Makin' Bacon With Flick Shakin'

Fishing pressure. Those two words are enough to scare any BassFan. And with so much pressure on many of the most traveled tournament venues, catching a limit today seems more difficult that ever.

The dropshot method – developed in Japan where intense fishing pressure is legendary – helped us for a while, and then the shaky-head worm moved in. Some pros are even going back to their roots and digging out pre-rigged multi-hook worms, looking for a new edge.

But Japanese pro Kota Kiriyama traveled all the way back to his roots in Japan, and helped export another Japanese technique to bring help home the bacon. It's called flick-shaking, and it's reportedly now more popular than the dropshot in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Flick-shaking has led Kiriyama to some strong finishes. And lest we forget, famed lure designer Seiji Kato, now of Jackall, used it to win the co-angler division at the Amistad Bassmaster Elite Series this year.

What's Shakin'?

Jackall Lures introduced a specific worm and jighead for the Flick-Shake technique. In essence, the rig's a finesse worm that's wacky-rigged on a jighead. But the jighead is critical, and Jackall's Wacky jighead features a short-shank hook and no weedguard. The Jackall website describes it this way:

"The Wacky jighead technique which Jackall calls "Flick Shakin'" will be the next finesse technique in the United States. The Flick Shake worm has a built-in curved design, which creates a squirming action that the fish cannot resist. The jighead eye is designed at a 90-degree angle for better hooksetting and less snags. The hook has a short shank to allow the worm more action."

Okay, there's the product promo/info, now how do you fish the thing?

"The worm I use is called the Flick Shake, and so we call the technique flick-shaking," Kiriyama said. "It's a finesse version of Senko fishing. I use 6- to 8-pound line on a spinning rod with this tiny 4.8-inch worm. It dances in the water as it falls, and has an erratic action.

"You could use any thin, small worm for this technique, but to maximize the potential, I use the Flick Shake worm. It's made with a pre-bent shape that creates a different wobble."

Photo: Jackall Lures

A key to the technique, Kiriyama says, is the small, properly constructed finesse Jackall Wacky jighead.

The big key to flick-shaking is more in the fall than in working the lure. And the fall can last a long time with a jighead weight of only 1/16- or 3/32-ounce.

"Whereas a dropshot is more of a vertical technique – and you can use the Flick Shake worm for that, by the way – the flick-shake technique is more a casting fall-bait (approach)," Kiriyama noted. "You use it when you might use a Senko, but where fish are tired of looking at those. It's a more advanced version.

"The basic fall-bait technique is you just throw it out and let it fall to the bottom," he added. "I catch a lot of fish as it's falling. If it gets to the bottom, then you just slowly drag it back. Maybe you shake it just a little bit or just pull a little bit. You catch more fish by doing nothing."

He also said that with an open hook, the fish often hook themselves, so it's "much easier" to hook a fish "than with a Texas-rigged Senko or something where you have to set the hook."

Two other key tips from Kiriyama: