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Hair jig season is just about here and I've been getting a lot of questions about what kind to use and where to use them so I decided to do a post on basics. In the picture, the jigs on the right hand side are for clear water, the top jig is a 3/32oz marabou jig, the 2 under it are both buck tail jigs with one having a weed guard and no trailer and the other with no weed guard and a rabbit strip trailer. The marabou jig will be worked by swimming it slowly or hopping it along the bottom, no trailer is used but on this one I have 2 feathers tied in to give it a little extra. The buck tail jig without the trailer is 1/8oz and can be used as it is or a small trailer can be added like a trout worm or tiny chunk, it can be used in a swimming type presentation, hopped or crawled along the bottom and even dead sticking works with it. The 1/8oz buck tail with the rabbit strip will be used as is, the rabbit strip will give this jig a little more action and it will bulk the profile up a bit, it can be used in the same manner as the other buck tail but I normally use it when the fish are a little more active so it is either swimming or hopping most of the time. The jigs on the left hand side are more for stained water, less than 2' of visibility is where they shine because of the added bulk. The top two jigs are 1/8oz football heads, the top one has buck tail tied in with deer belly hair tied over top and there is a little more hair than in my clear water jigs. This jig is going to be crawled along the bottom slowly with a chunk style trailer, a 2" tiny Paca Chunk works great for this jig and it is going to fished primarily on hard bottom or rock covered areas. The other football head is going to be pretty much the same as the previous one, the difference is that it is tied with a heavy collar made of fine round rubber, and that is not only going to make the jig stand up, but it also provides a different profile, pretty much like a Sculpin so we will often slowly swim this along that bottom without a trailer and it works surprisingly well at times. The last one of that side is what I call the creeper jig, it is 1/8oz round head with a rabbit hair body with some longer silicone strands in for some added action. This is one that is always going to have a trailer and it is always a chunk type trailer and it depends on the size of the jig but one of the ones we find that works well on this is the Ron Yurko finesse chunk by Venom Lures. This jig is crawled along the bottom or slow hopped and dead sticking also works well with this jig and this is what I'll use if the water is only slightly stained as the rabbit hair will offer more visible action but it won't have as large of a profile as the others making it a little harder to find in dirtier water. Now these are all small sizes meant to be using in water 10' deep and under, I usually only go as high as 1/4oz for the waters I use them in so if you need a faster fall or need to get deeper than you can adjust the weight but remember the appeal of these is they offer the fish a small, easy to catch food morsel that they don't need to spend any energy to get so you don't want them moving to quick. I tie a ton of different kind of jigs as well but these are what I learned to fish hair jigs with and they can be tweaked size and color wise to match the conditions you face. I hope this helps those of you who are curious about hair jig fishing in cold water, if you experience water that dips down below 40 degrees in the winter, it will benefit you to learn how to use these types of jigs as they are often the best lure to catch them on.

Check your $33 reel against the $133 reel after using them both hard for a year. If you still can't feel the difference, buy the $33 model.

Finally got a SS Hardgill. Such a beautiful bait.

When you buy a $40 spool of fluoro it's nice to be able to spool more than 1 reel with it. A 200 yard spool of line will do 3 reels for me. You aren't making casts over 50 yards. So the rest is just wasted good line. Also braid is known to slip on the spool. Backing solves that issue too. I use 2 wraps of electrical tape on my spools that don't hold much line. It lets the braid bite in so you don't have to worry about any backing or slipping.

You ever have any luck with a blade bait?

All jigs!! Flipping jigs, swim jigs, shakey head jigs, football jigs, brush jigs, Everywhere a jig jig!! I'd grab yourself a 7'6" MH or Heavy Fast rod, some 17lb flouro, and get to work. You should never, EVER, go fishing without a jig rod coming out at some point. Ever. Never. All year, all places.

As anyone who has seen my posts probably can tell, I have been extremely into frog fishing after finding out how much fun it was last year. I literally could not put the frogs down, even on days when it would have been much smarter to use something else . Granted, I got skunked quite a few times but catching a few fish here and there always seemed to make up for. However, going into October this year I noticed the fish were still not actively taking frogs like they were a year before. It took until a couple weeks ago before I finally put the frog down long enough to really get my confidence up in a couple of other lures. I can't explain exactly why, but I just had that urge that told me it was time to make a change. The first lure I switched to was a cheap buzzbait from Cabelas that I forgot I had. On the first cast with it EVER, a small 1lber broke the surface and choked on it. I set the hook and was ecstatic to hook my first fish on a buzzbait. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as a terrible knot job on the buzzbait came undone as I was lifting the fish over a branch that was in my way. Went home with a hard lesson learned, but the next day I was armed with another (cheap) buzzbait and a secure palomar knot. This time, I nailed my second largest fish of the year: ^ Neat story with this fish. It was getting dark and I wasn't having any luck with frogs or the buzzbait. Before I decided to leave I thought to myself, "maybe I'll give the shallows one more quick toss". Bam! It took me by surprise and when I got her head out of the water she spit the hook. I immediately put in another cast and she swirled on it again but missed. After a few more casts with no more hits I tried a frog to see if it wanted a slower presentation but proceeded to get no action. I was about to give up when I thought, "it went after the buzzbait twice and it's obviously still there, so maybe it will go after it one more time." On the very next cast, I landed her. The trip after I got a much smaller but still decent (for this lake) fish on the good ol' buzzer: The trips after that I had some more blow ups on the the buzzbait but they either spit before I set the hook or they missed completely. Then this past Sunday morning I got the smallest bass I've ever caught on a buzzbait: ^Never thought such a small fish would hit such a large lure. After fishing a bit more with no luck on the buzzbait, I figured they didn't really want to come to the surface and opted for a Cabela's brand spinnerbait and added a 4 inch twin tail grub trailer. This proved to be a great decision and it was the key to the majority of my success over the last couple of trips. On the first cast a respectable bass slammed it just before I ran the spinnerbait over a log: Then five minutes later, a bigger one gobbled it up: Then finished up Sunday's trip with a few more fish, these being the more respectable ones to come on the buzzbait and the spinnerbait respectively: With Sunday morning being so productive and having my confidence level in the spinnerbait and buzzbait soaring through the roof, I decided to hit the lake again Monday night. Sure enough both lures did not disappoint, and I landed the most decent fish ("decent" being the keyword) I've ever landed in one day. They wanted to demolish the spinnerbait: Third biggest of the year and fourth biggest ever. The buzzbait has a VERY good track record right now barring the tiny guy posted earlier.

Why measure every bass you catch? Set a standard for yourself and estimate anything under that length or weight. A simple rule is to use your rod butt to what ever length you establish on the rod blank as a measurement tool. You always cut a piece of your the length and girth of a big bass, put the line in your pocket and measure it later. 1 minute or how lng you can hold your breath as mentioned is safe time out of water. Tom

Bring it. I got this.

Air and water temps matter a lot. Warm temps should constitute an "asap" like 30 seconds. Cold temps are way more forgiving for time out of the water and for good recovery chances. C22

Just pulled the trigger order Met XG from JLS. Stupid PayPal ended up using the wrong conversion rate so I ended up paying $9.xx more than what I was supposed to. Called them and they gave me 5 different answers. Smfh anyhow $282.27 still want to get that zillion though lol

The bass have been slamming blade baits the past coupe of times I have been out. I have been fishing them in 10-35 ft and getting a lot of 3-4 lbers, smallmouth and largemouth. This time of year when the water temperature is 50 degrees or less I do very well with a blade bait. I use to exclusively fish a jig until ice up. Once I started fishing a blade bait I noticed I got more bites then a jig and I was still catching quality fish. Yesterday I was out on Champlain fishing a blade bait with my friend. Out biggest 5 smallies weighed in at 20 lbs 4 ounces. Last weekend I had a similar day fishing a blade bait back in Maine. Blade baits are a proven technique this time of year. Blade baits are very consistent this time of year. A jig works well and is always good option in my opinion. It seems though the amount of bites I get doubles when switching from a jig to a blade bait this time of year. I will be fishing a blade bait until the ice is though sick I cant break through it with my boat.

Easy rule of thumb...as long as you can hold your own breath.

I use the same stuff I use from shore, boat, the moon...

I don't know who the mastermind is behind Tackle Warehouse, but he should be the one buying out Cabelas, not BPS.

Good Info - Thanks for sharing it. For me the whole key to fishing the hair is S L O W . . . and then S L O W E R . . . . and finally S L O W E S T . It works for sure - but it's sort of like fishing in a Coma or with live bait. A-Jay

Cause 300 yds of braid on a reel is a waste when 50 yards will do the trick. I can spool 6 reels with a spool of Powerpro by using mono backing.

I agree with Cueball, I'd go with the 6'9" ML-XF Avid X. I have used both the Avid and the Avid X side by side and you'd never know the rods were made with the same blank for the same price. If I didn't know any better I'd say the Avid X would have been at least $50 more as it is that much better. The guides along with a perfectly balanced split grip really made the blank come to life, the 7' ML-F is going to be my next rod. The model is the same by the same company for the same price, it is a no brainer!!

You can't really make a comparison until you've used both for a period of time.

Who the heck is KVD?

Caught this at a pond I have only fished a few times. It runs right along a quarry I fish and it was very windy and I was having a tough go of it at the quarry. I figured I would jump over to the pond for a few which was much calmer. Caught this on a wacky rigged salty sinker.

I have had braid not "bite" into the spool before. Mono backing fixed that issue, and I used a half as much braid.

For me, it's a money saver. By adding backing, I save on how much braid I put on - like leaving enough for another spool, or something like that. That's my usual M.O. but since I bought a 1500 yard spool of PP SS8 over the summer I've spooled my 1000 Stradics with straight braid (or with a tiny piece of tape).

I use either the zoom tubes, or the gander mountain brand, whichever is on sale. The both seem to hold up quite well and are available in a wide variety of colors.

1310 with the metal frame.

avid. if you break a st. croix you can upgrade it or have it replaced for a fee. loomis has similar warranty (without the upgrade option) but i cannot comment on the e6x. not sure if dobyns offers similar replacement. i have a AVS69MLXF and its nice for light dropshot.

You must have been doing a lot of cruising that day to not notice that. I did this earlier in the year. I also left an auto-inflate PFD on the floor of the boat while parking the truck that day. Came back to the ramp and saw the boat was flooding. Hurry up and put the plug in, start bilge pump running and then I hear "pshht." Bright yellow pool toy on the floor of my boat now. Costly mistake considering I had just re-armed the life jacket a month earlier.

I am sure with 2 pages of responses you have gotten your answer lol. But I figured I would chime in since the majority of my fishing comes from the banks in the glades. Snakes are more of a threat in tall grass than gators in my opinion. But the truth is both can be a threat. When I first started bass fishing out there I would grab a few rocks and put them in my pocket (thanks to a few of Captain Shane's fishing videos which seem to be more of Gator Defense videos lol). One of the first times going out there I was completely afraid. I had a gator jump into the water out of the high grass into the retention pond which is really deep and very dark. So here I thought this gator was going to ambush me at any given moment. It didn't, it probably just swam away. I also encountered a few others that were half on land and half in the water. One being a big ol 10 footer at least. I came pretty close to it without noticing, that gator didn't move an inch. Didn't growl, didn't run and didn't attack. I just backed up and walked around it, kept fishing with no problem. I have only needed to toss rocks at one gator which was extremely curious after a boy about 13 years old with his mother were bass fishing and he pulled a near 4 lb bass out on some light tackle which took a while to get out of the water. So the gator saw food and figured it would make a move. I used the Captain Shane self defense course to keep the gator from getting closer. The gator wasn't big enough to ignore me. Eventually it backed off and the kid continued to fish as I continued along the bank. On boat I have seen them chase top water baits, or fish that are caught. You just troll away from them. Like I said those retention ponds are scary because it is nearly an instant drop off into darkness. One thing you could do is carry a weapon with you for some sense of security and just keep your eyes open at all times. I never turn my back to the water. If I am changing baits or changing a rig I grab my gear and keep myself at a distance from the water so that I can see anything that decides to come out and attack. Also I try to do that stuff in low grass. For example one of the canals i fish has tall grass mostly sparse but it does have a rocky area at a safe distance from the water that has little to no grass or vegetation. This is where I put my gear then I walk up to the bank with just my rod. I don't want to have clutter all around me in case I do need to make a sudden movement, run for it or whatever. Tripping up on your gear would be bad. There are snakes out in that area too. I wear high steel toed boots, tall thick socks and pants. The shoes may be the only thing that could help but either way...they also sell snake guards. Kind of like shin guards for snakes. Probably worth getting. lol I was fishing that same canal and standing in one place for a good 2 or 3 minutes when all of the sudden right in front of me a snake slithers and slides into the canal. There was maybe a foot between me and the drop off so god knows how long it was in front of my feet. Lucky for me it didn't attack me and I am certain it was a corn snake. BUT I have come across a couple of rattle snakes curled up on that rocky path. Gotta keep your eyes open at all times. A long stick might be a good idea to have with you, maybe some rocks in your pocket, a decent sized knife or machete.

#8 Seaguar InvizX for spinning #12 Seaguar AbrazX for baitcasting

You don't have to need it; you just have to want it.... Tight lines, Bob

Another vote for sniper.

Long grip length BEHIND the reel seat is what makes it uncomfortable for me personally. A fly rod has little or no butt and works fine in a kayak. Sitting in a kayak while casting conventional gear forces you to use upper body only to cast, sometimes with 1+ oz. lures tied on. When you stand, your entire body is used, not just your arms.

I would go with the Avid X over the standard Avid. Really nice build for a factory rod.

Yes you do....

Ah, the famous "Buridan's Donkey" Paradox: A hungry donkey sits between two bales of hay. The bales are equally delicious and equally close. Yet, the donkey starves to death because he never has a good reason to prefer one over the other, and therefore never chooses one to eat. Those are some pretty nice rods. What are the chances, do you think, that after buying any one of them, you'd really wish you'd gotten one of the other two instead? I'm pretty sure I know what the answer would be for me: Slim to none.

I bank fish a lot, and I carry everything I need to document a fish. First and foremost for me are 2 things. Minimize the time the fish is out of the water, and prevent as best I can that the fish is not exposed to ground contact. I carry a fish grip, scale, and ruler and smart phone. I pretty much have it down to about a minute, where a nice fish is measured, weighed if there 6lb plus, and pic taken. Return the fish to the water, pick up my stuff and continue fishing. Here's an example. Note: The fish does not touch the ground when its placed on a bps ruler. Lastly... lol that's not a 6lb fish.

lots of rolls in that tide.....

Check out the sale items. There are 36 pages of sale baits starting at $9.99.

The difference between VW bug and formula 1 car is the drivers skills. If you can't determine a difference, buy what works for you. Tom

Sometimes we forget the rules?? Clearwater, natural colors, smaller sized baits, fished faster. Stained water, brighter colors, medium sized baits fished slower. A rattle and scent+++ Muddy water conditions, brightest colors, larger sized baits fished the slowest. A rattle and scent+++. Remember this on a tough day when a firetiger color could save the day. We can have different water conditions stacked on top of each other in the water column. I know you tornies guys don't have time to experiment but I have the time to patiently sit there and try different sizes and colors till something works.

Here's how to land a little trout from a kayak.

In general, If I bring just two, I want one rod for heavier stuff (3/8 and over), one for lighter stuff (under 3/8oz). Consider shorter lengths than you might use on a boat (especially if you are short, like me -- I don't fish with anything over 7'), and possibly even softer actions. These can help in landing fish, since you are really limited by space and your own armspan. Rod 1: 6'6"-7' baitcaster Medium-heavy power, fast action -- jigs, t-rigs, carolina, spinnerbaits, frogs, buzzbaits, walking baits, heavier cranks. --I'm a spinning junkie and I actually get by with a 6'6" MH-F spinning combo here, but almost everyone else would recommend a baitcaster. --On treble baits like crankbaits and some topwaters, back off the drag a bit. Rod 2: 6' to 6'9" or so spinning, Medium-light power, fast action -- shakey heads, mojo rigs, weightless plastics, drop shot, finesse jigs, lighter cranks and topwaters, light tubes and grubs.

My first impressions is "It's About Time". This is all Great News and a Real Step Forward for B.A.S.S. I think this is the Rejuvenation that B.A.S.S. has been looking & hoping for a long, long time and is very much needed. As a fan, I am Really excited & looking forward to this and what is to come in the future. Thank you B.A.S.S. A-Jay

They were the original tube bait that started it all. I still have a few here and there, they're good, I just got away from them.

I've been throwing Power Team tubes and they are VERY durable. Bonus: my car smells like hog tonic!

Another vote for a jig! Best technique out there.

Thank you for posting your story BaitMonkey. For years I have had only 1 chain; I can't remember why I changed it but for some reason, I did years ago. I knew it wasn't right but it worked, so I left it. Well, I read this thread, drove my arse down to Lowes and picked up another bolt and put my other safety chain on the way it was supposed to be. I feel a lot better about my trailering safety now. Thank you

It sure beats picking lint from my toes

The most difficult part of jig fishing is feeling the bite, many will tell you it aint like the bite you get on a Texas Rig but it is so get that notion out your head. Like with a Texas Rig those bumps, thumps, tics, & taps are easy to detect it's the ones where the bass inhales your jig without any tell-tale sign or line movement. I say now is the time to bring forth all your expertise on feeling subtle bites stored away in your brain from Texas Rigs. You will also hear "bass don't hold a jig long", don't be surprised when a 2 lb bass inhales your 1 oz jig without any tell-tale line movement and proceeds to sit there until you apply too much pressure at which time they spit it! Sounds kinda like a T-rig bite huh!

You may end up having many issues with 20lb braid on a baitcaster. Mainly line dig digging in and trouble casting. You want to have a line diameter of 10 lb mono to about 20 lb mono on that reel for best results. I would look at getting a 50 lb braid and using that. Loosen the drag a little bit and you are ready to go. As far as a knot I use a uni knot on everything I tie with no issues. I hear a lot of guys here say use a Palomar knot. Look up either one on you tube to see how to tie it correctly. Sounds like whatever knot you are using is slipping through and untying.