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One of the hottest techniques in the bass fishing world right now, and one that seems to have taken the industry by storm in the past year, is a jighead minnow technique. You'll hear it called the Damiki rig. You'll hear it called tightlining, which is what I call it. It's basically just a ball head jighead, but it’s a very effective technique, and many tournaments are being won by it in today’s world. I’ll share my setup: sonar, rod, reel, line, and how I choose my jighead size.
Sonar
A big reason for the success of this technique is forward-facing sonar. You hear that a lot in the crappie world and the bass world. More and more people are getting sonar and getting comfortable with it. I use Lowrance ActiveTarget 2, and I can get on timber lines, creek channel edges, and places like that and just cover water. With the latest updates on the ActiveTarget2, I can now see a bass at a hundred to 120 feet. I’ll drop this little jighead minnow right on their head, and it's about as natural a presentation as you can get.
Rod
First and foremost, your rod is very important for this deal. I use a Mustad Instinct Brandon Lester Signature Series Rod, 6'10", medium-light action. When I built this rod, I had Ned rigs, drop shots, and tightlining in mind. It has a lot of tip to it and a lot of good bend to it. When you get that little light wire hook (you want a jighead that's got a pretty light wire hook) driven into the fish’s mouth, you want that good bit of bend in the rod so you can fight a big fish on a light line.
Reel
I'm big on spinning reel size. I don't like spinning reels that are too big. I like it somewhere in that 2500 to 3000 size. My jighead minnow setup has a 2500-size reel on it. It's a Daiwa TATULA. I've been using them for a few years now. I'm not sponsored by Daiwa. I use these because they’re great reels and I like them. When I'm throwing bigger setups like drop shots, or shaky heads, I usually bump up to a 3000 size.
Line
I throw seven-pound Vicious Standard Braid in Hi-Vis Yellow, and then I tie about an 8 to 10-foot leader of 6 to 10-pound Vicious Pro Elite Fluorocarbon. If I’m around super clear water, which we have a lot of here in middle Tennessee lakes like Tims Ford Lake and Dale Hollow Lake, I'll use a lot of six-pound leader. Having a good spinning reel with good drag is another big key to this deal. I'm getting ready to go to Toledo Bend and Lake Fork where I’ll bump up to 10 pounds on my leader and might even go up to 12 there because there's a good possibility of catching an eight-pounder there. For big fish and heavy cover, bump up that leader line a little bit. But when you need to get finesse, don't be afraid to go down to the six-pound. I've caught some really big fish on the six-pound test leader with a seven-pound braid on that spinning setup.
Jighead
There are several different ones on the market. I’m using a Mustad jighead with a 3 and 3/4-inch minnow-imitating bait called the LIVETARGET Ghost Tail Minnow. I choose this bait a lot. It’s very lifelike, has a good shine, and has a good profile. You want to stick with a three to four-inch bait for this technique. For the jighead, I’ll use anything from an eighth ounce all the way up to a half-ounce, depending on the depth. If I'm fishing 5 to 10 feet, I can get by with a 1/8 or maybe a 3/16. Depending on the wind, the depth, and how fast you want your bait to fall, you may have to go up to a 3/8 or a 1/2 if you're fishing in 25 to 40 feet of water, maybe even deeper. I think about the Ozark Lakes, Table Rock Lake, and places like that. In the late winter and early spring, they catch them as deep as 50 and 60 feet and sometimes even deeper than that. In that situation, you want something that will quickly get down there to the fish. I'd go with a half-ounce or something similar.
If you can, give this tightlining technique a try. It's winning a lot of tournaments, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. In the meantime, I'll see you on the water. Good luck!
--Pro Angler, Brandon Lester
