Hula Hula Hallelujah
Rejoicing time is here! It's time to
shout about the glory of Hula grubs! Let's sing about one style -
skirted double-tails! Let's praise just one way to use them -
fiberguard jig heads. Indeed there are other ways to rig them,
and other Hula styles (skirted single-tails or mix 'n match
separate skirts and tails) but double tails on fiberguards are
how I've Hula'd best for twenty years now. That's the fishin'
gospel I'd like to evangelize to you today! Let's leave other
ways and styles for the non-repentant sinners! So, park your
transgressions at the door. Come on in, friends, and listen up
because rejoicing time is here! Hula hallelujah!
I prefer double tail vs. single tail Hulas.
Why? Because if a bass tears one leg off, you've still got a
spare leg to stand on. The one remaining leg is more than enough
enticement for a bass to continue to belt a one-legged Hula
dancing right in front of him...or you can immediately fire a
second cast back at the willing taker without delay.
Can't do that with single tail Hulas. With
only one leg for starters, you're dead meat when a fish tears
your only leg off. Bass often don't get highly enthused about
biting a legless Hula a second time (at least not mine). Plus
you'll lose your boat position and waste precious moments
replacing a legless bait with a fresh one before you can cast
back at that active bass. Therefore, with double tails, you get
two chances to entice an active bass that tears one leg off. You
will spend more time fishing active biters when it matters most.
You'll spend less "down time" replacing double tail
Hulas. So that's why I like doubles better than single tail
Hulas.
The bulky series 99 double tail Hula is my
"go to" bait simply because bass cannot tear
the legs off the 6" inch series 99 so easily. If fish will
bite on the larger series 99, you should surely use it whenever
and wherever possible. You will simply spend more quality time
fishing the 99, less time replacing torn bait, and you'll catch a
larger grade of fish than on the 5" inch series 97 or the
4" inch series 93 double tail Hula. With that being said,
there are whole bodies of water, seasons, and days when any one
of the three sizes seems to out-catch the others.
The skirts welded on at the factory
are preferable to separate skirts and separate double tails. With
the factory-welded models, the bait simply stays up on the jig
hook better in between bites. Once a bass yanks the Hula out of
place down onto the bend of the hook, the bait tends to
repeatedly slip out of place on following casts or bites. So I
back the Hula off the hook gently so not to enlarge the hook
hole, rotate it 180 degrees, and bring the barb out of fresh
"new" plastic on the opposite side of the bait. That
usually buys me a few more bites before the bait gets totally
hen-pecked and won't stay up on the hook for beans. Then it's
time to rig a fresh two-legged Hula. Save the torn-up Hulas for
potential converts into born-again Ikas!
The custom-made fiberguard jig heads exclusively
designed by Gary Yamamoto will hold his Hulas up on the jig
collar without slipping off as easily as most other
manufacturer's jigs. The barb, bayonet, collar or whatever you
want to call it on a Yamamoto jig is custom-designed to hold
Hulas on the hook better. In fact, with most other manufacturer's
jig heads, I've usually got to glue them to keep Hulas in
position on the jig. That's a hassle, especially out on the
water. So I use Gary's jig heads whenever I can because they hold
Hulas better without using glue.
Now all this talk of bass tearing Hulas
into tiny pieces and yanking them off the hook, it's probably not
the poor Hula's fault. Think about it. Most critters a bass chows
down on will probably kill it if the bass doesn't kill them
before ingestion. I don't think there's much margin for error if
a bass doesn't disarm and tranquilize its dinner before going
down the gullet. One things for sure, ever clean a bass for the
table, and most craws you'll find inside have gotten their doors
torn off. So, tearing the legs off a Hula is probably a good way
to start dismantling it. I had one over the weekend that tore the
skirt off the neck, but left the grub body and legs intact. I'd
like to know how he did that?
How the Hula dance is done. I
dance both Hula grubs and jig 'n pigs the same way in the same
spots. They are just two forms of the same basic lure. Both
feature a single upright hook, a fiberguard to make it weedless
and snagless, a hard metal head that imparts the action, and a
soft skirt and tail that receives the action. The major
difference is that the Hula jig makes a smaller silhouette than
the jig 'n pig. Also being soft plastic, Hulas come in many more
translucent and sparkling glitter colors. Other than that, I use
jig 'n pigs and Hula jigs identically - as vertical "dropbaits."
I plop one in, drop it down, let it sit right on bottom and do
nothing except shake or stir them occasionally without moving
them forward, always waiting for the bite that comes on the
initial drop or the lingering pause...and then I rewind my string
as fast as possible to plop it into the next spot.
| Jig 'n Pig: |
Hula Grub: |
 |
 |
| A fiber bristle weedguard jig head with a rubber
or silicone skirt with pork (or plastic chunk, twin tail grub or
crawfish). |
A fiber bristle weedguard jig head with a soft
plastic skirt and twin tail grub. |
Many beginners cannot find the knack
of using hulas or jig 'n pigs at first. All I can say is do NOT
retrieve them. When you think of spinnerbaits, buzzbaits,
crankbaits, topwaters...you cast way out there and retrieve them
all the way back to you. That's not so with Hula grubs or jig n'
pigs. Just pitch, flip or toss them in and let them drop down. In
shallow shoreline cover, all nearby bass will detect your lure
splashing into their domain. They will detect it on their lateral
lines, in their ears, and if unobstructed by dense cover, with
their eyes. Eyes, ears, and lateral lines. It's what bass do.
Sight, sound, vibration. It's all equally good sensations to
them. As soon as your Hula drops into their domain, a bass
instinctively hones in on whether your falling jig meets the
sensory profile of something alive or not alive. Not too sure
they even know they've got eyes, ears or lateral lines, and all
the sensory feedback probably registers the same way in their
little pea brains. It all starts with a natural-sounding entry
into the water and a whole lot of feedback's detected by the fish
as your jig falls - the fall rate, any shimmy, waver or spiraling
motion on the drop, the double tails waggling, the skirt flaring
all send out visual, audible, vibration, size, shape, action and
motion detection that imitates life. Bass simply hit them on the
drop or as they lay on the bottom. Do not overwork them. Leave
them laying there longer than you think in between jiggles, then
pull them out.
 In my experience,
I have never gotten too many hits trying to retrieve Hula grubs
or jig 'n pigs horizontally. After many years, I confidently play
the high percentages by NOT even attempting to fish Hulas
horizontally at all in shallow shoreline cover. Sure, I may miss
a few "horizontal" bites on the retrieve like this, but
my trade-off is I get many more bites by making many more
vertical drops if I do NOT waste time on a horizontal retrieve
with a jig 'n pig or a Hula jig. So, I suggest you think more
about vertical dropping these baits in shallow shoreline cover
rather than horizontally retrieving them. That's the biggest tip
I can give you about Hula grubs and jig 'n pigs! It's a
particularly good tip for the beginning tournament angler who
wants to increase the time his Hula or jig 'n pig is truly
working for him on the initial drop or pause thereafter - do NOT
spend any time on the retrieve. The odds have been stacked
against it, at least in my Hula grub experience over the last 20
years. There are certainly other jig styles (tubes, unskirted
single tail grubs or swimbaits) that have excelled for me on
horizontal retrieves - but not Hula jigs!
Mostly, learn the places where the fish live along the
shoreline. They often entrench themselves deeply in wood, brush,
rock, reed or weed cover. In these places, learn how to cast into
the small open spots where your hula can drop down into the cover
(the easy part) and learn how to get your bait back out without
snagging (the hard part). Probe the thickest, deepest, darkest
part of the cover and the bottom below it. Thank God for
fiberguards!
In deeper water out away from the shoreline,
the Hula jig is used far more often than a jig 'n pig, but the
way to use it is still consistent with the previously-described
method. I use a straight, do-nothing glide, drag or crawl over
bottom to traverse the flat open stretches where I'll rarely get
hit. I choose the lightest jig weight (based on water depth,
wind, and current, if any) that gives me a neutrally buoyant feel
for the bottom without excessive "float". I move the
Hula jig forward along the bottom, waiting to detect it drop off
the edge of a rock or ledge. I expect to get bit as it falls off
and sinks to the next lower level. Then I jiggle it a bit without
moving it forward, and let it sit there until a bass decides to
come over and bite it. Just like in shallow cover, any nearby
bass can detect your Hula jig as soon as it drops down over an
underwater edge and falls into their watery domain down below.
Just like in shallow cover, the bass entrench themselves in and
around the bottom obstructions, the nooks, crannies and darker
shadows of the underwater drop-offs, cuts under boulders, crack
lines in the bottom or anything else that can conceal them.
That's prime Hula territory regardless of whether it is 5, 15 or
25 feet deep.
 The pointy-nosed Yamamoto
Flippin' Head (series 67) sports a custom-made
Gamakatsu hook designed by Gary. It's great for big fish, heavy
gear, and getting in and out of weed beds, reed berms, pad mats,
overhanging bushes, brush, weeping willows, springy green limbs
of half-submerged trees, etc. It's the style of head to use for
flipping and pitching Hula grubs to big bass in weeds and
finely-detailed shallow shoreline cover.
The blunt-faced Yamamoto Weedless jig head
(series 66) has a high quality, medium wire Owner hook for
average-sized fish. It has a blunted face to help it bounce over
small snags and crevices in the rocks, rather than get lodged
into snags like more streamlined jig heads. The series 66 works
well in weed-free areas around rocks, posts, docks, logs,
laydowns, thick tree limbs, trunks, stumps, cypress knees, etc.
It's the kind of head to use with Hula grubs on weed-free
structure deeper out from the shoreline.
Top ten color of Hulas. Okay,
this is nobody's list but my own. These are my confidence colors
I've used many years, and I would not hesitate to Hula jig with
these colors anywhere, anytime. In addition, I'd arm myself with
whatever soft plastic or jig 'n pig colors that the local
sharpies prefer on any particular body of water. Oh yeah, I'd
also happen to get my hands on whatever other colors you might be
using to put more fish in the boat than me!
| Code: |
Decode: |
| 051 |
Black w/Red |
| 163 |
Smoke w/Black & Copper (like 200 but
smokier) |
| 200 |
Clear w/Bronze (like 163 but clearer) |
| 208 |
Watermelon w/Black & Red (turns brown) |
| 214 |
Smoke w/Black, Blue & Gold |
| 236 |
Root Beer w/Green & Copper |
| 176, 194J, 286, 297 |
Cinnamon, Watermelon, Dark Pumpkin, Green
Pumpkin (all w/Black) |
Want Even More Grub
Fishing Know-How?
This could easily turn into a diatribe if you try to digest it
all in one mind-meal. So pace yourself. There's a lot of grey
matter about grubs to absorb here. You may even spot some
dichotomy betwixt authors and articles, but that's fishing for
you! Make no mistake, grubs are universal fish-catching tools. If I had to pick only one lure to use the rest of
my life? It would be a grub! - Russ Bassdozer
All grubs shown from Gary
Yamamoto Custom Baits.
Big (really big) grub fishing :
Heavy (really heavy) grub fishing :
Topwater (really, no kidding) grub fishing :
Hula grub fishing :
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