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When can I use a jitterbug?

1.5K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  insider  
#1 ·
:: Question

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I can't seem to catch any bass right now from the bank. I am from northern PA and historically up there I have had decent luck fishing with a jitterbug at dusk. Typically the night bite doesn't start until about June 21st up there.



I am wondering when fishing with a jitterbug at dusk from the bank will catch some largemouth here at loudon.



There is nothing like reeling in a jitterbug at night and all of a sudden you hear a splash 3 feet from the shore.
 
#5 ·
i caught 8 spots from 12 to 16 inches on a puppy yesterday . When the wind died down late in the afternoon i had fish rising all around me for about an hour eatimng on schools of bluebacks . I caught fish on a crankbait and a plastic worm yesterday too. The smallmouth liked the crankbait best . The topwater bite is on mow for me .. If the wind lays down this afternoon like it did yesterday i will get my fly rod out . The spots have not spawned . They are heavy with eggs . I haven't used a jitterbug in a long time . I always have several chug bugs with me though . My biggest largemouth of 2012 came on a chugbug in May in the middle of the afternoon . It was about 8 lbs. When I was young I used to hit golf course and farm ponds in the middle of the night on hot summer nights with a jitterbug and do the slow steady retrieve for largemouths and do very well . If I wanted to catch a fish with a jitterbug right now and I had to fish from the bank I would go in the warmest part of the day before dusk when it starts to cool down again and look for blowdowns and stumps . i would throw at that cover aver and let it sit for a few seconds . Then i would move it in a quick skitter of a wobble for about a foot and let it sit a few more seconds. Then i would do a varied speed stop and go retrieve more eractic than standard late night steady wobble . i would also use a lighter colored , smaller lure than i would use at night iin late summer .Go for it .
 
#8 ·
The spots were absolutely killing the little spook this afternoon . I mean it looked like they wanted to just kill it more than they wanted to eat it . They are shallow around cover in sandy bottom areas getting ready to spawn and are very territorial . A lot of the strikes would just knock the plug up into the air . They would charge it fast and hit it hard . I was having a ball until the prop fell off my motor guide when I got up into a blow down . I lost the prop , the nut , and the pin . I should have checked it for tightness but I had not in a while . Anyway , the topwater was about all they wanted today . They weren't interested in the crank bait or the plastic worm . i hope walmart has the right prop tommorow .