The humble grub, a soft plastic bait with a short fat body and a wriggling tail, is an essential in almost every angler’s tacklebox – and for good reason.
The curly-tailed grub and its many variations are deadly on everything from crappie to largemouth bass, flounder to perch, and salmon to walleye. And though tiny, they punch way above their weight when it comes to the fish that they entice into a bite.
If you’ve been reluctant to pick up a pack of grubs, keep reading.
We’ll set the record straight on this amazing bait choice, cover the best ways to fish it, and get you hooked on grubs in no time!
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Related: Best Fishing Lures
What is a grub?
Think of a curly-tailed grub as the business end of a plastic worm. Short, relatively fat, and ridged, its abbreviated body sports a long tail that wriggles as it descends or hops.
The magic grubs bring starts with their incredible versatility, and from jig heads to spinners, they’re effective on nearly any species you’re after.
And whether you suspend them and pop them gently with your rod tip, drag them across the bottom, run them behind a thumping spinner, or let them fall and glide, that tail draws fish in for a strike and a quick meal.
Know your bait: Grub options
While the simple curly-tail is the staple, grub designs span a wide variety of shapes.
The standard is set by options like Berkley’s PowerBait Original Power Grub.
Berkeley’s Power Grub sets a standard few can match.
Available in a nice array of colors, and in both 2- and 3-inch lengths, these legendary grubs have probably caught more fish than any other.
But Berkley’s not the only game in town, and rivals like the Strike King Rage Tail Grub, at a full 4 inches, should be ignored for bass, walleye, salmon and larger species like that.
Big Rage Tail grubs are ideal for larger species.
Paddle-tailed grubs produce a vibrating thump as they’re pulled or fall through the water column, and big slabs just can’t resist!
Charlie Brewer’s Crappie Slider Grub is a great example of this style, and these tiny, 1-inch or 1 ½-inch grubs really, really deliver when you don’t need a super-slow fall.
Tiny paddle-tails like the Charlie Brewer Slider are crappie killers.
Salmon, walleye, and largemouth are suckers for Chompers Twin Tail Grub, yet another variation on this theme. Designed to move like crawfish, lizards, and other natural prey items, these twin tails are ideal for pre-spawn and spawn fishing.
You’ll find that Gary Yamamoto’s Double Tail Hula Grub, a massive 5-inch competitor with Brush Hogs and other creature baits, is a versatile largemouth option, especially when rigged weedlessly on a worm hook and pitched into the thick stuff.
A final style to consider is the minnow grub, and Berkley’s Gulp! Minnow Grub is the way to go.
Day-glo colors like this make the Berkley Gulp! Minnow Grub a great choice for murky or stained water.
Fished on a jig head or behind a spinner, these 2- or 3-inch grubs really deliver in murky water, and that long curly tail and minnow body work together to deliver strike after strike.
How Do You Rig a Grub?
Grubs are almost always combined with a jig head.
For largemouth bass, you’ll find lots of anglers who swear by 3/0 darter heads like those available from Gamakatsu. They’re a bit pricey, but they work well, come sharp, and hook hard.
For smaller sizes like 1/0 and 2/0, I reach for Owner 5147 Ultrahead Darter Jig Head. They hold a grub like it owes the jig money, and the point design is great at punching home.
If you’re having trouble keeping your grubs attached, a dot of superglue on the shank will create a strong bond.
If you choose a standard jig head, go light in shallower water, starting with something in the neighborhood of 1/16 ounces, moving up to as much as ¼ ounce. That’ll get you to the bottom at the right speed to make the most of the grub’s tail and flutter.
Too much weight deadens action, proving counterproductive in the vast majority of situations. And while you might be tempted to throw a jig head heavier than ¼ ounces, most of the time, you’ll just get fewer bites.
Keep in mind that jig head design works hand-in-glove with technique.
If you plan to work the bottom and bounce your jig off rocks, stumps, and logs, a shaky-headed jig, something like Reaction Tackle’s Tungsten Shaky Head Jigs, paired with a Gary Yamamoto Double Tail Hula Grub, might be just perfect.
But if you’d prefer to swim a grub just over the top of a weed bed, a VMC Swimbait Jig Head paired with a Strike King Rage Tail Grub is money. Another jig head option to consider are the Z-MAN HeadlockZ HD Swim Jigheads.
Z-MAN HeadlockZ are a great jig head for swimming a grub.
With that in mind, let’s cover some of the most popular techniques for jigging.
Work the bottom
Jig heads like the Z-MAN Pro ShroomZ Weedless are among my favorites for working on a hard bottom.
I pair them with a 3-, 4-, or 5-inch grub, and let them fall until I make contact with the bottom. Then, I’ll lift my rod tip, pull the jig off the bottom, and let it settle again. The fluttering grub really attracts attention, and the jig head keeps it in the critical head-down orientation.
I also twitch this jig/grub combination, imparting just enough motion to get my grub’s tail wriggling. I’ll combine this with dragging it across the bottom with twitchy pauses.
If you plan to provoke a strike by probing cover like rocks, stumps, and blow downs, don’t forget Reaction Tackle’s Tungsten Football Jigs. Great for areas that have outlawed lead heads, these skirted jigs are designed to hit cover and dart erratically, attracting attention as they do.
I pair them with a Chompers Twin Tail Grub and hit every branch and bump I can find. Don’t be afraid to get hung up. The shape of the head and the weedless design will keep you from snagging, and you’ll find the big females everyone else misses.
Swim through the grass
Those Z-man Pro ShroomZ and Reaction Tackle Football Jigs work well when pulled and swum through weeds and grass, dipping them into and then ripping them free from the veggies. But there’s no sense in sticking to a single jig style when you want a weedless swim bait.
I also like to jerk my grubs through weeds using a ¼-ounce thkfish Bullet Jig. The offset is perfect for getting my “Texas” grub just right, and the 3/0 hook is the right size for bass.
Weedless “Texas-style” jig heads are ideal for swimming a grub.
I let my jigs settle into the grass until I can really feel it, and then I rip them free and up, letting them drift back down. That mimics prey items darting in and out of cover, and the erratic motion it imparts to my grub drives bass wild.
Spinners
Nothing ups the ante on a spinner like a fat grub trailer, making this already effective lure just that much better.
Grubs are ideal trailers for spinning lures.
A 2 ½- to 3-inch curly-tail, pulled behind a spinner bait, takes everything you love about spinners – flash and thump – and adds everything awesome about grubs – body shape, tail, and color.
For me, the combo I’m looking for is something like Booyah’s Pond Magic running a 3-inch Berkley Power Grub.
This is a match made in heaven!
Fishing Crappie with Grubs
Any crappie angler worth their salt already knows that jigs are top-notch slab slayers. And nothing beats a grub in combination with a tiny jig head.