Curlytail Grubs 2024

Outdoor Zack reply :

As I was going through my tackle box yesterday, I found a few odd plastic baits. Among the cheap rubber worms, tube baits, and salamanders, I found a few curlytail grubs. I've never used them before, but I am headed out this weekend, so I'll get a chance to fish them and a few other lures I picked up the other day. Have you ever been successful with them? Did you fish the grub fast or slow? Do you have any other critical advice that you're willing to pass on? Thanks in advance.

A-Jay reply :

Grubs have been catching quality bass for a long long time. Smallmouth bass In particular have a real affinity to a properly presented grub.

Here's some light reading.

A-Jay

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/about-grubs.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fish/grubs.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/smallmouth.html

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/rigging-grubs.html

MIbassyaker reply :

On 9/17/2015 at 11:16 AM, Outdoor Zack said:
As I was going through my tackle box yesterday, I found a few odd plastic baits. Among the cheap rubber worms, tube baits, and salamanders, I found a few curlytail grubs. I've never used them before, but I am headed out this weekend, so I'll get a chance to fish them and a few other lures I picked up the other day. Have you ever been successful with them? Did you fish the grub fast or slow? Do you have any other critical advice that you're willing to pass on? Thanks in advance.

Several years ago, Field and Stream listed the curly tail grub the greatest lure of all time:

Http://www.fieldandstream.com/photos/gallery/fishing/bass/2006/04/50-greatest-lures-all-time

Along with in-line spinners, 3" and 4" curly tail grubs on 1/8 oz jigheads were the first artificial lures I ever regularly caught fish on. Granted, it wasn't always bass -- I have caught crappie, rock bass, white bass, yellow perch, walleye, pike, and channel catfish on them too-- but they'll definitely catch both largemouth and smallmouth. You can fish them any way you fish any other plastic bait (especially a tube), although they've always seemed to work best hopping or swimming. I like using a yo-yo retrieve -- cast, let fall, lift by raise with the rod tip to 12 o'clock, drop the rod tip while reeling the slack, raise again, etc.. Or swim with a crank-pause-crank-pause...etc.

WRB reply :

Take a look at Glenn's vedio.
Tom

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/rig-tube-bait.html

Todd2 reply :

I fished with an older gentlemen a few years ago that almost fished them exclusively. He'd just cast and do a steady retrieve. Some days he'd smoke me on it.

ww2farmer reply :

A 4" grub is my #1 go to swim jig and chatterbait trailer. As much as I fart around with things like paddle tail baits, flapping creature baits,etc...the grub outfishes them all. It just works...cold water,dirty water, clear water, warm water.....it seems to be the best all around trailer for me.

wytstang reply :

I love MegaStrikes grubs (laminate smoke, craw, watermelon silver) on a chatterbait or swim jig as well (The Mega Bug is amazing as well).

NotnatsSamoht reply :

I have grubs that I rarely fish as well, but after reading some of these comments I will be using them my next time out.

scaleface reply :

Like all soft plastics they work real well. Ive used them Texas rig , carolina rig , on jigs and buzzed on top .There are just so many baits too fish and so little time that I just dont use them much anymore .

dcmclassic reply :

I use them on swimjigs a lot. My favorite way to rig then is on a rockport rattler jig head and a scrounger head.

Raul reply :

Throw them away, they don´t work.

buzzed bait reply :

when all else fails, the curly grub on a jig head seems to still catch a fish or two.

one day a buddy and i were getting skunked badly in the yaks.... saw a kid maybe 11 or 12 on the bank that appeared to be wearing them out. I asked him how it was going and what he was using. he said the only bait he brought was the 3" curly tail and had already caught about 20, but lost count!

my buddy and i hung our head in shame all the way back to the ramp.... neither of us had any curly tail grubs. i now keep some white, green pumpkin and chartreuse on me all the time.

Outdoor Zack reply :

Thanks all. I'll try them this weekend. It can't hurt, can it?

Fishing Rhino reply :

Here's how I rig them. Most of the time it's with a 1/8th ounce weight. A drop of super glue at the nose keeps the bait buttoned up to the weight. The bait is upside down in the photo.

A good jig head is the Keitech Super Round Tungsten jig head. I use the 1/8th ounce with a 2/0 hook. But I also have 1/16th ounce, 3/16th ounce and 1/4 ounce hooks for experimentation.

The bait in the image is a Rage Tail Craw. But Zoom craws and the grand daddy Mister Twister also work well.

You can catch several fish on a single bait, unless the pickerel or other toothy critters are after them.

There is no right or wrong way to fish 'em. Vary your retrieve, and let the fish tell you what they want. Our most common practice is to wait five to ten seconds after splash down depending on the depth we are fishing. From there you can twitch and jerk and let it settle after each "jump". You can also swim it.

yugrac reply :

I use them on the classic "safety pin spinner" I buy different sizes of jig heads, spinners and grubs, and rig my own. Black is my go to color in this configuration.

Goose52 reply :

Bait rigged:

Catch:

bigbill reply :

My buddy uses a 2" yellow curly tail grub on a light jighead. He just drops it down in the weeds. I like to use the weedless mepps timber doodle silver blade with the mister twister 4" split double tail grub. I use the mister twister 4" split double tail grubs in different colors as trailers. They look real when moving. They look alive and like there really swimming. On spinnerbaits, top props there awesome. I haven't tried them on Buzzbait and chatterbaits yet.

macmac reply :

I fished for gills with an elderly fellow and watched him wacky rig a 1 and 1/2 inch grub sideways on the hook. Fishing weeds with light weight 1/16 oz. jighwads he dominated the scene that day.

He was catching two to my one, consistently....... The "struggling" curl tail grub was making more of a commotion as it passed through the weedy area and didn't fall fast on the pauses in his gentle retrieve, making the lure create more vibrations being sideways and all....making it much easier for the fish to find the lure among the weeds.

He taught me a lot that day....

White Pearl, and Charteuse Pearl worked the best on that particular day.

scaleface reply :

On 9/18/2015 at 10:44 PM, macmac said:

I fished for gills with an elderly fellow and watched him wacky rig a 1 and 1/2 inch grub sideways on the hook. Fishing weeds with light weight 1/16 oz. jighwads he dominated the scene that day.

He was catching two to my one, consistently....... The "struggling" curl tail grub was making more of a commotion as it passed through the weedy area and didn't fall fast on the pauses in his gentle retrieve, making the lure create more vibrations being sideways and all....making it much easier for the fish to find the lure among the weeds.

He taught me a lot that day....

White Pearl, and Charteuse Pearl worked the best on that particular day.

You never know . I would have never thought to do that .

MFBAB reply :

Goose52, are you fishing your grub weightless?

Is that a sinking or floating grub?

Just curious, I've never tried one that way other than buzzing twin tails on top, wondered how you are fishing it?? Nice fish!!

NotnatsSamoht reply :

Went and fished a grub today, after not getting anything on topwater all morning I tried the grub and started catching fish. If it weren't for this thread I would have forgotten those grubs in my bag and they would have been trailers.

bigbill reply :

On 9/18/2015 at 11:32 PM, NotnatsSamoht said:
Went and fished a grub today, after not getting anything on topwater all morning I tried the grub and started catching fish. If it weren't for this thread I would have forgotten those grubs in my bag and they would have been trailers.

Trust me we all forget at times. Sometimes the first few pages in a logbook should be a list of different baits/rigs/plastics. I do have a 3700 tackle tray loaded with pre rigged plastics.

My memory at 65yo is slipping sometimes. I forget what new baits I have squirrels away. I was going to order inline spinners I found a whole box full today.

Goose52 reply :

On 9/18/2015 at 11:27 PM, MFBAB said:

Goose52, are you fishing your grub weightless?

Is that a sinking or floating grub?

Just curious, I've never tried one that way other than buzzing twin tails on top, wondered how you are fishing it?? Nice fish!!

Yes - weightless and rigged weedless. I fish, depending on what I want to do, Zoom Fat Alberts, Kalins (in the photo), and Gander Mountain 5" grubs - they all sink. Zoom is sorta the standard. I fish Kalins when I want a bit more weight than a Fat Albert (usually when tossing it with a BC rod/reel) and the Kalins is still fairly soft to enable a light-power BC rod to pull through the plastic on the hookset. The Gander Mountain grubs are just about identical in size/form to the Kalins but are harder and as such they skip very well.

How do I fish them? Every way I can. I usually cast, let them sink for a second, then start a twitching retrieve. The retrieve can be either underwater, or on top, depending on what I think will get bit. Since they're rigged weedless, you can toss them into slop, grass, etc. and retrieve them on top, letting them sink into holes in the vegetation.

The bass in the photo was 7.4lb, and is my largest grub fish. I targeted some mid-lake emergent grass with the grub and she must have been holding on, or patrolling along, that weedline. She nailed the grub on splashdown - just inhaled it. In the photo below, you can see the grub all the way at the back of her throat...

Alonerankin2 reply :

Try Kalins 8" Mogambo grub...

Outdoor Zack reply :

You guys have convinced me. I've got to try those grubs! By the way, nice fish, Goose52.

MFBAB reply :

Thx goose.

I use a lot of the same grubs you're throwing on ball heads or as jig/swim jig trailers, but using it like a fluke is something I never considered!!

That rig is gonna get some play the next couple of months, great timing on this

Bluebasser86 reply :

Smoke no flake Yamamoto 4" single tail grub "scrubbing a grub", at Table Rock catches lots of fish. I use to split shot rig them too and did really well.

BassThumb reply :

They're one of my go-to lures in late fall when the water drops into the 50's.

I like pearl-, chart/white-, and watermelon-colored 5" grubs on a 1/8 oz. jig mostly. Added bonus is that walleyes also bite them come this time of the year.

I fish them pretty erratically for the most part, trying to hit weed tops and pop the lure off light snags. Other time a straight retrieve works better.

OkobojiEagle reply :

I've fished lots of grubs over the years... still do. Lunker City's Hydo-tail grub is a sleeper design that more people ought to investigate. Hope you like smoke with copper/black flakes as that's the only flavor they offer in that bait.

While you're checking the Hydro-tail, take a look-see at their Ribster & Swimmin' Ribster... two more pretty good baits.

d-camarena reply :

I like the cabelas fat grub. On a weedless jig head. I always tie it on my little brothers rod. He always seems to catch fish with it

Random Tackle reply :

On 9/18/2015 at 9:41 AM, Goose52 said:

Bait rigged:

Are you using size 1, 2 or 4 (not aught) ewg hooks for this?

Goose52 reply :

On 9/20/2015 at 7:04 PM, Random Tackle said:

On 9/18/2015 at 9:41 AM, Goose52 said:

Bait rigged:

Are you using size 1, 2 or 4 (not aught) ewg hooks for this?

I use a 1/0 EWG.

AND, I SHOULD MENTION, that I use a swivel with about a 24-30" leader above the hook - a single-tail grub will spin like crazy if you let it...

Fishing Rhino reply :

The Rage Tail Menace should be included in your must have list of grubs. I'm not sure it's technically called a grub, but the body definitely is. On most days, it will hammer the curly tail grub, but there are other days when the fish will prefer the Fat Albert type. At least that has been my experience. Color, Green pumpkin with purple and gold flakes. It will only cost you a few bucks to toss a bag of Menace baits in with your grub assortment.

I'm a watermelon with black and red flakes guy, but I find myself leaning toward the "Mardi Gras" coloration.

Another bait that I'm particularly fond of is the 2 3/4" Lunker City Grubster, in the clear water color. I rig it the same as the curly tail grub in an earlier post.

Primus reply :

On 9/19/2015 at 3:34 AM, Alonerankin2 said:
Try Kalins 8" Mogambo grub...

How do you like to rig it ? If on a jighead what size weight do you usually use ? Thanks

the reel ess reply :

It's the first artificial I ever used with regular success-for crappie. But I know bass love bigger ones too. I still use small ones in ponds on a Roadrunner head to catch finicky bass when bigger baits fail. I use them on a light combo with 6# mono. You can also catch big bluegills on them as well as the occasional crappie.

Alonerankin2 reply :

On 9/21/2015 at 7:42 PM, Primus said:
How do you like to rig it ? If on a jighead what size weight do you usually use ? Thanks

I don't fish the 5" or 8" on jig heads. I T-Rig both, I like to use both on bluff walls & C-Rig in channels. 1/16 to 1/8 then 1/2 oz on c-rig. Maybe 3/4 to maintain bottom contact. Any grub smaller than 5" I will use a grub head/hook. That's just to say, the way I utilize the baits for my style of fishing.. The 8" is a pretty good bait in Florida too..

Primus reply :

On 9/22/2015 at 2:31 AM, Alonerankin2 said:
I don't fish the 5" or 8" on jig heads. I T-Rig both, I like to use both on bluff walls & C-Rig in channels. 1/16 to 1/8 then 1/2 oz on c-rig. Maybe 3/4 to maintain bottom contact. Any grub smaller than 5" I will use a grub head/hook. That's just to say, the way I utilize the baits for my style of fishing.. The 8" is a pretty good bait in Florida too..

Thanks

MFBAB reply :

This is what I came up with for rigging the grub weightless, it's just a 60 degree jig hook with a hitchhiker on it - aka the cheapskates version of a swimbait hook

This setup is great for Horny Toads (lagrer hook) or buzzing craws on top.

The big advantage of fishing a craw or doubletail grub this way over a Horny Toad style frog is that the hookup % seems to be much better, at least for me. I think a single tail grub will fish great on this setup.

Also, as many have mentioned here before, putting a bead in front helps keep this type of rig running clean in the grass.

Also, you can put a rubber core sinker on this hook and use it as a keel weighted swimbait hook, or Rage Rig, whatever we're calling those these days

Again, thx to goose for posting about fishing the single tail weightless!

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