How To Rig & Fish A Deadly Dudley Bay Chovey

If you’re doing any sort of saltwater fishing where you’re targeting a species that feeds on minnows, the Bay Chovey could be a perfect solution. It comes in a range of colors and the action on it is awesome. In this post, I’m going to be talking about my favorite color, how to rig a Bay Chovey, and how to actually fish it.

I like this bait because it looks and swims exactly like a little minnow. It’ll work great for speckled trout, redfish, flounder, and it’ll even work for some freshwater fish as well. As long as you have a rod that can cast well, you have your Bay Chovey, and you have a hook, you should be able to catch a fish. I’m going to be showing you exactly what I use and how I use it.

Deadly Dudley Bay Chovey Color

I haven’t been able to try all the colors but I have tried a few. In my opinion, the color doesn’t matter that much and I think you’ll be able to catch fish on anything that resembles a minnow. Figure out what the minnows in your area look like and use something similar.

The color I’ve been using as of late is the Opening Day with Chartreuse Tail. It looks pretty much identical to a minnow and I’ve had awesome results with it. I also like the Opening Night color, which is a little bit darker.

The Gear

Like I said before, as long as you have your bait, a hook, and a rod that’ll cast well, you should have no problem getting something to bite. Some people want to know the exact best setup and that’s why I’ll share what I use myself. It might not be the absolute best but it’s worked well for me.

The fishing rod I normally use is a 7-foot medium-action spinning rod. This has given me the perfect balance of power and casting distance and can handle anything I’m fishing for in my area. This will be able to handle pretty much anything below 10 lbs. If you’re fishing for heavier fish (big redfish, etc) then you might want to use a medium-heavy rod. The length isn’t all that important, so just use whatever you’re comfortable with.

The fishing line I normally use is 20 lb braid with a 20 lb fluorocarbon leader. Again, this can handle anything I’m fishing for here, but you might want to go heavier if you’re going after some large fish. I like braid because it casts a lot better, it’s way more sensitive, and it lets me use a heavier line. I like fluoro as my leader because it’s invisible in the water and is a lot more abrasion-resistant.

The hook I normally use is a 1/4 oz jig head. It doesn’t matter if it’s a mushroom jig or whatever else, it should work just fine. I like using a bit of a larger hook because it won’t go in the mouth as far. I generally catch and release so I want to be able to pull that hook out quickly, without causing damage.

How To Rig A Deadly Dudley Bay Chovey

With a lot of the other soft plastics out there, you can normally rig them up a hundred and one ways. What I like about the Bay Chovey is that it only has one simple way to set it up. I’m sure you could find other ways to set the thing up, but there’s really no need, in my opinion. The jig head in the picture below is smaller than I’d recommend. I didn’t have a 1/4 oz so I had to make do with what I had. You should still get the idea.

Deadly Dudley Bay Chovey

The first thing you’ll want to do is tie on your jig head using your favorite knot. I normally use the Palomar or Improved Clinch. What you’ll then want to do is put the hook in the center of the face. Make sure it’s in the center, otherwise, it won’t sit on there straight and you’ll get some wonky action.

Deadly Dudley Bay Chovey

Slide the bait onto the hook until you reach the bend. All you have to do now is work the hook out the back of the bait. Your hook should come out of the back and it should be sitting perfectly straight. If not, make some quick adjustments.

How To Fish A Deadly Dudley Bay Chovey

Another thing I like about this bait is that you can fish it however you like. It has an awesome amount of action and as long as you’re swimming it in the right area, something should bite. You can also spice things up a bit to try to intrigue the fish even more.

Method 1: Cast and retrieve. This is the most basic method of fishing the Bay Chovey but it still works incredibly well. All you have to do is think about where the fish might be, cast it 5-10 yards past that point, let it sink a bit, and start reeling. If the bite is pretty slow, you’ll want to slow your reel down and swim the bait just off the bottom. If the bite is hot, you can speed things up and swim the bait closer to the surface.

Method 2: Twitch and jerk. If you want to take things to the next level, you can try adding a bit of action. Everything is exactly the same in that you’ll cast it past your target, you’ll let it sink down, and then you’ll start reeling. If things are slow, swim it off the bottom. If things are good, swim it faster near the surface. The only difference is that you’ll add twitches and jerks while you’re reeling in. You only need to do this every 5 seconds or so and it’ll cause the bait to dart in different directions. Master the first method first and then you can experiment with this.

Let me know your thoughts and any questions you have. Like this article? Feel free to give it a share!

Want to enter into our fishing gear giveaway? We’ll be doing giveaways on our YouTube channel and all you have to do to enter is click here to subscribe to our channel, like a video, and comment giveaway. More comments = more chances to win.

Jon Webber

I'm by no means an outdoors or fishing expert, but it's something I've been interested in for over 20 years. I created this site to test out different gear and techniques to see what actually works.

Recent Posts