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