What's the difference? Is it just a matter of how you fish it?

The jig and worm have been around a long time. The difference is that now they make specialty jigheads with longer shanks and wider gaps that match better with a small worm. Some even have rotated collars or other means of putting the worm inline with the hook point for rigging weedless.

What makes a shaky head presentation is that you almost dead stick the bait, and try to impart some subtle shaking.

Hope it helps.

Joe

By "regular" jig I'm assuming you mean a jig n pig.

There's a lot of difference. Set up for one. Typically use a finesse type worm on a jig head (round, spot remover, etc) for shakey head and of course you know a jig n pig type set up.

Shakey head is very common now and I see folks fishing it all kinds of ways. The most common way of fishing it on my home lake is to cast it out, let it sit, and twitch it ever so often. Takes a while to work one all the way back into the boat.

Shakey head is usually going to be a lighter weight (lots throw on spinning although you can build a casting rod that will throw it)

Here's a decent article explaining it [www.bassdozer.com]

There will probably be a lot of other opinions.

That helps. So I could fish any jig that way if I wanted to? Even bending and modifying the shape of the hook if I thought it beneficial?

Most of the jigheads sold as shakies have a screwlock attached near line tie to attach generally small finesse type worms. hook point then buried in worm texas style. Most have round leadheads-have seen recently football/shaky head hybrid. Football heads will cause worm to wobble side to side when dragged slowly across bottom. And, what Alex said.

Reply wasn't needed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2008 01:13PM by Joe Vanfossen.

Originally “Shaky head” was a technique of fishing the worm by putting it on a small lead head jig/hook set up, then gently shaking the worm along the bottom as you brought it back to the boat.

From there it went to being a fad, then to a dominant tournament winning strategy. To the point that we now build rods, weighted hooks, and worms just to fish what is still just a technique of how to fish the worm by shaking it back to the boat.

I personally won more money on this technique last year then all others put together.

The shaky head technique is very productive for tournament fishermen when the bite gets tough or in clear water situations during off bite cycles. The rapid vertical in place dancing movement by the lure will induce a strike when many other techniques may prove to be nonproductive. Most conventional shaky head rods are built on a spinning rod platform, which allows a vertical lure drop.

The fast or extra fast action will allow the continuing vertical vibration to move the lure head. See the following for a conventional rod and the lure head typical utilized. The shape of the lure head will allow in place vertical lure dancing.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Take one of your fast action casting rods an grasp it loosely with your grip hand. Now reach up and solidly bump the area just in front of the reel seat with your off hand. Note vibration pattern and compare to find the most appropriate blank to maximixe the period of vertical oscillation.

Many fishermen desire a similar rod that will work with a casting platform. Take a look at a custom shaky head built on a casting platform with a fast action blank and fully exposed reel seat. The spiral wrap will allow the line freedom that will make this system behave almost identical to rods build on a spinning platform. Shaky head will certainly work on a casting rod if the blank and set up are correct. The third rod from the bottom (green moiere) is a shaky head that completes the set for a tournament bass angler. This rod was built on a Castaway XP3 842. Take a look at the action, line rating and blank weight. Shaky head after trim 82.5 inches.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

If you are interested in building a shaky head rod consult a staff builder for trim and set up details.

[swamplandtackle.com]

Now the difference between shaky head and pig n jig!

When the live well has been filled with the shaky head rod, lay it in the bottom of the boat and go hunting for the big one for the cull with a pig n jig built on a Castaway 905 or that secret swim bait bruiser hidden under wraps in the bottom of the boat. This is why I love bassers - they gotta have one of every kind of rods immaginable to chase the big money!

Gon Fishn

Seems now the term is used for almost any jig/worm combination. And I find that most of the time very little or no shaking is required. It is almost impossible to keep a worm from moving some unless you give it total slack line so I seldom need to shake! I catch most of my shaky fish on the initial drop. The method has expanded to include leadheads from 1/16 to over 1/2 ounce and worms up to over 10". With average conditions in my area (TN) I usually start with a 3/32 head and 7" straight tail worm. Bob at Custom put me on the Loomis spinnerbait blank (811 I forget the series) and it is excellent, just right for 8 pound line and 5-7" worms. I have tried a 1/2 ounce football head and old monster Zoom worm (on a casting rig) and it fishes the deeper drops well.

Here is a set up that works for me using all Batson Products...I used to call them darter head rods in the 90's but shaky head has a better ring to it :)

Rod Blank Model # Rainshadow ISB802.75
Butt cap: SBC20B
Front Cap:
Rear Grip: RG9A-345
Handle Arbor:
Reel Seat: BPSTG16 & BPSTG16C-SN-TC
Reel Seat Shim SHIM16SPIN
Foregrip: FG25A-250
Winding Check: BWC10
Hookeeper: TCHKS
Tip Top XTCPZT06F05.0
1st guide from tip top XPTCFZG06
2nd guide from tip top XPTCFZG06
3rd guide from tip top XPTCFZG07
4th guide from tip top XPTCFZG08
5th guide from tip top: XPTCFZG10
6th guide from tip top: XTCVS3TZG16
7th guide from tip top: XTCVS3TZG25
8th guide from tip top:
9th guide from tip top:
10th guide from tip top:
11th guide from tip top:
12th guide from tip top:
13th guide from tip top:
14th guide from tip top:
15th guide from tip top:
16th guide from tip top:
Guide spacing Specs(inches from tip, center ring over mark) 4.5-9.5-15-21-28-36-45

Karry Batson
Batson Enterprises Inc.
Ph: (877) 875-2381
Fax: (360) 683-3579
karry@batsonenterprises.com
www.batsonenterprises.com