What are your favorite Bladed Jig trailers and what conditions do you fish them?

[Junk Fisherman]

Pretty much what the title says.  I have used Zakos, Spunk Shad, Swimming Shiners, and swimming Flukes with good success.  I never really use craw or grubs on bladed jig.  My general rule of thumb is to use the Zakos and Spunk Shad when looking for a little more subtle of a presentation and the boot-tail swimbaits when the water is warmer or if the water is more stained.  How say you?  Any info is appreciated.   

[Mike L]

If and when I use a bladed jig I only use a Zako

 

 

 

 

Mike

[MN Fisher]

Three different trailers depending on how much additional action I want to imart

Zoom Fluke or Super Fluke for mild action

Zoom Boot Tail or RI Skinny/Little Dippers for some thump

Berkley Pit Boss or Chigger Craw for the 'flap'

 

First when it's clear and early season, so colder water

Second for running over the tops of submerged weeds mid to late season

Third for ripping through grass/milfoil during the summer.

[scaleface]

Im wondering which trailer will skip the best on a bladed jig? 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

9 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Im wondering which trailer will skip the best on a bladed jig? 

Bryan Thrift and Andy Montgomery talked about skipping them on the Bass After Dark podcast recently.

 

Montgomery said he uses Rage bugs when skipping them.  Never heard of that before.    

[MN Fisher]

I get the best skipping with the Pit Boss - something about the 'flappers' makes it go further on the skip.

[papajoe222]

I recently purchased my first bladed jigs.  Yea, I'm slow getting to the table.  I never bought into the need for something that does basically, IMO, what a spinnerbait does. I was proven wrong last season and decided to pull up a chair.

I'm more interested in their application. I assume it's similar to a spinnerbait, or stroking a jig and I would lean toward using the same trailers I do for them, especially seeing as I have a ton of them.

[MN Fisher]

3 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

I'm more interested in their application. I assume it's similar to a spinnerbait, or stroking a jig and I would lean toward using the same trailers I do for them, especially seeing as I have a ton of them.

More like stroking a jig...or changing cadence on a spinner to make it rise and fall...never had much luck with just a straight retrieve.

 

Definitely - any trailer you'd use on a jig would work fine on a chatter.

[MediumMouthBass]

3 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

More like stroking a jig...or changing cadence on a spinner to make it rise and fall...never had much luck with just a straight retrieve.

 

Definitely - any trailer you'd use on a jig would work fine on a chatter.

To add on to this, you could also take the skirt off and put a tube on for a trailer.

And then stroke it like a tube.

[Columbia Craw]

Zako is heavy and helps when it’s windy or you need casting distance. It also helps. Keep the bait up when retrieving slowly.

 

Spunk Shad is very erratic and provides lots of action without the need to emit action yourself.

 

SK Blade Minnow is a tweener and I like it when fishing rivers with current.

 

The Zoom Z Craw helps around wood because it aids keeping the hook upright. It also provides a shorter broader profile. 
 

Those four cover it all for me.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

How come my first post was "needed approval of mod", and now it's just deleted?

 

What's the point of taking the time to write out a reply only for it to get deleted????

[A-Jay]

16 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

How come my first post was "needed approval of mod", and now it's just deleted?

 

What's the point of taking the time to write out a reply only for it to get deleted????

I wouldn't take it personally, although it is a bummer and has happened on & off to me as well.  We can all thank the shameless 

Fan boys / spammers of certain bait and trailer companies whose job it is to make life difficult for the moderators.  Not certain, but there may be something in place that just dumps suspicious replies that contain whatever the buzzwords are.  We don't know them so we are perceived as part of the problem.  I might be way off here but that’s what I tell myself when it happenes to me.  Otherwise, it's @12poundbass just randomly zapping posts again.

I yell ya there's something wrong with that guy.

j/k

Is it May yet ? 

😎

A-Jay

[Aaron_H]

Zako is the king, for me, but I have been playing around with the Spunk Shad as well and it seems promising. The pin tail seems to let the bait hunt a little easier, but almost every big bladed jig fish I've caught was been with the Zako.

 

I just picked up a few packs of the Zoom Shimmer Shad to try on the back of a golden shiner Jackhammer, that slimmer profile seems to mimic our fingerling shiners better than the deeper body on the Zako.

[casts_by_fly]

4 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

How come my first post was "needed approval of mod", and now it's just deleted?

 

What's the point of taking the time to write out a reply only for it to get deleted????

same. I think it probably has to do with private browsing or other browser settings. 

[NorthernBasser]

The 4" Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ has always been my best producer, but there are many good ones on the market. Many which have already been mentioned. I usually don't like paddletail trailers on my bladed jigs, but this is the exception. This doesn't have the aggressive kick of a Keitech. And it lasts a long time.

 

 

The 4.2 Pro Point Lures Machete Minnow has also been a new favorite of mine. They do make a smaller one that fits the MiniMax.

 

 

And a Rage Menace rigged vertically is another good option.

 

 

 

[GRiver]

Man, those are pretty big trailers…. I’ve only ever use a small split tail, or a piece of a worm of various colors. If I use a trailer at all.
Maybe that’s why I haven’t caught much of anything on them. Does anybody fish them without a trailer?

[Ski]

Strike King Blade Minnow Swimbait Fishing Lure, 4.5", Segmented Body

 

[Junk Fisherman]

37 minutes ago, GRiver said:

Man, those are pretty big trailers…. I’ve only ever use a small split tail, or a piece of a worm of various colors. If I use a trailer at all.
Maybe that’s why I haven’t caught much of anything on them. Does anybody fish them without a trailer?

 

Once I started going to bigger trailers, especially boot tail swimbaits, on chatterbaits, I started catching bigger fish.

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, GRiver said:

Does anybody fish them without a trailer?

I did a  lot last year. I saw no difference in bites.

[A-Jay]

Selecting a trailer (or any bait for that matter) for a bait based on what works

for bassheads who live in other parts of the country,

is IMO, like living in Alaska but dressing like the folks in Florida.

Apples & oranges; Too many variables.

That said, there are a few deals that keep showing up over & over and it's because they work.

How many times has a ZAKO been listed here and in other threads ?

I use them almost exclusively as a vibrating jig trailer

and catch several trophy brown bass each season in the process.

So that might be a great place to start, and if it works one could stick right there.

As mentioned. I have for the most part.

 

I do use a small swimbait goby type trailer here (with the tail turned up) 

with quite a bit of success.  No doubt the local forage plays a big role in most all of that.

Finally, when it comes to vibrating jigs, is there a bait where the trailer makes LESS difference in the action of the bait.

If there is I don't know what it is.

That bait is going to go what it's going to do,

it will fish the way you want to fish it with little to no variation.

Slow, fast, in between, low & slow Or fast & high.

Up to you.

So the trailer is just a bit of an accent IMO.

One can help or hurt, but not really that much.

So having confidence in that we're hanging on the bait

might be more important than what it actually is.

Finally when & where that rig is fished seems WAY more critical to me

than the trailer selected. 

YMMV

Fish Hard

A-Jay

https://youtu.be/sITpRNLz_04?feature=shared&t=186

https://youtu.be/o9xew3tWuuU?feature=shared&t=1014

 

[gim]

11 hours ago, NorthernBasser said:

And a Rage Menace rigged vertically is another good option.

 

 

I use this frequently.  In fact, my setup looks almost exactly like it because it represents a bluegill almost exactly.  Bluegills are a main forage here for largemouth.

 

I don't personally care for the zako because it lacks durability.  Pike love my chatter baits and the plastic trailer is usually the first thing to get destroyed.

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

23 minutes ago, gim said:

 

I use this frequently.  In fact, my setup looks almost exactly like it because it represents a bluegill almost exactly.  Bluegills are a main forage here for largemouth.

 

I don't personally care for the zako because it lacks durability.  Pike love my chatter baits and the plastic trailer is usually the first thing to get destroyed.

Do you like the Brett’s bluegill color over the the B-hite delight? Both seem decently bluegilly looking. Maybe the chartreuse on the B-hite would work better after an algae bloom? 

[gim]

6 minutes ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

Do you like the Brett’s bluegill color over the the B-hite delight?

 

Yes.  That color is my go-to for bluegill waters.

 

They make a bluegill version in the EVO model too that's pretty good.

[RRocket]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

 

 

I do use a small swimbait goby type trailer here (with the tail turned up) 

with quite a bit of success.  No doubt the local forage plays a big role in most all of that.

 

 

Nice little goby bait.

 

What is it? 

[casts_by_fly]

2 hours ago, gim said:

 

I use this frequently.  In fact, my setup looks almost exactly like it because it represents a bluegill almost exactly.  Bluegills are a main forage here for largemouth.

 

I don't personally care for the zako because it lacks durability.  Pike love my chatter baits and the plastic trailer is usually the first thing to get destroyed.

 

I agree on the durability on the zako, especially with toothy critters.  They are also heavy.  A 4" zako is something like 3/8 oz on its own, maybe 7/16.  Super glue helps.  Some on the nose when you rig it and a little where the hook exits the body before and after you use it.  The durability and weight are why I've moved off of them.  They do look really good though.

 

1 hour ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

Do you like the Brett’s bluegill color over the the B-hite delight? Both seem decently bluegilly looking. Maybe the chartreuse on the B-hite would work better after an algae bloom? 

 

Both are good and to some extent depend on your local bluegills.  Two years ago I took a bunch of pictures of my local bluegills when I took a friend's kid fishing (of course the pics were for the parents...) and tweaked my choices a little from that (purple and tan are prevalent here).