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My first recollection
of the seeing the grub's effectiveness was on the tidal waters of
the Virginia coast.
My fishing partner, a local guide, had three spinning rods rigged
up- one with a grub, the second with a
grub, and the last with a grub. At the time, I was somewhat of a
devotee to crank plugs and worms and
didn't think very highly of his lure selection. However, when the
score reached ten to one, common sense
finally took over and the kid decided something was certainly wrong
(at least at my end of the boat, which
happened to be the front!). To make a long story short...
I borrowed
a grub and got a very enlightening fishing lesson that day. Successful
anglers tell us that the
most effective locations to fish the grub are rocky points and steeply
sloping gravel banks. These areas
normally hold good numbers of the natural food that the grub most
closely resembles, that being the
crawfish. In rivers and some of the Florida lakes, the grub really
becomes a dynamite producer when fished
in the area of mussel shell beds. On impoundments with an abundance
of standing timber, such as Santee
Cooper (South Carolina), many successful anglers use a vertical
jigging technique in and around the long
dead trees.
It is difficult
to fish a grub incorrectly. Basically, you toss it out and work
it back in virtually the same
manner as a plastic worm. The only variation is that, while the
overall retrieve is just as slow, the
movements are a bit more sharp. Instead of dragging the lure, as
we do the worm, we give the grub very
short, light hops. Not much, just a little more wrist action. The
strikes are very soft, to the point that you
do not normally feel three out of four of them. The key, and this
is exactly like using the jig and pig, is that
we always feel the lure on a tight line before we move it. The bass
will just be there and, if you feel for him
first, you will usually find that he will tug back gently at your
increased tension. If you are fishing the grub
down a fairly steep, sloping bottom, or on top of school fish, many
of the strikes will come on the fall. This
is an 'alert condition' and close attention is required. Normally,
a slight 'tick' in the line or a perceptible
'bump' is the fishy indication. If you have counted the lure down
on previous casts and know how long it
takes to get to the bottom, an early slack line is a dead giveaway
of a strike.
Professional
guides tell us that the grub should always be fished on fairly light
tackle and line. The ideal
set-up is a medium action spinning rod (graphite for added stiffness
and sensitivity) and ten pound test. A
high-visibility line is recommended in order to detect strikes which
come on the fall of the lure. Never use a
soft rod or one with a soft, or fast taper, tip or your ability
to feel the fish will be deadened and many of the
strikes will go unnoticed. The Pro's also advised setting the hook
with a sweeping motion to the side,
rather than a hard overhead snap. This was suggested to prelude
possibly breaking the light line and to
compensate for flexing of the light rod. There are lead heads made
especially for the grub and most work
fine. In making the proper selection, there are three factors to
consider.
First, the
head should be flat, or at least wider than it is high. The intent
is that it will come to rest with
the hook always in an upright position. This will preclude a lot
of hangs and snags. The second factor
regards the hook style. If you take the previous advice and go with
light tackle, the hook should be made
of a light, wire material, such as the Aberdeen style. You nearly
always stick the fish on the hook set and
usually get it in pretty good. If heavy gear is your preference,
be sure that the hook is compatible, or you'll
bend it every time. The third consideration is the size/weight of
the lead head. On light tackle, the standard
head size recommended is one eighth ounce.
This is satisfactory
until you are fishing below 15 feet. At that point, go a bit larger.If
your tackle
selection is heavier, with lines of 14 pound test or more, you will
find that a quarter ounce head will be
sufficient, unless you are fishing exceptionally deep. The sole
intent of the grub head weight is to insure
that we can feel the lure satisfactorily and, therefore, control
it properly and detect the strike.
A rather interesting
modification to the basic grub body has proven to be very effective,
particularly on
Smallmouth and Kentucky Spotted bass. This involves adding a series
of dancing, quivering 'legs'. Simply
take a large sewing needle (a straightened hook also works well),
some straight pieces of rubber band, or
similar material, and insert them through the main body of the grub.
While it makes the lure look good to
the fisherman, it is also very effective on the bass. A guide on
Lake Eufaula (Alabama) introduced this
variation to me and I assure you that it works extremely well, particularly
if the body of water has a large
crayfish population.
A variation
of the basic grub is the addition of a 'twister' tail. At times,
these types seem to produce
very well, but I am inclined to think that they probably catch as
many fishermen as they do fish. This style
does have a number of excellent applications, however. Rigged 'Carolina
style', with a slip sinker and swivel
10-15 inches in front of the lure, this 'swimming tail' grub can
be exceptionally productive when presented
in an area of current flow. When fished in this manner, the lure
should be allowed to lay in place for periods
while the current moves it about. Keep a reasonably tight line and
watch for unusual movements,
particularly the grub moving across or against the current!
Many professional
fishermen remove the traditional skirt from their spinnerbaits and
substitute a twister
tail grub, saying that the action is better and that it gives more
'substance' to the lure. Another method
noted, particularly by anglers who fish predominately grassy waters,
is to use a weedless hook and a
small split shot weight and simply swim the twister tail grub along
as we would a spinner bait.
Many grub
bodies have a flat tail. In rigging up, we are advised that the
flat portion should be horizontal.
This seems to cause the tail to flutter on the fall and appear more
lifelike. Whether it really matters or not
may be debatable, but why argue with known success. For the twister
tail versions, it is recommended
that it be rigged with the curl of the tail upwards. This prevents
the thin tail from being torn, or pulled off,
when the lure comes across an obstruction.
There are
only two problems with the grub, one of which is that they are fairly
easy for a bass to throw
out on the jump. Unlike a Texas-rigged worm, where the slip sinker
normally run up the line and away from
the hooked fish, the grub head stays put. When the bass comes up
and snaps his head around, the
compact weight of the grub lure makes it susceptible to being thrown.
The way to counteract this is the
same as with any other lure. Keep a tight line at all times and,
when you see a jump coming, plunge the
rod tip underwater as far as you can and reel rapidly. If you can
pull his head over far enough, you will
either stop the jump or, at least, shorten it.
The second
problem is trying to fish the grub in cover areas, such as brush
or grass. The professional
anglers questioned do not consider this to be a major factor, in
that the grub can be modified to fit the
situation. There are three ways to make a grub reasonably weedless.
One way is to affix a short rubber
band through the eye of the hook and bring it back to be looped
under the barb. A second is to use a
weedless hook. Some can be found with a lead covering around the
shank of the hook and these work fine
in lieu of a lead head. A plain weedless hook can also be used if
you add a normal slip sinker up front and
peg it down.
When questioned
as to the best color selections for the grub, our sources were in
agreement that
black, brown and smoke were preferred, with the latter being the
primary selection. If the water is
exceptionally clear, we were advised to consider a pale green. The
simple grub is an easy to use, highly
effective tool for harvesting bass. It can add another dimension
to your bassin'.
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