Jitterbug

[Jigfishn10]

6 hours ago, Jonas Staggs said:

I have only gotten 4 top water bites in my life. Bites not landed. 2 on a pocket frog. 1 on a torpedo and 1 on a toad dangle.

Before you pull out the rattle can and practice graffiti for the next bridge built over the interstate, let’s first try getting you to catch a fish during the day with what you have.

 

When I learned topwater fishing one of the tips I read about trying was to cast out, let it sit until all the rings of water around the jitterbug are gone.

Start your retrieve but don’t look at the lure. Look at birds, squirrels, cars going by, humans things, but not the lure. 

If you hear a splash keep looking at birds, squirrels, cars going by, human things but not the lure. 

You only look at the lure if you feel it come out of the water in which time you cast and start the whole process up or you feel added weight to your rod in which time you set the hook.

As my uncle Giovanni used to say: Capisce?

[Mobasser]

Jonas, on your non jointed jitterbug, you might try adding some split rings to the hooks, and upgrading to some better hooks. Bass seem to throw this plug, and this may help keep them hooked.                                                     Also give your bait a test run. Carefully bending the metal lip can tune it to produce the desired " bulb bulb blub" sound on a slow retrieve. 

[jgordon]

I just bought one this year to try out.  I am looking forward to playing with it. 

[BrianMDTX]

7 hours ago, Jonas Staggs said:

I have only gotten 4 top water bites in my life. Bites not landed. 2 on a pocket frog. 1 on a torpedo and 1 on a toad dangle.

 

Maybe what I'm doing wrong with the jitterbug is fishing it during the day! I'm gonna have to paint it black now. That big metal scoop looks like it would scare the fish. I have the smallest jitterbug. 

I feel your pain, as I never caught a bass (not counting 6”-9” ones on small panfish poppers) in my life. Never even had a strike or a swirl on one. Until 2020. Bought a Whopper Plopper 90 and was ecstatic when I got a swirl lol. Even more so when I finally caught bass on it! So, don’t give up. Topwaters do catch bass lol. 
 

I have one black Jitterbug. Must be 45-50 years old. Needless to say, never caught anything on it. 
 

Yet... 

[Captain Phil]

12 hours ago, Guitarfish said:

Captain,  I kept waiting for an alligator to appear in the story. 

I've seen my share of big alligators.  Hooked one on the bottom night fishing once.  It pulled my boat around.  Thought I had the world record bass.  Another time I snagged a 10 footer with a Rattle Trap.  The scariest was when I found myself between a pod of baby alligators and a big mama gator.  She didn't look happy, so I got the heck out of there. Here in Florida, we have a few gator attacks every year.  Most are caused by people swimming where they shouldn't.  Little children and dogs are especially vulnerable.  Snakes and alligators are a part of the Florida ecosystem.  As more people move here, there will be more interactions.  I have never had an alligator problem while in my boat.  However, a good friend of mine had his dog snatched out of his boat by a gator.

[Gary_Snyder]

Funny, I just had a dream about Jitterbug fishing the other night......and I click on this tackle forum today and the top post is Jitterbugs! Things that make you go hmmmm!

 

I've caught some bass at night on a muskie jitterbug. Also had an alligator follow one once, lol!

 

However, when it comes to top water lures, I seem to catch more bass on a prop bait.

[Mr. Aquarium]

2 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

I feel your pain, as I never caught a bass (not counting 6”-9” ones on small panfish poppers) in my life. Never even had a strike or a swirl on one. Until 2020. Bought a Whopper Plopper 90 and was ecstatic when I got a swirl lol. Even more so when I finally caught bass on it! So, don’t give up. Topwaters do catch bass lol. 
 

I have one black Jitterbug. Must be 45-50 years old. Needless to say, never caught anything on it. 
 

Yet... 

whopper ploppere are awesome. Great for windy days. 90’is a killer smallie lure. The 130 is deadly on largemouth.  I was fly fishin for trout with dry flies. Had 2-3lb bass come up and hit the small dry fly on the surface.  Didn’t land it but it was a shock in a small pool of a small river 

10 hours ago, Jonas Staggs said:

I have only gotten 4 top water bites in my life. Bites not landed. 2 on a pocket frog. 1 on a torpedo and 1 on a toad dangle.

 

Maybe what I'm doing wrong with the jitterbug is fishing it during the day! I'm gonna have to paint it black now. That big metal scoop looks like it would scare the fish. I have the smallest jitterbug. 

Keep fishin. Topwater is one of my most favorite and successful techniques. It makes up most of my fishing especially in the warmer months. Spooks, jitterbug style baits, and wake baits. 3 inch bait or a 10 inch bait, they work. Keep fishing. Try fishing near structures like logs and Lilly pads. They’ll come out and hit hard.  Also night fishing will help you. I mainly fish them slow with pauses.   Topwater works for every species, from small  trout to tuna.  

[Jonas Staggs]

In regards to modifying the lip, what do you do? Just bend with some pliers? What does cupping vs flattening the lip do to the action of the bait? I'm thinking cupping the lip more will allow the bait to walk more slowly.

 

 

[Mobasser]

1 hour ago, Jonas Staggs said:

In regards to modifying the lip, what do you do? Just bend with some pliers? What does cupping vs flattening the lip do to the action of the bait? I'm thinking cupping the lip more will allow the bait to walk more slowly.

 

 

Jonas, is you jitterbug a newer one? The new ones have a thinner metal lip. It's hard to describe how the bending will change the bait. Bending the lip inward will add more cup. But, be careful and bend it very slightly, then test it. It's easy to over bend the lip.

[Jonas Staggs]

On 11/12/2022 at 1:41 AM, Mobasser said:

Jonas, is you jitterbug a newer one? The new ones have a thinner metal lip. It's hard to describe how the bending will change the bait. Bending the lip inward will add more cup. But, be careful and bend it very slightly, then test it. It's easy to over bend the lip.

 

I have a old model style one. It doesn't jitter immediately. More like I need to reel and drag it and get it going. This wastes alot of the cast and makes it so I can't try a slow stop and go retrieve and am forced to burn it. I have gotten some blow ups on it but haven't caught anything with it yet. 

[WRB]

Jitter Bug should be at least the 2 1/2”- 3/8oz size or 3” - 1/2 oz size. The Jitter Bug should start to wobble on the surface at a slow retrieve making it’s classic bloop bloop bloop sound. If it doesn’t start up easily it’s a dud!

Ideal time for the Bug is dusk,

Tom

[king fisher]

When I was a teenager, I fished a jitterbug every time I went fishing, mainly because it was one of the few lures I owned.  My friend had a Crazy Crawler, which had similar action and sound, we had many arguments over which one was best.

        I haven't fished a jitterbug in a few years, mainly because most of my topwater fishing is done with buzz baits, and spooks.

       I don't know if other topwaters are more effective in the evening, but I would recommend every angler get a chance to fish a Jitterbug on a hot summer day, as the sun starts to set, the wind stops, the only sound in the world is a few frogs, crickets, and the blurp blurp blurp of a Jitterbug.  The sudden  sound of a big bass crushing a Jitterbug in the silent evening, is as good as life can get.