In the first part of August, we were told about a new jig coming out from North Star called the "Black Series". Not much was really told to us at first, other than they would be a great improvement, we would love them and have lots of action. Needless to say, it was a great marketing ploy as their facebook page and other forums kind went nutso. Then to top it off, they had a drawing to get a few sets of these in peoples hands. A few videos of them in action and some really good pre reviews came right after. After getting these jigs, all I can really say is, man it was worth the wait! Not to mention their Labor Day sale along with free shipping on orders of 25 dollars or more, really added to the pleasure.
I got turned on to North Star about 3 months ago and have pleased ever since. Low cost and a great product that produces fish, is a hard combo to beat for under 4 bucks a jig. I don't know how they have done it, but they have. I tend to not get excited with new products or new fads, as most end up being, just that. A fad. After my first order of jigs, I knew these were not going to be a fad and were here to stay.
I fish a lot of heavy cover and never cared much for the football head jigs that most every company produces. Granted, the football head jig is a great jig and produces, but for me and my limited fishing areas, it did not fit well. When I first read up on North Star, I was turned on to the Alien head jigs. These are made for Timber and heavy brush. The head is designed to provide cover for the knot and line. The head is wide enough that it will lie flat on the bottom, not roll and tilt the hook upward. My first order had nothing but Alien head jigs with the exception of a few swim jigs that were not offered with the Alien head. I was even more surprised when they arrived. The paint job on these jigs were amazing. No flaws, no runs, no chips and lots of glare from the paint jobs. I really like the skirts tied with wire. Rubber bands and fishing line have never held up much when pitching jigs in heavy cover, so the wire gives me that added longevity on my jigs. Lastly is the skirts. I have some expensive top quality jigs that feel like the skirts are made out of shower curtain. They don't last through many fish. The bass may not be picky when it comes to all this, but I am. If im going to spend money, I want it spent well. So after my initial purchase of jigs and being very satisfied, I had no problems ordering several of the Black Series jigs. I just had to wait.
I placed my order first thing on September 1st at 4 o'clock in the morning. I wanted to get these here as fast as possible. I fish some very dirty stained water here in Central Oklahoma, so I decided to go with the following colors. Alimony, Bruise, Black n Blue and Insanity. I purchased 2 of each to try these out. When my package arrived, I was again blown away by the quality. Everything I had stated earlier about the quality of the jigs I had originally purchased, was backed up again with this order. Same great tuff finish, strong hooks and the skirt was better than was excepted. I use Mustad hooks about 90% of the time, so after reading that they used Mustad hooks on the Black Series, I was even more thrilled. The website listed these new jigs having an 88 strand skirt with living rubber added to them for extra flair. They were not kidding! These skirts are thick.
I was able to hit the water the same say these arrived. I chose the Bruise, with a June Bug colored Rage Tail Craw from Strike King. I had a small pond near town to try with tiny bit of structure. This is a very small dirty pond, but holds some decent bass with some 4 and 5 pounders. I pitched this around some cat tails and let it hit the bottom. First jerk and bam!, the bass nailed it. These look electric moving in the water. Even with the smallest water movement, the skirt keeps moving like its alive. I pitched it to the same spot and again bam, it was nailed again. I ended up catching 4 bass from 1/2 pound to 2.3 pounds out of that spot. I moved over to some fallen timber and had the same good luck. Largest fish was just over 3 pounds.
I was really excited the following week to get to use these at a lake near Chandler Oklahoma. This place looks like someone cut the tops off of every tree in a forest, then flooded the valley. There is so much structure there, you probably can't get a boat above 10 MPH without running into a tree. This is a tuff lake to fish as most of the cover is further from shore, and I don't have a boat. It does have a decent amount of timber you can reach from shore and some fishing docks, so to really test these jigs out, I hit the lake early for 3 days. I ended up having a great day. I landed over 12 fish with the biggest being 2.2 pounds. Not monsters, but it was a good day. I ended up loosing several of the jigs due to the heavy structure, but with the amount of fish I landed, it was well worth it.
I also slipped on a tube and turned this into a swim jig as well. With the tail of the tube and the skirt on the jig, I can't even begin to tell you what it looks like. Almost like an Octopus in the water. All I know is, when the bass hit this combo, for smaller 1-2 pound bass, they were some of the nastiest and hardest hits I have ever had on a jig.
North Star has once again produced some amazing quality jigs. I will be placing an order again very soon. They have a brand new jig called the Knock Out coming out in October. So far all they have told us is they will be a jig having the best qualities of the Pro, Premier and Black Series jigs in one. I am excited to try these out. In the mean time, give these new Black Series Jigs a shot. You wont be disappointed.
