What Are Rigging Options For Bps Pesky Perch

[ghost]

Also what methods to fish this plastic?

[primetime]

I fish a bait from BPS (I believe it's called a shad clone) and it is about 3", shaped just like a shad, has a tail that does not have any action, and also a hook slot which is on the bottom which is odd since I have not been able to rig this bait successfully with any consistent luck with any rigging style except rigging it flat or sideways. I don't use the hook slot and I simply use a Screw in or hitchiker swimbait hook in EWG which I believe is called the beast lock by Owner in 3/0-5/0.

 

I find this bait to be similar to a bait made by D.O.A. called the Tough Guy which comes rigged with a single hook protruding from the top just below the top fin. Either way, it is great for guys who sight fish for bass as a good bluegill or shad imitation dropped on a nest will almost always elicit a strike. I do not enjoy sight fishing for bass when they are nesting, but I simply rig it flat, cut a slit in the tail down the middle, and fish it without a weight, or a weighted swimbait hook and work it slowly near cover, let it flutter off of breaks or drop offs slowly to the bottom, carolina rig it and drag it slowly, or at times I use a color with some flash and swim it like a swimbait with a very errractic stop and go retrieve and try to bring my Rod tip high and lift it to the surface as if the bait is dying and reaching for one last gasp of air, ony to slowly fall back to the bottom. Most strikes come on the drop, or when paused or first starting my retrieve after a pause.

 

If you have open water, you can rig this just like a sassy shad but with the hook slot I am sure you can skin hook it and use the hook slot since it is a hollow belly..

 

Sorry for the ramble, I type fast, but I actually find this is most effective as a flipping bait rigged under a bullet weight in heavy cover and when it hits bottom, I just lift and drop,  shake, and try to give the bait action as if it was a dying shad, stuck in weeds, or basicly wounded and struggling.

 

The bait comes with absolutely zero action built into the design, and I had to experiment with alot of options in the pond in my community to figure out how to get it to move the way I wanted. My suggestion is to look up the Tough Guy bait by D.O.A. and then visit you tube as the owner of that company has awesome instruction videos on how to work his baits, and even though he is showing you how to work it for Saltwater, the Saltwater fishing here in Florida for Snook, Reds, and Trout is basically the same as Bass Fishing and he mentions that he designed alot of his baits and this bait for Okechobee bass fishing as well since most guys do both as they often share the same waters in the Lake Outflows.

 

Best advice I have ever been given was from a book I read years ago about Bass fishing......ALways try to think like a Fish, but not the fish you are trying to catch, but the baitfish imitation on the end of your line.....If you were a shad or a bluegill/small panfish all alone and seperated from your school which is a way they protect themselves, you would obviously be in a paniced state, nervous, moving erratic, possibly wounded from a close encounter....Just Chuck it in an area where bass are present, and remember this tip......Baitfish rarely move in increments more than a few inches when darting around in the shallows, and when a shad dyes, they always make one last kick to the surface which is abrubt and after breaking it they glide to the bottom. Imitate that action and you can find success no matter how you fish it since the carolina rig is great as it slides through weeds, and I give it little hops and twitches to make it seem like it is on the bottom about to Die.

 

I find flat rigging gets me a hook set ratio that is much better than any other I have tried and don't expect it to look pretty coming through the water cause it will never do that. But then again, take a shiner or shad and drop it in a pool or saltwater and watch the behavior before it dyes....That will teach you how to work almost any swimbait and also study the baitfish at the dock the next time you launch your boat and you will soon realize that baitfish and small forrage move and dart with a purpose but in short lengths. Doug Hannon used to give Seminars about this, and I am guilty of killing a few dozen baitfish in my life to study them, but it has helped me catch more fish for sure.

 

Good luck, great bait, and nobody else is throwing it on a regular basis as you can tell from the lack of responses. That is good. I believe bass are sick of seeing Senkos and Rattle traps all day every day, and give them a new look and often that is key to success. I can always tell if a pond has never been fished with a rattle trap since I can get a hit on almost every cast the first day I fish it. After 2 trips, I am lucky to get a few small fish to grab it as I am convinced they learn from negative experiences and will usually avoid hitting the same style bait or lure again, unless on a nest of course. Hope that helps. You tube is my best friend, someone always includes a video of every bait and how to fish it, and I never discount any technique no matter how silly it may seem.

[Fishes in trees]

For me, that bait is a bubba drop shot bait.  I start with the bluegill color and then go to work with my spike-it markers,  Chartruese edging along the fins, a little orange on the throat, a little red around where the gills are supposed to be.  I will nose hook it flat using a gammy wicked wacky hook, usually a 2/0, maybe a 3/0.  I fish this bait on 20 lb fluorocarbon, a fairly short dropper line, probably less than a foot.  Any piece of structure or cover in 3 to 10 feet of water, I will drop this bait next to it, into it, whatever.   I supply the action, for the most part with the tip of my pitching stick, but just hanging there, pinned to the bottom with a half ounce drop shot weight there is always a little bit of a flutter.    Just trying to imitate a dead - dying little fish.I don't let it sit long 5 - 10 - 20 seconds max.  Just depends.  It is supposed to have the BPS scent cooked into it, but I generally spray it with the BANG shad flavored spray, or whatever I've got handy.

 

I saw the slot in the bait and thought maybe you could rig it with some sort of jig head or maybe a smaller Owner Beast swim bait hook, but I haven't bothered to try that yet.

[TorqueConverter]

I've thrown the pesky perch a few times.  I like to fish it unweighted or lightly weighted with a swimbait hook.  The goal is to get the bait to have a side to side dying shimmy on the fall.  If I was going to T-rig it and pitch it to the bank, I'd use a beaver type bait instead.