With the recent post by A-Jay about pork baits coming back, this got me reminiscing about pork baits in general. I had always seen pork baits in tackle shops, but never gave them much thought untill 1980, when I read about Bo Dowden winning the Classic on an Arkie jig with a #11 pork frog trailer. I bought some pork frogs and Arkie jigs, and began to fish them. It wasn't easy. It took me quite some time before I hooked my first bass on this bait. They became a mainstay at that point, and I remember being dissapointed when they stopped making them. I've realized that there's a a big group of younger anglers who have never had a chance to fish pork rind baits. The one we used most often was the #11 pork frog, as a trailer on jigs, spinnerbaits, and a Johnson spoon. Another good one was the U3 split tail eel, also a great trailer on the same baits. A couple of things we did years ago: If your fishing a smaller jig, say, a Bitsy Bug, use a sharp knife and cut the fat away on the pork frog. This makes a thinner trailer, and will expose the white underside of the uncolored pork frog. Something else that may help: when you open a new jar of pork baits, swab the inside of the jar with a light coat of Vaseline or similiar petroleum jelly. This makes the lids easy to get off and on as need be. And, always store them in the original jar, with the solution they come in. Pork rind baits may never replace plastic for many anglers, but they can have a unique place in your tackle. I've always thought that the soft, meaty texture of pork rind baits can cause a bass to hold on for those few extra seconds, so you can set the hook. Pork rind baits are also a big part of our bass fishing history. They've been around for a long, long time. I'm glad they're back, and, I hope the younger guys will give them a shot, so they too can experience fishing with one of the best of the old school baits. They work. Bass love em.
