Shakey Head For Smallmouth Bass

Everyone talks about drop shotting for smallmouth bass these days but don’t forget about the simplicity of the shakey head. It’s easy to set up and can really trigger sluggish bass.

With the shakey head, you are imitating small forage such as crayfish, lizards, worms and even bait fish sometimes.

Here’s some great video describing the technique:

The biggest mistake people make is overworking the bait. The key is patience and working it in tiny little hops and shaking the rod tip to create the subtle movements that drive smallmouth bass wild.

Here’s a brief excerpt from Kevin Van Dam explaining his choice of shakey head:

VanDam: When I’m fishing for spawning bass, I want a lure with a lot of action that I can fish in one spot for a long time. With the Strike King 3X 4-inch worm, even though it has salt in it, which makes the worm a little heavy, the plastic is still super-buoyant. So, when I put that 3X worm on a Shaky Head jig, the worm floated up. When I pulled the worm on the bottom and stopped it, the worm slowly stood-up, while the jig stayed on the bottom. So, the 3X worm still has movement, even when the jighead stops. The plastic is so soft that when a bass sitting on the bed moves its tail, this little worm will wiggle. Even when the jighead is sitting still on the bottom, this worm has a lot of action. There’s no other soft plastic with this much motion when the jighead stops.  Source

Watch this young man explain the basics of the shakey head rig

https://youtu.be/v-Fi9ELbAj0

There are so many great shakey jig heads these days, its hard to choose what to use. Check out some of these great jig heads.