The NorCal, clear water crowd is very familiar with the dart head jig (sometimes called darter head) and use it widely for spotted bass, often in 1/4- or even 3/8-ounce sizes. But I’ve found the lighter, 1/8-ounce size is much more practical for water less than 20 feet deep (less than 10 feet is even better)–but always on hard bottom.
The secret of any method, of course, is control. The great benefit: lots of bites and with the exposed hook, you just catch more of those bites.
Right away I see the wheels turning. “You show me a small keeper and want me to go spend money I don’t want to spend.”
But that’s not true. I’m selling “bites” and in fact, my personal best 11-12 came from the Rockpile at Lower Otay in San Diego–on 8-pound test on a darthead and 4-inch camo Power Worm–from a rental boat. But yes, I catch a lot of the in between stuff.
But understand, control is critical in all aspects with this bait. For example, you don’t want to make long casts (that create low angles to the water) because that little head and open hook is surely going to get behind some little rock or stubble and hang up. (You don’t want to throw money away). I would love for my line to always be at a 45 degree angle, but we all know that’s asking a lot. But if I do cast too long, I make sure my tip stays high to keep as much of an angle as possible.
Since I shake the head (bounce, doodle, dribble) on the bottom, I use those sensations to cue me on possible strikes. With the tip at around 10 o’clock and slowly raising it to vertical, bites still aren’t going to be much, so I want to feel that jighead tapping the bottom with a certain “tone” with the consistent “weight” of that the combined jig and worm.
That’s my baseline.
If the tone changes, as it might when going from rock to sand, gravel to clay, or better still, rock to the softer inside of the fish’s mouth, I want to do the right thing. The secondary alert is a weight change. While shaking or bouncing it, my jig and worm may suddenly get lighter or suddenly get heavier. These sensations almost always signal a bite and I need to reel and swing! (Correct: not swing and reel.)
But it’s not a perfect fishing world. It’s still possible to lose one’s point of reference, especially if working the bait from shallow to deep water. But the cure is simple: stop shaking the rod tip every few moments and watch the line where it enters the water. If I’m still in close contact, it will stop sinking immediately. If the bottom has fallen off a bit, it will take a moment for the jighead to sink and get back down.
But if for some reason, I didn’t feel the strike as a fish caught the little bait and is now carrying it out to deep water, I still have time to drill him–and my partner will never know I muffed the initial pick-up.
The darthead–just a great tool on 6- or 8-pound test.