Gapen Catalog | Fly Fishing | Jigs | Most Sensitive Rods | Wilderness Reels | Ugly Bug | Muddler |

HELPFuL TIPS ON “HOW-TO” FISH THE
Ugly Bug
– WHY IT WORKS SO WELL –
Wider Front Edge (Pivot Point)
Point of Pull
Point of Pivot
Along with its 85% (approximate) ability to work out of rocky bottom structure, the
Ugly Bug is graced with 2 other features. Because of its wide forward head design, the
jig balances level when vertically jigged. Suspended presentation is always level, a feature
which increases your strikes from fish such as crappie, walleye and lake trout.
The other added feature is the Ugly Bug’s ability to stand up at a 45˚ angle when resting
on the bottom. When working bottom feeding fish such as walleye and many saltwater
species, this position allows the jig to be scooped up easily off bottom by the fish’s
lower jaw. This bottom resting presentation is even more enticing when the Ugly Bug
is tipped with livebait.
(See diagram above.)
How the Ugly Bug Jig works.
Self Balance
COLOR SELECTION:
Use brown, crawfish, black or orange for smallmouth bass.
When lake trout fishing, select white, yellow and chartreuse
first. For walleye, the white, yellow, orange and crawfish must be selected
first. Bluegill prefer the black and green in small sizes while crappie tend to like the
white and chartreuse.
The wedge shaped pivoting head performs best when worked with 8 pound line.
Enough pressure can be applied on 8 pound line to cause a snagged Ugly Bug head to
pivot up on itself and dislodge from the snagging rock crevice. In
rivers, visibility of 8 pound line is defused by current movement.
Where you had a need to use 4 or 6 pound test, you can now
switch to 8 pound and save as much as 75% of your hangups.
Rolling Action
Stand Up
For effective lake presentation, retrieve in a slow rolling action along
bottom which allows the lure to just touch bottom as shown here.
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MADE
USA
IN
The Ugly Bug Jig was created in 1969 by Dan Gapen, Sr. to fill a gap in lure selection
available which imitated the aquatic crawfish and hellgrammite. Dan, a riverman by
choice, also needed a lure which could be retrieved downstream, natural presentation in
river systems, and do so without being constantly snagged on bottom rock.
With this in mind, a soft plastic body was constructed, rubber legs added, and a head
design similar to that of a crawdad’s tail was created. The head, after a number of
design switches, was created that was wide in front, narrow in back, with slopes underneath.
It took a couple of summers to work out the glitches, and finally in 1969 the new
little lure was ready for the market.
Crawfish run backwards when pursued and are often carried downstream with river
currents while in flight. Most of the time this flight
takes place in bottom rocks. The Ugly Bug makes an
ideal imitator. With its wide wedge head front it may
hang up in bottom rock when retrieved downstream,
but will generally pivot up and out of the snag immediately.
The reason for this is the fact that Dan’s
design allows for the point of pull, the hook eye, to
protrude from the jighead back beyond the forward
wide part of the Ugly Bug head. Mechanically, with
the narrow back end, this creates a pivot form when
pressure is applied.
Anglers heading into the rock-infested
lakes of Canada prefer the snag-free, bottom-walking
Ugly Bug jig 3-to-1 over any
other jig. The Ugly Bugs ability to walk
rock gets it down on the bottom and keeps
it there. In Canada use 1/4 oz., 3/8 oz. and
5/8 oz. in bright colors for walleye.
No. 20265
WORKING THE
WORLd FAmOuS
Ugly Bug
– WHY IT WORKS SO WELL –
Dan Gapen, Sr. with a “better-than-average” sized
walleye taken on a 3/8 oz. Ugly Bug jig.
Rock-hopping jig head
pivots up and down
Huge
Results!
!
Before you buy your selection of Gapen’s Ugly Bug jigs let us give you a suggestion
- go to page 158 and order/pick up a copy of the underwater DVD in our
educational series No. 20265 called “Pike Attack” on Ugly Bug- caught walleye!
This DVD shows you exactly how walleye react and strike on certain actions given
the Ugly Bug by the angler. You will also see why walleye that have been set upon
by pike, a vicious predator of the walleye, stop their feeding as the predator engages
the school of walleye. Also noted will be the northern pike’s lack of interest
in the Ugly Bug, normally a deadly lure on pike, when hooked walleye
in panic are available.
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THIS SPECIAL DVD WAS CREATED BY
FILMING UNDERWATER IN LIVE ACTION,
NATURAL SETTINGS.
NONE OF THIS ACTION IS FILMED IN TANKS!
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