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April 21, 2010

Story by Russ Bassdozer

Jigs Rule!

This is a reprint. I first wrote this in mid-2007 (I think). It covers the trailers I used then on jigs and still do today:

• Yamamoto Craws. In sizes ranging from the bulky 3-series (with or without an pinched off the body) for big jigs. Also the 3M and 3FS for average jigs.
• Yamamoto Double Tail Grubs. In sizes ranging from the big 12-series (with or without an pinched off the body) for big bass, the relatively new 16L-series Pro DT for medium jigs and the stalwart 15-series for small jigs
• Yamamoto Single Tail Grubs. Mainly two sizes - the 19-series for big jigs plus the 18-series most of the time for medium to small jigs (including discontinued 19T and 16T).
• Yamamoto Hula Grubs. Mainly the 5" 97-series.
• Yamamoto Flappin Hog
• Yamamoto Kreature

I have updated the text a little so it doesn't read like ancient history today. Please enjoy!

Yamamoto Craws

A friend recently emailed to inquire what soft baits I've been using as silicone-skirted jig trailers lately. His question is apropos since I have changed my jig trailer choices somewhat lately to include the relatively newer 16L Pro DT double tail, the Kreature and the Flappin Hog. I've also made increasing more use of Yamamoto skirted hula grubs as jigs trailers stuffed under rubber skirted jigs in recent years.

Historically, I used the Yamamoto craws as jig trailers more, until some of the newer Yamamoto baits including the Kreature and the Flappin' Hog came along. As the newer baits hit the market, I simply needed to work with the new baits more as trailers in order to be able to write about them and to inform fellow anglers how best to use these new Yamamoto baits.

As a consequence, I use the Yamamoto craws less nowadays as jig trailers. That's not to imply they don't make great jig trailers. They do. On the Potomac River in the final event of the 2005 season, FLW Tour pro Toshi Namiki caught his fish mainly on jigs. He used Yamamoto's Fat Baby Craw as his jig trailer in black color and green pumpkin. He finished 5th for $30,000. He used the black craw trailer in the morning and green pumpkin later during the daytime. In the morning time, the water is darker, there is less sunshine, and black is easier for the fish to find in the diffused morning light, says Namiki.

The fishing got tough for Toshi on the final day of Potomac competition, but he nabbed the biggest fish in the event that day, a four pounder, on a jig with Gary's Fat Baby Craw trailer. That fish helped Namiki finish in fifth place on the Potomac, and second overall in the Angler of the Year race on the 2005 FLW Pro Tour. Fact is, the Yamamoto Craw is and always has been as good a jig trailer as any.

Left: 3-3/4" Fat Baby Craw (3FS-series). Right: 4" Medium Craw (3M-series).

Several other Yamamoto baits also make good jig trailers for me:

1. the Single Tail Grub in 18 and 18T (discontinued) series
2. the Skirted Double Tail Hula Grub (97 series) 
3. the Double Tail Grub in 12, 15, new 16L Pro DT (and 12T and 16T discontinued series)
4. the Kreature
5. the Flappin' Hog

L to R: 18-series Single Tail Grub, 16L Pro Double Tail Grub, Flappin' Hog, 97-series Double Tail Hula, and Kreature.

With several such trailer options to choose from, that all work super, I do not get too hung up on what jig trailer style I'm using, with the exception that the size of the trailer will have to match the size of the jig to some degree, and the overall bulk of the jig plus trailer combo will have some influence on the size of the fish caught - for me.

Yamamoto Single Tail Grubs

1. it's been discontinued, and
2. it comes in only a few colors.

18T Tough Single Tail Grub has been discontinued, but is still available while supplies last. 031 color shown.

18T Tough Single Tail Grub in color 150 smoke pepper

I also use the 150 smoke pepper color with brown, brown purple (shown below), and I also use the smoke pepper sometimes on black blue skirts.

I use the merthiolate 320 color with green skirts at times. Those are all 18T colors so far. There really aren't many other 18T colors.

I use the softer 18-series instead of 18T for colors not avaialable in 18T. For example, on black blue skirts, I often use color #214 (smoke bluegill with blue, black and gold flake). Also, I use an 042 or 194 watermelon 18-series single tail with a brown orange jig skirt. This brown orange skirt with watermelon trailer has proven to be an outstanding jig color for me ever since a friend Jeremy Riley showed me this jig color combo about seven years back. Before that, I had always used a brownish or smoke trailer with a brown orange jig, but the watermelon trailer truly perks up this presentation. It's outstanding. So that's why I use the watermelon (and a few other colors) even though the softer 18-series tail gets torn off easily. The silver lining is, even when tails do get pulled off, fish often circle back and bite again.

The 18's and 18T's are the smallest trailers I use on jigs, usually on smaller profile Wisconsin style swimming jigs in the spring - or swimming other jig styles (like swimming skirted football jigs) in the spring. For some reason, it seems the single tail grub works swimmingly with swimming jigs.

Yamamoto Double Tail Grubs

Gary Yamamoto has also come out in recent years with a new, thicker legged double tail series, the 16L Pro Double Tail Grub. The L stands for Long. It is longer in the body than the legacy 16-series. I'm loving the 16L as a jig trailer. It was first released in early 2008, and many anglers may still not have tried the 16L. Please do. it is a superior double tail jig trailer.

The 16L Pro Double Tail Grub was released in early 2008. Color 042J shown.

The 16L is a great trailer for light to medium size jigs.

16T Tough Grub (discontinued) in color 031 is tough enough to last all day.

Yamamoto Hula Grubs

Next up in size of trailers I use is the 97-series skirted double tail hula grub. In the past few seasons, I am getting back into using the skirted 97-series much more as a jig trailer. I simply stuff the skirted grub up under a skirted jig. A friend Jeremy Riley and I first started doing this a lot a few years ago. At the time, I had never known of anyone else using a skirted hula grub stuffed under a jig skirt. But now it seems I hear of everyone up to and including the top pros using it more and more - a skirted hula grub under a jig skirt. Reason is, it works. The skirted double tail Yamamoto hula grub is the jig trailer that rookie pro Derek Remitz used to win $102,000 in the 2007 season opener on Lake Amistad, Texas. So a skirted hula grub makes a superb jig trailer.

A 97-series Skirted Double Tail Hula Grub in color 190 motor oil pepper.

Black blue jig with color #214 97-series Hula Grub trailer.

Yamamoto Kreature

Next up in size of trailers - and commotion created (due to forcing the thicker legs to bend over backward) is the Kreature. This is bulkier than the previously-mentioned trailers and I tend to use it on my relatively bigger, heavier jigs. It's no coincidence that bigger heavier jigs sweetened with bulkier Kreatures tend to attract a bit bigger fish on average.

With the Kreature, I prefer to rig with skirt to front on a jig.

Brown orange jig with color #194 watermelon pepper Kreature trailer.

Yamamoto Flappin' Hog

One of the newest jig trailers I've used a lot lately is the Flappin' Hog, which Yamamoto released a few years back.

Flappin' Hog in color 214 smoke bluegill.

Currently, I fish jigs mainly with the soft plastic Yamamoto jig trailers listed above. Pay attention to the modles listed in the text because not all are shown in photos. For example, the big 12-seruies double tail works best for big bass, but I did not have a photo of it - but don't neglect it's deadly effect on lunkers.

Why not give this nice trailer mix a try?

I hope they'll work as good for you as they have for me.