I thought that professional bass angler Jimmy Mason was too old for smashing pumpkins and taking off to the next place and smashing more pumpkins, but he isn’t. I saw him do it. He even wanted me to smash some pumpkins with him. At first, I was reluctant. The pumpkins are heavy and I thought it wasn’t that great of an idea, but after continual badgering I gave in. Wow, these pumpkins are really heavy I thought. Throwing it as far as I could it came down with a loud splash spraying liquid everywhere. Mason turned around with a huge smile across his face. I watch as it slowly disappeared and hit bottom. Ever so slowly, I began dragging it then without warning a heavy tug revealed something was pulling on my line. Instantly, I set the hook hard. Upwards my line shot and instantly a bass was tail walking across the surface scattering water everywhere. At that point Mason looked back and said, “I told you smashing pumpkins was fun!”

We really weren’t smashing big orange pumpkins, but the new YUM Pumpkin ‘Ed Jigs (www.lurenet.com) by YUM Lures. It is shaped just like an oversized pumpkin, but it’s really a stand-up jighead for power shaking. The YUM Pumpkin ‘Ed Jigs feature a horizontal line tie along with a pumpkin shaped head that keeps the jig vertical. This keeps the YUM Pumpkin ‘Ed Jig in the vertical position and lures attached to it in a more up and down position. “I like just using a slow steady retrieve when I fish with it. It’s definitely a bottom bouncing lure similar to a shakyhead, but a lot heavier and bigger hook,” said Mason (www.jimmymasonbasspro.com). Mason, whose biggest stringer of 28.4-pounds came on a shakyhead during a Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament on Clear Lake in California, believes the new YUM Pumpkin ‘Ed Jig is going to produce some big stringers.  

Normally with a YUM Pumpkin ‘Ed Jig, Mason uses a 7’ Dobyns 704 or 764 spinning rod with a Lew’s Tournament Pro size 30 spinning reel and 8- to 10-pound test Vicious Elite fluorocarbon fishing line with 3/8-ounce or less, but on the heavier 1/2- or 5/8-ounce he uses a 7’4” Dobyns 745 casting rods with a Lew’s Tournament Pro 6:3.1 casting reel rigged with 12- or 15-pound test Vicious Elite Fluorocarbon. The YUM Pumpkin ‘Ed Jigs come in 3/16-, 1/4-, 5/16-, 3/8-, and 5/8-ounce with hooks sizes from 3/0- to 6/0-hooks. It’s available in either black or green.

As far as lures go Mason likes the new YUM Pumpkin ‘Ed Jig because it can support larger soft plastic lures like the new F2 MightEE Worm. “If I could only have two colors, I would use a green YUM Pumpkin ‘Ed Jig with a green pumpkin F2 MightEE Worm or the black YUM Pumpkin ‘Ed Jig and junebug colored YUM F2 MightEE Worm,” said Mason.

The heavier YUM Pumpkin ‘Ed Jig makes fishing deep ledges easier or getting your jighead down in strong currents. Obvious places where anglers will be fishing these jigheads are on ledges on Kentucky Lake, Lake Guntersville or Pickwick Lake.
Are you ready to go smash some pumpkins? It’s definitely a lot of fun and an extremely productive way of catching bass.