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GMAN's Junk Fishing Combos

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Bassmaster Elite Gerald Swindle's junk fishing game is on point. Check out what he uses to run around and find the big fish.

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Video Transcription

Alright, let's talk a little bit. I'm starting right now. You know, junk fishing comes up a lot around me and my name and my career and the way I assume the fish. A lot of times it comes off the struggle, you know. The struggle is real. When you're not catching them, you find yourself having to do multiple things to catch them. But is junk fishing necessarily all about finesse? No. Not necessarily.

One of my junk fishing rods I love when things are struggling. I'm going to have a shaking head on. Zoom Trick Worm. This little 6'10" Meta series rod of mine, spinning rod. This is my $119 reel, man. This is something that I depend on. But it's a simple technique, 10 lb. Shooter line, but I can get a bite on it.

But one of the other rods I love to junk fish with is going to be my Buckeye Buzzbait. You've seen me many years. Even my A.O.Y. year, I run a buzz bait a lot. I keep it letting around a bunch. I don't think it's sometimes a bait to go out and catch a hundred on. But certain times during the day, certain things I see require the cast of a buzzbait. Maybe two or three casts. The junk fishing, I almost call it the power of junk. There's power baits inside a junk fishing that are factors. Buzzbait is one of them. This right here is the 7'4". It's just a 7'4" medium-heavy rod of mine. 18 lb. Shooter Sunline. This is a 6.6:1 reel smooth ratio. I don't like those super fast reels on buzzbaits. That's kind of simple.

One of my favorite all-time junk fishing baits is a jerkbait. This right here is the Rapala Mavrik 110. It's great in size, good color. I throw this on my 6'8" Meta series Jerkin' rod. It's like a medium, super soft tip. Yet you can work it shoulder handle, throw this on 12 lb. Shooter. The reason I like a jerkbait next year round is I can cover water. I can make a fish react with a jerkbait. I don't care if he's on a boat dock. Maybe he's on a retaining wall. Maybe he's just in a shadow of a hole or something. A jerkbait can make a fish react. You can make one bite this even when it's not jerkbait season. I'm a true believer that a jerkbait is one of the big factors in power. Jerkbait by power finesse fishing and power junk fishing.

Now you've got a swim jig. This here's going to be a real simple setup. It's a 7'3" medium-heavy rod. This is a 40 lb. SX1 braid. It's a 5/16ths black swim jig. Zoom a little Z Craw trailer on the back of it. This right here never leaves the deck. I might not even be on a swim bait lake or swim bait river that's known for swim baiting, but I might come across a log or piece of structure that ideally suits that one swim over it. You get the bite. You simply hook it back on the reel. You know you've done your job there. You let it back down. This is a great power combo inside of that.

One of the things that's always going to get you bites when you're junk fishing is chatterbait. It's different colors, white, green pumpkins, different size trailer. The chatterbait is so versatile. I can do slow presentations. I can burn it. I can race it around. I can make a long cast. Slightly yo-yo it. I can just kind of hop it. This I throw on my 7'0" moderate cranking rod. It's the best hands down. The best chatterbait rod in the country for $150. I'm not saying that there's no other companies make great ones, but they're not $150. This is the Meta Series. I throw it also on a 6.6:1 series reel. The reel speed. And I throw it on a 16 lb. Shooter, Sunline.

And you know I keep my Balling Out jig laying around a bunch. This is a half ounce. Then skirt. This is the balling out too. Lil Z Craw Junior. Why? Because I want to be able to throw it, hop it, skip it. Whether more a boat dock or marina. Big shadow, skip it in. I can swim this, drop it, hop it, throw it in and brush. This is a power combo.

So you look at these rods. They all look power fishing. But they're the perfect scenario for junk fishing. Don't get caught up thinking if I'm junk fishing you're just throwing light line and little bitty baits trying to catch a bass. When you're junk fishing you're trying to catch a big ones. And all of them. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]

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