PABASS

In my very short observation with jig fishing black & blue seems to work better in stained to muddy water. In some of the clearer waters I have fished browns and greens produced more fish. In clear water do you still use a black & blue jig and or when do you choose to go with more natural colors?

I enjoy fishing jigs, starting learning to use jigs a few years ago. I read, watched many videos including Gene's on Jigs and went to a local pond and learned how to use them. They key here is time on the water and really when learning any new technique for me I need to know that I will catch bass to build my confidence level. This pond I would normally catch a few fish, when I tried the jig for the first time I think I caught 12 in two hours which for this pond is my record, this gave me confidence that I needed. Rarely I find do bass eat how I want them to and most times a jig works, once a bass is hooked I have never lost one. A jig basically imitates two food items, mainly crayfish and sometimes bait fish but I believe bluegill specifically, swim jigs are another story. For me imitating a crayfish is easy because I grew up in streams with these awesome animals so I have a decent understanding of how they swim and move in the water and this is what I imitate when I jig fish, warmer waters I may hop it more(no more then two hops at a time and not huge vertical hops), cooler waters I may drag it more but I start fast and slow it down and let the fish tell me how they want it. Some action of a jig imitates a bluegill especially color choices, but really your making a jig look like a crayfish so imitate one. Swim Jigs are new to me caught my first fish with one this year, they are just that you swim them slow or fast your mainly imitating a bait-fish. If you look at a swim jig its more point shape head, more fish looking, the skirts are normally shorter and you typically use a trailer with lot of action, I know most guys here use a swimbait as a trailer but I caught my fish using a rage craw.. Some jig heads are better suited for weeds, some for rock such as a Football jigs the head design keeps them from snagging. The head design is what determines the use, not always but they are the baseline choices. Now in my tackle box I have more jigs and trailers than any other lure combined they are a must learned technique in my opinion.

If you are truly concerned I would recommend speaking with your family doctor. Lead is bad for adults and kids alike we lived in an old home 1882 and our kids were tested for lead levels every year, just because its painted over doesn't mean its safe. We recently moved so its not a concern, however if I handled lead weights I make sure to wash my hands when I can.

Jig

One of the guys in our club is a Jig addict and he stands in second place for AOY, his primary weapon is the Jig. They do produce but sometimes they don't especially on lakes where the bass are hitting reaction type lures. GO JIGs!

Thanks again for all the replies, I know what I need to change and hopefully this will make all the difference.

I have a very similar setup and I would recommend using Berkley Nanofill with a leader as this line casts like a rocket. I also have the SaHara and love the reel along with my Stradics, if you go with a SaHara and upgrade the rod I know I would be happier, however I do like my mojo and stradic..

Thanks for all the replies, the hook(s) seem sharp but the gauge of them is thick and with the 8# line it just couldn't penetrate. I am going to try new hooks, the Mustad KVD elites look good. I am using a Spinning Outfit, Shimano SaHara, would like to get new combo(rood and baitcaster) but with a new house and car its not in this years budget.

Few problems with FC If you buy the cheap stuff its crap and breaks and while I have not tried Pline its not cheap. The second issue with FC is proper knots, FC with cut into its self and if you tie that knot wrong it will do just that. I personally stick with a berkley braid knot which is basically an improved clinch but with the line doubled. Also tie a Palomar but this knot can get you in trouble because it will also cut into its self, however there is a youtube video that explains how to avoid this I believe on ***. Keep practicing the knot that works best for you and test them you will get it right and FC is worth the effort.. I love Seaguar InvizX

Not the highest but high drag, I didn't really set hard, so are we saying that when I sweep hook-set I should hear the drag? On the second fish, felt the weight basically just reeled into the fish with a sweep set, felt the head shake and drag went and then fish was off, with the smaller baits I haven't had this issue. The hooks on the 1.5 or 2.5 are huge I was thinking they never penetrated the mouth, but sounds like everyone believes I ripped it away? bigbill, I tried Nanofill with crankbaits and maybe it was the rod at the time love the sensitivity but my catch rate went down, I seem to do better with mono and treble hooked hardbaits.

I use them on jerkbaits and believe they provide more flash, some people put red hooks as the first hook on hardbaits and report more fish hit that area, IE eating the bait from the head. I have seen it work against me when fishing clear water and the fish didn't want the extra flash, so yes I think it can help or hurt depending on the conditions and fish.

Let me first start off by saying that I really enjoy crankbait fishing I don't get to do it often from the shore line so my experience is limited. The weekend in a club tourney I missed two very big fish that I am having a hard time getting over loosing. I am using a setup that works great with smaller crankbaits a KVD squarebill 1.0, get solid hookups. Yesterday I needed to get deeper and a larger profile (KVd 1.5) the fish big fish came felt him did a slight sweeping hookset he boiled on the top and was gone, about 10 min later hooked into another larger one, felt her weight sweeping slightly felt a head shake and my drag went and she was gone. My drag is set very high and this fish took drag. So the reason I believe that I failed to connect was line, I was using 8# Berkley XT mono, I know Gene wrote an article on larger hooks and line choice so I am contributing that logic here, what are everyone's thoughts? I am using a mojo plastics rod. I would love to have a crankbiat setup but that wont be happening this year and this combo gets allot of use with jerkbaits and it works perfect for them.

Heck I made money buying fishing gear, right

I would say one of my larger hardbaits would be a SmithWick suspending rouge its around 6" long, plastic would be an 8" worm...

Bass cant see very well in night conditions, A Bass's eye are built similar to ours in that they contain lots of cones. They stay tight to cover and familiar surroundings. Recently read an article by a Blind Pro Angler and from this article you want to key in other senses that Bass have and the one he targets is sound and vibration. Bass can key in on sound and vibration before sight, my advice would be black and noisy. Buzzbaits, Chatterbaits, Jig with rattles and a frog.

Its a small world after all, its a small, small world!

My time on the water is limited so I might use it some this outing, I can walk the dog with it just never sure why to use it over a popr or buzzbait, but the responses clears that up some.

I own one, a spitin image, used it a few times and don't recall getting bit on it, I prefer a Pop-R only because it caught me "lots" more fish, when is it a better time to use a walk the dog style bait instead of a Pop-R or even a Buzzbait? I am hitting a new lake for me and time will be precocious, I was thinking about starting with the buzzbait for roughly 30 min and then moving to the Pop-R, but maybe I need to tweak this plan?

By coloring the braid you must believe in some importance of the fish visually being able to see the line, this is key, instead of me coloring my line with a sharpie I tie a modified albright knot and use 10# Seagaur FC InvisX, so far this hasn't let me down. I fish allot of rock and timber and the occasional living tree and FC stands up to it better then Fireline/Nanofill. I don't tie leaders for every lure, mainly on the ones the fish get a good look at.

3/8 ounce green pumpkin jig with matching color rage craw, with this deal I would always catch fish..

I am a nice guy but I love to RAGE every now and again lol.. Awesome baits, want to give the shell crackers a try and the new craws as well..

Good to know I am curious to know if you plan on trying these "Gamakatsu Swivel Shot G-Finesse Hook" I like the design on these much better.

Organization, If I cant find it, its of no use to me. I am a rider so I have limited space, my backpack without it I cant adjust on the water.

Good write up I have both frogs and stick with the spro, the KVD model is just a tad to big and I think that is why I miss fish on it, the spro frog is just right and I took Ish's recommendation of bending out the hooks slightly, I did this with one hook more so then the other and while I get weeds on it now I find most of my hookups are from that hook that I bent out more, also my hookups are more then 75% of the time.