No, it's not the break-dance move Mike Iaconelli busted out on the weigh-in stage at last year's Bassmaster Classic. We're talking about a move seldom made by a majority of tour anglers – at least those east of the continental divide. Shaking small jighead-worms in really deep water is a big limit-getter in western lakes, and California tour pro Charlie Weyer proved it can produce winning stringers "back east" too.
At last month's Smith Lake Bassmaster, Weyer dispelled the myth that finesse fishing is fishing for 2nd place. While "95 percent of the field was pounding the banks," he said, he delicately probed deep creek channels with a tiny jig-worm rig. He pulled up enough quality spotted bass over 4 days to win by more than 4 pounds.
It's not a go-to tactic under normal conditions, but Smith Lake was anything but normal after several days of the worst fishing (or non-fishing) weather imaginable. According to Weyer, it's highly effective in stable weather too, really any time fish are holding deep in any deeper-water impoundment.
"Actually, you can fish it shallow or deep," he said. "I know some guys who like to fish it around docks, and it even works well when fish are on the beds. But I use this shaking technique primarily in deep water, when fish are holding close to the bottom and/or in some type of cover. A lot of guys will use a dropshot in this situation, but I only dropshot if the fish are suspended above or around the cover."
In other words, if they're deep and hugging bottom or tight in the cover, this rig gets in their faces better than a drop-shot, and maybe any other bait.
Shaky Heads, Shaky Hands
For lack of a better term, Weyer calls the technique "shaky-heading," based on the name of the best jighead he's found for the rig, the Shaky Head, which came courtesy of Alabama angler (and former touring pro) Fred "Taco" Bland. (Weyer used to employ darter-style heads, which he said snag more easily than, and don't Texas-rig as well as, the P-shaped Shaky Heads.)
As some western rigs go, this one is rudimentary. He uses a 1/4-ounce Shaky Head dressed with a 4-inch green pumpkin Zoom Finesse Worm. If the structure and/or cover allows, he'll rig the worm with the hook exposed. But more often than not, he Texas-rigs them.
On Smith Lake, Weyer targeted "run-ins," areas along a bluff or other steep rocky bank in a creek arm where runoff spilled into the lake like a waterfall. He said shad, bluegills and crawfish were drawn to the inflow of nutrients, and the staging pre-spawn spots weren't far away.
They key was finding rockpiles, timber or brush deep in the creek channel where the fish would hold. That was the drill during the heavy rain that week, but he uses the same presentation whenever he finds deep fish near the bottom over structure or in cover.
"What I'll do is approach the area and stop the boat about 50-100 yards from the bank," he said. "I make a super-long cast toward the bank, and let it fall downhill to the bottom and sit for 10 seconds or so. You definitely have to watch that line because a lot of times you'll see or feel a tick as it's falling.
"Once it's down, I'll pick up the slack with the rod tip and nudge (the rod position) from about 9 o'clock to noon. If I feel it fall off something, I'll open the bail and let line out, then keep nudging 9 to noon, let line out, click the bail back over and nudge it again."
When it encounters limbs or brush, he gently shakes the bait on a slack line, so much so that he tries to count every single twig. "You're only moving it 6 inches every couple of minutes. They want it so the worm's barely ticking, like the second hand on a watch. You don't want that worm going all over the place," he said.
If he fails to entice any strikes working the bait downhill, he'll reposition the boat 20 yards or so from the bank, cast out to deep water and work the bait in the opposite direction, uphill.
"It's definitely a more violent bite when they hit it going uphill," he said. "Going downhill with a falling bait, it's mostly a little tick. But they'll just turn and run with it on an uphill bite. I think the bigger, less aggressive fish don't want (the bait) to get away when they see it coming uphill."
Davy-Jones Deep
"Deep" is a relative term. To anglers in much of the country, it means anything below 10 feet. But Weyer caught his Smith Lake spotted bass in 35-50 feet. For him and many western anglers, that's almost shallow.
"Unless I find some really active fish shallow, I'm fishing between 25 and 70 feet pretty much all the time," he said. "I've caught them all the way down to 120 feet (on Lakes Shasta, Oroville, Casitas and others). Spotted bass almost always live deep, and you can catch them almost year round in 35-65 feet.
"I hear a lot of guys say they want to learn how to fish deep water better, but (in the Southeast) you don't really have to most of the year. But here we are fishing some early pre-spawn tournaments and (the ability to catch fish deep) has certainly paid off."
Shakin' Gear
Weyer likes a 6'6" medium-power spinning rod for working the depths with his jig-worm rig, and it's also the perfect action for gently shaking it through brush and timber. He just inked a deal with Bass Medics, which is now producing rods, and uses their new 2 IG Extreme rods in the same power/action.
"You don't want too light a rod because (the buggy-whip action) will make the bait fly off that piece of cover or structure when you're shaking," he said. "But I don't like a stiff 7-footer for this either. It needs to be something in between that and a soft, dropshot-type rod."
He prefers the Team Daiwa S Series 2000CU reel. "They have smoothest drag systems I've found on the market. And the big spool holds 10-pound fluorocarbon really well. On thinner spools, I've found you can't go much heavier than 8 without it coiling off badly," he noted.
His fluorocarbon of choice is 10-pound Seaguar FW, the same line he used at Smith Lake. But if you look for it, you might not find it. "I don't think filler spools of it are on the market yet," he said. "It's a leader line for saltwater.
"Lately I've started using Carbon Pro (also a new sponsor). It's a limper fluorocarbon that's super-sensitive. It's 10-pound test, with a 6-pound diameter and 15-pound breaking strength."
He prefers fluorocarbon line due to its lower stretch and greater sensitivity, two essentials when fishing really deep water.
