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JIGGING SPOONS
By: "The Bass Coach" ... Roger Lee
Brown
Through out the past several
years while fishing with co-anglers, charter clients, and some of my bass
fishing school students, I have noticed that most of the fisherman and women
don't carry jigging spoons in their boxes, in fact when I ask them if
they've ever used one they usually reply that they have never used one or
they wouldn't know the first thing about using them. Well, let me suggest to
you that a jigging spoon is a very "Highly Productive" type of lure that you
need to learn if you plan to do a variety of bass fishing.
There are many different brands of jigging spoons on the market today to
choose from and most of them work as well as any others that you might
select from all the different manufacturers but there is always an exception
to the rule, right?
While recently on a fishing business trip in California a fellow (a former
bass fishing school student of mine whom I spent 3-days on the water with)
introduced these jigging spoons to me, and let me tell you: "You won't find
any better than these!" They have such a unique design, ultra sharp hooks,
and the different color combinations are great, anyway, when I got back home
to Lake Champlain and Lake George, NY I headed straight for the water to
give them a try. I caught a limit in the first two hours of using these
jigging spoons with one of the bass weighing a solid 6 lbs. (a Smallmouth
bass). And since then I always have one rigged up on one of my rods.....
Now, there are several different patterns you can apply when fishing a
jigging spoon while fishing suspended fish, bottom fish, structure fish, and
in and around vegetation just to name a few....
SUSPENDED BASS: Suspended bass are probably the most difficult bass
you'll ever fish. Many anglers use several different methods and lures to
fish suspended bass but, a jigging spoon can prove to be as productive as
any type of bait you can ever use in this situation. Now, I will suggest how
I use a jigging spoon with suspended fish but keep in mind that every angler
seems to develop his or her own little touch, flare, or certain technique
that suits him or her with any bait used.
If I fish suspended bass whether it be over tree tops, along bluffs or
cliffs, or any structure that may be in the water where suspended bass are I
will vertically drop the jigging spoon straight down just below the
suspended bass and let it pause for a moment. Then using my rod to do the
work, I'll lift the tip of the rod about 2 feet, drop the tip about a foot,
lift the tip another 2 feet, drop the tip about a foot and repeat this
technique until the rod tip is usually up to a 10 o'clock position. Then,
while keeping the slack out of the line I will slowly drop the tip back
close to the water surface and start again! Sometimes you will feel a little
pressure instead of solid hits, but as the o'saying goes! "When in
doubt?..SET THE HOOK!"
I strongly feel that if you give this a try (not just for 5 minutes), but if
you really give this pattern a honest try I'm sure that you won't be
disappointed at all!
BOTTOM BASS: Bottom bass fishing with a jigging spoon again, can
prove to be a highly productive technique you should try. Now, before we
fish for bottom bass we want to make sure of what's on the bottom as far as
vegetation and structure because we probably won't use a open exposed treble
hook if there is lots of stuff to get hooked up on, (get the picture?) If
there are lots of obstructions to get hung up on, switch to a "Weedless
jigging spoon" instead of using the open exposed treble hook.
There are several different techniques to use when fishing bottom bass with
a jigging spoon and I will share a couple with you to get you started. The
first one would be to vertically drop the jigging spoon and let it hit the
bottom. Lightly twitch the rod tip, making the jigging spoon dance around
the bottom, then let it lay still for a moment, and repeat the
technique.........I have caught small and large
Largemouth, Smallmouth, and Spotted bass using this technique (one I
remember being a 7.8oz largemouth.)
The second technique would be to make long casts and slowly retrieve the
jigging spoon back to the boat. I'm quite sure that if you use this
technique you won't go home empty handed.
FISHING VEGETATION: There are two techniques I will use when fishing
in and around scattered or thick vegetation. The first one I will use will
be especially for thicker vegetation areas. I will tie on a "Weedless"
jigging spoon and even apply a trailer (plastic grub, 1/2 of a plastic worm,
plastic crawl, or just about anything used for a trailer) and make a cast
letting the jigging spoon fall "ON TOP" of the thick vegetation. After
letting it set still for a moment I'll start to drag it slowly back towards
the boat with a "Stop & Go" technique. All I can say is HOLD ON!.... I can't
tell you how many times I've had big bass come up and grab the lure.
The second technique I'd use around vegetation would be using the same bait
but now instead of dragging the bait on top, let it fall in the open pockets
of the vegetation, and once again, HOLD ON!
I can't really tell you in so many words of how great a jigging spoon can be
for bass fishing, but I can promise that if you gave these jigging spoons a
good honest try you'll surly find these to be one of the best baits you will
ever use for not only quality, but for quantity as well. I definitely teach
all my students while attending my 3-day bass fishing school how to use
these baits because they have most definitely proven themselves to be one of
the top universal bass baits you'll find on today's market.
If you have any questions concerning jigging spoons or have any questions
about bass fishing in general please don't hesitate to contact me at my
Email address at:
rlbrown@capital.net or you can visit my web
sites at:
www.capital.net/~rlbrown
and at
www.fishing-boating.com/basscoach
or you can call me at (518) 597-4240.
Until next time! Take Care & God Bless.......
"The Bass Coach"...Roger Lee Brown |
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