Mama take this Jitterbug from me. I can’t cast it any more. It’s getting to dark, to dark for me to see. You cast it for me, so I can keep fishing. Hey, Hey, Hey…Knock, knock, knocking on Mr. Bass door. Yeah…oh yeah.
A wooden Fred Arbogast Jitterbug brings back memories of times when I was much younger and had a full head of hair. Our family would travel for its summer vacation up to Lake Mille Lacs in Minnesota to relax and go fishing. Every morning my father and the other men who were up in the lodge would take off in a fleet of boats leaving their wives and kids behind. I always assumed that they were die hard anglers, but the truth be told, they were probably just seeking solitude of fishing quietly not caring if they caught any. That left me and my brothers along with one small row boat, a couple fishing poles, and a few lures with mom. Although my mom wasn’t overly excited about taking the row boat out with three rambunctious boys, she probably thought that if we all rowed enough it would tire us out. Little did she know that we had a never ending supply of adrenalin pumping though us. Her only chance of survival was having us cast out wooden Jitterbug and reel them in till our arms gave out.

Wooden Fred Arbogast Jitterbugs (www.lurenet.com) have been around for over 50 years. Thousands of them have been sold to anglers of all ages who have fished with them successfully for northern pike, muskie, and bass. Jitterbugs are renowned for their signature sound-plop, plop, plop, plop, plop as the front lip catches water focusing the body to walk back and forth across the surface. This walking motion drive fish crazy making them attack and striking it, but not just during the day time hours. Jitterbugs reeled across the surface at night has caught countless numbers of bass since first being introduced.
Few lures excel at catching fish out of aquatic vegetation like the Jitterbug. There are a number of reasons why including being able to reel extremely slow over thick or sparse grass, you can fish lots of water fast making it the perfect search bait and it draws strikes from suspending or inactive fish.

 
Although catching fish in and around aquatic vegetation can be fantastic, you haven’t experienced the thrill of catching a bass on topwater until you catch one at night on an Arbogast Jitterbug. Imagine, casting out a Jitterbug and letting it sit until the rings have completely died then slowly reeling it in. The rhythmic plop, plop, plop, plop stopping only by the crashing noise of a bass crushing your Jitterbug.

 
Location is everything in real estate and also in bass fishing an Arbogast Jitterbug. Prime locations to fish a Jitterbug during the day are in and around aquatic vegetation or some type of cover. At night, Jitterbugs can be fished on long points, along bluff walls, next to lighted boat houses, flats, and riprap.

 
Often, Mama would take us boys out fishing after supper. The hot summer sun would be setting in the distance while we rowed slowly around the shoreline. Our Jitterbug would be calling…plop, plop, plop. We were knock, knock, knocking on the fishes door. They often answered agitated that any angler would be knocking at their door by slamming into our lures with violent strikes. Yeah…oh yeah!