by Bruce Middleton, July 03, 2008

Splitshotting is not a scaled down version of a Carolina rig rather it’s…


For about three weeks the lakes in Kitsap County here in Washington this last August were about as fished out and/or dead as could be. My fishing partner and fellow outdoor writer Bob Johansen and I were having a really tough time of it trying to get the bass to take any lures. And believe me, we covered the bases when it came to slinging different lures, baits and rigs into the waters to entice a bass to come out of hiding and bite our offerings. Our all time favorites lures, a black/blue jig with a black and blue worm, a Rapala Original Floating Minnow F11 in silver, a 4 inch tube (or worm) in black, a small mini spinner bait with a 3 inch brown worm trailer, a plastic frog and a spinner bait with a muddler skirt all failed us. Under normal circumstances these basic lures will cover 90% of our fishing needs. While we experiment with tackle boxes full of gear, we always have these basics rigged and ready to go at all time.

But last August changed all that. While out on my own one hot day, after 4 hours with not so much as a single bite I decided to try a splitshot rig. Now I know what you’re going to say. No real Bass fisherman uses a slitshot rig. Wrong. A spiltshot rig is just a lazy mans cheap Carolina rig. Wrong again. A slitshot rig is a whole different way to fish for bass, it differs in the way it’s rigged and it’s different in the way it’s fished.

With a Carolina rig you have a bead, swivel and sinker that make noise. Then you have a leader to the hook and a bait, say a worm. The bait is moved periodically on the bottom and can be used with either a sinking or floating plastic worm of various lengths. A splitshot rig is a splitshot sinker attached ahead of a leader to the thin wire hook. This Aberdeen hook to which you add a small 4-inch or smaller sinking or floating plastic swim bait is quite thin and doesn’t have a lot of weight. Instead of moving the bait periodically, you use the reel to move the bait in a slow and steady or erratic retrieve after casting it out making sure to swim the bait. You never stop moving the bait and in most cases you never let it touch the bottom. It is used more like a swim bait or a jerk bait than a Carolina rig. Or you can think of it as crank bait fishing using a soft plastic and a sinker instead.

Splitshotting is a shallow to medium deep water, moving bait technique used when bass are holding or moving through water 20 feet deep or less. 4-inch curly tail worms, Slugo™, swim bait and/or tubes seem to work the best for me as well as baby craws. It is also especially good in what I call ‘used water’ for catching bass that other fishermen miss. You can follow up behind someone and still catch a respectable number of bass even when someone has just been in the area before you. It is a great way to find concentrations of bass and to find bass as they move to and from their migratory feedings.

This rig also lends itself to very light line methods, in the 6 to 8 pound class. This is a perfect spinning tackle rig. It is a great way to fish when the ‘tough bite’ is on, since you are using the lightest line possible and small finesse bait. With the combination of these two factors and the added factor that you are moving the bait constantly, you can cover a lot of area and try to establish a pattern. If after some time nothing happens, you can change colors of the bait to try and refine your technique or change to a tube or some other shape. This is a highly versatile rig and catches great numbers of bass. It is not a Carolina rig and should not be fished like one. They are two separate entities with two separate approaches to the same problem, how to catch a bass. This is just another tool in your arsenal to use that is very effective on ‘tough bite’ days. But don’t let that stop you from trying it any time of the year. A tool is only good if you use it and know how to use it well. It is especially good over the tops of weed beds and lily pads because it is rigged weedless. It can be swam right at the surface or just below it depending on where you need it to go.

If bass are following your crank baits or spinner baits but not striking them, don’t wait, change to a splitshot rig right away. If you delay too long, it’s just more bass time you loose when you could have been catching fish. At the other end of the spectrum, if your using a splitshot rig and the bass are blowing out of the water to take spinner baits or buzz baits, it may be time to reassess the use of a splitshot rig. The idea here is not to get stuck in a rut but to open you up to as many options as possible. It would be unfair to call splitshotting a ‘last ditch effort’, it’s not. Its just one of many light line options, open to you where a finesse approach is called for. Basically it is a plastic Carolina looking rig that is used like a crank bait with a lead in front of the bait. It is used to swim the bait at a given depth, whether that is on top, in the mid column or near the bottom. It is a universal swim bait for any area of the lake and depending on the amount of weight used, you can retrieve it fast of slow. But the whole idea is to swim the bait. The vibration pattern, look and smell (add scent) is totally different than a hard bait counter part and that I think is why it appeals to the bass so much.

One of the best times to splitshot is in windy weather. This natural condition lends itself to this kind of fishing, as does a Texas rig. Downwind wave covered banks are especially productive. And since a bass will carry a splitshot rig like a dog carries a bone it’s easy to detect strikes and you have plenty of time to set the hook. This makes this rig perfect for beginners and younger fisherpersons who are just starting out in their lives as bassers.
Another great time to use this method is on an unfamiliar lake. It is a great way to locate groups of bass in a short period of time. A 4-inch curly tail worm or fish colored tube will draw strikes from both aggressive and inactive bass if you put it near them. Limit your search to the most obvious structures and cover like flats, sloping banks, riprap, weed beds, submerged logs, brush and the like. Look for bass where bass are likely to be.

Changes in the weather can often change the mood of the bass making them less inclined to bite. Changes in water clarity, temperature and barometric pressure also effect bass greatly. Again, try a splitshot rig. If a continuing slow bite on a lake is in effect, as stated before, finesse tactics are called for and a splitshot rig is a great way to go since you can easily down size the plastic bait you are using by just clipping off part of it until it is short enough to run well but long enough to send out a lot of vibrations.

While it is impossible to recommend a specific plastic as the best bait to use with a spitshot rig, due to all the regional and personal preferences out there, a four-inch curly tail worm is quite possible the best choice there is. The key is in the ‘keeling’ action of the worm as it glides through the water. This is something that takes place during the molding of the worm. The thinness of the tail enables the worm to maintain a straight line when retrieved but allows the tail to ungulate in an enticing manner. A ribbon tail worm has much the same action but is much more subdued. I also recommend tubes because of the action of the tail and of the many colors they come in. I have some colors that look exactly like perch and sunfish and they are real go to baits on lakes with this type of forage fish. You can up scale and down size with great ease too with these tubes. Micro tubes are also great for pan fish.

The use of a thin wire Aberdeen hook when rigging the splitshot rig is to allow the worm to move as freely as possible. A large heavy hook can kill the action of the worm. Also when hooking the worm, insure that the tail of the worm is pointed down and the tip of the hook is pointed down when the rig is complete. This will impart the most action to the worm. If you don’t follow this step the worm will be rigged ‘dead sticked’, and will not give you the best action. Use a number 1/0 Aberdeen hook and no bigger (if you have only ewg hooks use a 2/0) and use a number 2 or number 4 split shot. The length of the leader should be between 10 and 18 inches long and you should use 6 to 8 pound test line. This is shorter than a Carolina rig leader but since you will be casting it more it will be necessary.

Since Aberdeen hooks don’t have any barbs to hold the worm in place, to keep the plastic from slipping down on the hook, leave a larger than normal tag end on the knot of the hook. Use this extra material to hold the plastic in place when you are casting the rig. Or you can super glue the worm to the hook, as bass don’t smell the glue once it has dried. Super glue is a real must have item in your tackle box.

Since a splitshot strike is more of a pulling mushy feeling as apposed to a whack, it’s important to have a fast action rod tip with a good amount of backbone in the middle.
A good 6-½ foot spinning rod is recommended but avoid longer rods with over sensitive tips that transmit every bump of the bottom. Splitshotting requires only minimum hook setting force to drive the point of these slender hooks through the plastic and deep into the bass. Since the hook is so slender they sometimes sets themselves, it’s more important to concentrate on a rod that delivers proper action.

Another important thing to always remember about bass is that a wounded bass gives off a pheromone that other bass can readily detect. It tells the other bass that something is wrong and to scatter. That is why it is so important to keep a bass in a live well for a while instead of throwing it right back into the water especially when you are fishing where multiple bass are hanging out. Fishing a hump or large drop-off where many bass can be expected to be taken is a great place to keep those bass in the live well even if you are a catch and release fisherman. Once a caught bass is released into a school of bass they will scatter in short order and the catching will drop off almost instantly. The fishing can go on and on but the catching will stop.
Anytime you can add an up and down motion to the forward motion of a retrieve of any lure or bait, you will draw more strikes. What this added motion imitates is a scared baitfish heading for the surface. Remember this tip and try it sometime when you aren’t getting any bites and see if it doesn’t improve things. I’m betting it will.

Swimming a jig slowly through the limbs of a tree or through the weeds or a brush pile is a great way to present this bait. Always use a trailer, whether it’s pork or plastic is up to you. I always use pork for everything, every time, anywhere all year long. It never lets me down. While a lot of anglers shy away from places like this because they are afraid of hang-ups and loosing their lure or bait, I dive right into them. Bre'r Bass lives in them their brier patches and if you want him you just have to go in and get him. And a jig is the best tool to do it with. The jig can be swum along and then allowed to drop right into the brier patch or a new spot in the patch. It is so versatile that only a Texas rig can begin to compete with it. Better jig colors are black and blue, black blue amber with a red hook and black /brown. A worm can be substituted for the pork for a different look that can be very effective. Jigs must fall on a slack line. To do so and still remain in contact, let the line slide over your finger as the jig sinks. You will notice any sudden tug if a bass strikes. Also be a line watcher. Watch the line as it falls look for anything that might indicate a strike and if you see something, set the hook immediately.

The clearer the water the better a tube works for taking bass. The dingier the water the better the jig for taking bass. But this is not set in stone. When fishing, the dingier the water the darker the colors you use for the contrast. In clear water use light greens and light colors that blend in with the vegetation. One thing that is set in stone is, the dingier the water the shallower the bass will be. This applies to a split shot rig, a Texas rig or any rig for that matter. And don’t be afraid to add a rattle to this rig either.

One of the newer baits out on the market shelves and has its own infomercial is the Banjo Minnow™. This system of a flexible fish shaped lure with a hook positioned out in front of it is a perfect example of a split shot type rig. You can either use a sinker in front of the lure or you can just use the weighted eyes to give you the depth control you need. This system is used with a stop and go presentation and or you can add twitches to the presentation. Now a lot of skeptics will tell you that this is just a gimmick lure and not worth the money. On the contrary, this unique system really works up here and it can land you a lot of bass especially when they have a tight strike zone. And if you fish for more than bass this system works equally on larger fish and it works well in saltwater too. It may pay you to look closely at this lure and ask around to see who might know that uses them and how they do.

The stigma of ‘sissy baits’ is finally ending. Fishermen all over are accepting finesse fishing for what it is, just another way to fish for bass when thing are tough and the bass don’t want to co-operate. And splitshotting is and incredible way to boost your confidence when all those around you are going home empty handed, and your not.

Bruce Middleton
bpmiddleton@peoplepc.com