Gotta fish this jig! Still kneelin ‘n reelin? Fly rod tourney win??

Chased down the 2 dudes who invented it – name of Popcorn and JayPee – and here’s what they said. Btw that’s Popcorn “Ryan” Whitacre of StrayCasts infamity, and his bud JayPee Hey (real name-ish) who met sinkin’ jigs into big smallies off the Chicago coast:

1. What’s the story on this jig? [Called the Tight Rope Baby Firework Super Jig, only available here right now.]

> Popcorn: “Myself and JayPee started making this thing in early 2013 and basically what it was, we were doing a lot of shore fishing in the spring, in downtown Chicago. The shore fishing is amazing down there in the spring…all the [big smallies] are up against the seawall.

> “JayPee was throwing a 1/2-oz flipping jig with an Erie Darter on the back…going through like 10-20 jigs a day from the zebra mussels, but every time he got bit it was a bigger fish than anyone else….

> “The first time I saw that, I knew we needed something that could come through that stuff. At first I was using a ball-head jig with no skirt…with a wire weedguard. I was nose-hooking plastics with it for like 2 years, and I just decided to try to find a way to tie a skirt on that jig…the hook shank as if you’re tying a fly.

> “I figured out a system to do that, and it ended up looking like koosh ball – all flared out. It had a big puffed-out head to look like the head of a goby, and with a straight-tail trailer it looked like a goby.

> “I made up like 5 and gave him 1. It was 1/4-oz and he was making fun of it…too small…. We fished the same spots that whole week and were smashing fish on this jig. After a week [of fishing] he came to me and still had that jig [tied on]. The skirt being flared out wasn’t allowing it to slide down into the cracks of those rocks…. He said, ‘Dude we have to make more of these.’

> “That’s where it started. I started posting some fish on Facebook…floods of messages coming in. That’s when I was like, ‘Well I’m broke, I can use some extra money, maybe we should start selling them. JayPee and I met at a bar and put some stuff on paper. We put in $250 to buy materials and never had to put money back into it til then.”

He said a dude named Matt at CatchCo love their jigs and called when CatchCo started doing collaborations and [it] “ended up working out great.”

2. How do you fish it?

> “You also have so much more control – it sucks to hook [a big fish and] break it off or lose it. I was so sick of that happening. I was like, ‘Look dude, I’m not fishing the 8-lb line anymore like all the magazines are telling me to do. I’m fishing 15- to 17-lb line with it, and I’m jacking on ’em.’

> “You can’t fish it too slow. There’s times I barely move that thing. We’re trying to mimic gobies a lot of the time – I think people think gobies swim around like baitfish. They don’t. They scoot around an inch a time on the bottom and sit there. Sometimes we’ll swim it but I don’t think it’s representing a goby when you do that.

> “My #1 trailer is a Poor Boys Erie Darter Jr [3”]. It’s just a straight-tail do-nothing…perfect pairing for the goby image. If you look at goby, they have these big fat stupid heads and a body that does nothing. That pairing is perfect.

> “I like gp-[color] jigs. I make one on our website called ‘JP’s trash’ which is gp brown and black…started from leftover pieces of other jigs I was making. And the color…melon with gold flake.

> “There’s something about picking a different-color trailer than the jig, just to add contrast to it. I feel like that works a lot of the time. Sometimes I’ll use a gp jig and just a straight black trailer, or a watermelon red trailer on a balck/blue jig. It doesn’t make sense but I feel like I get more bites…..”

> Popcorn: “Most of the time we keep the rod tip down and move it with little tiny 2” snaps of the rod tip. Then hold the line tight.

> “Cross their eyes. …sturdy hook, not a typical finesse jig hook…Mustad 2x HD hook. We boat-flop 5-lbers with that thing.”

3. Do you use it for largemouths?

> “For largemouth…I’ll fish it anywhere…just a ball head, and a ball-head jig will fish anywhere. It just has more finessey skirt on it. …really any craw on there. I like the ExoPod a lot, I like the Speed Craw, the Baby D Bomb, the Chigger Craw – really anything on there that’s not sticking out too far.

> “I like skipping docks with it, but it really shines in rock – riprap, any rock that might be exceptionally snaggy it seems to come thru real well. Also flats – silt flats, sand flats – get it down there and scoot it, churn up some silt.

> “[The CatchCo version] has a 5-strand clear fluoro weedguard – you can flare it out and comes through brush much better. You can flip it into wood in water you’ve already gone through with a 1/2-oz jig or a TX rig and it seems to get few extra bites….

> “We do put a swimbait on it – like a 3.25-inch ExoSwim, cut an inch off it, let it hit the bottom and reel super slow and like you would a swing-head.”

> JayPee: “It’s not my #1 for largemouth fishing with a jig. I use it and it catches a lotta largemouth, but it’s always kind of been like a happy accident.”

4. Does it feel weird that someone took something you did that seriously?

> Popcorn: “Absolutely. Yeah. We’re still totally weirded out by it. We never even made it to sell it. We’re just hardcore bass fishermen. Always tinkering with stuff, trying to get an advantage in a tournament….

> “We didn’t invent anything incredibly original…just tweaked a jig to fish everything we wanted to fish it through.

> “I would’ve been happy keeping it in my back pocket, but when I found out it could help me fish more [pay for entry fees] it was a no-brainer.”

5. JayPee, why do you go by J-a-y-P-e-e instead of just JP?

> [He told me but I can’t tell you sorry mang!] “It’s always been my street nickname and it’s different you know? Not many spell it out.”

Fo sho. Outstanding stuff from 2 regular (for Chicago) dudes. 1 mo’ tiddybit:

– The CatchCo version only comes in 1/4-oz. The guys have 3/8- and 1/2-oz on their tightropefishing.com website, as well as a heavier largie jig with the same ball head and 90-degree line tie…which Matt Lee said here last week he values because of Gerald Swindle, and JayPee said Swindle’s old signature jig was the inspiration for the Tight Rope line tie too.

Btw believe Larry will be on the SprayedMats shew tomorrow night.

> In cold winter water…Williams says that’s when fly fishing shines. He used a 10′ 6-weight [rod]…and a Float ‘N Fly rig, which is a Jaydacator float, fixed-length leader, and a small jig-type fly tied with feathers or with bucktail like a SPRO Phat Fly.

> Williams is a fly-fishing guide for trout, steelhead and bass in the Sacramento Region. He also won the most recent Costa Bass-N-Fly Tournament on the Sacramento River Delta….

> “There have been many of us who have competed in conventional bass tournaments with fly rods,” said John G. Sherman, Simms sales rep and founder of the Costa Bass-N-Fly tournament. “While there has been moderate success, and some small club tournament wins, Ryan and his partner’s win at Lake Shasta is the major win we have all dreamed about. I’ve already seen the social chatter from gear guys looking to grab a fly rod, with many signing up for fly casting lessons! This has the potential to be a major catalyst for the growth of fly fishing for bass!”

Okay so:

– Float ‘n fly so sounds like a fly rod wasn’t needed? Btw looks like B.A.S.S. does have a 10’ max rod length but the WWBT does not, not that it would’ve mattered in this’n.

– “Many” Cali fly-fishermen have competed in bass derbs? And they’re all “dreaming about” winning? What’s next out there, tofurkey burgers after the weigh-ins??

Lol all good man. Guess these are the flies he used, pics from Fly Fisherman mag:

> USCG Station Key West crews recovered a reportedly stolen tiki hut boat near Hawk’s Channel. The person aboard showed signs of intoxication and was taken into custody by @MyFWC. Don’t drink and boat!