It may not be one of the tactics on many anglers’ radar, but swimming a big grub sometimes can be quite effective if the jerkbait or crankbait bite tails off.
Lucky Craft pro Brent Ehrler used the technique to win the opening FLW Tour event last in March on Table Rock Lake. He used a Pointer 100 DD in Pearl Wakasagi for a limit weighing more than 22 pounds on the second day, and caught a few on a RC 2.5 DD crankbait in Ghost Minnow as well on his White River channel bend.
But Ehrler also threw a 5-inch Yamamoto single-tail grub on a quarter-ounce ballhead jig. When the jerkbait and crankbait bite wasn’t on, he cast the big grub to about 12 feet and then swam it out to sink in about 30-35 feet.
photo by: Rob Newell
“I would cast to about 12 feet then let hit bottom and start to wind it,” Ehrler said. “It was a shallow flat dropping into deeper water, which was where the trees were, and I fished it like a crankbait. But the grub was able to get into the deeper range where fish were holding over the timber.
“The fish might be 5-10 feet deep but were hanging over 30 feet. One of biggest I caught was almost underneath my trolling motor.”
The grub is a longtime staple on Table Rock, along with jerkbaits, in early spring when suspended bass are feeding. Lucky Craft pro Anthony Gagliardi won at Table Rock in 2009 with a Pointer 100 DD sitting in about 60 feet and casting to 30 feet to fish about 10 feet deep suspended over trees.
“It was like the top of the trees were the bottom,” Ehrler said. “Those are harder to catch because they can just drop out of site and their gone. If they’re holding over 5 or 10 on hard bottom it’s different. If they are holding over trees that are 10 feet at the top but the bottom of the trees are in 30 feet, they treat the treetops like the bottom. It’s just a different situation.”
If you’re in a situation where suspended bass are finicky and a crankbait or jerkbait isn’t working as well, try swimming a big grub.
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