Gizzard shad and PB Largemouth

[JUNGLE JIM 1]

I was fishing Tuesday at an STL County park lake an observed a dark spot out in the lake. I cast into it and hooked a Gizzard Shad about 8" in the dorsal fin so started to fish on the down wind side of the school of shad and caught three nice bass in the 14-18 inch range. I decided to fish the upwind side of the school and on the first cast hooked up with what I thought was a carp since I caught a glimpse of the belly flash and it was fat. Played it and when I got it close saw that it was a bass and backed off on the drag and landed her. By myself so took one picture next to my rod for scale, measured her from tip of my middle finger up my arm and tail touched my shoulder. Then I released her. Figured between rod picture and unofficial measurement of finger to shoulder believe she was about 25 inches long and probably 9-10 lbs. since she was so fat. Since then  I have been working on some gizzard shad baits and this is what I have come up with so far. These are 1/8-3/16 with 2/0-3/0  jig hooks and measure 4-6 inches in length. Last picture is the jig I caught it on, about 3 inches long. Going to get out there tomorrow and look for shad. Find shad and you find bass.

[MOPanfisher]

That is a fat rascal, and some pretty good looking shad imitating jigs sir.

[timinmo]

Having seen some of the jigs up close I can tell you they look great.  Congrads Jim

[moturkey]

That’s a healthy piggy! Congrats on the PB. Your jigs look incredible and from the supplies in the background it looks like you’ve got plenty of raw materials. Are you taking orders!?

[JUNGLE JIM 1]

I sell jigs on ebay but won't sell a jig unless they do what I want them to and that's catch me fish. Have to do some field testing first. When it comes to materials I probably have more than I'll use in a couple of lifetimes but they keep coming out with new stuff I have to try. Back when hair extensions were popular in 2011 the cost for making a jig like this would have been $40-$50, but that fad is over. These do take longer for me to make than most of the stuff I do. I hope these work, might be early for the blade baits but have a bag full of hair jigs that bass will munch on. Bass had me so pumped up I couldn't sleep that night, had to take a Melatonin. Tomorrow afternoon should be perfect.

[JUNGLE JIM 1]

Here are a few 1/8 poison tails that I made this morning that measure about 3.5 inches long. Will be field testing today, hope I find a shad school again today.

[MOsmallies]

That is a giant! Congrats Jim! And in a STL County Park is just unreal!

Beautiful jigs as well!

[ColdWaterFshr]

On 3/2/2018 at 8:19 PM, JUNGLE JIM 1 said:

I was fishing Tuesday at an STL County park lake an observed a dark spot out in the lake. I cast into it and hooked a Gizzard Shad about 8" in the dorsal fin so started to fish on the down wind side of the school of shad and caught three nice bass in the 14-18 inch range. I decided to fish the upwind side of the school and on the first cast hooked up with what I thought was a carp since I caught a glimpse of the belly flash and it was fat. Played it and when I got it close saw that it was a bass and backed off on the drag and landed her. By myself so took one picture next to my rod for scale, measured her from tip of my middle finger up my arm and tail touched my shoulder. Then I released her. Figured between rod picture and unofficial measurement of finger to shoulder believe she was about 25 inches long and probably 9-10 lbs. since she was so fat. Since then  I have been working on some gizzard shad baits and this is what I have come up with so far. These are 1/8-3/16 with 2/0-3/0  jig hooks and measure 4-6 inches in length. Last picture is the jig I caught it on, about 3 inches long. Going to get out there tomorrow and look for shad. Find shad and you find bass.

Awesome report.  A 9-10 lb bass out of STL county lake??   Well done sir!  Nice looking jigs too.

 

[Flysmallie]

Freaking awesome. 

[Wart 57]

That is a PIG !!  Congrats