Whereas not too long ago pondering one among fishing’s most frequently uttered hypotheticals, “In the event you might use just one lure…,” a evaluate of my logs made my alternative an apparent one: a curly tail grub.
One log entry after one other had “grub” scrawled within the bait column. I by no means actually gave a lot consideration to the truth that I all the time had a grub tied to at the very least one among my rods whereas fishing. Much more telling was my frequent alternative of rigging grubs of varied sizes on a number of rods. A number of of my pictures affirm that grubs have been chargeable for a lot of my catches—and a few high quality ones as effectively.
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The Grub’s Versatility
Grubs are easy to make use of and might be introduced in quite a lot of tantalizing methods. A curly-tail grub is a type of baits that you just simply can’t fish fallacious—it doesn’t matter what kind of retrieve you employ, there may be all the time a chance {that a} fish will take curiosity.
One of the crucial fascinating components of grub fishing is the number of fish that reply to those lures. Even bottom-dwellers comparable to catfish, carp, white suckers, and creek chubs will assault a grub because it passes via their zone.
My expertise has taught me that you need to do a little bit of experimentation to search out the perfect approach for presenting this easy bait in numerous areas and with completely different goal species in thoughts.
I start with a swimming presentation, steadily retrieving the grub to permit the tail to kick like a fleeing baitfish. When the swimming approach finds no takers, it’s time to gradual issues down and bounce the underside. This method might be enhanced through the use of a grub that floats. Through the use of this method, you might discover {that a} fish ingests your grub whereas it was simply sitting there. The following try you make to maneuver the bait could end in a bent rod tip and a thrashing fish. Or, a mixture of swim and pause motions could be needed. Merely swim the grub for a couple of toes, then enable it to softly fall to the underside. You should definitely maintain a decent line so you’ll be able to detect refined strikes because the bait descends.
When positioned over a faculty of suspended fish comparable to crappies, you simply can’t beat the vertical presentation of a curly-tail grub. Simply drop it into the pack and watch the motion start. Hold the grub barely above the schooled fish, add a couple of refined rod tip twitches, and let the crappies do the remainder. Moreover, if vertical seems to be the order of the day, then you may additionally need to take into account threading a grub on a drop shot rig. The refined movement of a curly-tail grub introduced on this rig can set off strikes when the bass are hanging close to the underside.
Since most of my grub fishing is designed to catch any and all styles of fish that swim within the lake or river, I are inclined to maintain my grubs on the small aspect, 3 inches and underneath. Very similar to the variations produced by variations in retrieve, the dimensions of the grub could make a giant distinction in your success on a given day. I differ the dimensions and retrieve of my bait till I discover the perfect mixture.
Yet another factor so as to add to this equation is colour. You’ll be able to’t go fallacious with pure colours comparable to inexperienced pumpkin, motor oil, or watermelon. There are occasions when “louder” colours like chartreuse can stir their curiosity as effectively.
The Origin of the Curly Tail Grub
Curly tails have turn into commonplace sufficient to be taken without any consideration by trendy fishermen. Once they have been first launched within the 70s by Mr. Tornado, they have been a game-changer.
Mushy plastics discovered their origins within the late Fifties and early Nineteen Sixties, with small worms and grubs being molded from rubber. The stiff rubber used, in addition to the fundamental shapes produced, didn’t enable the versatile motion and effectiveness of recent mushy plastics. In 1967, Tom Mann launched the Jelly Worm, the primary of the modern-era soft-plastic baits. They got here in colours named after fruit, like grape and strawberry, with matching scent added. They’re nonetheless being made immediately.
In keeping with The Curly Tail – An Angling Innovation (a narrative written for the November/December 2015 Difficulty of On The Water by Tom Schlichter), the inventor of the Curly Tail, Ric Welle, received the thought for the unique Mr. Tornado at a fishing present in 1972, the place he seen a French-made lure that seemed like an eel with a curled tail.
It was an enormous lure for the time, about 8 inches lengthy, product of stiff rubber. Welle lowered the idea to a 4-inch measurement, saved the curled tail, and poured the lure utilizing mushy, pliable plastic as a substitute of rubber.
Right now, the Curly Tail continues to thrive as a part of the Mr. Tornado model, and within the product lineups of just about each soft-plastic lure producer on the planet.
Curly Tail Grub Suggestions
The Mister Tornado Curly Tail produces a decent swimming profile for distinctive vibration. Particular person rows of raised ribs on its tail use hydrodynamics to provide a streamlined swimming motion. The thinner profile means the Platinum simply works deeper waters for walleye and smallmouth.
Z-Man’s Scented Curly TailZ characteristic a tear-resistant ElazTech plastic and incorporats an ultra-thin tail with tantalizing motion, even on ultra-light jigheads. These are designed for long-lasting efficacy, so you’ll be able to re-use them confidently after re-rigging or interference from toothy predators.
➤ YUM Grub
The widened tail of the YUM Grub is designed to create extra water resistance so the lure swims larger within the water column on slower retrieves. The massive-profile, ribbed physique provides bulk to swim jigs and spinner baits, but in addition fishes effectively by itself when rigged on a plain jighead.
➤ Berkley PowerBait Energy Grub
The Berkley PowerBait Grub’s cumbersome physique permits for straightforward rigging, whereas the tail design provides pronounced motion even at super-slow retrieve speeds.
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