Thoughts On Pork

[Mobasser]

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.                                               

[scaleface]

I used pork a lot . Black or Brown . I liked to mix black on a brown jig or vice versa .  It is a big bass lure . 

[diehardbassfishing]

Hmmmm.

Somewhere between live bait and artificial. A little closer to live.

If not legal to fish in a professional tournament, I'll pass.

 

Karl

 

[garroyo130]

18 minutes ago, diehardbassfishing said:

If not legal to fish in a professional tournament, I'll pass.

 

I believe in most tournaments pork is the exception to disallowing the use of prepared baits. 

 

Although I do agree that its interesting people look down on live bait/prepared bait but don't hesitate to use pork trailers.

[MGF]

I don't know how it could be considered anything like live bait. It's real pork skin but plastics are real plastic. LOL neither is a natural bass food.

 

It's an old standard. Aside from "live bait" like minnows or leeches it's the first jig trailer that I remember. I found an original jar in the bottom of an old box a while back. They're blue and there are two left in the jar.

[Team9nine]

Pork rind trailers, etc. have always been legal in tournaments. It is still stated so in most rules.

[BrianMDTX]

1 hour ago, MGF said:

I don't know how it could be considered anything like live bait. It's real pork skin but plastics are real plastic. LOL neither is a natural bass food.

^^^This. It’s not live bait. It’s not even dead “live” bait. No different than hair or feathers on a fly or jig. 

[WRB]

I have written extensively about hair jigs with pork rind trailers ie; pig n jig. You can use pork trailers on jigs with living rubber, silicone, hair or combinations of all the above.

Generally accepted as a cold water lure because it moves effectively in all water temps where soft plastics tend to stiffen on water under 50 degrees. 

The pork frog has been around long before Uncle Josh started making it and used by long pole skitter and tule dippers for over 100 years.

Soft plastics killed the pork trailer business because of multiple colors, shapes and ease of use, no mess or fuss to use. 

Tournaments have been won using the “pig n jig” from the beginning and still secretly used by Pro anglers because it works.

Tom

PS, I recommend using NorthStar hair jigs with pork trailer for good results.

Search “pork” and 112 pages pop up!

 

[Fishes in trees]

I haven't used pork baits for a long time.   Back when I was a bank bound meat fishing bush hippie, I used pork baits quite a bit, at least until I found out about Charlie Brewer Sliders.   I liked them because you couldn't wear them out - every so often you lost one but you couldn't wear out the trailer.

Favorite shape was a brown pork twin tail - next favorite was the split tail eel ( which was a little skinnier version of the twin tail.    A close next was the #11 pork frog.   At the time, the pork frog came in the most colors so if it was a day when I was experimenting with colors, I'd be throwing the #11 frog.   I never did much good on the " big daddy" version of the pork frog.

 

I remember a "flipping frog" which had the frog style body with a curled tail.   I did ok with the regular size and not as well with the larger size.  I remember watching TV once and Bill Dance was killing the18 to 22 inch bass on some private lake throwing the spring lizard.   I had a couple of jars of the spring lizards, but I guess I never got on the same private lake because those lizards never got bit like the  #11 frog did for me.

 

I hope the company that is re-introducing these baits is successful.   Hope they are successful enough to drop the price down some.  I can recall buying pork at Walmart for $2 a jar, more or less.

Hope they are successful enough to market different shapes.  I would like some split tail eels for my tournament/ big lake baits box.

[Mobasser]

I also have a jar of #60 fly strips. These are around 1 3/4 in lentgh. From what I've read, this one was a favourite trailer of Billy Westmoreland, for use on his Hoss Fly aspirin head jig. I've never used them, but might give them a shot at some point, maybe on a Kalins bucktail jig.

[scaleface]

2 hours ago, Fishes in trees said:

remember watching TV once and Bill Dance was killing the18 to 22 inch bass on some private lake throwing the spring lizard.   I had a couple of jars of the spring lizards, but I guess I never got on the same private lake because those lizards never got bit like the  #11 frog did for me.

I used them some . Caught some pigs with it but bites were few and far between . This phot is about 40 years ago and we were not catching any fish . I told the guy I was with "If I'm not going to catch any fish , I may as well not be catching big ones" so I tied on  a jig and spring Lazard and caught this one .

[Bluebasser86]

I've got several jars of pork, but they're ones I've been nursing along and are in poor condition at best for the most part. I'll be adding a couple new jars soon.

[scaleface]

I just got a memory from when I was a young teenager . I read in a magazine  about pork rind being a good bass bait . I didnt know it came in jars . I went down to the local grocery store and asked the butcher if he had any pork rind . He asked me what I wanted it for and I said bass fishing . He sliced me up some pork fat , free of charge . I took it down to where a creek meets the Mississippi river .I tied on a hook attached a piece of pork and began casting it around with my cheap Zebco 202.   I didnt catch a bass but the gars loved it . 

[GTN-NY]

Love U.J. Pork #11 black, blue, brown. I always bought the quart jars. I still have some that are over 20 years old. I’m not sure if they are still good anymore because I use to mix some fish attractant  in with the brine. They look ok but they’re a little slimy 

[TnRiver46]

I love wild pork on the meat smoker 

[Bazoo]

Interesting discussion, thanks all for sharing.

 

On 12/19/2020 at 3:43 PM, scaleface said:

I used them some . Caught some pigs with it but bites were few and far between . This phot is about 40 years ago and we were not catching any fish . I told the guy I was with "If I'm not going to catch any fish , I may as well not be catching big ones" so I tied on  a jig and spring Lazard and caught this one .

Nice one, and awesome story.