Sluggo's - How to use... how to have alot of fun!

[admin]

We all have our favorites-- mine are many really-- I'd rather fly fish than anything. And in that I dearly love dry fly fishing. Then there's spin fishing. Working a jig using light line in clear water-- dancing it off the bottom, over rocks and snags and seeing it inhaled by a fish takes my breath. And there's bait casting for bass--striped, black, brown or spotted-- all with topwater lures. It's like quail busting beneath your feet-- the exploding of a fish on a spook or red fin. Nothing like it.

There's a common thread that flows through all the types of fishing I've mentioned and it's this: You can see what's happening-- you can see the lure-- you can see the strike. Your senses are keened in on exactly what's happening with what you're doing. There's an anticipation when fishing with these lures that's not there when fishing baits you can't see. Right?!

There's another bait that's on top of my list to fish, one that not allot of people either use or know how to use. And that's a sluggo. It's a soft plastic bait in the jerk bait family of lures. Jerk because that's what you do with it- you jerk it. There are several sizes and lots of colors but they're all used the same way--jerked through the water drawing a strike.

Lately, I've been using them for catching white bass. Blue rebels are more common for whites in these parts. People used the same action with rebels as do on sluggos- jerk or twitch them erratically. Same principle but in my experience, the sluggo catches more whites than hard plastic lures. Why? I think the sluggo, a 3-inch version for whites, is less intrusive. It's slim body and fluid motion doesn't send fish running the other way when darting through the water.

I mentioned an important word earlier- "erratic". Ever notice a white bass, how erratic is it. When they're on a bait, they tend to dart back and forth, inspecting all sides of your lure, to only pull off at the last minute. That erratic behavior is why I believe sluggos are so deadly.

Now for the hard part.... making them irresistible. I use an ultra light rod with a soft tip and 3-4 pound line. To be real honest, I haven't found a good hook to use yet- ideally you need a #4 or #6, straight, medium shanked hook with a bait saver barb. I've been using a regular short shanked hook #89 with a bait saver but the twist in the hook tends to twist my line. Hook the sluggo through the head and out the belly, leaving the bend and the barb exposed. The instructions on the sluggo packaging says to used a Texas style hook and hook it accordingly but I think it takes away from the action of the bait. I also used a small #3/0 split shot about 18 inches from the bait to keep it below the surface of the water.

Working the bait: Using just the tip of the rod, wiggle the rod tip, making about 3 jerks per second and reeling at the same time. Here's the key-- always work the bait with slack in the line. You know how you work a spook? The slack line at the end of the jerk allows the bait to turn to the side-- same with the sluggo. If you can invision this-- the first part of the "wiggle" picks up the slack line, the middle jerks the sluggo forward but before the bait gets settled, the line is then slack again so it goes whatever direction it's pointed- not necessarily forward. This makes it erratic.

Now the strike. It's difficult to "feel" a sluggo strike because of the slack-line technique. That's why it's important to keep the bait somewhat in view. When there's a glare, I look for a silver flash. When a white first stalks a sluggo, it follows directly behind and beneath it. When it takes the bait, it turns to the side. That's when you set the hook. I don't usually "wall bash" when setting this hook because of the light line. I merely pull with a hard, sweeping motion. If you can't see at all, be sensitive to a tightening of the line.

I have to tell another story about sluggos. I used to travel down to Lake Texoma on the Texas-Oklahoma border every May and fish below the dam in the Red River for stripers. Best water conditions was hard, fast water from water being released from the dam. Some of the locals used big pencil poppers, big deer hair jigs under floats and live bait with big surf rods and reels with 30-pound test line. They laughed when we showed up with what us Missourians had. We pulled out our sluggos (6-inch) and with our medium weight spin tackle and 6-pound line, we caught striper, from the bank, on almost every cast for 3 days. At first the locals got mad because we were out fishing them 10 to 1. Then they'd leave and come back with sluggos in hand. I understand the local Wal Mart and other bait stores in the area sold out of sluggos that weekend.

If you haven't already, add some sluggos to your box and give it a try. Try them on trout too. I've caught some nice rainbows and browns down on the White River in Arkansas using small sluggos. Just watch the trophy areas and restrictions on soft plastics.