What the Finesse : A "Weightless" Jig?

Total Score: 8.25 - INNOVATION AWARD!

Introduction: Jigs are among the most simple, basic baits in a bass fisherman's arsenal. They are also among the more difficult to master because there are so many different ways to fish them. On any given day, just the slightest variation in your retrieve may be the key between a full or empty livewell. As any experienced jig fisherman will tell you, one of the most crucial, yet difficult variables to control in a jig is its fall rate. Size of the skirt, head design, weight of the head, are all options we can control, but at a certain point, gravity takes over and there's only so much you can do. I mean really, a half ounce jig is going to fall like a half ounce jig no matter how much you bulk up or trim down the skirt.

Introducing CLU's Zero Gravity Jig.

So what do you do when the fish obviously want a big profile jig, but they’ll only seem take it if you tight line it on a super slow descent? A finesse jig presentation like this really limits your target range to flipping distances and even then, unless you’re right on top of your target, your bait is going to fall away from the structure instead of straight down in front of the fish’s face. When the jig bite goes “WTF”, you’re pretty much SOL, relying entirely on plastic baits that resemble jigs but don’t quite give you the same bite. Well, you were until now.

Impressions: In the middle of 2011, Kelly Barefoot of Custom Lures Unlimited, got a hold of us and in an excited voice exclaimed that he had “something he believes no one has ever done,” like we’ve never heard that before. Further, it was a tweak to a jig that he believed would revolutionize the category, more propaganda alarms. Seriously, if you knew how many times we heard such claims over the course of a year, especially at shows like ICAST, your eyes would glaze over too. Of course, that’s all Barefoot would say because we’d have to “see it ourselves” so he promised to send some over for us to check out. We were really fond of Barefoot and his work up until he got all infomercial on us.

A jig so unique it practically floats instead of sinking

Soon after our conversation, a package really did arrive in the mail. When we opened it up, sure enough, there were jigs inside. On the individual packaging it states, “The world’s most universal jig, wake, swim, flip, c-rig or twitch it, the choice is yours!” Introducing Custom Lures Unlimited’s Zero Gravity Jig

Out of the water, it looks like a standard jig.

It's molded around a 4/0 VMC hook ...

What is a “Zero Gravity” jig? Well, as it turns out, this bait really IS something we had not seen before. Instead of a molded lead head, this jig’s noggin is made from some other mysterious metal that is noticeably lighter, much lighter than lead. The end result? A jig with the traditional size and profile of a three eighths or half ounce lead jig, but with a buoyancy like, well, like we’ve never seen!

... and features an Arkie style head ...