Bitsy Bug Jig and Creepy Crawler Trailer

Update on this article first posted in 2013.  I now mostly use Strike King Bitsy Flips for the bigger hooks. I won a club tournament and had big fish on one last November, won another and had big fish in early January and came in fourth in a mid january tournament this year. All my keepers came on a Bitsy Flip.

I had a problem with skirts coming apart on one group of  black and blue jigs I bought last year ago. i had bought a dozen green pumpkin and a dozen black and blue and used the green pumpkin with no trouible.  But when water muddied up last weeek ai switched to black and blue and the skirt would come off after a few casts. I did land two keepers to win before running out of them and switching to another brand.

When I contacted Strike King and Lews support trying to buy replacement skirts for the six jig heads in my boat, I was sent a gift card to cover replacing the defective jigs. Great service that you seldom find now-a-days!!

Original article:

For the past couple of years I have had two baits, a jig head worm and a Bitsy Bug jig with a Creepy Crawler trailer, that are my go-to choices most days when fishing tournaments. As I get older I have to fish slower and those baits don’t wear me out during a tournament. But they catch fish under almost all conditions.

I rig the Bitsy Bug jig and Creepy Crawler trailer on a seven foot medium heavy St. Croix rod and Kast King reel spooled with 10 to 12 pound test Sun Line fluorocarbon. The light line suits the way I fish the bait and will handle any bass I hook. And I think I get more hits on the light fluorocarbon line than I do on heavier line.

In clear to lightly stained water I use a pumpkin jig and a green pumpkin skirt. I always dip the tails of the twin tail trailer in JJ’S Magic chartreuse dye. In stained water I go with a black jig and blue trailer, but I dip those tails, too. I think the chartreuse flash of the tail looks like a bream fin and the strong garlic scent may help get bites and make the bass hold the bait longer.

The small jig and pig works year round on both largemouth and spotted bass. Most of the lakes I fish in middle Georgia have populations of spotted bass now and they are aggressive and tend to bite better after a cold front. The smaller jig and pig is just right for them but largemouth love it, too.

I fish the jig and pig around all kinds of structure and cover, mostly in shallow water. Since I usually fish it in less than 15 feet of water my favorite weight is the three sixteenths ounce jig but I will go to a quarter ounce jig if there is current or wind. The lighter jig comes through rocks and brush better than heavier jig, too.

Normally I cast the jig, let it sink to the bottom and sit a few seconds, than pull it up off the bottom a couple of inches and let it fall back. When I hit cover I will jiggle the bait and raise it up and down when over a rock or limb. On smoother bottoms like clay or peagravel I slide it along, moving it as slowly as I can while still making the tails wave and wiggle

Another trick is to “stroke” the jig, ripping it up off the bottom two feet and letting it fall back. This action looks like a fleeing bait and will often trigger a reaction strike. This is a good tactic around boat docks. Let the jig fall by a post, rip it up and let it fall back, then swim it away just off the bottom.

The one thing I don’t like about the Bitsy Bug jig is the light hook in it. switching to the Bitsy Flip solved this problem) I would prefer a bigger, stronger hook. With the rod, reel and line I use I do keep my drag set fairly loose so it will slip on the hook set. That keeps me from breaking the line and also does not bend the light hook.

It is important to rig the trailer on the hook so the tails are parallel with the head. I change the trailer often since they get torn and won’t stay straight on the hook. After catching a bass the trailer is often torn and won’t stay straight. One trick is to rotate the trailer 180 degrees after one side gets torn by the hook so you can keep using it, but change it when both sides get torn.

Give the Bitsy Bug and Creepy Crawler a try. Smallmouth love it, too. Try it my way or fish it your favorite way. Let me know how you like it.