First spring bass- technique question

Well we have open water on the Mississippi and some day soon I will put down my walleye tackle and take those first spring shots at bass. I nearly always start the same way. Light 1/16 or 1/8 Oz ball jig head and a motoroily/ rootbeery/ olive green flutter tail. I will be slowly rolling it over rocks ,mostly wingdams testing to see if any of the Smallies have made their spring run yet. This has to be one of the most frustrating presentations all year, because much of my luck is by casting upstream and these jigs snag at least every other cast. It has almost always been either a fish or a snag. I have tried tons of jigs with weed/snag guards on them, but in this very light bite situation I notice an immediate drop in my pickup/catch rate when I change to any type of weedguard. I have even went as far as paring the guard down to just 1 or 2 strands in both plastic and wire. I have already tried burying the hook in the plastic. Can anybody think of a solution???????HELP

Have you tried rigging something w/a floating jig head w/a Lindy’s No Snag walking Sinker/Weight?? Just a thought?

Try anchoring above the wingdam and fan casting much like you do when fishing for walleye. I gave an on-the-water seminar last year to another moderator here on the benefits of anchoring on wingdams for trophy sized smallies.

When you cast up-stream, the current is carrying you offering into the rocks and snagging you up. By anchoring above the wingdam you can keep a fair amount of tension on your line thus decreasing your chances of snagging. I do it a lot and have proven time and time again, it works. Even on shallow wingdams.

Yes these are sure shallow wing dams. I anchor on wingdams all the time but in the early spring I seem to need to cast upstream. I really don’t know why because the fish come off of both sides of the rocks?? For one thing when I cast up stream you lose complete contol of the jig as it slides,(drags), over itself, where if you cast from above you are in contact all the time. I wonder if they feel me or I set the hook to quickly for them early in the spring. I will have to try setting upstream a little more though BF to make sure I haven’t just talked myself into this deal. After June first we almost always anchor above as your tourney partner Jeremy C might have mentioned. I will try the no-snag floater thing, too. Maybe even a small split shot ahead of the floater will work. ANY OTHER IDEAS???????

Blue Fleck and others do you use the ball jig, or banana or stand up jigs to cast the tops of shallow wing dams with plastic?

I hate to sound like a broken record or CD for you youngsters,but 1/4 oz spinnerbait single colorado will catch lots of early bass. Try it without a trailer if current is too heavy. Try slow rolling in the same places you are jigging.

Spring time means sluggish bass but hungry bass. I have seen the spinnerbait catch fish day in and day out. Yep, you will catch fish on them in almost any condition if you use it enough. That being said your success will dramatically improve if you give a suspending jerkbait a try. Second is a rattle trap. These 2 baits have accounted for the biggest and most numbers day in and day out in the spring. If you like the spinnerbait by all means keep using. I was schooled last year on a late spring day where this was the bait of choice but I stand by my convictions that the trap and a jerkbait will out produce. I can’t believe that no one has said to swim a jig.
Jc

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I can’t believe that no one has said to swim a jig.

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I like to swim jigs in the spring. Especially around the time of the spawn. Who schooled you w/ a dreaded sphincterbait?

Do you find certain jerkbaits outproduce others on a consistent basis? No need to mention if it is a trade secret!!

I have caught open water fish on them, but tough to use in the weeds.

Husky Jerks are best on the river only because of the pike donations. There are a couple better but I can’t seem to remember which ones they are. Anyway, I will POINT it out when I remember..
Jc

Husky Jerks are less $$$, but I prefer the Smithwick Rogues… with or without rattles, this lure is a high producing lure… toothy critter’s; however, do like them…

So do tree stumps and other lay-downs…

Somthing that I’ve played with doing is taking a split shot and putting on the tag end of a drop shot rig. Why? Well, if I’m 1′ above the rock pile, and I get snagged, I can pull up and the split shot will theoretically slide off, saving the rig.

1/4 oz traps and jerk baits never work. Don’t try them.

Thanks,

i sene in bass times and on a fishing show this rig the shakey head rig or the alabama rigg

it involves a jig head and a finesse worm vandam had his hook point burried in the worm on a stand up type head

the other guy won a tournoment on a shakey head (never seen one) but this technique has showed its head a couple time rescently and it is used int he rocks vandam uses it on smalies will it work on the river? and what is a shakey head

hate to sound silly but why not just go with an ultralite and a 1/32 ounce jig to stay just off the rocks.

For early Spring fish, I have to agree with JC’s POINT,
on suspending jerkbaits. I have yet to become a convert
of the rattletrap technique, but it makes sense, since
I do use spinnerbaits occasionally, and I have seen
where spinnerbaits, and rattletraps, can be used under
similar conditions. But my most effective spring time
technique is floating a Senko type bait, or a tube,
texposed with a very small splitshot stuffed in the
tube, with a chunk of worm body stuffed in as a plug.
I just let the Senko float on the current, but the tube
can either ride the current, or be swimming along
current edges. If I have a lot of current, innstead
of a small split shot stuffed in the tube, I go to
a small bullet worm weight, up to maybe an 1/8th oz.
If the worm weight has enough width, I don’t bother with
the worm chunk plug. The worm sinker will stay stuffed
with just the texposed EWG rigged.

If I am in clearer spring water with good structure
breaks then I almost always use a hard jerk bait,
just to re-emphasize that POINT…ER as for which
brands, I have a good selection of Huskies, and Rogues,
and will have to give the nod to Rogues, of those two
choices.

Big Bass Bane

I get he Point JC,been looking at them on Ebay all week. I do luv jerks but we dont have real clean water most springs once it starts rainin. I have some bids on a couple ofSammies and a couple of Pointers. You CR guys gettin any snow ?

I have about 6 inches in my driveway and ice under the works. Fun days ahead. Tomarrow they are saying 40’s so I will be ok…. I think.
jc

BBB,

Excellent idea with the tube, that one I’ll have to try it this spring. To the POINT, you and I had a chance to share the boat last spring. I memory serves me right the POINT out fished my modified Rouge for numbers but not necessarily for size. Correct me if I’m wrong. I’ve had a chance to pick up a few new suspending jerkbaits this winter and give them a test this spring. In my opinion the suspending jerkbait may be the most size, action, color and technique specific baits we fish. I’ve seen many examples where one color or one model kicks but and the next day it’s all different. Not to mention all the different retrieves. I have some degree of confidence in about half the suspending baits on the market but the rest just don’t seem to produce. After spending the day with you I appreciate your curiosity and willingness to experiment so you might enjoy this. I brought a dozen different suspending jerkbaits baits to work and x-rayed them. I wanted to see the guts and look for something unique. The x-ray is interesting but didn’t provide any insight why some lures work and others don’t. I’ll try to post the x-ray some day but the issue might be the file size. There are two characteristics of the baits that I have confidence in. They suspend in the water with a head-down attitude and they do not float back to the surface. The POINT may be the extreme in that it sinks slowly and has an exaggerated head-down attitude.

My issue with the POINT may be described as a cost benefit ratio. Especially in our northern infested waters. The equation my read:

Value = BCE = $ x Skill ….over….
NCE $2 x Skill2 or 1/($ x Skill)

Where BCE = Bass Catching Effectiveness
NCE = Northern Catching Effectiveness

L.E., MY favorite method for shallow wing dams in the spring is firetiger or chrome and blue and with red belly 3/4 ounce rattle trap. Cast upstream and use yo yo tech. with the heavier rattle trap and a tight line you will feel the rocks then rip the trap and let it settle then rip again [like a soner] I have had good sucess doing this.If you stay in touch with your line it is supriseing how rock free you will stay.This is also hot for rip-rap.