Kicker Jigs

.....This got my curiosity stirred up more to the whole process and reasoning, than any interest in actually landing one. I paid more attention to what was happening rather than trying to make it happen. This was something special, perhaps even a bit unorthodox and I was going to take in as much as possible. We had just come across an area devoid of life, and turned it into to a full-on street mugging session and we were the ones getting mugged!

.... The first thing that I noticed was the jigs ability to ‘call' fish in from not only the depths, but also great distances. You could tell these fish were sprinting to the jig not just vertically, but laterally as well. We were well away from any cover such as kelp stringers and boiler rocks. We were off the beach and over sand. These fish were not suspending, they were running the jig down from a long ways away, but why? That same cadence kept me mesmerized, kick-kick-thump, kick-kick-thump. It was the low frequency sound waves emitting from the jig as it pressed water away from itself in a rhythmic fashion. These fish were hearing or better yet, ‘feeling' this jig swim through the water and were drawn into it, much as I was watching it. As they approached, the profile of the jig came into visual range feeding another sense in their curiosity, now fast approaching predatory response. Once in visual range, the action of the lure in synch with the sounds waves emitting from each kick and thump further amplified the response from the bass. The ‘Kicker' to seal the deal was a meal-sized jig, brightly painted and finished off with a pair of painted eyes, offering a bull's eye target for the landing. Whomp!

.... Now you may say, ahhhh that's just a good old iron bite. Perhaps, but I have seen too many breaking fish eat a jig simply because they were in a feeding mode or the conditions were right. This day neither was the case. These fish were in a negative feeding mode in poor conditions. The speed at which the jig was being pulled through the water told me this was more than a reaction bite, this was appealing to a fishes senses in a manner few experience. It was almost like cheating. The fish seemed forced to follow and do something, whether it was just follow, roll, swirl, swat, or eat the jig. We had appealed to senses few, if any other lure types can!

....You could make an argument that a crank baits rattles could have the same effect or a spinner baits blade thump could insight the same response, but I'd have to disagree in this case. Those types of baits simply cannot be pulled through the water at the speed of a winding Trinidad 16's 6:1 gear ratio spooled to the brim. It's totally different. These are low frequency sound waves traveling longer distances with greater effect. I remember telling Benny' “You're calling them in'! He just laughed, (probably thinking) “whatever guy”.