Question for the Redear gurus

Pretty new to targeting Redears. Took a while to put something together, but since summer, I've done quite well as far as consistently getting on fish. The method I've used is drop shotting crawlers at depths ranging from 8 to 20 feet, depending on where the fish seem to be holding that day. Intuition tells me that I shouldn't start tampering with a system that's working, but my question is this... At those depths, is the drop shot the best presentation, or is there any advantage to tipping a jig with a crawler and sending that down. The drop shot gets down quickly, stays down, and has exceeded my expectations as far as catch rate (again, from a relatively inexperienced point of view), but I want to make sure I'm not missing out on something that might be better (i.e. slower fall rate, advantage to jighead color, etc). If so, for those depths, what jig head weight do you feel would be most appropriate? Thanks in advance!

Really depends on how you enjoy fishing . What you are doing is as good as any . I Carolina rig a 1/64 jig tipped with a meal worm. A bead about a foot up the line allows fish to pick up bait and run without feeling the weight . My favorite was is to cast 1/32 roadrunners (black on black ) . Both will catch red ear but not any better on a given day as what you are doing . I prefer to be casting and winding, as toss and sit . :twocents

Nothing wrong with your method at all. I prefer to cast and retrieve a Trout Magnet tipped with a very small piece of a Berkley Power Wiggler. Here is a video of how I do it and it works out great...not better just a different way to do it. The max size jig head I use is 2 grams but have recently started using a 3 gram blade bait that is very good and gets me down to deeper water.


Regards
YouTube

I drop shot a lot, but prefer to cast nd retrieve. Your system is great, Stick with it.

If drop shotting works stick with it. When fishing is slow is the time to experiment and I would try a small jig tipped with plastics or crawler pieces, wax worms, crickets. On my trips to California we fish deep water with jigs tipped with crickets with 2 lb. line and catch some really nice gills. Red ear seem to prefer jigs tipped with a worm out there. Totally different techniques are used here in Missouri since I bank fish small lakes and ponds so it's best to have more than one method to try if your favorite isn't working.

Thanks guys for the replies so far. I'm fishing from a kayak, so double anchoring and sitting is a bit of a hassle, but manageable. Tried the sit and wait approach, but I much prefer and have done better with the single rod in hand method. Love feeling the bite! I've also found with the drop shot, since I'm actively holding the rod, I very rarely deep hook a fish. Most are hooked right where the should be, which is a plus as I'm 95% of the time a catch and release guy. Alpha, I've seen your YouTube stuff, you catch a bunch of fish on those trout magnets! I've become a fan of those as well, especially for gills! My success with the Redears on those has been limited to prespawn/spawn though.

Jungle, knowing guys out there tip jigs with crawlers is on of the reasons I'm asking in the first place! Is it that much better for taking the big fish, or is it preference? Just another way to catch them

The lightest rig that you get away with the given wind and current. Red wigglers is a preferred bait for me at least. Sandy bottom with wood structure. As far as casting or drop shot I've become a fan of pendulum casting. If I'm in 20 fow I cast out 20 ft and let it swing to the bottom. Covering water in a fan type presentation.

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When you guys say "tip a jig", I'm assuming a bare jighead? Or are we talking like a soft plastic, or a hand-tie of some sorts?

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Originally Posted by KScott

When you guys say "tip a jig", I'm assuming a bare jighead? Or are we talking like a soft plastic, or a hand-tie of some sorts?

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It means to..."sweeten it up" to add some sort of flavor or scent to your plastic or hair jig.

Trout Magnet “tipped” with a Berkeley Waxie
Attachment 363673


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by KScott

When you guys say "tip a jig", I'm assuming a bare jighead? Or are we talking like a soft plastic, or a hand-tie of some sorts?

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When I tip a jig it is usually a small (1/64,1/80 or 1/100 ) with a slider, pan magnet , Fle- fly, southern ect . this is used with the Carolina rig or with a float . If it's cast and wind at a stead clip , It's plastic only .I may try the meal worms while casting after reading this thread .

YouTube .... this is how Jim Doom (Ky/Barkley Lakes Guide) does it.


In the past I've caught them drifting a 1/16oz black jighead tipped w/piece of the dark brown end of a nightcrawler (just enough to cover the hook) ... from a boat.
From the bank I've used a slip float/sinker/#4hook ... also used a small "slip sinker" & #4 hook .... both times using nightcrawler pieces.

(* slip sinker -- Bass worm fishing "bullet sinker")

I usually use jigs, but I have had good luck with letting the jig hit the silt on top of the sandy bottom......so that drop shot weight could be just the ticket to stir up the silt,and have the mini crawler just above.

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Variety is the spice of fishing in my opinion. No way could I only catch fish using one method or lure/bait. The ball head jig is one of the greatest inventions ever and allows an infinite number of lures to be rigged that catch fish all year round at different depths with different presentations. I've caught fish dropshotting soft plastics (never live bait) and done okay, but for covering more water and depths, I can't beat using (unpainted) ball head jigs.

Speed of retrieve depends on jig weight, lure size as well as lure shape - IE tail design. Just because I use a 1/16 oz or lighter jig doesn't mean having to use a slow retrieve. It does search a lot of water effectively. When it comes to lure shape/action, straight tails are the fastest horizontally but the same as other tails vertically jigged off bottom. Large curly tail grubs are the slowest moving lures but emit the most vibration. Nice thing using plastics, hair or feather bodies is the shear variety. Even color variety is huge depending on lure design, water algae content, depth and time of day, with no set rules.

As far as species go, soft plastics catch anything that swims. There's no such thing as a one species lure. In one day of fishing I've caught 5 fish species using light jigs - one 7 1/2 lb catfish of note. The following examples prove that light jigs work and rarely catch less than 25 fish in one outing with over 50 fish caught on different outings and waters.
Tied these last summer and did well even under a float (the white hair is from my dogs tail):
https://i.imgur.com/hogoDVC.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/KBtzdfV.jpg?2

Hybrid lures (those made by fusing the parts of two different lures together) catch 95 % of all fish caught:
https://i.imgur.com/VzSSrAW.jpg

Two grub bodies minus curl tail fused together using a candle:
https://i.imgur.com/gFZ59We.jpg
Note wacky rigged jig head.

....same for this hybrid:
https://i.imgur.com/hGBdgrH.jpg

Beetle spin sunfish:
https://i.imgur.com/fEfyXI9.jpg

Claw from a bass craw lure added to a grub body:
https://i.imgur.com/ULSz7t8.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/zAc1ZZe.jpg

Kut Tail Worm added to a thicker grub body:
https://i.imgur.com/zB7hG2j.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/2gmCC1l.jpg

Guess this little guy expected desert:
https://i.imgur.com/wR0nK0Z.jpg

There are hundreds more but you get the picture (no pun intended).

Good stuff, Spoonminnow!

Here are some others that will be tested from prespawn on:
https://i.imgur.com/OFKYlVK.jpg

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Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

Here are some others that will be tested from prespawn on:
https://i.imgur.com/OFKYlVK.jpg

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I would really like to see the pictures of the RE caught with those.

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Luckily more than sunfish will strike them and photos will be posted stored on imgur.com (the above photos are linked to that site.)