Explosive Tackle Football Jig
By Dave Perrego, Explosive Tackle Pro Staff
The Explosive Tackle Football jig in Eastern Shore tipped
with a Berkley Chigger Craw, my favorite... |
This lure review on the Explosive
Tackle Company’s Football
Jig has been a while in development. But during the process,
I have had the opportunity to fully utilize this jig in a number
of different techniques and situations, all of which have been
successful in any number of ways.
My experience with jig fishing
has given me abilities and confidence I would not otherwise have,
if it weren’t for the shear numbers
of large bass the jig catches, even for the most novice of anglers
on any given day. From weekend fun fishing, to club tournaments,
and my eventual Delaware B.A.S.S. State Championship in 2007,
it has been the jig that has brought the fish to the boat for
me and continues to do so on a regular basis.
Here I will highlight
the Explosive Tackle football jig. Explosive Tackle manufactures
both football jigs and flipping jigs, but the content of this review
will focus primarily on the football jig and all of its many
applications.
The Explosive Tackle Company,
founded on the Maryland eastern shore in 2008 by friend and local
Upper Bay tournament fisherman Ryan Abey, has made great strides in providing quality
fishing lures at affordable prices in just their 2nd year of
operation.
Through promotion
of Explosive Tackle ’s products in tournament
reports, outdoor shows, and exposure to anglers in regional events such
as the B.A.S.S. Northern Open, Northeast Divisional BFL’s,
and the Delaware and Maryland club, team and federation trails, Explosive
Tackle is growing.
Now, starting with the concept
design of the football jig, Explosive Tackle has implemented
an Arkie style dish shaped lead head jig. The heads are pre-molded
and painted with a durable toughcoat finish and can withstand
a beating from dock pilings, seawalls, laydowns and rock. The
Arkie style head allows the jig to stand on its own and present
itself in an upright position.
Coupled with a 30-degree bend
Eagle Claw flat eye hook, the head stands in the ready position
and is well suited for the “roof
of the mouth” hook set needed to get that fish and hold
him. The 30-degree offset gives the angler more penetrating control
on the hookset with the rocking motion of the head itself at
the slightest tension using the rod tip. I would personally say
that 9 out of 10 hooksets have buried the hook in the roof of
the fish’s mouth, and
kept that fish pinned during the fight.
The skirts used
are typically a multi-strand silicone skirt material, standard
in the industry, mostly at a 50-60 strand count. This is where
I have been able to work with Ryan and he has accommodated me
in a number of ways. Explosive Tackle sells the jigs in a number
of colors, but I have varied skirt designs over the last year
and come up with a killer…the “easternshore”.
My own namesake,
well my online forum tag anyway, is a purple and chartreuse skirt
that has been really catching the fish. The skirt
is probably ¾ purple and ¼ chartreuse, with the
chartreuse at the bottom (as you lay the jig flat). I feel it’s
a matter of shade versus color, and the lighter underside (belly)
contrasts well with the darker purple (topside). Its no secret
that a dark color, typically your black and blue, or Junebug
colors are well suited for the area’s
stained water. The purple is a similar concept, but something
just slightly different.
When throwing
the Explosive Tackle football jig, I prefer a ½ oz
jig tipped with a craw trailer, typically a Zoom Big Salty Chunk
or Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw, both in a sapphire blue. It’s
quite the sight to behold when you see this color combination,
and you may have your doubts as well, but let me tell you…this
color combination works.
I prefer the ½ oz
football jig primarily because I fish a lot of rivers with moving
water, mostly a tidal influence. The ½ oz jig just holds
a little better and gives me a better feel for cover and structure
on the bottom. Not to mention the larger jig adds a larger profile, and
in stained to murky water, this provides better visibility to
the fish and an opportunity for a larger meal.
In the Delaware
ponds, I will throw the 3/8 oz jig. The smaller jig will add
a slower fall rate and help entice the more pressured fish, and
yes, the smaller fish when the bite gets tough. I’ll
also use the 1/4 oz for the same reasons, but will trim the top
half of the skirt above the collar. This is a great move for
clearer water, and the trimmed head adds the look of a crawfish
tail to the overall profile of
the bait.
I use the football head jig
because I feel the flatter shape again, allows the head to stand
on its own and present itself as a crawfish in a scurrying defensive
position. The ½ oz provides better
castability when I am pitching with my heavy equipment. I always
match the ½ oz football head jig with my 7’6” Powell
Max 766 XHT flippin stick and 20 lb test Trilene Big Game monofilament.
No other rod in my experience has handled the jig as well, either
flippin from ground zero or pitching to a small target from 20
feet. Besides, when you’re flipping and pitching as much
as I am, you’ll
want that lightweight heavy-action stick with added sensitivity.
A cumbersome rod will wear you out by the end of the season.
The 20lb test Trilene Big Game is spooled on my reels pretty
much all of the time when jig fishing, unless on the Upper Bay.
Then you have to spool up with your favorite braid because the
barnacles on the dock pilings will cut your mono, fluoro, or
any other super line, braid will at least give you a fighting
chance.
So what’s
my game many ask? Put me on a summer pattern with fish holding
on dock pilings in the heat of the day and it’s on! I’ll pitch
the football jig to dock pilings all day. As I mentioned before,
I use the heavier jig to pin it to the bottom. Cast up current
and allow the bait to drift back to me with slight hops and dragging
the bottom. The current is a natural conduit for washing bait
past a predator lying in wait.
Laydowns are
also key. Pitching to a laydown from about 15 feet, I can work
the football head jig with relative ease. I have had the jig
in the thickest of
16 ½ pounds takes 1st place with
the ½ oz. football jig in easternhsore,
tipped with the Berkley chigger craw… |
cover and it worked through nicely,
either by myself or at the mercy of the toad that picked it up
off a short hop or flutter through the limbs. You can use the flipping
jig for swimming through limbs much easier, but when I drop that
bait to the bottom and the bass is checking it out, considering
making a move on it, the last thing that should happen is your
bait rolling over on its side.
Our only concern
about the football head jig currently is the location of the hook
eye. I wrote about swimming the jig through brush piles and tree limbs.
On occasion the location of the hook eye on the head will allow
the jig to snag, but mostly I am fishing in water 6 feet or less
and can easily fish the bait out of the snag. For all intents
and purposes this jig was primarily designed for open water.
Should you lose one though…that’s
the beauty of Explosive Tackle. The jigs are much less expensive
than other comparable jigs sold on the market, easily by a dollar
give or take some change.
The Explosive
Tackle Football Jig has accounted for numerous club tournament
wins, weekend fun fishing cash tournaments, not to mention my
best day on my local lake where I wrangled in a 5-fish limit
with almost 17 pounds of bass,…all on the ETC ½ oz
football jig in “easternshore”. Overall, you’ll
probably not find a better quality jig for what the ETC football
head jig will cost you. And I guarantee you will have success
with the football jig…just use the “easternshore” color!
The Explosive Tackle product line may be seen at www.explosivetackle.com/davesselection.htm
Tight Lines!
Dave Perrego
2008 Delaware B.A.S.S. Federation Nation State Champion
Dave Perrego
is a local Delaware tournament angler that has competed in numerous
events including a 29th place co-angler finish at the 2009 B.A.S.S.
Northern Division Open, a 1st place finish at the 2008 Delaware
B.A.S.S. Federation Nation State Team Qualifier, and a two-time
Eastern Shore Bassmasters club Angler of the Year. Dave is actively
involved in promoting youth interests in the sport of bass fishing,
and he represents the Explosive Tackle Company and Powell rods.
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