Entry 87-4

Emily Shaffer’s Five Favorite Baits

The New Zero 3X Salt-Impregnated Lure

Editor's Note: Emily Shaffer of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, a member of Strike King's professional team, and a 9-time Bassin' Gals Classic qualifier, has three first-place titles, 15 top-10 finishes and the WBFA 2002 Angler-of-the-Year title. With her career winnings at just over $200,000, Shaffer holds the record for the single largest bass, 9.01 pounds, weighed in at a Bassin' Gals Classic event, beating the 25-year history of the Bassmaster Classic and the 19-year history of the Bassin' Gals Classic. This week we'll look at Emily Shaffer's five favorite baits and how, where, when and why she fishes them.

Shaffer: You can fish this new lure around vegetation and rocks. I can use it Texas- or Carolina-rigged and still catch plenty of bass. I also fish the original Zero that floats. When I fish with the Zero, I mainly fish it on top of the water over grass, rocks and stumps. I like to put a barrel swivel in front of the Zero with about 1 to 1-1/2 feet of leader between the swivel and the lure. The swivel gives the bait just a little bit of weight, but it also prevents the lure from twisting your line. When I want a Carolina-rigged soft-plastic bait to float up off the bottom instead of crawling on the bottom, I'll fish the original Zero that's made of the 3X floating material.

One of the best ways to learn what the Zero and the salt-impregnated Zero will do under water is to rig them either Texas- or Carolina-style and put them in a swimming pool where you can watch them move along the bottom. Then you can see the action of the baits with different types of retrieves and you can visualize how the baits act under various fishing conditions when you're out on the lake. I use the salt-impregnated Zero when I want to Texas-rig the lure, and I'm parallel to a bank that may have grass or some other type structure on it. I also like to use the salt-impregnated Zero when I want my bait to freefall down a steep, rocky bluff or cliff. I also like to use this bait in the wintertime when I want a slow fall. One of my favorite ways to fish it as a fall bait is to rig it wacky-style and barely twitch my rod tip as the lure falls from the surface toward the bottom.
 

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