Bass Boat Forums
Bass Fishing Forums => Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques => Topic started by: Jimmy RodandReel on January 26, 2015, 10:00:33 PM
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One of my favorite ways to catch fish is the shaky head. Something about light line and a smooth drag just does it for me. So here is a run down of my shaky head rig.
#1. Reel. The most important thing is buying a reel with a great drag system in it. Or you can DIY by replacing the drag system with the carbontex washers by smooth drag out in Ca. A med to moderate ratio reel will do just fine/ mine is a 5.7:1/. Also do worry too much about spool size as long as it holds 100-120 yards 6-8 line.
#2. The rod! OMG I could go on forever about the different shaky heads rods I have build and tried so I will settle on the one that has a tried and trued place in my heart. Its a St. Croix SCIII 7ft Med with a extra fast tip. 4-10pnd line. Fuji Alconite guides, Fuji reel seat and hand build EVA grips. The extra fast tip help launch the light weights used in SH fishing and help detecting the light bites. This rod also has all the backbone you would ever need for 6-8pnd line.
BTW: I am in the process of building a new one rod on again a St. Croix 7" 6' blank. I will keep you informed of how I like it.
#3. Line. Without starting a board war about which one is best, all I will tell you about is what I use. I prefer a line with a lot of shock absorption, meaning I fish mono on my SH. BPS excel in a 6pnd test is MY line of choice. The stuff is tough and has the strength I want to fight large and small mouth. Added plus..It does not cost an arm and a leg.
#4. The Shaky head. There are 1000's of them out there and I think I have fishing most of them and I have settled on the PJ's football head. Great head, good strong hook, easy to rig and it just plumb catches fish.
#5. Lure. Use what you like but don't use a bait so big that it over powers your head. I catch most of my fish on a zoom ring worm in pumpkin seed or watermelon seed red fleck. These baits are getting harder and harder to find as time goes on.
Tell us about your SH rig and how you fish it. :)
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Wow, excellent info. Thanks for sharing.
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I've never fished a shaky head in my life!
I guess after all of that info, I would also like to see some video on rigging and fishing a shaky head :)
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Videos???? Haha just got a smart phone this year and still have not figured it out yet :o
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This thread has given me some ideas for another new section of the site. Stay tuned :D
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I am always shaking my head while fishing...over the lack of bite, the boat, the idiot pleasure boaters, jet skis, the weather....
Seriously though, this rig is my go to in a lot of situations. I am not as particular about rods, reels, and lines as some guys, I just buy better quality stuff but not the most expensive. And, I typically stick with mono in different strengths for most of my fishing. I also love a good 6lb mono on a spinning rod for this rig. In high pressure fishing areas I have found that a smaller worm with less tail action will get fish to bite, sometimes even using a long, stiff Senko.
Here is a question for you ---do you set the hook immediately upon feeling a bite or do you let them take it for a second or two?
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Hey Jimmy do you ever use flouro?
Why mono?
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I am always shaking my head while fishing...over the lack of bite, the boat, the idiot pleasure boaters, jet skis, the weather....
;D ;D
Good one @Treeman12
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Hey Jimmy do you ever use flouro?
Why mono?
Yes Sir I have tried about all the upper end FC and if I were using FC on a daily basis it would be the Sunline FC Sniper.
Now.........Here are some of the reasons I don't like a FC line for SH fishing.
#1. There is way too much memory for my likes. I prefer a very limp line for my SH. I do not want my line to effect how my lure acts/reacts in the water.
#2. FC lines IMHO are not very abrasion resistant. 1 small nick and the FC is toast.
FC lines are very picky about what knot you use.
#3. FC line have very little to no shock absorption value. I like a line with some stretch to it.
#4. Upper end(Good-Great) FC line are very expensive for the non tournament fishermen.
Please remember that these are just my humble opinions. :)
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Here's a how-to video from Aaron Martens on Table Rock Lake
http://youtu.be/47YWJqJXhSk
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(y)
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You guys just keep using your sissy sticks and light line. I'd say me and my partner are the odd balls here. But results speak volumes, and I will leave it at that.
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You guys just keep using your sissy sticks and light line. I'd say me and my partner are the odd balls here. But results speak volumes, and I will leave it at that.
LOL @Bullet3119
I'm pretty much with you on that one. I have somewhere around 16 rods on my boat and only two of them are spinning. The rest are baitcasters. Love them!
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Sissy sticks... Lol. Good one :)
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Jimmy knows that his opinion and mine differ greatly on shakey head fishing. Just ask him about the time he couldn't get bit, and we proceeded to LITERALLY catch fish right under his boat. The guy can build a heck of a shakey head rod in the casting/or spinning version though.
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Jimmy knows that his opinion and mine differ greatly on shakey head fishing. Just ask him about the time he couldn't get bit, and we proceeded to LITERALLY catch fish right under his boat. The guy can build a heck of a shakey head rod in the casting/or spinning version though.
Where I fish, it's typically a lot different than the reservoirs you guys fish. Not that some of the techniques you use won't work here, but most of our lakes are natural, not reservoirs. So we don't have creek channels and a lot of the things that you guys do.
But, with that said, bass are bass and they will react the same under a lot of circumstances.
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Thanks for that explanation Jimmy. I have just always used fluorocarbon with my shakey heads and was just wondering???
Hey Calvin could you explain how you use them?
I've been using mine with 17lb. Viscous line flouro and had good luck with it but I haven't found a light line and knot in fluorocarbon that works. This is why I'm asking.
I do like the fluorocarbon feel.
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Jimmy knows that his opinion and mine differ greatly on shakey head fishing. Just ask him about the time he couldn't get bit, and we proceeded to LITERALLY catch fish right under his boat. The guy can build a heck of a shakey head rod in the casting/or spinning version though.
Yeeeeaaaaaah, I think I will not ask him such a question. Sounds like he took a beating on that one. Lol
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@ranger361v we pretty much power fish them. We use 17lb P-Line. Given this technique developed due to our local lake forces us to fish it that way and it just so happens to work just about everywhere. Our local lake is about 200 feet deep in the middle, you get about two pulls on a worm/jig before the first ledge which is around 10-15 ft. Then another pull before the bottom falls out lol. A lot of guys here try to drop shot and finesse fish it. We throw a shakey head up on there with a creature bait or senko, shake it a few times, reel in and repeat. The fish here will bite if you get it in front of em, so it works! We then started fishing it like that other places with great success. We use a 3/16 oz. Shakey head made by Joey Watts at Flatlands Custom Tackle.
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Cool Thanks Calvin.
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Jimmy knows that his opinion and mine differ greatly on shakey head fishing. Just ask him about the time he couldn't get bit, and we proceeded to LITERALLY catch fish right under his boat. The guy can build a heck of a shakey head rod in the casting/or spinning version though.
Yeeeeaaaaaah, I think I will not ask him such a question. Sounds like he took a beating on that one. Lol
No shame in my game.....That day him and his partner whipped our tail BAD! REAL BAD!! that day. Hellfire he even gave us a bag of the lures he was using AND the heads he was using......Yeah I took my whooping that day. 8) 8) 8)
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Jimmy knows that his opinion and mine differ greatly on shakey head fishing. Just ask him about the time he couldn't get bit, and we proceeded to LITERALLY catch fish right under his boat. The guy can build a heck of a shakey head rod in the casting/or spinning version though.
Yeeeeaaaaaah, I think I will not ask him such a question. Sounds like he took a beating on that one. Lol
No shame in my game.....That day him and his partner whipped our tail BAD! REAL BAD!! that day. Hellfire he even gave us a bag of the lures he was using AND the heads he was using......Yeah I took my whooping that day. 8) 8) 8)
Happens to the best of us some days ::)
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The technique has been around almost forever. What is shakeyhead today was called a jigworm in the past. I still rig a 4 inch Zoom finesse worm on a 1/8 oz. ball head jig. I will occassionally use it on the bottom but mostly use it for suspended bass around docks and wavebreaks. Let it slowly settle through the water, shaking it occassionally or swimming it back with a lift and drop retrieve is hard to beat. I would guess I've caught thousands of suspended bass using it. It is a great way for a guide to save a day of fishing with a client.
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What is PJ's football head?
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1. Reel. I'm old school so the drag is not important because I back reel. Set the hook, flip off the ant-reverse and fight the fish using the back reel technique the way Jerry McGinnis taught us on the Fishin' Hole. That being said, all our reels are either Shimano Symetres vs Pflueger Presidentials.
2. Rod: GLoomis SJR 782 IMX.
3. Line: Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, 8 LB test.
4. Shakey Head: Depends. Rocks, a generic 1/8th oz football head. Weeds, a 1/16 or 1/8 oz. Owner Ultrahead Rig. Not really a shakey head but works best in the weeds.
5. Lure: Sorry, but there is nothing else other than a 4" Pro Senko in one of the natural colors, like green pumpkin.
Jake
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I use our Tremor Shakey head. Normally 1/8 or 1/4. generally 10 or 12 lb flourocarbon and medium rod. Always Seagar Invisx. I use either a Whopper Baits Thinesse worm or saltless Whippin' Stick, usually 4 inch. I will also use our Boxing craw from time to time. The claws float up into a fighting position, just like a crawdad. (That is why it is called a Boxing Craw) . Video below. first one is a lake, excuse the lack of award winning cinematography :D
http://youtu.be/FcJGGyPBbto (http://youtu.be/FcJGGyPBbto)
http://youtu.be/3k7mO1BAPUE (http://youtu.be/3k7mO1BAPUE)
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@Whopper (http://www.bassboatboards.com/index.php?action=profile;u=244) Great-looking baits (y)
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For anyone considering Whopper baits please see reply #4 in this thread:
http://www.bassboatboards.com/index.php/topic,556.msg4392.html#msg4392 (http://www.bassboatboards.com/index.php/topic,556.msg4392.html#msg4392)
Thank you.
Jake
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What is PJ's football head?
http://pjlures.com/Bass-Extractor-Jig-Shakey-Head-P408869.aspx
(https://www.bassboatboards.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1183.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fx465%2FFishface1911%2F1087568_zps3e2iikg2.jpg&hash=d44f269b59bf663b118e3ba3c72f62dda0b11a00) (http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/Fishface1911/media/1087568_zps3e2iikg2.jpg.html)
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@Whopper (http://www.bassboatboards.com/index.php?action=profile;u=244)
I use our Tremor Shakey head
Are these lead or tungsten? (hmm) (hmm)
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Jimmy knows his shaky heads. I'll give him that. I throw mine on a bait casting rod he made most of the time. It's only good for weights up to about 1/4 ounce. I normally have 10 pound test mono on that rod and use 1/8 or 1/4 heads depending on wind and current. I don't throw them much, normally a winter or spring bait for me. I'll pick up a baby brush hog before a shaky head.
Before the shaky head there was the Westmorland slider head. One of my favorite wintertime baits is his Whirlybee.
When I do throw the shaky head I normally throw a little 4" zoom curl tail worm. They have their place. Pick some up and try them the next time you are out and its tough.
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@Whopper (http://www.bassboatboards.com/index.php?action=profile;u=244)
I use our Tremor Shakey head
Are these lead or tungsten? (hmm) (hmm)
Lead