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The Steelhead’s Worst “Nightmare”

February 15, 2016 By JD 6 Comments


It’s funky looking…and quite frankly, a color scheme I would never in a million years have thought about using.
It’s just too odd: red, white and black.We are so conditioned as steelheaders that pinks and oranges are our friends — and this color scheme is so outside that “norm” that it’s hard to take it seriously.

But trust me when I say that the Nightmare color pattern is aptly named – it is one heck of a steelhead producer and should be in everyone’s arsenal.

But why?

When it comes to breaking down why critters with pea-sized brains do the things they do, it’s sometimes better to just accept the facts and move on without over-analyzing the situation. But in this case, I just can’t let it go. For some reason, the steelhead’s affinity for red, black and white has my left-brain working on overdrive (which, after the college party years is running low on disk space).

Okay, here’s my best guess: The black and red portion of the Nightmare kinda makes sense to me. I guess you can say it’s a little more natural – even sorta “buggy” looking.


Less intrusive than a lot of the fluorescent colors we fish, it may be able to “sneak up” on wary fish better than the bright stuff – especially in low, clear or pressured waters – yet still provide enough attraction to get fish to bite it. Kinda makes sense, right?

The white part, however, has me stumped. The only thing I can come up with is that it provides contrast when used in concert with the other two colors.

Okay, that’s all I’ve got. Time to get on the phone and ask around…

First, I called the very guy who I feel has caught more steelhead on jigs than anyone I know: Nick Amato, editor of Salmon Trout Steelheader Magazine. He’s also the person who helped me catch my first steelhead on a jig a million years ago.

“Geez, I donno why they like the Nightmare color,” said Nick. “I guess it kinda looks like a bug and has some natural color shades. Plus, you have the contrast in there…but who knows really why they bite it?”

My next call was to Jimmy Davis, owner of Mad River Manufacturing. He’s pumped out a bazillion Nightmare worms from his facility and I figured maybe some of his many customers might have shed some light on the subject.

“I’m no totally sure, but the Nightmare sure seems to get their attention,” he said. “I guess it’s the contrast for one. And maybe the more natural colors.”

At that point, I was sensing a pattern, but had one more call to make. I rang up Bob Kratzer, Owner of Angler’s Guide Service on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. He fishes a ton of worms and jigs each year and is a big fan of the Nightmare. He’d surly have a good theory, right?

“Ha, ha, ha! I’ve got no idea why they eat that thing,” he said. “But it’s crazy how much they love the Nightmare. It’s gotta be the contrast and the color is more natural looking than bright pink.”

Bob also noted that a couple of his customers over the years have reported seeing natural worms in the gravel that wiggled away before being apprehended – worms that had a similar red hue to that of the Nightmare. So, there may be something to that but Bob’s never seen one himself.

After my phone work, I was feeling better that maybe my personal theories weren’t so hair-brained after all. The contrast and toned-down coloration was certainly a common theme. And that makes sense too when you consider that the consensus from my impromptu panel of experts was that the Nightmare is at its fishy best in low and clear water conditions.

But the bottomline is nobody really knows for sure why steelhead are drawn to this color pattern.

One thing’s for certain, however: steelhead love a good Nightmare!

Filed Under: Steelhead, Techniques Tagged With: jigs, nick amato, nightmare, Steelhead, worms

Jig Fishing Basics for Pre-Spawn Bass

March 19, 2012 By JD 1 Comment

Bass Patrol Jig: A good place to start!


Early in the spring, when bass are in a pre-spawn mode and haven’t yet come up into the shallows, you can have some unbelievably good days by fishing deep with jigs.

While we’re kinda on the backside of what is traditionally considered “jig season” (late fall through early spring), there’s still time to get out and hammer a bunch of fish. Here’s how to do it: Click here to read more…

Filed Under: Bass, Techniques Tagged With: bass fishing, bass patrol, jigs, pre spawn

Three Hot Baits for Cold Water Bass

December 7, 2010 By JD 2 Comments

This time of year, you can go from Indian Summer to winter overnight. One day, you’ll be fishing in shirtsleeves and then it snows on you the next. When you get a sudden cold front, bass fishing often gets extremely tough. Luckily, all is not lost. Professional bass angler Fred Contaoi has a few tricks up his sleeve to keep the bass chewing — even when they’re hunkered down after the first storm of the year.

While most folks turn to drop-shotting finesse baits and spooning in deep water when the temps go frigid, Contaoi says that there’s a short window in which the bass will still be up in the shallows and he employs three main weapons to get the fish to go. Click here to read more…

Filed Under: Bass, Techniques Tagged With: buzzbait, jigs, largemouth bass, senko, winter

Targeting Pre-Spawn Largemouth

March 9, 2009 By JD 1 Comment

big-freddy-and-bassIf you’ve got big bass on the brain, March is your month around here. Generally, we’ll see big hen bucketmouths in our local lakes go into a pre-spawn mode sometime over the next few weeks (depending on the weather) – and that’s when they’re at their largest.

Full of roe and still actively feeding to store energy for the upcoming breeding season, pre-spawn largemouth are fat and sassy and great fun to pursue. You just have to know where to look for them.

The first key to success is to check your water temperature. As a basic rule, the pre-spawn pattern starts when the water creeps into the low 50’s (that’s about where we are at most lakes right now) and then picks up as the temperatures climb towards the magical 60-degree mark.

When the water’s in the 50’s the fish shake off the winter-induced cobwebs and start migrating towards the banks. They also begin feeding heavily. The biggest mistake most anglers make this time of year is fishing too shallow. You really need to locate some deepwater structure that’s close to a spawning cove. Use your electronics to search for rock piles, ledges, submerged trees, bridge pilings or humps that are 15 to 30 feet deep – yet close to shallow water.

The big hens will hang out in these deeper spots as they wait for the water to warm and their eggs to ripen. You can catch smaller males up on the flats this time of year, but for the big gals, again, stay deep. In these situations, crawfish imitations become your weapons of choice.

bass-tubeJigs are my all-around favorite things to throw in the early spring, though tubes are also productive. Go with the darker craw patterns like brown and orange and crank them according to the water temperature. If the temps are in the low to mid 50’s, retrieve them at a snail’s pace – slow and steady. As you find water that’s closer to 60 degrees, you can speed up and even switch over to deep-diving craw crankbaits (I like Norman Deep N’s and Berkley Frenzy Deep Divers).

It’s a good idea to have plenty of gear on board when you fish in the spring as conditions can change quickly. If we get a shot of warm weather and the water temps shoot up above 60 degrees, you’re going to have to start working the shallower flats. Until the bass get bedded up, I like to fish quickly with rip and jerk baits like Lucky Craft’s Pointer 80 in the American Shad pattern. Unless, of course, the water’s off-color due to storm runoff. In that case, chartreuse or white spinnerbaits slow-rolled just off the bottom can produce when nothing else will.

So, there you have it – now’s a great time to start thinking about big bass.

Filed Under: Bass Tagged With: bass fishing, jigs, pre spawn, Techniques, tubes

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