There’s a product out there that I want you to know about.
It’s made by VMC and it’s called the Ike Approved Wacky Weedless Jig Head. It comes in four weights and three colors. It’s armed with a razor-sharp EWG hook that’s protected with a light wire weedguard that’ll help prevent hang-ups but won’t interfere with your hookset.
It’s a really versatile piece of tackle. I designed it for three specific fishing scenarios.
The wacky rig
The first, and I suppose the most obvious, use for this head is on a wacky rig. Sometimes you need a little weight to get your worm down deeper or you need a little more quiver to elicit strikes. This head will do both.
Hang it in the middle of your worm and fish it around bridge pilings, channels, ledges or anywhere else you want to get your bait down deeper, faster.
The no motion minnow
Use this rig when you’re dealing with clear water, highly pressured bass or when they’re skittish for some reason.
Nose hook the head on any minnow-type lure and then just count it down and bring it back with a slow and steady wind of your reel handle. My preference for a minnow is the Berkley Powerbait Pro Twitchtail Minnow. It’s the right size with the right action and comes in enough colors to match anything the bass are eating.
The sliding minnow rig
To make a sliding minnow rig all you have to do is skin hook the head into the center of your bait. I use the Berkley Powerbait Pro Twitchtail Minnow for the reasons I mentioned above.
Use the lightest head you possibly can. That’ll give your minnow a sliding sideways motion that looks exactly like a wounded or disabled baitfish. I like to throw this bait up alongside stuff and let it slide under whatever’s there. It’ll look like an easy meal.
The Ike Approved Wacky Weedless Jig Head is one of the most versatile, and least expensive, options you can carry in your tackle box. Pick up a couple of them and give them the opportunity to show you how many bass they can fool. You won’t be disappointed.
One final note: If you don’t want the weedguard, simply clip it off with a pair of side cutters. That won’t hurt a thing. But, then again, neither will the weedguard.
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