Gary Dobyns' "Super Bait"

By M.L. Anderson

Dobyns describes this bait as “one of the all-time greatest baits” and says that he always has and always will fish it, even though it has taken a back seat to the Senko and drop shot worms. “There is no wrong way to fish this bait,” he explains, “and it not only catches big fish, it catches huge numbers of fish.” To this day, it is rigged up on the deck at all times. What is this miracle bait he speaks of? It’s the humble 5-inch Yamamoto Single Tail Grub. But that’s not what Dobyns calls it – he calls it the Super Grub.

In the early to mid-80’s the “Super Grub” was the most popular bait on the lake, says Gary, every bit as popular as the Senko and the drop-shot are today. Everybody had a grub box but fishermen are a fickle bunch, and when something new comes along and catches fish, they tend to focus on the new and neglect the old. That doesn’t mean the grub doesn’t catch fish any more. With fewer guys throwing a grub, it can be even more effective because it’s something different when the fish are seeing a thousand drop-shot rigs a day.

DOBYNS’ #1 FAVORITE GRUB TECHNIQUE

“Swimming a grub on a dart head jig is my absolute favorite way to fish it,” Gary says. “You absolutely can’t fish it wrong. No matter what you do with it, that tail is moving and that bait is fishing for you 100% of the time. You can swim it at any depth, any speed, over almost any cover and it will catch fish.” His son Richard, he says, caught his first fish on a swimming Yamamoto Grub – a four-pound rainbow trout on Lake Berryessa. Now Gary has a grandson, Garrett, who absolutely loves to fish, and he is learning on a grub as well.

A grub is the ideal bait for a beginner, he says. He just rigs up a spinning rod with 8-pound-test fluorocarbon, ties on a Gamakatsu dart head, and puts a grub on it. The huge controversy back in the day was whether you should rig it tail down or tail up, he says, and people really got heated about it. He always rigs his with the tail down (opposite the hook bend), but he says his team partner always rigs his tail up and they both catch fish. There just isn’t a wrong way.

He generally buys Gamakatsu 60412 hooks and either pours his own or has someone pour dart heads for him, but you can use Gamakatsu’s Darter 26 jigs. They come in sizes 1/8- and 3/16-ounce with a 2/0 hook, and 1/4- and 3/8-ounce with a 3/0 hook. He most often uses a 1/4-ounce head, but will go lighter for very shallow or a little heavier (3/16) for deeper water. “The 60412 hooks make the best dart heads I’ve ever used,” he says. “I won’t use a springy hook with a grub.” On western lakes he rigs the grubs with the hook exposed, but you can also rig it Texas if you are fishing around a lot of wood or weeds.

His usual technique when swimming is to cast out, let the grub hit bottom, then just slow-reel it back in. He’ll actually just go down the bank with it like a crankbait, because you can fish it anywhere. He fishes a grub on steep walls, across points, in backs of coves, on pilings, and one of his favorite grub spots – the face of a dam. The bite varies. Most of the time the rod just loads up. Sometimes the fish grabs it from behind and keeps coming right at you, so the line just goes slack. Other times they come from the side and grab it and nearly knock the rod out of your hands.

Gary rarely uses anything but the 5-inch grub, and his favorite colors for swimming are Smoke/Large Black Flake #150, Salt and Pepper #187, Baby Bass #305, Natural Shad #306, and of course Green Pumpkin #297. He says some guys swim the grubs on pea head jigs but he doesn’t – it’s strictly dart heads for him because they seem to swim better.

SUPER GRUBS AS TRAILERS

A 5-inch grub, says Gary, is the best jig and spinnerbait trailer ever made. He tends to favor shad colors for spinnerbait trailers and darker craw imitations for jigs. “It’s a phenomenal jig trailer,” Gary says. If he throws a 1/4-ounce jig he’ll drop down to the 4-inch grub, but most of the time he sticks with the 5-inch. His favorite jig trailer colors are Cinnamon/Black Flake #176, Dark Pumpkin #286, and Green Pumpkin #297. For spinnerbaits he uses Blue Pearl/Large Silver Flake #031 (his best color), Smoke/Large Black Flake #150, Chartreuse Pepper #156, Salt and Pepper #187, and Natural Shad #306.

Gary is known as a Power Fisherman, which he says is basically not fishing chicken. He covers water, fishes aggressively, and tries to get a pattern figured out. The grub plays right into his style because he can aggressively cover water with a single lure, fishing that lure deep or shallow, fast or slow, until he figures out the bite. A swimming jig, he says, is one of his favorites. Generally people think of jigs as a bottom lure, but he uses it like a crankbait, which is why he uses the single-tail 5-inch grub. The swimming jig is great for suspended fish or feeding fish that are at a certain depth. You can keep a jig at the right depth for a lot longer than you can a crankbait. It’s killer on spotted bass as well, he says.

An unusual way that Gary fishes a spinnerbait with a Super Grub is as a flippin’ bait. He does this all the time, he says, and the fish will totally ambush the lure so he can fish it really fast. He uses a single blade 3/8- to 1/2-ounce spinnerbait with either a Colorado blade or a willow leaf, but not a very big blade – just about a 4 to 4-1/2 blade. He’ll flip it in, let it fall, pump the rod tip, swim it out, then pitch it back in. This flipping technique gives him more flash and a completely different look from most of the baits that are flipped. He moves fast, not fishing it on the bottom. For instance, in five to six feet of water he’ll let it free fall about four feet, pump it, then swim it out. When everyone else is flipping a jig, the flash will sometimes trigger strikes the jigs aren’t getting.

BOTTOM LINE

The “Super Grub” 5-inch Yamamoto Single Tail Grub is one of the best baits ever made, Dobyns says, it’s just that fishermen have let other techniques and baits replace it. It’s incredibly versatile, insanely easy to fish, and it will catch not just bass but also trout, crappie, catfish, and pretty much any other fish in the water. When he’s on the Columbia River, he throws a 5-inch grub 95% of the time – it’s killer on big smallmouth. Whether you are after numbers or giants, the “Super Grub” deserves a spot on your deck.