Jigging Rapala - Vertical Jigging Suspended Bass

[Greg E.]

Your right, it was the hot ticket in the mid to late 90's. Mostly in the winter as alternative to vertical jigging spoons. Last winter I pulled a couple out of mothballs and used them at Castaic when the fish were in 40+ feet. They still work.

Never used them for shallow suspended fish or schooling fish.

Most people modify them a little. The factory treble is way to small for bass so you need to replace that. The beauty of the ice jig is that it will move around in a large horizontal circle whithout having to do any vigorious jigging like with a spoon. Just a slow and slight up and down with the tip of the pole will make it go in a circle and cover a lot of water.

Hope that helps, thats all I know.

Greg E.

[Kelly Ripa]

You still owe for the horsehead advice We are still waiting for some juicey info from out your way.

[Pete Marino]

throwing the smallest deepest diving jerk bait in your box. They will not be able to resist them. Trust me! Pete Marino

[smpboy]

try a tailspinner they work great for that situation those rapala ice jigs do work good just be sure to replace that treble hook but dont go with 2 big a hook cause it will get wraped around the line more and watch the depth u are fishing cause those things sink quick i usually use them for 50 ft in the dead of winter had some awsome days on them

[GaryMc]

Hi,
I am the maker of the MCSPIN tailspins. The MCSPIN works very well on suspending bass. There has been alot of tournaments won and alot of top finishes on the MCSPIN. The biggest bass that I know that has been caught on the MCSPIN is 9 lbs. I use them year around and I catch alot of fish on them. The best colors are Chartruse Shad(great at Diamond Valley), Pearl White with Mylar Flake, Chartruse/White, Purple flash(great at Castaic lake) and Regular Mylar Flake. I mostly bounce them off the bottom in the winter time and slow roll them in the summer time. I have 18 colors at Angler's Marine in Anaheim.

Give them a try you will like them.

Gary McNaught

[Castaic Dave]

the storm wild eyed swimbaits in 3in jigged especially if there is a shad ball around.

[Jeff Taibi]

Lynda,

I have used the ice jigs for many, many years with a lot of success.
Seems to me that they work best in clear water or when you get one or two aggressive ones on a spoon and then can't get bit anymore.

For jigging vertical, the one key to it I can tell you is to not jig it again as soon as the line comes tight (like you would a spoon). The ice jig glides out to the side when it falls and when the line comes tight it does an 'about face' and glides horizontally back to center. Because of that, you want to pause about 3 or 4 seconds before you jig it again because you're most likely to get bit during that lateral glide.

I haven't used it for schooling fish myself but I know that it can work very well, mainly for fish that are below the fish busting on top. Again, in clearer water where you can't get them to eat a fluttered spoon well enough.

The best hook set-up I have found is to cut off the belly hook hanger completely. Then cut the back hook off leaving about 1/4 inch. Then, bend that upwards and towards the nose to create an eyelet (the end should kind of stick into the top of the plastic tail piece). Next, put a split ring and trebel hook on that eye and you are ready to go with a much improved hook-up ratio.

If you want to fish it in submerged wood, you can also cut the front hook off flush at the nose. Now when you hang wood, you can drop slack and shake it loose just kike you would a regular jigging spoon.

Hope that helps and Good Luck!

[Ron C]

...shared some info with y'all that is absolutely priceless. Back in the late 80's and early 90's, people couldn't buy that information.

Thanks for the nostalgia Jeff!