Jigs— Middepth Water
A large trailer with claws and a full skirt help create a slow-sinking presentation.
A compact, streamlined trailer and a trimmed skirt let the jig sink faster.
Bryan Thrift
For jig fall rates, the strategy comes down to how the fish are biting that day.
“ If I notice all of my bites are coming on the fall, I will change to a slower-falling jig,” says bryan thrift, winner of the 2016 FLW tour Invitational at Lake norman.“ If they are biting it as I’ m working it on the bottom I want it to get down quicker.” thrift is one of the best in the business at skipping jigs deep underneath docks. he nearly always uses a 1 / 2-ounce jig for this situation. to adjust his fall rate, he will either change his line size between 15- and 20-pound-test p-Line fluorocarbon – lighter for a faster fall, and vice versa – or change soft-plastic trailers.
“ If I want my jig to fall slower I’ ll use a bulkier trailer such as the Damiki Knockout. If I want it to fall faster, I switch to the Damiki Air Craw because it is much thinner in profile and falls much quicker,” he says.
Drop-Shot Rigs— Deep Water
When fishing for suspended bass he can see on his electronics, FLW tour pro braxton Setzer pays close attention to how the fish are acting.
“ I have found that when bass get pressured on deep spots, your fall rate is very important,” says Setzer.“ Sometimes they will only hit it on a fast drop, and other times you can watch them on your graph following a slowly falling drop-shot rig and eating it once it reaches the bottom.” to adjust his fall rate on his drop-shot rig, Setzer will adjust three things: size of weight, type of soft plastic and line size. the weight adjustment is pretty obvious. Setzer carries weights as light as 1 / 16 ounce. Line changes are straight-forward too, but be aware that lighter line often allows a supple soft plastic to have more action. Soft plastic selection is about buoyancy.“ If I want it to fall slower I’ ll go with a worm that is more buoyant,” says Setzer.“ When I want it to drop quickly I will use a heavy bait such as a soft stick bait to get it to fall that much faster. Worms that have a lot of salt like your stick baits are heavier baits, so they’ re going to fall faster. then there are some baits out there such as the Z-Man ElaZtech baits that float.” though Setzer doesn’ t often wacky rig a soft bait, he does advise that switching from a nose-hooked or texas-rigged worm to a wacky-rigged worm can also alter the fall rate since the wacky-rigged worm catches more water as it sinks.
Some worms float, while worms with a lot of salt sink quickly. A worm’ s shape and size also impact fall rate. The three shown here— Z-Man ElaZtech FattyZ( top), Yamamoto Thin Senko( middle) and Roboworm Fat Straight Tail Worm( bottom)— can all be used to create different fall rates.
How you rig a worm also affects the fall rate. A wacky rig( top) without weight will sink very slowly, but even with a weighted wacky head it’ ll still flutter down due to the tails“ catching” water. Texas-rigged( middle) and nose-hooked baits( bottom), when pulled down by a weight, will plummet faster because they’ ll turn vertical as they sink and experience little resistance.
Braxton Setzer
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FLWFISHING. COM I FEBRUARY-MARCH 2017