[EvBlue]

I had no idea grubs were this versatile:
http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/grub-fishing.shtml

 

[spidey]

I have tons of them in my yard the dogs like to dig them up for a snack. May have to dig up a few and tie one on

 

[OptiMystic]

I had no idea grubs were this versatile:
http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/grub-fishing.shtml

I am surprised the article is limited to larger ones. I do use them quite a bit also, though the distinction between a fat ribbon tail worm or shad and a large twisty tail grub is a gray area. But even the 2" ones catch a lot of big bass (but not as well as the larger ones). But they look like something swimming along and can be fished at all depths and speeds and come in plenty of colors so they will work in almost all situations. Maybe not always the best choice, but nearly always a choice that will work, IME.

 

[H_GeeZy]

I have tons of them in my yard the dogs like to dig them up for a snack. May have to dig up a few and tie one on

The article is talking about soft plastic grubs

 

[wademaster]

I have tons of them in my yard the dogs like to dig them up for a snack. May have to dig up a few and tie one on

Do you have moles as well?

 

[spidey]

The article is talking about soft plastic grubs

I understand that however was wondering if live ones would work

 

[spidey]

Do you have moles as well?

yeap moles and voles. its a great adventure trapping them every year

 

[OptiMystic]

yeap moles and voles. its a great adventure trapping them every year

You need to get a heron...

[video=youtube;t8v_6-61Lj0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8v_6-61Lj0[/video]

 

[spidey]

Never knew herons would do that. The dogs catch them as well just not good enough

 

[OptiMystic]

If you put out stuff that takes care of grubs you will have few, if any, moles and fewer flying beetles that eat lots of stuff in gardens, but I am not sure about pet safety.

 

[roddo27846]

Those live grubs are excellent bait.

 

[OptiMystic]

Those live grubs are excellent bait.

+1
Meant to mention that in prior reply. I have used wax worms, meal worms, maggots and "dug up in yard" grubs and the only difference seems to be average size, which does sometimes translate to preference. But I don't find any of them to be night and day different than the rest; they are all pretty good.

 

[Jay]

Grubs are often thought of as the first swim-baits. We used them a lot up north at least when I was younger in the 1980s and before I moved down to NC. They are great for smallmouth but largemouth like them too. I think they are overlooked a lot given the huge variety of soft plastics available now. A friend of mine up there told me recently he actually uses them to "hunt" for stripers. He placed great emphasis on that word, hunt, like he approached the stripers differently than LMB, SMB, and crappie.

 

[roddo27846]

Grubs are often thought of as the first swim-baits. We used them a lot up north at least when I was younger in the 1980s and before I moved down to NC. They are great for smallmouth but largemouth like them too. I think they are overlooked a lot given the huge variety of soft plastics available now. A friend of mine up there told me recently he actually uses them to "hunt" for stripers. He placed great emphasis on that word, hunt, like he approached the stripers differently than LMB, SMB, and crappie.

I use them for stripers around here too. The best striper fisherman I know uses little else.

Last year my fishing buddy caught about a four pound largemouth in the middle of a creek bouncing a grub on the bottom. We were in 24 feet of water in early March. I thought he had hung into a 15 lb. striper. Never seen one pulled up from the middle of a creek like that before.

 

[OptiMystic]

The gray area for me is when I take one of these:

shorten it (taking up to half of the "body" off and leaving the full tail) and fish it T-rigged with a fairly light bullet weight. I call that fishing a plastic worm, but if there is such a thing as a 5" grub (mentioned in the article) then what I end up with is not much different.

 

[Mack in N.C.]

If you put out stuff that takes care of grubs you will have few, if any, moles and fewer flying beetles that eat lots of stuff in gardens, but I am not sure about pet safety.

true, but only if your yard has few or no earthworms as earthworms are the main food source for moles. If your yard is loaded with earthworms u r gonna have moles.

 

[EvBlue]

Dang, this thread took off after I went to work

For grubs in yer lawn parasitic nematodes or milky spore will work without using pesticides.

Herons are weird, weird birds. I have a garden pond right outside my home office window and every now and then when I open the blinds in the morning there will be this big a$$ bird a few feet away. You really get a sense of how big they are when you see them that close.

Andy- I noticed you were using some of the techniques mentioned in that article when we fished the other day, just downsized. I'm thinking when trolling from the kayak I might try running a small crank with rattles fairly close to the boat and then shad-colored 3" grub further back. Thinking the crank might pull them in with it's Rodney Dangerfield impression while the grub get's bit with it's more subtle presentation. BTW, I went again Monday and grabbed an extra Harris map at the ranger office if you want one.

 

[OptiMystic]

Yeah, I will take a map; never seen what their official one looks like.

If we had seen some bass activity out there I would have gone more full sized with a shortened PowerBait worm like I referenced above. That is usually what I have on the second rod instead of that chatter bait I continue to get skunked on.

I need to dig through my big bag of plastic. I think I still have some Powerbait shad that are good for trolling. That's another "sort of grub like" (meaning what the article is referring to by grub) in that it has a big curly ribbon tail about as big as the body.

I might try to slip back down there at some point this weekend. Let me know if you are interested...