I'm sick of keeping this a secret 2024

Brian_Reeves reply :

And it might not be that big of a secret. But I've never seen anyone else use it.

So far this year I have had one of my best bass seasons to date. It seems that on almost every trip, I'm getting close to a limit of nice fish. I'm going to let the cat out of the bag on one of my secrets.

To those of you who read my posts, you'll probably notice that I'm not a finesse fisherman. I have very few baits that come even remotely close to being "finesse." That's probably my biggest drawback in fishing. So how am I not fishing dropshots, shakey heads, and split shot worms and consistantly catching tons of fish on nearly every fishery I've been to? One setup has produced more than any other. Ok...here it goes...

I'm using a big bites swimbait hook with a rage tail craw or an * baby beaver craw as the lure. There, I said it. I couldn't keep it to myself any longer. If y'all try it, let me know how it works out for you.

All I'm doing is fishing this rig EXACTLY like Roadwarrior fishes his fat ikas and senkos. I'm sure it will work with other soft plastics, but I'm really, really partial to the rage craw and the baby beaver craw. Gotta love what works for ya, right? This might be a "finesse" application that is worth giving a shot on your home waters.

BassinBoy reply :

Wow, thats very interesting and makes sense. Your right I have never heard of anyone doing this but it sounds like it would work. Thanks for the tip

Brian_Reeves reply :

The funny part is how I discovered it. I was ticked off at a hollow bellied swimbait not working, so I ripped it off and sent it sailing. Being too aggitated and nearing the end of my fishing day anyway, I just strung on a rage tail craw onto the swimbait hook. I was too lazy to tie on my usual jighead or T-rig, so I just rolled with it. Ten fish later, I had developed a little bit of confidence.

I've used a ton of different soft plastics with this technique, but the rage craws work best for me. The baby beavers come in a close second for when I run out of rage craws (which doesn't happen much anymore lol) or when the bite is really tough on pressured water. I want to try some salt craws, but haven't needed to yet.

islandbass reply :

Can you post a pic of the how it is rigged? I am not familiar with either the hook or the bait can't really visualize it. Perhaps I finesse fish too much. ;D

Brian_Reeves reply :

I don't have a digital camera for it right now.

http://www.***.com/descpageHOOKSFALCON-FBJGH.html

The rigging is texas rigged on a hook like that one above. No other weight is used other than the weighted hook. It's just a regular old weedless rigging.

wagn reply :

thanks for the tip, i'm definitely going to be trying this. I just recieved my first order or ragetail craws yesterday and they look great in the water (read bathtub). I'm hoping to give them a real tryout this week.

The keel weighted hook must give it a really interesting action compared to just pegging a weight at the front

jvox reply :

Def. send a pic of that setup. I dont understand how you would t-rig it without putting the weight on the hook through the lure.

Red reply :

i t-rig my live magic shads with a hook like that. you can do it like normal and just force the weight through the bait, or you can do it before you tie the hook on by just inserting the hook eye up through the nose of the bait, then tie your line on.

Cliff

Brian_Reeves reply :

Yeah, Red has the right idea. The weight will tear the bait up some, but not that much. I prefer just pulling the hook eye through the nose of the bait.

I don't really know a better way to explain it than this. Look at a regular texas rig. Instead of threading the entire plastic on from the hook point to the eye, all you're doing is forcing the eye through the bottem of the nose. The end result is that it looks the same as a regular texas rig.

I don't have a digital camera right now. It's in a box because we're moving. So, sorry about that. But basically, just T-Rig the thing lol

Catt reply :

Dude you learned what RW,myself & others have known for years "finesse power baits".

Finesse does not have to mean small baits with light lines

scottyd26 reply :

Its funny - I had a similar situation happen to me with the same style swimbaits . I was using a hollow bodied swimbait throwing it to a line of willow trees in about a 1 to 3 feet of water in the middle of the day trying to hit some shade. I was being kinda of conservative picking my spots making a effort to be real stealthy without any results. Well finally out frustration i reared back and threw it as hard as i could and as luck may have it -it skipped and skipped and skipped way back in to a small opening in between some willows. About a turn and a half latter 4lber. LIGHT BULB went off . Swimbaits skip good but a 3 1/2 green pumpkin tube with a lake fork 3/0 hook gets a lot more bites than a 5 inch swimbait skipped into all those willows. Tubes skip well enough as they are but with that style hook you can put your bait in some nasty stuff . Anyways haven't tried the rage tail yet .Do you swim it with a steady retrieve or just fish standard like a worm?

Brian_Reeves reply :

I'm fishing it just like a senko or a texas rig. I'm sure swimming would work too, though. I haven't needed to alter those two presentations yet. It's still a new concept for me and I'm still playing with it. The more I play with it, the more I think I need to buy a mold for swimbait hooks lol.

MNGeorge reply :

Do you see any reason why a weighted hook with a keeper spike would not work? It would eliminate having to retie every time you needed to put on a fresh craw.

http://www.***.com/descpageMUSWRMHK-MPLP.html

islandbass reply :

Thanks! I am definitely going to try this after my right ankle heals. Oh yeah. 8-)

NitroMan reply :

Thanks Brain for the pointer. I will be heading out today to hit up a local lake and I will post on here how well it did/didn't work for me. But I am going to put a lot of time into it since you say it has been a good producer.

Painter Dude reply :

It was just this mornin I was looking at www.ragetail.com and it shown an alternate riggin of the toad with the swimbait hook. The Rage tail craws are my fav plastics and I thought the next time I was out I would give it a try with the craw. It seems like a very weedless pegged weighted system. Thanks for the verification

Sam reply :

You should find these type hooks at your local tackle shop.

Green Top has the Falcon Bait-Jerker Hooks that are used with the Money Minnow swimbaits.

Excellent set-up and all owe Brian our gratitude for sharing it with us.

Big-O reply :

Brian, Please don't try that hook with the New Rage Tail Anaconda Worm thats coming out soon....... I don't want you to get hurt trying to fight the giant that hits it.

BTW the video is just about ready...... and its gonna have the RT Lizard and the RT Space Monkey and the RT Lobster.....Oh Baby, I can't wait !!!!!!!

Big O

Brian_Reeves reply :

Sure, Big-O...I won't try it

: ;D lol

I haven't tried this rigging with the screw-on type hooks. I don't see why they wouldn't work. I just don't have any to play around with. I've been kicking around the idea of trying some.

Brian_Reeves reply :

Here is a picture of how I'm rigging these things. Look at the second rigging of the rage tail shad. The Carolina Rigged Swimbait one.

http://www.ragetail.com/ragetailshad.html

jvox reply :

Definitely picking up some swimbait hooks and checkin it out.

fisher of bass reply :

thanks brian, was reading this thread last night, my buddy and i tried it out this morning, it works, 2 smallies 2-2 1/2 # each and 3 largemouths thanks again 8-)

Brian_Reeves reply :

Nice

Wayne P. reply :

Another choice for screw in type weighted hooks

http://www.reactionstrike.com/

bmadd reply :

Big O- I saw Chris back at the Elite on KY Lake and he gave me one of the Anacondas and one of the Space Monkeys. AWESOME. I really love the Anaconda Been keepin my mouth shut about um though :-X

MNGeorge reply :

I tried this rig on the upper Mississippi tonight. The Smallies like it and got a bonus Catfish on it too.

bigfruits reply :

brian - what size/weight falcon hook are you using with the rage craws?

thanks

-z

Brian_Reeves reply :

The one that I'm using isn't the Falcon Hook. It's a big bites hook that is very similiar. I think the size is 5/0. The weight is about 3/16. The package was pretty vague on what I was buying.

grimlin reply :

You can also put small split shot on the hook.Doesn't tear your plastics up

as bad as a weighted hook.

Works just as well....Oooppps...i just gave away my secret now... 8-)

Brian_Reeves reply :

Or hang a bell hook or dropshot hook from it. Another secret down ;D

Brian_Reeves reply :

I've got the screw-on type keel weighted hook and a rage tail craw on right now. I've got a night trip planned for the next night or two, so I'll be testing out this version of the rig to see how it performs beside the Falcon hook style. I'll post up my results within the next few days.

How does one go about naming a rig? Keel Weighted swimbait hook with a soft plastic trailer just isn't working for me. I'm NOT typing that every time. Louisiana Rig? I'm biased ;D Keel Jig is short and sweet. The BassResource Rig ;D I dunno

fisher of bass reply :

how about the brbr rig, brian reeves bass resource rig. lol ;D

Blue Streak reply :

I tried this the other day and did pretty well with it, I didn't have the Rage Tail craw so I used the Paca Craw because I have a ton of those, bass just can't leave them alone. Anyhow I was very pleased and I liked the feel of the rig and I am going to keep using it.

indy basser reply :

so are you fishing this around brush piles, laydowns, points, weed beds, out in deeper water?

Brian_Reeves reply :

Everywhere. Not so much in deeper water, though if you had the patience and the fish location, I'm sure that it would work. I really like it best around cover and structure in 10ft or less. Doesn't seem to matter what kind. I get bit on it just about everywhere.

I tried the screw in type weights. While changing colors or types of plastics was easier, I just didn't like them as much. I can't put a finger on why, but I'm going to stick with the falcon style hooks.

Steve H reply :

IMHO the reason is that your craw although falling vertically is staying horizontal as it falls, not nose first.

P.S. Same hook works wonders with a super fluke

MNGeorge reply :

I've been using the Mustad Power Lock Plus with very good results. The weight is movable so you can adjust how the craw falls on the drop. I tried some Paca Craws today and the Mississippi River Smallmouth liked those also, but I prefer the action of the Rage Tail Craws and the Rage Tails seemed to hold up a little better.

Here's a link to the TW listing for the Mustad hooks:

http://www.***.com/descpageMUSWRMHK-MPLP.html

Brian_Reeves reply :

I've tried a ton of different lures on these hooks. This rig is what initially got me obsessed with the rage tail craw. So much action with such a slow fall is a unique presentation all unto itself. Sure, other plastics work, but I think that this rig is what butters the bread with rage tail craws. Put it this way, I'm starting to be convinced that I don't need senkos anymore. I haven't fished one in a few months now.

And about the name...I was calling it Keel Jiggin' all day. So I'm sticking with that until someone comes up with the official name

7246

I'm sick of keeping this a secret 2024

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