move its tail – which is made of shell,” he said. “That shell-against-shell movement creates a clicking sound that’s something like the rattle in the jig.” Coan also likes to dress his jigs up with some scent. His favorite is a Punisher Jigs product called “Fish Dope.” It’s a paste that can be judiciously applied to any bait. “You don’t want to use any of the spray scents on a hair jig,” Coan advised, “because they mat the hair down and ruin the action. I take a little of the crawfish-flavored Fish Dope and spread it on the jig collar and the chunk before I ever get the bait wet – it stays on better that way. It may not be a fish attractant, but I believe it helps to mask the human scent, and it gives me confidence.” Coan’s favorite places to swim a jig for summer smallmouths are around rocks and grass. “That’s where the crawfish are at this time of year,” he said. “They spawn around the rocks during every full moon in the summer. Then, during the new moon period, you’ll find a lot of crawfish holding in grass along with baitfish.” Though he generally swims a jig in short stretches – 3 to 4 feet – Coan sometimes keeps the bait off the bottom for even longer runs, such as when he’s trying to imitate a baitfish. “Whenever there’s current, I like to swim a jig on the lee side of points,” he said. “That’s where bass will ambush baitfish that are being pushed by the flow. Then I’ll choose a baitfish color like silver, white or gray and only let the bait touch bottom to give myself a reference point.” Whether he’s fishing rocks, grass or points, Coan is a line watcher. “Most strikes come as the jig is falling,” he said, ‘so you have to watch for the slightest twitch or movement in the line. When you see it, set the hook hard.” RALPH SANDFER: AS THE WORM TURNS Ralph Sandfer ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) has one of those smiles – partly mischievous, entirely friendly – that’ll make you think he knows something nobody else knows. To see it is to wonder just what he’s up to. When it comes to summer bassing, what Sandfer is up to is a very different kind of plastic-worm fishing. His tackle is not out of the ordinary, and his rigging methods are pretty standard, but his choice of plastic worms is almost certainly different from anything you’ve ever seen. The bait – called the “Hairey Joe” – is best described as a hairy-tailed plastic worm. Instead of a conventional plastic curlytail or paddletail, the Hairey Joe features a plume of craft hair that adds color, buoyancy and action to the classic bass bait. “The bass on heavily-pressured lakes have seen almost every kind of soft-plastic lure, but they haven’t seen that hair on a worm,” Sandfer said. “It floats and flutters like nothing else.” When Sandfer talks about the action of a particular bait or the fish’s reaction to it, he speaks with a good deal more authority than can most anglers. Not only has he fished his favorite waters extensively, but he’s also scuba-dived on them and seen just how bass respond to baits in the wild. It’s part of what makes him a great bass angler. Sandfer’s favorite method of fishing the Hairey Joe is on a Carolina rig. His leader length is usually in the 3-foot range, but it depends upon the type of cover he’s fishing. “In rocks or on a relatively clean bottom,” he said, “I’ll use a shorter leader because the bass should be able to see the bait easily. If I’m fishing grass or weeds, I go to a longer leader so the bait doesn’t disappear into the cover.” Like our other experts, Sandfer is a fanatic about rattles and scents with his bass baits. He inserts a small plastic rattle in his plastic worms to give them a little extra noise and appeal. By placing the rattle between the eye of the hook and the hook point, he gets the sound he’s looking for without interfering with the bait’s action. To the same end, Sandfer likes the noise produced by the sinker as it’s dragged across the bottom. He prefers the new tungsten and titanium sinkers because they’re smaller than their lead counterparts and because they're smaller, he believes they may avoid snags better than does lead. “I use the lightest sinker that I can get away with,” Sander said. “I think sinkers that are too heavy might make too much noise and alert the fish to the fact that something’s wrong.” Sandfer also likes to add scent to his baits. Garlic-flavored Fish Dope paste is his favorite, and he adds salt to the mixture if the worm doesn’t already have it. “I think it keeps the fish hanging on long enough so that I can set the hook,” he said. Just how deep Sandfer goes for his summer bass depends on water clarity and the thermocline. “The clearer the water, the deeper the fish generally are,” he said. “Of course, the thermocline usually marks the deepest level that holds oxygen, so I generally don’t fish any deeper than that.” BOBBY GENTRY: FLIPPING AND PITCHING Jig-fishing isn’t all light lines and finesse – sometimes you have to get right in the heart of cover to find the lunkers. And that’s where flipping and pitching and Bobby Gentry ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) come in. Though Gentry is the co-owner of B&G Plastics and developed the Hairey Joe worm that Ralph Sandfer uses, he earned his reputation as a jig-fisherman. Gentry is a veteran jig-fisherman who’s put in a lot of hours with a flipping-and-pitching rod. But while most anglers have opted for rubber or silicone jigs over the past 20 years, Gentry prefers craft hair. “The key to the hair jig is that it falls slower than a silicone jig, and it offers a lot more action,” Gentry said. “By slowing the fall and adding action, you’re going to get more bites.” Gentry’s favorite places to flip and pitch in the summer are up in the feeder creeks and rivers of impoundments. That’s where he finds cooler water and bass. He typically runs far enough up the creeks to find flowing water. “Moving water will not only be cooler than the main lake,” Gentry said, “but it’ll hold more oxygen, and it will position the fish for you. The bass are going to be facing into the flow and holding behind anything that breaks up the current, like a log or rock.” Gentry believes that the best river and creek cover for flipping and pitching will be near deep water. Blowdowns and rocks on deep channel bends are ideal. His favorite jig colors for summertime flipping and pitching are black and blue, white, green, and brown and orange. Black and blue is an all-around favorite and a good choice in muddy water, whereas white is his choice if lots of baitfish are present. Similarly, he goes to brown and orange when fishing around rocks where he expects the bass to be feeding on crawfish. Green is Gentry’s favorite color in dingy water. Whatever color he’s fishing, Gentry doctors his bait up with garlic Fish Dope, again being careful not to get any on the hair of the jig. He also likes to add a rattle to his jigs, especially if the water’s dirty. “I’ll usually start with a rattle in the plastic chunk,” he said, “but if I’m not getting bit, I’ll take it out. You have to let the fish tell you what they want.” The size of Gentry’s jig depends not on the depth of the water he’s fishing, but on the type of cover he’s working. “Weeds and heavy grass call for a light jig,” Gentry said. “If you go too heavy, the jig will get mired in the grass. On the other hand, I like a heavier jig for fishing in and around woody cover. It penetrates the branches better than a light jig. Gentry fishes the hair jig on heavy line – 17- to 30-pound-test. Nothing lighter can withstand the stress of dense cover. Once the jig’s in that cover, he’s in no big hurry to move it. “When you’re pitching and flipping,” Gentry said, “you’re trying to put the bait right where they live. A lot of times I get a strike before the jig can even fall to the bottom. That’s why it’s important to watch your line closely as the jig falls.” And when he gets a strike, Gentry pays close attention to how the bass reacts. “If the fish stays put, he was probably alone on that piece of cover. But if the fish immediately swims away with the bait, there’s usually another fish close by.” Originally appeared in Iowa GAME & FISH - July, 2003 |
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