It’s similar to what I call the ‘ott Defoe version tightlining’ technique, but with a larger shad-like profile bait, strait tail not split tail, and between that and the 60 degree tie makes all the difference in the increased erratic action compared to the aforementioned technique. I also feel this technique is the result of something you said you were looking to do very late last year or early this year, you were trying to figure out how to catch those suspended open water fish that wouldn’t bite anything else most people would traditionally throw at them that could be seen on FFS not biting. You set goals and then reach them, which is why your so good. Keep up the good work! We’ll all benefit from it. Even non tournament river rats like me.
Dude I wish I could upload a freakin photo to this thing. I was using it the other day and snagged a shad. Looked IDENTICAL. I was using the gizzard shad color.
Im hoping to see Dale hollow set up right for this technique in April when yall are there. If so.... its fixing to be a smash fest on the front of that iKon !! 😅
The Biwa Rig is super legit. Edit: a couple of years ago I remember hearing a handful of pros saying the Japanese iMotion baits don’t work and won’t catch on here. While the Biwa rig isn’t technically iMotion, the baits on it are it’s just imparting the action on them. If you want to be a few years ahead of the power curve here, pay attention to what’s going on with bass fishing in Japan.
First thing love the content you and the boys have going on! I’ve got a couple of your robs and absolutely love them! Keep up the great content. Now down to business haha is this technique limited to seasons or is this all year around?
Is this your new place in Birchwood? Is it lakefront? Going to my Academy Sports tomorrow (Knoxville). The fishing department is not typically well stocked so not expecting to see Crush City but maybe they’ll surprise me.
Does the free loader have flatter sides and that’s why it rocks like that or will spunk shed do the same thing? Also you said you want to work it in the middle of the water column and then you said you want it close to the bottom I’m assuming it’s either?
Yes the flatter sides help it roll more and also create more flash to pull fish from further distances. It really just depends on where the fish are set up. So in like 10 ft of water if they are off the bottom I try to keep it mid depth like 5 ft. If they are relating to the bottom like when you have a lot of current I’ll make a point to keep it as close as I can to the bottom with still keeping it above their head.
Went to my local Academy store (Knoxville). The Crush City display was pretty much empty and they did not have your spinning rods. This is pretty common for that store. Fishing department is not a priority.
Man that’s what makes this so dangerous it literally can work all the time. It’s an awesome fall and winter bait but also great deep in the summer. Shallow on a shad spawn and the list goes on and on
Technique has been around for over 30 years it's nothing new been smashing big bags on that bait similar baits for many years lots of fisherman have.. fishman just didn't understand the power of these baits until now.. nothing new been around for years
you do not have to have a boat to fish this technique. I have a boat but I also have 6 kids and we all can't fish out of my boat obviously, but I take them, and we walk the banks fishing technique, and we catch a number of fish on it. it also helps me teach my kids how to be interact with the landowners. Before we go onto someone property, we go introduce ourselves to the landowner and ask for their permission to fish their waterfront if the say no, we skip and go to the next house. bank fishing to me can be really fun and you get to meet a ton of really amazing people. so don't look at your empty glass, look at ways you can make your glass full.
went back and watched that finish on cherokee. just goes to show you could catch em without ffs. what a hammer. could you talk about your transition from okuma to duckett. how you met boyd how yall got to talking etc. keep wacking em. and take your boy when he’s old enough.
I love watching your vids and tutorials on baits and fishing them, Ive took a lot from it and use it over here on the west coast for giant smallmouth and works amazingly. Thanks for another killer tips and tricks vid Jacob
Wheeler, you've by far been my favorite fisherman for years I fish local bass tournaments, I can't get my hands on crush city stuff. Any idea when they'll be more available 😏💯
I can't wait to try this on LMB's in the Spring. For now, I have been using the Freeloader/VMC Hybrid 3/8 oz in our Susquehanna River, the only place there's no ice here in Northeast PA... anyhow, I have been catching walleyes on this combo with a great deal of reliability and success. I'm kinda hoping they make a 5.5" or a 6" eventually.
Picked up a bunch of the crush city stuff this week freeloader is looking good on my vmc jig heads water is still 60• here in Missouri plan on putting it to work this weekend in a tournament hoping it kills it.. thanks for the tips
This is not new and you didn't fish it first,I have fished at Center Hill and Dale Hollow with a sassy shad in the 70s like that with a 1/16 of a ounce on 6 lb test,it was not you that invented this
Love this, My go to set up for smallies in my home town. Works amazing on forward facing sonar and just beating shoreline. It has done me very well this season! Amazing job on the design of these soft plastics JW!!🔥🎣🙌🏼
Is there a weedless version? I fish alot of lakes and rivers with structure, or will using anything other than a straight 90° or 60° jighead kill the action?
I've yet to throw that set up but it looks like it would be FIRE for small mouth especially using FFS.. Great bait man, I know you designed it but alot of the anglers I admire are really hyping the 'Free Loader' up! Even though that's a jig head you can still "Hover Shot", "Hover Stroll" this bait.. Nice video J-Wheel's...
Sweet … We call that technique Shakin … invented by Rich Talbler .. old school Pro Bass fisherman from Ca … We been stickn fish this way since the mid 80s .. We still catch lots of fish Shakin but we like grubs , hand pours on 1/4 oz jig head … Catches about all predator fish …. trout love it too
You can name this technique "swim roller" or "shaking roller" because the lure have a lots of rolling when you twitch it. It is the same technique used team raid japan with their lure named the fishroller or superfishroller
This is not a new technique. and I have yet to find a body of water where it doesn’t get snagged repeatedly. But I have caught bigs when not hung up on a rock or tree or anything else it gets near
Because if someone needs closed captions they just turn them on. If the content creator places them over the video they get in the way. The content creator doesn't need to add them on their own. Also could just be some feedback of my personal peeve. @@Huntn_fish365
If only there was option to turn them off and on. Wasn't a bad presentation, but this absolutely nothing new. Annoyed by these type of clickbait videos.
I know people want to learn and all, but I almost kinda hate that you and so many others are sharing this with the world. Whatever happened to having a secret weapon? Still, I get it, and I appreciate you doing what you do, but damn the Internet is making competition merciless to those who have an upper hand for a second.
Man trust me I wouldn’t if I didn’t win on this deal already and expose it. I’ve been doing this for several years and kept it under my hat as much as I could. I even went so far to not tell Rapala what I was really making this bait for because I knew I would win a lot of money on it and possibly win a few events before it got out. That’s the whole reason I only talk about this bait being a trailer in the first cut of the Rapala Freeloader video. With live this day in age you just can’t hide things like you use to be able to and so I decided to give it up.
@@WheelerFishing that's very true. The Internet doesn't really allow anyone to keep secrets from the public, at least once the eyes are on you. As far as that goes, I can't imagine what it's like. It's also really hard to imagine what the next deadly little bait might be. How many more presentations that end up being super effective, are we going to be able to figure out before the fish start saying, alright we ain't buying this anymore. Remember when the dropshot was something the fish hadn't seen in most places? It's all just nuts to me.
@@WheelerFishing thank you For demonstrating how this works. I'm sure I would just have to learn how much slack to throw and how Much line to pull.. I hope you can do more pool demos.
@@WheelerFishing appreciate you, brother. I have already purchsed the Nano. But the VMC hybrids and Freeloader are out of stock until January. All good, my lakes close January-February. Thanks again, JW
Just remember, all this hoopla about from facing sonar lures only affects a small minority of anglers. A large percentage fish from the bank and small boats with a trolling motor.
Absolutely and that’s why I said this is not at all limited to forward facing sonar. I’ve had unbelievable days with this bait just casting it out and working it like I explained
You obviously don’t have a Freeloader, Not even close to the same bait. Hog farmer duplicated the tail off a Jackall I Shad and then took the most popular swimbait body a Kitech fat and put them together. I don’t know what you want me to say. 🤷🏻♂️
Ppl were using this technique in TN long before Hog Farmer was a business. Fishing industry has been copying one another for 20 yrs if you mean the lures. You look ignorant
@@WheelerFishing Bruh....I can get the argument that everyone copies everyone but to say the freeloader isnt even close to the spunk shad???? It's a few millimeters skinner that's all lol
In 1992 I started fishing bass tournaments and this exact rig was the Bait I fished religiously. I had a couple ways to rig a fluke. Weedless non weighted, weedless bellyweight hook, For weeds. Open hook jighead fluke for more open water.. nonweighted open hook for slow drop on deep points. Love the fluke.
It’s similar to what I call the ‘ott Defoe version tightlining’ technique, but with a larger shad-like profile bait, strait tail not split tail, and between that and the 60 degree tie makes all the difference in the increased erratic action compared to the aforementioned technique.
I also feel this technique is the result of something you said you were looking to do very late last year or early this year, you were trying to figure out how to catch those suspended open water fish that wouldn’t bite anything else most people would traditionally throw at them that could be seen on FFS not biting. You set goals and then reach them, which is why your so good. Keep up the good work! We’ll all benefit from it. Even non tournament river rats like me.
You need to try the Core Tackle Hover Rig with that bait.
All I can think of watching this is Rockem Sockem Robots:"You knocked my block off !"
Dude I wish I could upload a freakin photo to this thing. I was using it the other day and snagged a shad. Looked IDENTICAL. I was using the gizzard shad color.
Can you use this in muddy water and what else would you need to do that?
Jacob do you tie straight braid or use a leader
Just asked the same question. All he talks about is the NANO so not sure if he's tieing fluoro to that???
Im hoping to see Dale hollow set up right for this technique in April when yall are there. If so.... its fixing to be a smash fest on the front of that iKon !! 😅
They’ll probably be laid up everywhere if I had to guess!
The Biwa Rig is super legit. Edit: a couple of years ago I remember hearing a handful of pros saying the Japanese iMotion baits don’t work and won’t catch on here. While the Biwa rig isn’t technically iMotion, the baits on it are it’s just imparting the action on them. If you want to be a few years ahead of the power curve here, pay attention to what’s going on with bass fishing in Japan.
First thing love the content you and the boys have going on! I’ve got a couple of your robs and absolutely love them! Keep up the great content. Now down to business haha is this technique limited to seasons or is this all year around?
How you make twisting tht bait on tht screwlock?
Is this your new place in Birchwood? Is it lakefront? Going to my Academy Sports tomorrow (Knoxville). The fishing department is not typically well stocked so not expecting to see Crush City but maybe they’ll surprise me.
Some say a 90* line tie on jig head is a must. I notice you don’t use a 90. Is this a different technique or does it not matter?
Great video
Thank you!
@@WheelerFishing Can you share what that minnow is so I don't have to scroll through 300 options? Lol. Thanks for sharing this technique JDub.
What length plastic trailer to use?
thank you jacob
Jacob thanks for sharing
Absolutely!
Does the free loader have flatter sides and that’s why it rocks like that or will spunk shed do the same thing? Also you said you want to work it in the middle of the water column and then you said you want it close to the bottom I’m assuming it’s either?
I was wondering the exact same thing. I’ve got some spunk shad and they looks very very close
Yes the flatter sides help it roll more and also create more flash to pull fish from further distances. It really just depends on where the fish are set up. So in like 10 ft of water if they are off the bottom I try to keep it mid depth like 5 ft. If they are relating to the bottom like when you have a lot of current I’ll make a point to keep it as close as I can to the bottom with still keeping it above their head.
Curious, you're making it sound like a fast action tip is soft. Isn't fast action more stiff? And then moderate is more soft/slow?
So a fast action tip would be lighter than a moderate tip. Moderate would be a slower taper and that’s what I usually like but not for this technique
@@WheelerFishing OK thanks. But generally a fast action tip means stiffer, yeah?
@@Twangtown7 no it’s actually the opposite
Went to my local Academy store (Knoxville). The Crush City display was pretty much empty and they did not have your spinning rods. This is pretty common for that store. Fishing department is not a priority.
What time of the year do you feel like this technique will be the most effective?
Man that’s what makes this so dangerous it literally can work all the time. It’s an awesome fall and winter bait but also great deep in the summer. Shallow on a shad spawn and the list goes on and on
Gimme bass 👌
Watch the G-ville video and you’ll get a little taste of what this bait does. Just wanted to show you the system and why it’s so effective
Why not a paddle tail swim bait
You will catch puffer fiah on this
Ayeeeee
Hottest fishing technique in the world right now is a straight black lie, Hottest fishing technique for BASS now might be right tho...
Technique has been around for over 30 years it's nothing new been smashing big bags on that bait similar baits for many years lots of fisherman have.. fishman just didn't understand the power of these baits until now.. nothing new been around for years
Not everybody has a friggin boat. It is popular with boat owners. It is worthless to me and other anglers
you do not have to have a boat to fish this technique. I have a boat but I also have 6 kids and we all can't fish out of my boat obviously, but I take them, and we walk the banks fishing technique, and we catch a number of fish on it. it also helps me teach my kids how to be interact with the landowners. Before we go onto someone property, we go introduce ourselves to the landowner and ask for their permission to fish their waterfront if the say no, we skip and go to the next house. bank fishing to me can be really fun and you get to meet a ton of really amazing people. so don't look at your empty glass, look at ways you can make your glass full.
Garbage
went back and watched that finish on cherokee. just goes to show you could catch em without ffs. what a hammer. could you talk about your transition from okuma to duckett. how you met boyd how yall got to talking etc. keep wacking em. and take your boy when he’s old enough.
Can’t trust a sponsored review…
Just ordered 2 of your casting rods, JW. Anxious to put them to use!
Need more pool videos
what company makes this freeloader?What brand and model of the 7ft rod?Could you write your ehole setup rod,reel,line,lure,knot Thanks
I love watching your vids and tutorials on baits and fishing them, Ive took a lot from it and use it over here on the west coast for giant smallmouth and works amazingly. Thanks for another killer tips and tricks vid Jacob
Wheeler, you've by far been my favorite fisherman for years I fish local bass tournaments, I can't get my hands on crush city stuff. Any idea when they'll be more available 😏💯
I can't wait to try this on LMB's in the Spring. For now, I have been using the Freeloader/VMC Hybrid 3/8 oz in our Susquehanna River, the only place there's no ice here in Northeast PA... anyhow, I have been catching walleyes on this combo with a great deal of reliability and success. I'm kinda hoping they make a 5.5" or a 6" eventually.
Picked up a bunch of the crush city stuff this week freeloader is looking good on my vmc jig heads water is still 60• here in Missouri plan on putting it to work this weekend in a tournament hoping it kills it.. thanks for the tips
JW, I didn't see you mention in this video using a fluoro leader, are you tieing this NANO straight to the jig head?
It is a minnow on a jig head😂. Nothing more nothing less.
Let’s go!
This is not new and you didn't fish it first,I have fished at Center Hill and Dale Hollow with a sassy shad in the 70s like that with a 1/16 of a ounce on 6 lb test,it was not you that invented this
Quit waving it around. Put it on a table and just point at it. You're making me dizzy trying to look at.
You have straight braid to the jig head or have a fluorocarbon leader? If straight braid what color is the braid?
I have the same question. Hopefully we get additional information.
Want about a spinner bait or chatterbait use do you keep it hole or cut off a little of the head
Ffs has ruined tournament bass fishing !
Is that a floating plastic bait?
the backyard view, bruh
Yeah I’m very lucky!
Love this, My go to set up for smallies in my home town. Works amazing on forward facing sonar and just beating shoreline. It has done me very well this season! Amazing job on the design of these soft plastics JW!!🔥🎣🙌🏼
Where can I purchase some baits and the jig heads?
In person, Dick's sporting goods, online tackle where house.
Academy.com
Hey JW ...is this jig head best served with a loop knot to achieve maximum action or cinch down tight to eyelet.
I personally run a cinched down not but also have seen where a loop knot will add a little extra roll
You can also put it on a small Scrounger head to improve presentation
Is there a weedless version? I fish alot of lakes and rivers with structure, or will using anything other than a straight 90° or 60° jighead kill the action?
I've yet to throw that set up but it looks like it would be FIRE for small mouth especially using FFS.. Great bait man, I know you designed it but alot of the anglers I admire are really hyping the 'Free Loader' up! Even though that's a jig head you can still "Hover Shot", "Hover Stroll" this bait.. Nice video J-Wheel's...
Cold water or summertime?
I caught a ton of bass on it this past summer.
Sweet … We call that technique Shakin … invented by Rich Talbler .. old school Pro Bass fisherman from Ca … We been stickn fish this way since the mid 80s .. We still catch lots of fish Shakin but we like grubs , hand pours on 1/4 oz jig head … Catches about all predator fish …. trout love it too
Just bought the last 3 packs from bass pro. Same technique I’ve been using with other swim baits I cut the paddle tail off of. Can’t wait to try it
You can name this technique "swim roller" or "shaking roller" because the lure have a lots of rolling when you twitch it. It is the same technique used team raid japan with their lure named the fishroller or superfishroller
Have you heard of the TUSH hook? The Ultimate Swimbait Hook by Core Tackle. I was going to pair it up with the freeloader this year.
This is not a new technique. and I have yet to find a body of water where it doesn’t get snagged repeatedly. But I have caught bigs when not hung up on a rock or tree or anything else it gets near
Caught some nice smallies on Lake St. Clair with this exact set up and no FFS this weekend.
Dang it Jacob SHHHHHHHHHHH
They should outlaw forward facing sonar in pro level.
Can you do an overview of your new signature series select rods? Thanks.
I can't wait to get back out and try it again from the bank I'll try it on my JC spinnerbait
What colors do you recommend? Awesome bait
Is this an all-year-round technique or season specific?
all these pros do now is drop shot u never see any of them doing anything else on tv
Do you have a floro leader or straight braid
Also did it with a slug-o and a finesse worm
Is it straight braid to the bait or is there a leader?
Stunnong video!!
live bait
Captions = annoying.
Why?
Because if someone needs closed captions they just turn them on. If the content creator places them over the video they get in the way. The content creator doesn't need to add them on their own. Also could just be some feedback of my personal peeve. @@Huntn_fish365
If only there was option to turn them off and on. Wasn't a bad presentation, but this absolutely nothing new. Annoyed by these type of clickbait videos.
He needs a good mic cause it sounds horrible
How
Live bait...can't beat it. Most lures catch people's money, not fish
Except no bass tournament allows live bait......
I know people want to learn and all, but I almost kinda hate that you and so many others are sharing this with the world. Whatever happened to having a secret weapon? Still, I get it, and I appreciate you doing what you do, but damn the Internet is making competition merciless to those who have an upper hand for a second.
Man trust me I wouldn’t if I didn’t win on this deal already and expose it. I’ve been doing this for several years and kept it under my hat as much as I could. I even went so far to not tell Rapala what I was really making this bait for because I knew I would win a lot of money on it and possibly win a few events before it got out. That’s the whole reason I only talk about this bait being a trailer in the first cut of the Rapala Freeloader video. With live this day in age you just can’t hide things like you use to be able to and so I decided to give it up.
@@WheelerFishing that's very true. The Internet doesn't really allow anyone to keep secrets from the public, at least once the eyes are on you. As far as that goes, I can't imagine what it's like. It's also really hard to imagine what the next deadly little bait might be. How many more presentations that end up being super effective, are we going to be able to figure out before the fish start saying, alright we ain't buying this anymore. Remember when the dropshot was something the fish hadn't seen in most places? It's all just nuts to me.
I know what my answer is, and is overloaded by most, even those at the very top the game, but what is the best feature of the hybrid jig head?
Screw lock, hybrid sprout style hook, 3d eyes when it rotates and the line tie allows it to rock more
The work at hook is what I was looking for. ...been using them for 50 years and nothing has the
"pining" power of that hook!
Does it still work pretty good on a casting set up?
Yes it works just fine
What's the best time of year to throw this?
Really an awesome technique for 10 months out of the year. The only time I’m really not throwing this is during spawn
JW, nice lure. Is that lure actually spinning Completely around, and if so, is it twisting your line? GB
Looked like it was rocking back and forth, never making a rotation.
It will every now and then if rocked hard enough
@@WheelerFishing thank you For demonstrating how this works. I'm sure I would just have to learn how much slack to throw and how Much line to pull..
I hope you can do more pool demos.
Hey Jacob have you noticed a difference between a 90 or 60 degree line tie on your jig heads or a preference for one or the other?
60 all day
@@WheelerFishing can you list the setup for this in the description?
@@computerguy1724 I will start to do this
@@WheelerFishing appreciate you, brother. I have already purchsed the Nano. But the VMC hybrids and Freeloader are out of stock until January. All good, my lakes close January-February. Thanks again, JW
Just remember, all this hoopla about from facing sonar lures only affects a small minority of anglers.
A large percentage fish from the bank and small boats with a trolling motor.
Absolutely and that’s why I said this is not at all limited to forward facing sonar. I’ve had unbelievable days with this bait just casting it out and working it like I explained
Hog Farmer did it first, wild that you wont give them credit at all.
You obviously don’t have a Freeloader, Not even close to the same bait.
Hog farmer duplicated the tail off a Jackall I Shad and then took the most popular swimbait body a Kitech fat and put them together. I don’t know what you want me to say. 🤷🏻♂️
Ppl were using this technique in TN long before Hog Farmer was a business. Fishing industry has been copying one another for 20 yrs if you mean the lures. You look ignorant
@@WheelerFishing Bruh....I can get the argument that everyone copies everyone but to say the freeloader isnt even close to the spunk shad???? It's a few millimeters skinner that's all lol
@@timmytubow7651 we aren't talking about technique, we are talking about the insane similarities to 2 baits. Now you look ignorant.
@@bradleyhouston9037 We are going to have to Agree to Disagree on this one.
In 1992 I started fishing bass tournaments and this exact rig was the Bait I fished religiously. I had a couple ways to rig a fluke. Weedless non weighted, weedless bellyweight hook, For weeds. Open hook jighead fluke for more open water.. nonweighted open hook for slow drop on deep points. Love the fluke.