Good Jig Setups for Fishing Open Clear Water

George Cawthorn · Post by **George Cawthorn** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 5:45 pm

Hi To All Prostaffers.

I know Brendan will probably like this question.

I've been doing pretty good at Castaic fishng the clear water there with grubs like the Fat Ika, and also dropshots.

I was thinking of stepping up my attack to jigs from now until the fall season ends.
My hope is that I will be able to cash in on bigger fish looking for bigger crawdads at this time of year.

I don't want to fish with live dads for esthetic reasons and I do know that the biggest record LMB that were caught at Castaic fell to the live crawdads.

I've got myself some Pro Spider Jigs from Jewel Bait Co. in PB&J and Green Gourd colors, 3/16 and 5/16 oz. weights for each.

I will be fishing from the shoreline primarily, bottom is rocky, deepest water I can reach with a good megacast is about 32 ft.

Any suggestions you would have as to rod, line, and trailers I should try with these jigs would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Good fishing to ya, later............... geobass

TableRockGuide · Post by **TableRockGuide** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:21 pm

Geo, I fish the same type of lake in Missouri, here is what I use... 1/2 to 3/4 ounce football jigs in colors of Purple and Brown, Green Pumpkin and Brown with Orange flash or PB&J.. Trailers used are matching colors (The Best is Green Pumpkin or Cimm with purple flakes) twin tailed Zoom 4" and 5" grubs or Zoom Critter Crawlers in Green Pumpkin (Good Tip) Tip the very ends of the claws with a chart pin in clear water it really stands out!)

Now with these type of baits you can crawl these back to the boat by very very very slow reel in, keeping touch with the bottom.. Even better when you drag through a brush pile still reel in slow, the fish will blast it once through pile..

Rods, well I use a 6'6" Med Heavy rods spooled with your favorite line but I have found that 15 to 17 pound Fluorocarbon works the best to feel the very light bites and for the clear water, but it is really up to you and your likings.

We use this for Very Large smallies and Blacks hanging just right off the bottom chasing crawdads.. Works really well..

Good luck and Post pictures of this Toad to be caught!!!

Capt. Don

brendanc · Post by **brendanc** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:44 pm

Geo,

You are right... I do like this topic! In open water situations, here is the setup I have been using:

7' Med-Heavy action, Fast Taper G-Loomis GL3 Rod (Super light weight, extremely sensitive blank for detecting the slightest strikes). I like to use the lightest weight I can get away with, usually 3/16, so to ensure that I can still get the Jig down deep, I use braided line with a flourocarbon leader. I must say that of all the braids out there, Suffix Performance Braid is great. It is very castable and softer than most braids, but just as tuff. I use the 30 LB test .011" DIA (.29mm).

I tie in about 6' of Flourocarbon 12 lb test using an Albright Knot.

(See Full instructions at: Click Here )

For a jig, I like the Stanley Casting model. It has a thin wire hook which can be sharpened very easily with a file to give it a great cutting edge. I fish two color jigs, black/blu/purple or Green Pumpkin. Either way, I like the Yo-Mama Craw trailer in Green Pumpkin/Watermelon Laminated. They come in two sizes 3.25" or 4.25". You can check out their color chart and see the bait here: Yo MaMa Craw

The two tone appearance of this jig have been extremely effective in seducing big bass. I try various retrieves until the bass let me know what they are looking for. Somedays they want it swimming and others they like it dead-sticked. So I start fast (swimming) and then slow down to a hop, then a crawl/pause and finally dead-sticking if needed.

Hopefully you can put some of this info to good use...

Brendan

johnnie crain outdoors · Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:17 pm

Good post! I use basicaly the same set up, but with lighter line, 12# Clear blue Stren. Regular bait casting equipment. I always coat my offering with some Fish Formula Crawfish as well. That seems to help. In clear water I try to fish somewhat faster than normal to try for fast reflex strikes, but sometimes we have to slow down like Don and Brendan said. The trick is fishing fairly fast but maintaining close contact to the bottom. It can be done though. Good luck and keep us all posted on your catches. Johnnie Crain

George Cawthorn · Post by **George Cawthorn** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:22 am

TableRock, Brendan, Johnnie, thanks for all the great info.

That link to the animated knot tieing demos is really a good one Brendan.

I'm gonna try to load a photo of me fishing at Castaic so you can get some idea of the shorline I'm talking about. Where I'm standing is pretty much what the bottom is like.

You can see on the other side of the cove what the angle of drop on the shore is like. And also how clear the water can be... visibility in this pic is about 20 ft.

Without doing much hiking, like less than a mile or two, I can get to some pretty good points and coves..... I've caught a lot of nice bass out here from the shoreline using the Fat Boy Ika. Also some good ones from the lower Casstaic.

Attached files

mofish · Post by **mofish** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:33 am

Pretty awsome stuff here guys! I think that I might have to try some of these things for myself. I have not fished football head jigs yet after reading this I do believe I will.

carl · Post by **carl** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:13 pm

Super post gentlemen; I'll be following.

brendanc · Post by **brendanc** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:26 pm

Hey Carl, how are you? thanks for posting... what do you think of the new message boards?

Geo, That knot tying website is great. Makes it really easy to see what you are supposed to be doing!

George Cawthorn · Post by **George Cawthorn** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:46 pm

TableRock... one little question for ya. Sorry, I've only had four years fishing experience. I don't understand what "tip the claws with a chart pin meant".
OK you can hit me in the head with a frying pan if it's that simple, I've just never heard of it before.

Brendan... I went to check out that link to the Yo-MaMa site. Cool looking dad trailers but I have to ask you... are the claws bonded together, like do you have to cut them apart. Or if they are bonded together the way they look in the pictures on the web page, do you just fish them the way they come out of the bag.

That spider jig I showed in the photo I had rigged up on 8 lb. P-line CXX. Was using the only grub I had that would fit. After the LMB bite on the Ika I decided to give it a go
(all you jig affecienados don't crucify me for this) on a 6'6" medium hard action spinning rod. I had picked some of these jigs up at Bass Pro Shops on my vacation when I was in Vegas this year.

Cast it out twice and had just made two small pulls and a little jiggle on the jig when... WHAMO!!! Man I was bit really hard and the fish was pulling really strong.
Set the hook and came up solid like I had put one in with a cement nailgun.

I was so stoked cause I knew by the power of it this would be the largest LMB I'd ever caught. The fish was giving a great fight, making some hard runs and pulling off line and all. After about five minutes with my rod bent over at 90 degrees and my hands shakin thinking I was gonna be pulled off my rock into the lake, the fish finally came up to the surface................ I saw this big orange and brown swirl...dang it!!!! It was a carp!! LOL

Well anyway, I ended up landing the fish. Hit the scales at 15 lbs. even. Biggest fish I ever caught in freshwater...... not exactly what I was gunning for but hey it was one heck of a fight. Don't believe anyone who tells ya carp don't fight good.

Plus I had a good test of the 8 lb. P-Line CXX with a 15 lb. fish and it was like no problem, never felt like I was ever even close to a breakoff.

So that's one of the reasons I'm fired up about getting into the jig fishing for bass this fall. I'm figuring and also hoping that if the huge carp would pick up on the jig in that lake..... maybe some huge bass will too. Time will tell.

Good fishing to you guys, later............. geobass

brendanc · Post by **brendanc** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 8:13 pm

Geo,

Those trailers are attached by 3 or 4 tiny tags. You can just pull the claws appart and they are ready to go. I always seperate them before using them. They have a really great action when seperated.

I think what TableRock was saying is that you can use a "dying pen" to color the very tips (or ends) of the claws chartruese.

There is a company called "Spike IT" and they making scented coloring markers, dips and aerosole:

Check it out: Spike IT

Hey, this girl seems to agree that tipping your baits works too, and besides I just wanted to post the picture:

I quote her "Both of the fish pictured above were caught on chatterbaits. One was a red and white Original Chatter Bait with about half the weight skirt being dipped in Chartreuce Spike It Dip-n-Glo (crawfish flavor), the other was a black Gambler Chatter Bait. Both chatterbaits had white/pepper Yum Craw Bug trailers, with the tentacles being dipped in the Dip-n-glo"

Read the full article at: Fishing in Dallas