Craw

George, that is one great description of c-rigging. You really blew a door open in my mind. Awesome attention to details! THANKS

Bites on a jig vary from a sharp "thump" to a slight "tick" that you should feel in your rod handle. Sometimes your line will just start moving out to the side or will come right at you(this usually indicates a quality fish). Believe it or not, clear line enables me to see the line much better and I use it for all worm'n and jig'n. Most bites on the jig can be felt so don't worry about it. There are subtle bites that can be missed by our sense of touch so keep an eye on your line. It will jump and indicate a bite. Also there are times when you will go to lift the jig after it touches down on the bottom and you will feel the fish tugging. I believe that you need a quick hookset when jig fishing but I don't go for that bionic eye crossing hookset that you so commonly see. I find that I need to generate speed in the rod tip more than power to really stick the fish good. Less power/more speed will be easier on your joints and lower back in the long run. Tecniques I like with the pig and jig #1-lift and drop(pitching and flipping) #2-swimming(pump the bait gently while swimming it around cover or current) #3-vertical jigging(just like a spoon) #4-yo-yo(steep banks, bluffs, etc...) GOOD LUCK the jig is an awesome bait and I wish you much success with it.

Good topic! I am guilty of fishing the pig and jig even when I know that another tecnique will produce more bites. Sometimes I feel kind of bad about it so it's nice to see others with the same problem. Sometimes the mood strikes me to catch as many bass as I feel is possible but more often than not I keep pitching that jig. On the days when I get those real quality fish on the jig then I sure am glad that I stayed with it.

I like to fish isolated cover on big flats. I've just caught so many larger fish on the flats that I can't pass them by. I also love to fish headwaters to a reservoir and the backs of creeks. Mainly because of the abundance of cover and main structural features so close to one another. I can be sitting in a creek up on the middle of a flat working a laydown and turn around and fish the deep water edge of the flat. If you want to talk river fishing then I would rather fish the tailraces below a hydroelectric dam than anywhere else in the world! Lots of giant smallies and quality largemouth. Not to mention the stripers, hybrids, white bass, muskie, walleye and the occasional catfish on a crank or jig. I'm a bass fisherman at heart but I'm not the least bit upset when I catch another species. Caught a big snappin turtle once flipping the shallow side of a boathouse with a pig and jig. AWESOME! I wish my waters had drum in them. It's all good on bass tackle!

I love Bass fishing at night. No doubt about it, my biggest fish have mostly been caught at night. Spinnerbait is #1 tool for me at night. Conventional wisdom is to fish clear water at night and stained water only in daylight. I have to say that I have been unable to disprove this. With all those big bass that live in the upperend of my lake(which is stained) I can't seem to get them to bite at night so it's back down to the lowerend when darkness falls. My lake has one mudflat in particular that is probably 10 acres in size. It has isolated laydowns on it from flooding. Depth is 1-4ft, visibility is 1ft. During the day I have fished these laydowns and caught bass from 1-6lbs. I've pulled as many as 25 bass from one isolated laydown during one outing. Problem is that when it gets dark...nothing! Is it the stained water/darkness combination? Is it possible that the bass move out of the cover and prowl the flat(shad still flippin around everywhere after dark sometimes). Any of you guys catching them in stained water at night? Other tecniques? Don't get me wrong, Spinnerbait is #1 for me but I also use t-rigged worms, pig and jig and jitterbug. I would LOVE to add the upperend to my list of night fishing spots since I know firsthand about the big bass potential in my lake. What do Ya'll think?

Current breaks are what you need to key on. When the river is up the majority of the fish will hold in and around current breaks along the shoreline. You're boat will be drifting fast so fish each break you pass by with spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, cranks and jigs. If you have a good trolling motor you can position your boat right next to the shoreline and troll upstream. That way you can fish each eddy with better precision. Have your partner stand up front with you while you do it. When the river is at normal or low flow the fish will be scattered everywhere. They still will relate to current breaks but they will cruise around anywhere they want. Midriver current breaks become very important now. Soft plastic jerkbaits and tubes will get them in that situation. Position your boat out in the middle of the river if thats where alot of the current breaks are. River fish are all to eager to hit a wide variety of lures so I won't go into all the choices that work on my rivers. One last thing...Don't ignore the rapids. Fish will relate to these either on the upstream or downstream side. Have your partner hold you in place with the gas motor and work the falls all the way from one end to the other(do the same for him). Good Luck! Craw

Highland Reservoir...Steep banks, limestone bluffs, sharp points. Cover is mostly deadfalls and docks. Upper end is shallow and stained(1ft. vis.)while lower end is deep and much clearer(4-5ft. vis.). Lake has LM, SM, Spots, Walleye, Stripers, Hybrids, White Bass, BG, Crappie, Yellow Perch, Muskie, Cats and Carp. Primary forage for Bass is Crawfish, Alewifes, Gizzard shad, Bluegill/Yellow Perch and insects. Lots more minnow type species that I am unable to identify. System is 21 miles long with lots of coves that resemble main lake(Steep banks with deadfalls and docks). Bottom composition is rock, clay, sand, gravel and mud. I've been fishing it for many years but I would welcome any advice on locating possible offshore structure. Summer tactics for LM, SM and Spots might help me greatly. THANKS