Entry 301-1

Tips From the Tube and Jig Man - Denny Brauer

Part 5: Where to Fish What

Question: Where do you like to fish a jig and tube and why?

Brauer: I like fishermen who don’t like to lose lures because a cautious fisherman will always leave me a place to catch a bass. I’m looking for the thickest, roughest, hardest-to-reach places I can find when I’m flipping and pitching a jig. I want to flip or pitch that jig into a spot where no one in his right mind will think about putting that jig, because no other fisherman will fish a spot like I fish. The bass in that area have learned that that spot’s a sanctuary that they can go to, ambush bait there and have no fishing pressure. I want to punch a jig through matted grass that the average fisherman thinks a jackhammer can penetrate.

You have to remember that the bass is a predator, so it looks for a really-good ambush spot. But, the bass is also the prey of a bass fisherman. It also has to look for places to hold where fishermen can’t get to it. When a bass is holding in a rough spot that’s hard to get to and hard to fish, I’ve found the Strike King Premier Pro Model jig is one of the best lures to use to get into that spot, penetrate through that cover and catch that bass that no one else can catch.

When I’m fishing deep water, and when I’m ledge fishing, I want a jig that gives me three opportunities to catch the bass. I want a jig with a lot of action as it falls, one that gets the bass’s attention and causes it to strike in mid water. If I don’t catch the bass on the fall, I want to be able to drag it along the bottom, get the bass’s attention and cause that fish to eat the bait on the bottom.

If that doesn’t work, I want to be able to drag the bait on the bottom, feel the stumps, rocks or logs that a bass may hide beside, over or under, and then be able to hop, drag or crawl that jig over that obstacle and get the bass to bite as it falls off the other side.

Question: What about the tube? What kinds of places do you like to fish the tube?

Brauer: Even a 4-1/2-inch tube is a small subtle bait for a bass to eat. I don’t know what bass think a tube is, but I think it looks like an hors d’oeuvres being carried on a silver tray by a slow-walking server. You may not really want to eat this hors d’oeuvres. However, since it looks so nice, and all you have to do is reach out and eat it, you go ahead and take a bite. When bass aren’t in a really-aggressive mood or are holding in very-shallow water, they’ll often take that tube more quickly and easily than they’ll take the jig. In my opinion, creature baits like the Game Hawg, the Space Monkey and the Rage Craw are the in-between baits. They’re not a bully demanding to be eaten like the jig, and they’re not a subtle sister like the tube. They’re an in-between bait that often will trigger a strike under some fishing conditions better than either the jig or the tube.

My job is to catch bass. I prefer to catch them with the jig. If the jig’s not working, I don’t hesitate to go to the tube. If the bass are in-between, I’ll feed them the creature baits. Strike King’s tubes and jigs have been my stock-in-trade for many years now. I’ve been highly successful with them. I believe if you’ll learn to fish them in different ways, you’ll find and catch more bass than you will using other lures.

Contents:

• Part 1: What Jig, What Trailer, When and Why?
• Part 2: 2: Bet on the Football - Jig, That Is
• Part 3: The Flip-N-Tube is the Only Tube
• Part 4: Tube or Jig - Which One?
• Part 5: Where to Fish What