tHraSHin’ donKeys
DROPPIn’ IT In THE WATER
“out of the pack, i don’t use over 3/8- oz heads or 5-oz swimbaits,” stated tosh. “if i need to change it up for different presentations, there are some customizations that can be done depending on the areas being fished.” tosh defined three different ways to fish the rig. For a shallower approach such as backs of creeks at Shasta, laydowns in rodman Slough on Clear lake or tule points and docks on the Calif. delta, he preps his rig arms by cutting them down to a shorter size. “i take about three-inches off each wire,” said tosh. “This makes it stiffer and gives it better separation. This is best in areas around cover and allows it to be fished faster. it gives it a tight, flex, jerk action making it look like an excited ball of bait.” He recommended this for depths to eight or 10-feet of water and said he would use 1/8-oz jigheads. For a long line presentation, tosh said the following, “i use a longer wire and fish it slower.” He explained long line or deep bottom fishing in 50- to 60-feet of water saying, “ leave the wires as the come and throw it out and troll or stroll away from it. The movement of each bait will have a lot of natural flexibility due to the length and thin diameter of the Thrasher. i like to use a 1/2-oz jighead for this.” When targeting suspended bass, tosh changes the rig by presenting the arms at a variety of lengths. “i cut the top wire down to about 3.5-inches, each side arm to about 4.5-inches and then leave the bottom one full length or almost full length,” he explained. “ i also add a bigger swimbait to that bottom arm. if you are going at suspended fish, they could be looking from a long ways away. They could see that thing from 360-degrees and that bigger swimbait could be the one that will get their attention.” He described his staggered baitfish appearance saying, “You never see a perfect line of baitfish.” tosh
uses 1/4-oz jigheads for presentation. during the winter months to early spring, he suggested targeting wood and baitfish, trying to get close to where the fish will go when it warms up. “They relate to breaks and cover to gorge themselves; find bait around channel bends and bluffs.” explained tosh.
LInE
“When i started throwin’ the umbrella rig, i was using flourocarbon,20 or 25-lb fluorocarbon,” he stated. “Then i changed to braid, 60-lb braid. i thought about it and decided, if they will eat those baits with the visible wires right there on them, braid wasn’t going to scare them away.” as he discussed fluoro vs. braid he did say he noticed he got more bites when he fished fluorocarbon, but landed significantly more fish when using braid. “Back east they’re in that chocolate milk water, the line doesn’t matter as much; but out here it matters - everything matters,” continued tosh. He also commented on the use of monofilament when fishing an umbrella rig, “i would say you could also use mono, if you wanted to save money -twenty-pound can be amazing.”
ROD ‘n’ REEL
an irod Gen ii 7’10” Bama rig Special with a 5:1 Calcutta te reel is the tosh preferred combo for the rig. “a 5:1 or 5.3:1 reel is going to move baits slower, “ he explained. “With the slower retrieve, you can control the depth, you don’t overwind the bait and you can leave it in the strike zone longer. as for the rod, the average fisherman is going to use a medium-
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