I know some of you are saying to yourself, “There’s no bad time to fish a bucktail jig,” and you’re not wrong. The thing is, most of my bucktailing is done in outflows—breachways, inlets, drains, and similar areas. I’m just not much of an open-beach bucktail guy. I have plenty of other lures and jigs that I feel outperform a bucktail in the open surf.
But when I’m targeting outflows, which I do with increasing frequency as fall approaches, the bucktail is really tough to beat.
In this week’s episode, S3 E39 /// The Best Plugs For Fishing Outflows & Breachways, Jerry and I revisit our four-plug theme and discuss our top four lures for fishing outflows. Spoiler alert: the first lure I chose was a white, 1.5-ounce bucktail jig.
I’ve caught a lot of fish on this lure over the years, from schoolies to stripers well into the 30-pound class, and I have the utmost confidence in it. I originally fished bucktails with an Uncle Josh pork rind, but these days I tip my jigs with a white Fat Cow Jig Strip.
This week’s episode motivated me to take inventory of my bucktail jig stock, and I quickly realized that while I’m kinda-sorta okay on 1.5-ounce models for the fall, I was dangerously low on 1-ounce jigs. I don’t use the smaller ones nearly as much, but there are times when they excel. They’re also what I usually have my son start with until he gets a feel for the current on a given night.
With the first round of RedZone playing in the background, I hammered out a small pile of jigs for the fall this past weekend, and I’m feeling a little better about my fall jig outlook.
While sitting at the bench, I remembered a recent Instagram post from Ledge Lord Bucktails featuring his Tailbangers. It prompted me to tie up a couple of my own to test, and when I found myself in the surf a few nights later, the first cast with a TL-Tailbanger produced a solid fish, as you can see in the lead photo of this post (sorry for the blurry image.)
Props to Ellis for the design and for sharing the idea. I’ll certainly be tying up a few more for my bag very soon!
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I felt like a complete dufus when this was showed to me for I fly fish and tie all my flies and never thought of combining to two.. I’m wondering if the fat cow got in the way of the natural motion of the articulated section.. I’d try it without the fat cow and put on some really high quality hackles and me thinks yous gonna likes.. likes alots lol