Hair , or Hare jig….

I’ll start by saying I am not the expert but I have been listening to what is being said in regards to fishing this lure.
The technique is very easy as it takes 4 – 6lb line and a quality jig. I am not talking about a buck tail saving brush style jig but a thin quality hand tied version. I prefer a leach or shad impression with an 1/8 -1/4 oz head. These are to be fished very slowly at the same depth as the fish you marked on your locator. The slightest movement in these jigs will cause the while body to flair and pulse. These jigs should be fished in an are that you know is holding fish. On LAKES in water under 40 degrees I will always have one tied on and usually an catching fish on it.

River Fan, I suggest you try this presentation and fish it areas you know are holding fish. Try this side by side with your tube and get back to me. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. The profile, size, and action more closely imitate natural forage at this time of year.
Jc

For those that may be interested, a carolina rig is working very well right now with 4 inch plastics. I am also doing well with cranks yet. Good luck to all.

Bassman

I as well this past weekend, was still catching them on crankbaits. They didn’t hit it hard, but you knew they were there.

JC –
I was most interested in your comment
“These are to be fished very slowly at the same depth as the fish you marked on your locator”

Does this mean you have used them to catch suspended fish as well? I was thinking this was more of a bottom hopping/dragging lure. If you are using it to target suspended fish are you casting counting down and trying to retrieve at the desired depth or vertical jigging (jigging-spoon like presentation). It seems like trying to swim it would result in too much speed for cold water or you’d have to be using very light jigs which would make depth control quite a challenge. I have seen that it has become quite popular in some TN/KY smallmouth waters to suspend them below a slip bobber in cold water (maybe I’d try this, but I don’t own any bobbers ))

The reason I ask is that in one of the smallmouth lakes I fish I’ve found the biggest concentrations of fish in cooler water (say below about 48-50 deg) suspended from 12-20 ft down in 20-35 f.o.w. Best luck I’ve had has been with deep diving suspended jerkbaits and long pauses (10-30 seconds), but in my opinion when the fish are passive they are too large. I’ve also recently experimented with using suspending versions of some smaller crankbaits (mostly Rebel Shad R)with some success. But I’m interested in having some more options to show these fish – with the long pauses I’m using I really would like a presentation that gives some action with little or no movement just to trigger a bite.

p.s.
With your comments on hair now I’ve got a hunch to replace the back treble of the jerkbait with a dressed treble hook.

Yep, to all except the dressing of suspending cranks.
I target smallies at specific depths because they are notorious for suspending off of structure. If they are over open water I count down the jig. Often I prefer a spiral fall on slack line while counting it down and swimming it with my rod tip. This is done on very light line and light jigs. Are you familiar with the slider jig? I prefer this technique as well. The key in this approach is that your bait will be in the strike zone longer and the minimal movement depicts the action of available prey. Next the subtle action of the hair is often just enough movement to mimic realism and draw strikes. I seldom drag these as I prefer to keep them off the bottom if only a foot.
Smallies group up and suspend even in cold water. They are much different than largemouth in the ways they use cover. Suspending over a 20 foot hole is cover to them. Next is understanding traplining and how this plays into the feeding behavior even in winter. The best way I can describe it is how you spend your weekends in the winter. You wake and then move to the kitchen for a bite to eat. Later you move to your sofa and if your mother in law is around you are probably under it. You soon get hungry again and stop at the Caseys for a slice of pizza. Now you want to relax but you can’t go home for fear of the Monster in Law so you decide to hide out in your non-heated garage. You are cold and don’t feel like much of anything but around 6:00 pm you see your neighbor and then make your way down to the pub for a greasy hamburger and a beer. Life is good, it’s not 11:00 and all should be a sleep so you make your way quietly to the bedroom where you repeat your actions on Sunday…
Jc

Mmmmm… Gunder Burgers.