Entry 131-2
Shaw Grigsby - How to Catch Bass in December
Salt-Water Bait for December Fresh-Water Action
Editor's Note: Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, a well-known professional angler, enjoys fishing all the Strike King baits, especially the spinnerbaits. He has a TV show titled "One More Cast" on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN). This week he will discuss what baits to use in December, depending on the area of the country in which you're fishing.
Grigsby: There's a secret in Strike King's new line of lures for this year that proves names can be deceiving. You'll think that the new Redfish Magic lure from Strike King is a salt-water lure designed for redfish, which live in salt water. However, if you look at the bait, you can see that it's really a spinnerbait. This heavy wire spinnerbait is gold-plated and has a glass minnow (also considered a salt-water bait) on the jig head. This bait is built tough enough to withstand the strike of a 15- to 25-pound redfish and is also tough enough to take on a big largemouth bass.
One of the advantages to using the Redfish Magic in fresh water is that you can streamline the bait by taking the skirt off it, yet you've added a tremendous amount of action by putting the glass minnow made of 3X on the hook. Now you have a leaner profile spinner bait with a lot of action. There are plenty of times when I'm fishing that I want to reduce the profile of the spinner bait without reducing the weight or the length of it. I can accomplish these goals by using the Redfish Magic. I think bass fishermen are really missing a great lure if they don't use the Redfish Magic when they need a leaner-looking profile spinner bait with a lot of action to fish in spinner bait water. I like to fish the Redfish Magic along grass lines, points, trees, brush or any other type of cover that you believe will hold bass.
One of the features that nobody talks about much is that the pivot point on the head of the Redfish Magic allows the jig head to move and rotate, especially as the spinnerbait falls. So, the Redfish Magic is a great drop bait when you want to fish a spinnerbait vertically. I like to use the 1/2-ounce jig head and drop this down in 15 to 20 feet of water. Then I jump it off the bottom and let it fall again. This spinnerbait is amazing when you use it during December, particularly when bass are holding tight in schools in deep water, and you really need to fish to them vertically.
In any place you'll fish a jigging spoon, I promise you that you'll get more strikes if you'll fish the Redfish Magic. If you are looking for a bait to use during the month of December that will be different from anything else the bass have seen that can be fished slowly and vertically and that has a lean, hungry-looking profile, then don't leave home this month without a Redfish Magic in your tackle box.
