®
Summer 2020
page 44
“We built it so you could get it to chop back and forth, side to side, without it turning down or blowing out,” he said. “That sudden change can cost you the fish of a lifetime. I want something that everyone can use but is also highly technical. You used to have to work harder at it, but with the Arashi lots of people caught there first fish as well as giants. You can just throw it out, slowly wind it, stop it, make hard turns and quarter turns.”
He noted that color patterns are endless, and there are certainly many great custom painters in the swimbait game, but he keeps it simple: something translucent, something to replicate a shad, something to replicate a bluegill, and something that imitates a crappie or trout. Usually putting two colors on the deck can “give you a pretty good idea” of what they prefer, but he does stress that you should not lock into a single pattern. On a trip earlier this year to Nickajack in Tennessee, while the fish were up shallow and ready to spawn, he threw a bluegill pattern and a friend threw shad. He didn’t think it would make a difference, but they immediately found that the fish were “aggressive on the bluegill color and not on the shad ones.”
He’s not a fan of shock colors like bubble gum or bright chartreuse.
“Fish obviously eat it, but for me it’s about catching a true giant and having a good tournament bait,” he said. “I want colors that are consistent.”
DIALING IN YOUR TACKLE AND TERMINAL GEAR
Jocumsen believes that the best way to improve your glide bait game is to glue the bait in your hand and make it work for you – much like with a jig, a dropshot or any other bait, the critical elements are experimentation
and persistence. To that end, he recommends buying a dedicated glide bait rod; so, you never have an excuse. While a flipping stick or a frog rod might work in some circumstances, you’re better off with a rod made for this purpose.
“Most people think you want a broomstick, but you want it light with feeling and tip, as well as power down low for when you hook fish,” he said.
He wants a long handle to give him leverage and power when he hooks a fish and also, so that he can put the butt under his armpit to take the strain off. This is a lure that you can’t just fish for a short while, he explained, so improper equipment will wear you out. He prefers the Millerods Swimsanity for the largest baits, and the DreamFreaK for tournament-sized lures.
He pairs it with a Shimano Tranx 300 or 400 with a double paddle handle, and while some of his colleagues like a 7:1 or even an 8:1 gear ratio, he prefers “the slowest ratio you can get.” With the Tranx, that means 5.8:1.
“It’s more like a winch,” he said. “There’s no resistance, and when a fish eats it, you are in total control, with a continual steady wind.”
While line can make a difference in lure
action, he suggests keeping it simple from
the get-go, starting with 25-pound-test
Sunline Shooter.
“You generally just want your line to
be able handle a giant and a lot of hard
casting,” he said.
He’ll drop down to 16 or 18 if he’s
fishing ultra-clear water with smaller baits,
as on Lake Lanier.
This entire system contributes to
minimizing the losses of hooked fish. Some
will jump and use the lure as leverage,
others will pull off during the fight, but
those tragedies can be reduced with proper
preparation.
“You have to treat the glide bait more
like a jerkbait than anything else, because
90 of them eat it on a slack line,” he
explained. “The biggest thing on your hooks
is sharpness. They have to be ultra-sharp.”
Still, he customizes the hook choices
on his signature lure depending on what he
wants it to do. He might use #2 trebles or quads when the fish are super-shallow, #1 hooks when they’re in 4-5 feet of water, and 1/0 versions when they’re inhabiting deeper bluff walls and points. He also strongly prefers lures with swiveling hooks, which minimize a fish’s leverage to pull off.
He also said that “a good snap swivel is a must” to elicit the proper action. An egg snap like the ones from Owner, allow proper movements and won’t come undone.
Taken as a system, it’s a little less daunting to the beginner. There are answers to all of the questions, and the possibility of turning bad dreams of followers into a solid batting average. •