Fished turtlecreek with my young son the other day, none of the normal bass lures were working so I didn't mind when he asked me to tie on a small black grub with a chartruse tail. Not sure what size jig head I used but it was pretty small... next thing you know, he has the only bass of the day and his first bass ever - which he's been wanting to land for a while now. It was great 'cause I did nothing except tie it on for him, he set the hook and brought it in. Anyway, this got me to thinking that perhaps other crappie jigs might be usefull, like the small little skirted tubes that we have and have never considered using. I know next to nothing about other species than bass so have always ignored these baits. What do ya'll think?
Doug C

Sometimes in ponds and creeks like that smaller profile baits such as crappie jigs can be killer. If I were to go that route I would go for something with a little more flash and water displacement like a roadrunner or beetlespin though. I've had plenty of days where those baits caught tons of bass in smaller waters when "traditional" bass baits would not.

I have discovered bass eat everything

My goodness yes! Bass will attack crappie jigs. Lord knows i have posted PLENTY of pics of big bass on here over the years, and in many of the pics you can see the tube jig embedded in the mouth or jaw!

They love em!

Rudy

I've caught plenty of bass in ponds and creeks using roadrunners

I have caught plenty of bass on crappie jigs also. Mainly while fishing slips.

Ok, thanks for the replies guys.. I really think that the fact that it's a relatively small habitat (fairly good sized creek), contributed to the fish ignoreing the larger baits and hitting these smaller jigs. I will certainly keep this mind when fishing creeks and ponds in the future. I've never even heard of a roadrunner but I'll be picking some of those up soon, for next time. Thanks again.
Doug C

Was out at a friends pond not long ago and his son caught just as much as I did using just a hook and a small grub on it, I was using plastic worms, I believe they will hit just about anything.

+1 on the roadrunners!

I think jigs can catch anything.

Is there a preferred retrieval style I should use or maybe there's not a wrong way to bring it back? What do you guys usually do with the roadrunners, etc? Again I'm new to the jig thing.
Doug C

I just reel the roadrunner in real slow like at first... just let the fish tell you what to do with it

I would just reel in real slow with a tube jig or road runner maybe pop it up a little every now and then. Never thought i would catch bass on tube jigs and road runners till about a couple of months ago and now that's all i about use when i do go.

The best advice I ever got on jigs was that when you think you are fishing it to slow stop for a while. You probably cant fish them to slow.

Well we went back to turtlecreek yesterday armed with crappie sized tube jigs this time... wasn't there very long but we did manage a blue gill each. I was throwing a tri-colored tube (blk/pink/char tail) with one of those small wire deals that turns it into a spinner bait (basically)...well a small (1.5 lb) bass attacked it at one point, I got a good look at him then he was gone (didn't set the hook good), I immediately told my son to pitch his small red flake tube (only, no spinner) around where the bass hit, as he was reeling back in is when he got his blue gill close to the shore. I'll certainly have atleast one of these jigs tied on to someone's gear at all time from now on, even at the bigger lakes - to see what they'll do over an extended period of time. Maybe some of those big bass lure intimidate a little when conditions are not just right. Oh, and BTW after reading all this I realize I've been way over fishing the jigs too, been reeeling way too fast, now I know to keep that in check a littel. Thanks.
Doug C