Thread: Question for the Redear gurus

Originally Posted by KScott

When you guys say "tip a jig", I'm assuming a bare jighead? Or are we talking like a soft plastic, or a hand-tie of some sorts?

When I tip a jig it is usually a small (1/64,1/80 or 1/100 ) with a slider, pan magnet , Fle- fly, southern ect . this is used with the Carolina rig or with a float . If it's cast and wind at a stead clip , It's plastic only .I may try the meal worms while casting after reading this thread .

YouTube .... this is how Jim Doom (Ky/Barkley Lakes Guide) does it.


In the past I've caught them drifting a 1/16oz black jighead tipped w/piece of the dark brown end of a nightcrawler (just enough to cover the hook) ... from a boat.
From the bank I've used a slip float/sinker/#4hook ... also used a small "slip sinker" & #4 hook .... both times using nightcrawler pieces.

(* slip sinker -- Bass worm fishing "bullet sinker")

I usually use jigs, but I have had good luck with letting the jig hit the silt on top of the sandy bottom......so that drop shot weight could be just the ticket to stir up the silt,and have the mini crawler just above.

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk

Variety is the spice of fishing in my opinion. No way could I only catch fish using one method or lure/bait. The ball head jig is one of the greatest inventions ever and allows an infinite number of lures to be rigged that catch fish all year round at different depths with different presentations. I've caught fish dropshotting soft plastics (never live bait) and done okay, but for covering more water and depths, I can't beat using (unpainted) ball head jigs.

Speed of retrieve depends on jig weight, lure size as well as lure shape - IE tail design. Just because I use a 1/16 oz or lighter jig doesn't mean having to use a slow retrieve. It does search a lot of water effectively. When it comes to lure shape/action, straight tails are the fastest horizontally but the same as other tails vertically jigged off bottom. Large curly tail grubs are the slowest moving lures but emit the most vibration. Nice thing using plastics, hair or feather bodies is the shear variety. Even color variety is huge depending on lure design, water algae content, depth and time of day, with no set rules.

As far as species go, soft plastics catch anything that swims. There's no such thing as a one species lure. In one day of fishing I've caught 5 fish species using light jigs - one 7 1/2 lb catfish of note. The following examples prove that light jigs work and rarely catch less than 25 fish in one outing with over 50 fish caught on different outings and waters.
Tied these last summer and did well even under a float (the white hair is from my dogs tail):


Hybrid lures (those made by fusing the parts of two different lures together) catch 95 % of all fish caught:


Two grub bodies minus curl tail fused together using a candle:

Note wacky rigged jig head.

....same for this hybrid:


Beetle spin sunfish:


Claw from a bass craw lure added to a grub body:


Kut Tail Worm added to a thicker grub body:


Guess this little guy expected desert:


There are hundreds more but you get the picture (no pun intended).

Good stuff, Spoonminnow!

Here are some others that will be tested from prespawn on:

Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

Here are some others that will be tested from prespawn on:

I would really like to see the pictures of the RE caught with those.

Sent from my E6810 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app