April 18, 2024

Give your plastics a nose job

August 21, 2017 David Hunter Jones Field Notes, Fishing

The Paycheck Baits Nose Job gives any worm or swimbait a different action.

The original Luck-E-Strike Scrounger head has an oblong bill that imparts an erratic, wobbling action to soft plastics.

Since the Scrounger craze began, manufacturers have offered a slew of designs using the same principle; a bill that causes a different action.

A more erratic action can spur bites from more fish

For a long time, one of Bassmaster Elite Series pro Aaron Martens’ secret weapons was a Scrounger. A Scrounger is a jighead with an oblong bill that served two purposes; a weedguard and an action enhancer.

When a plastic was threaded onto the Scrounger Head, it oscillated back and forth, making the whole bait rock side to side and dart erratically. Martens found that this got him more bites than throwing a plastic swimbait on a standard jighead. Now that the secret is out, there are a multitude of Scrounger-like products, including one that will make ay bare hook work like a Scrounger, the Paycheck Baits Nose Job.

The Nose Job slides on your line ahead of the hook and seats against your knot. Thread on your favorite plastic and you’ll have an entirely new action from your old favorites.