Horse Head Jigs

[Kelly Ripa]

Reaction Inovations has a great new bait out called a school girl. It is going to be a killer you can tell because they were sold out of them the first day they were on their site. It is really a neat bait for clear water schoolies. If you go to the reaction inovations website you can see the picture of them. I wouldn't use the 1/4 oz. but that is your call. We generally toss them out and grind them in so the heavier weight would be more condusive to keeping you in a deeper strike zone " clear water " without as much effort and since speed makes 'em stupid the 3/8 or 1/2 oz. would be my pick. I can't for the life of me remember what size Arron Martens was using last year but since it was " Homemade " we might never know for sure. If Memory serves me right it seemed he was using a fin - S ( sluggo type of bait ) for a trailer but I don't know why any type of grub wouldn't work. I'm no expert either but you also might try grinding a tail spinner through your smallmouth as that is another technique we use out west. Now tell us about some good stuff from your side of Mississippi.

[Kelly Ripa]

Essentially you are just working your lure through these fish that are bunched up trying to bushwack the shad . The stratagy for the preditors is simple ...Corral the shad and eat..Since the shad are in open water it is easier for bass to do this if there are more of them to bust through the defensive ball that the shad form into. The camoflage for shad is to be nice and shiney...Ever lay on your back in a swimming pool and look up? Way tougher to see a mirror on a mirror .Bass like hawks cannot distinguish the individual shad and see the school of shad as if it is one fish. Ever see blackbirds in a flock swirling around with a hawk around? Same thing! The hawk needs one of those birds to split from the group and it's all over. I have seen shad like soup in my local lake and there were bass and rainbow trout just sitting there with hundreds of these shad right infront of there noses and they did nothing until one shad split from the pattern. As soon as they did they were toast. By grind them in.... I mean there really is no action you will need to impart to your bait. It is a reaction bite pure and simple. My mentor taught me this many years ago and I preach it now...While it's true that maybe a light little pig and jig slowly coming to rest infront of your fish might be the way to catch them somedays. I tend to fish really big stuff "especially in winter" so that it flies past them and they don't have time to think but only time to react. SPEED MAKES THEM STUPID! In a schooling situation you have a competition factor going on and the smaller fish are usually caught first but you can catch the better fish by finding a school of the size you are looking for. These fish usually school by age group so you'll need to look around. Might I suggest that this winter when the spoon bite is on you try using an XPS " Bass Pro Shop " tungsten spoon. Try casting at the walls and pulling it off and dropping to the next ledge and so on and on....The smaller size and the speed of the fall really gets my smallmouth fired up. I swap out the hook for a red gamagatsu and tie directly to the split ring...It can make an otherwise dull day EPIC. Have a great summer.

Rip

[Triton Mike]

You gave some very wise information there ~ What you said works for Spotted bass to a "T"!! Great information and it's the essense of power fishing!

T Mike

[Kelly Ripa]

I took the time to visit your site....Really neat! Keep up the hard work but then it looks like a labor of love anyway. I especially liked your forum/report area as it seems to have free flowing ideas with out any pretence or worries. If you make it to our coast you will have to hook up with one of our nutcases and have them show you some of our better fisheries. I am sure you will have plenty of offers.

Rip