The Horror of Fishing Spider Grubs
What are they? Ask some non-fishing
friends for a definition of "spider grub". They'll
probably say it's something spiders like to chow down on. Like
that white-headed guy stuck in the web screaming "Help
me!" in the closing scene of the classic horror movie,
"The Fly". He was spider grub! But ask a bass angler
who uses them and you'll hear that a spider grub is something
that bass like to chow down on. It's a soft plastic lure with
thin, twin twister tails, a cylindrical midsection, and a soft
plastic skirt. The skirt is usually molded separately and bonded
to the top of the grub body during a later step in the
manufacturing process. The two most common sizes are 4" and
5" spider grubs. Sometimes I dangle one in front of my
non-fishing friends and ask, "Quick! What does this look
like to you?" A few have said it looks like a frog to them.
One said it's a darning needle (dragonfly). A few teenage girls
came to a group decision that it was a mosquito! Guess the hook
looked like a big stinger. But ask a bass angler who uses them,
and you'll hear that it looks like a crayfish. Therefore, most
manufacturers produce crayfish-imitating color patterns - many
variations of black, brown, smoke, or green bodies, mixed with
just the right amount of black pepper, blue, red, green, orange,
and/or copper flakes.
 How
do you rig them? The spider grub is most
effectively fished as a dropbait rigged on a fiberguard jighead.
Just use any shape and size of jighead you would usually use for
rubber-skirted bass jigs. Slip off the rubber skirt and lace on
the spider grub. Sometimes the skirt collar is too wide and you
must clip it off with side-cutting pliers. Just use a little shot
of super glue to secure the spider grub on the jig. Just throw it
anywhere you would usually throw a jig n' pig. Bass usually take
it when it initially falls through or next to cover or when it
initially hits the bottom. This usually happens quickly and is
referred to as getting a reflex or reaction bite. The bass may
not be any more sure than some of my non-fishing friends as to
exactly what is being dangled in front of them. It may look like
something the bass would like to chow down on, or it may look
like something threatening or intruding into the fish's space.
Heck, what would you do if a 4 or 5 inch mosquito was buzzing
around in your living room? You would probably jump up and belt
it with no hesitation, right? So would a big bass. They are one
of the top aggressors in their watery worlds.
Who makes them? Gary Yamamoto
introduced availability of spider grubs during the mid-80s. They
first caught on out West, then caught hold down South, and really
only began catching on in the North and East during the mid-90s.
As the spider grubs crawled across the country, other
manufacturers popularized their own versions. To name a few
others I like are Bobby Garland's Hyper Hula (501 481-5363),
Haddock's Kreepy Krawl'r (800 825-8795), and Table Rock's Chomper
(800 Bass-Pro). Fishing Masters Brand's Kamakazi is another one
that I have started hearing about but haven't used yet.
Color Guide. The colors below
showcase some of the best. I use the Gary
Yamamoto Custom Baits colors because you can click on the
small images to see a bigger image of exactly how these colors
look and you can even order them online if you so desire:
Black 051
w/Red |
 |
Smoke Rootbeer 236
w/Green & Copper |
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Smoke 163
w/Black & Copper |
 |
Watermelon 208
w/Black & Red |
 |
Clear 200
w/Bronze |
 |
Pumpkin 216
w/Black & Gold |
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|
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Amber Honey w/Copper 182
(discontinued) |
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Like they say in the fashion world, "Black is always in
this year", especially with red accent markings on the jig
head and in the fiberguard. And here are a few deadly copper
flakes colors to throw: smoke (163 & 200), amber (182), and
smoke rootbeer (236). Other colors that excel are watermelon
pepper with red flakes (208) in the springtime and pumpkin pepper
with gold flakes (216) in the summer. And whenever you find bass
are chasing silver-sided baitfish, toss them a club sandwich of
two silver flake colors, pearl (031) and smoke pepper (177). Cut
two grubs, a pearl/silver and a smoke/silver, in half with your
thumbnail. Thread one skirt half on the jig head, followed by the
other tail half, and join them with a little shot of super glue.
Try it, your bass will like munching on it.
I mold my own jigheads. I skip the
labor-intensive painting process, but I do epoxy in
color-coordinated fiberguards to match the grub body colors. For
instance, I make two-tone black/red fiberguards to match 051 and
208 bodies; brown/orange for 236; and clear/blue/orange
fiberguards for 163 & 200. The style of jighead I make for
weed and wood cover is known as a "stand-up" jighead.
Now note that there are many styles of jigheads that stand up on
the bottom, but these are not the "stand-up" style of
jighead. Rather, I am talking about a specific triangular-shaped
design with one of the flat sides on the jigs bottom. Very
important is that the nose of the jig comes to a point, which is
the best shape to minimize the moss and weeds from glopping up
the jighead. I use 1/8, ¼, and 3/8 ounce sizes in shallow weeds
and wood less than 10 feet deep. All have long-shanked, forged
hooks, with 3/0 in the 1/8 (used mostly with the 4" spider)
and 4/0 in the others. The weight you select should be based upon
the fall rate the bass prefer on any given day. Contrary to
popular opinion, they don't always prefer the slowest fall
possible.
What about them thar football rocker jigs?
Over the last several seasons, football heads have become popular
for deep water fishing in rocky lakes, particularly Western lakes
with sheer, shady rock walls and bottoms, like in dammed canyons
for instance. I don't fish dammed canyons. Nevertheless, the
basic jig-making theory is that wide-faced, hammer-headed shapes
are too bulbous and will rock, roll and bounce over small snags
and crevices in the rocks, rather than get lodged into them like
more streamlined jig heads. Even if a football head does
get snagged, the wide sides may prevent it from getting lodged
too deeply, thereby giving you a better chance to gently back it
out. The theory continues that the bigger and wider the head the
more snags it will ride over. Years ago, there was a similar
theory and wide, somewhat flat and bulbous shape known as the
"arkie" head for fishing heavy wood cover. Basic theory
was it was too wide to jam, so it would bounce over branches and
little notches in the wood. Well, you don't see too many of the
original arkie shape heads around anymore. What you do see are
lots of modified versions of the original arkie to make them more
streamlined up front, while still preserving a wide center of
balance amidships to keep the lure positioned upright.
Well, anyway, pardon my digression. Back to the football heads on
the market. They do look well-designed and are very rounded. The
roundness allows them to roll head-first instead of on their
sides as they contact rocks or as they rumble across gravel and
sand beds. This is intended to flip the tail of your lure up off
the bottom every time the jig head makes contact. Some say this
resembles a crayfish throwing up its claws to take a defensive
stance against any hungry bass. An experienced angler is able to
hold them against the side of a rock or gravel ridge, and use rod
tip motion to rock the head in place without moving it forward so
that the spider tails flap up and down and drive bass wild. Try
them and let me know what you think. When I fish rocks however, I
like to use a lift and drop technique with a fiberguard head
style known as an "Erie" jig. I like 1/2 and 3/4 ounce
jigs that fall quickly. Let the jig drop on the initial cast, and
expect to get bit as it gets near or hits the bottom. Take a
small pause, then slowly and tentatively start to lift it
straight up. If you jammed when the lure dropped, you will feel
pressure - could be a bass too - so just stop lifting and wait
for the bass to make the next move, no need to set quickly. Just
wiggle it without moving it forward - if it pulls back or feels
alive, set the hook when you get a feeling of solid weight or
sideways movement on the line. If it doesn't feel alive, you are
stuck and you should not set the hook. Just try to shake it
gently to dislodge it without wedging it any deeper. When you get
free, lift the rod tip a few feet, pick the jig up high, then
lower the tip and let the jig BANG the bottom. Look to get a
reaction bite as it falls, makes contact and pauses. Feel for a
fish or snag, softly shake it loose, lift it high, bang back
down, pause and test the line for fish or snags. That's the
routine.
Spinnerbaits & Buzzbaits. Spinnerbaits
and buzzbaits are specialized midwater and topwater forms of bass
jigs, respectively. Just like we can remove the skirts from bass
jigs and replace them with spider grubs, we can do the same with
spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. Try the Kreepy Krawl'r spider grubs
from Haddock's. The twin tails on this lure have great action at
the faster retrieve speeds used for spinnerbaits and buzzbaits
and the legs do not tear off as easily as other brands. The
medium Kreepy Krawl'r is just shy of 4" and the large is a
5" model. For spinnerbaits and buzzbaits, try white (#K13),
black/red flake (#K22), and cinnamon/black & red flake
(#K29). There's a common perception in bass fishing that
bass in heavily fished waters need to be given something they
haven't seen before. I doubt they've seen this combo.
 Spider
n' Eel. Here's another combo I doubt they've ever
seen either. Grab a Yamamoto 4" twin tail spider grub in
black with red flakes. Rig it on an offset shank bullet jig head
designed just for Texas rigging, such as Bobby Garland's TR
Leadhead in 1/8, 1/4 or 3/8 ounce sizes. Glue it to the jighead,
but before you Texas rig the point of the hook into the tail,
listen to what you do. Call 1-800-BASS-PRO and order a bottle of
Uncle Josh Split Tail Eels model 260, or better yet, model 260G,
which is a thin, buoyant black split tail pork with red glitter.
Lace the pork eel onto the hook shank before you embed the hook
point in the spider grub tail. The twin tails of the grub twist
around like waving claws and the twin tails of the pork eel
flutter like thin antennae. Man, oh man alive, does this ever
look like a crayfish! It's a real classy combo. You're just
gonna love to watch it wiggle.
Say, did you ever see the horror flick where this mad
scientist guy cuts a small hole in the ceiling and drips all this
green stuff down onto a sleeping guy, and the green stuff hardens
into a thin thread from the ceiling onto his bed and it hardens
all over the guy so he can't escape. Then the mad scientist
unleashes all these spiders that climb down the green thread, and
the guy can't escape because of the green stuff, and they eat the
guy! HE WAS SPIDER GRUB!
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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