Jig Fishing Questions

[J Francho]

Those are good points. Something I think I take for granted. Probably something I forget sometimes too. Slowing down is tough when your not getting bit. A lighter jig forces you to slow down. Good stuff.

[Mccallister25]

I will go pick up some smaller jigs today. What kind of trailer do you use on the smaller jigs?

I personally use the Rage Tail chunk, but there are plenty of other chunk trailers out there if you like a certain brand. The Rage chunk fits perfectly to a smaller jig.

[Brian Needham]

I always use the rage craw......then bite it down to whatever size you want.

creates one less bait to store.

[J Francho]

I used to do that, but the chunks are more durable, so I went back to carrying both. There are cases where the chunks aren't available in the same color as the craw, so for that I'm chewing coffee scented plastic.

[Mccallister25]

I used to use the craw, and bite two of the chunks off the body. I agree with Francho though, the chunk seems more durable to me. I carry both most of the time for different applications.

[stk]

I've been pretty happy with the rage tail baby craw on smaller jigs or when I want a smaller profile.  I have also been happy with the netbait paca chunks.

[Mccallister25]

I like the paca chunks. They're pretty freakin durable, but in my eyes.. Nothing touches my Rage Tail.

[tcbass]

Here's a little piece I put together, The jig is my favorite lure to fish because of it's versatlity.

Representation,

First let's start with what a jig represents underwater, I believe the most

Popular use of it is to imitate a Crayfish but they also can imitate baitfish as well.

Jigs come in many different shapes, sizes and colors etc. The most popular crayfish imitators seem to be the good old skirted jig usually tipped with some sort of plastic or pork trailer.

Speaking of sizes, shapes, colors, I'm only going to really get into the skirted jig with a plastic or pork trailer as this is the bait I primarily use, and use it as a crayfish imitator only.

Sizes,

There is a very large size range available,

I mainly use 3 sizes of Jigs in my arsenal or depending on manufacturer the closest weight to these sizes 3/8 oz , ½ oz and ¾ oz.

I will mainly use a 3/8oz when fishing really shallow. The presentation has more time to be subtle because of the lighter weight than just crashing on the bottom in the shallow water.

1/2 oz. Jig

 This is my go to, if there was only one jig weight aloud in my box, this would be it. I guess you could say the happy medium. I fish this 99 percent of the time from a regular bank down to 15 ft and anything in between.

The only time I go to a 3/4 oz. Is if I need to get through some thick weeds, the wind is really blowing or I am fishing dep but want to fish it faster than normal.

Colors,

I don't get crazy on colors when it comes to jigs. I have 3 colors that I have a ton of confidence in and those are Browns, Greens, and Black. It seems the jig has excepted rules on what colors for what conditions were faced with, green or brown, natural colors for clearer water and black or darker colors for murkier water or night time. I do follow that to a point but not because of the rule but because I have confidence in throwing those baits in those conditions. Ive caught fish in clear water with a black jig and fish in murky water and at night with a green jig so what's that tell us. Color is confidence in my book.

Trailers/Chunks

These come in many shapes and sizes, Most of them are made to represent the pincher end of the crayfish which are either threaded or simply hooked on to the jig.

I go rather simple in this area as far as selection.

I mainly use 3 colors in 2 sizes, Green, Brown and Black in 2 or 3 sizes I always match the color of the trailer with the jig, (just a confidence thing)

I will normally start off fishing with a 2 trailer in tournaments, I feel the smaller size may get me more bites in order to get my limit then I may upgrade trailer size to go after larger fish, but there is no rule here either, as I have caught fish over 6lbs. on 2 trailers and fish less than 12 on 3 trailers.

As far as the many styles and brands of trailers, my selection is simple I use my own, I feel they give me the best chances of catching fish and here is why: When a bass hits a jig they will normally engulf the whole lure, Jig and trailer. It only takes a split second for that fish to reject the bait if it notices anything artificial about it. When I make my trailers I add a lot of crayfish oil to the plastic prior to cooking then once poured they go through a 2 stage salting process. Once you get a fish to bite them they are hard pressed to let it go because there is so much taste for them. Because there is so much craw oil in the plastic it makes the baits very soft which helps release the oils and salt when the bait is bitten. (Shameless Plug I know, but the truth as well)

The Bite!

I have been fishing a jig predominantly for the last few years and have probably experienced every type of bite possible, but then again maybe not, sometimes you don't feel anything at all, then sometimes they almost rip the rod out of your hand, and then you have everything in between, you must always be ready to set the hook.

 It is a must to be a line watcher when fishing a jig because you may not always be in direct contact with the lure, and the little twitch in the line that you didn't see could have been a 10 fish or the fish of a lifetime.

One thing I really like to do is know the depth of the water I'm casting to, I feel this is very important, a ½ oz jig on 15lb mono sinks at about  1ft per second. So I know if I'm casting it into 12ft of water and the line stops sinking when I count to 6, something sucked it in, reel in any slack and set the hook.

This is where I believe salts and scents are very handy, normally when I'm fishing a jig I'm fishing some type of structure, rocks, wood, grass, etc. with the equipment on the market you can pretty much feel everything the lure bumps into, when first getting into jig fishing I might have questioned myself was that a fish or a rock, don't know for sure.           But now using my own baits and good equipment as well as a lot of time fishing the jig,  I have the confidence in them to know that when I feel that little bump, I can pause and wait a second or two to see if there is any activity or lack there of on the end of the line before ramming the hook into a nice bass, or a stump.

Equipment:

For fishing these type and size of jigs, I use a 7' Heavy action bait casting rod, I feel this is very important and will not use a Jig on anything lighter, for a few reasons, 1.) These jigs normally have stout hooks that require a decent amount of force to get good penetration. I don't want to take the chance of losing a big fish because my rod didn't have enough power to drive the hook home, 2.) You have the weed guard to deal with as well when setting the hook. 3.) A lot of times the bass will really clamp down on a jig to crush it making it harder to move the jig on the set to get a good hook set, I noticed this especially with small mouth bass.  As for the brand of rod that is personal preference but I think you should get the best you can afford in this area or the added sensitivity.

For a reel, I prefer High speed reels 6.1:1 or 6.3:1 and a decent amount of line retrieval per handle turn. I like this because I can pick up any slack really fast as well as keep up with the fish if it is charging towards me. This is another brand preference issue, I prefer smaller profile reels so I can palm the reel and rest the line going into the reel on my pointer finger for extra sensitivity.

Line

I mainly use 15 lb test mono line for most jig fishing, I don't really go any lighter than that, I will go heavier for certain situations depending on a few factors, structure or cover that I'm fishing, or even the size of the fish I have a chance at catching will dictate the size.  In really clear water I will use fluorocarbon line for reduced visibility. And if I need to go above 20 lb mono for any reason I will switch to a braid for line diameter purposes. You can use any of the three all the time, these are just my preferences and how I utilize each for certain situations.

This is not intended to be a know all of Jig fishing document, these are the ways and equipment I personally like to use and have confidence in for the situations I face,(Notice the title) there are so many variables in fishing that could call for a different tactic from the lure type and  size, to the tackle and line, it would be impossible to list them all.

Some techniques I use...

When I make a cast I let the bait sink, you must always watch your line, a lot of times they will hit it on the initial fall and your line will either twitch, stop before it should, or start going sideways, when this happens reel up the slack and set the hook.   If the bait makes it to the bottom I will wait about 3 or 4 seconds and then drag it about 6-8 inches (Right now he's just cruising on the bottom), then pause, after 3-4 seconds drag again, and repeat this.  Once I feel any obstruction, I pause then shake without dragging, I feel this simulates the crayfish trying to burrow under whatever obstacle it just bumped into.  Then I give it 2 quick very short snaps, this would simulate the crayfish fleeing from a predator, then let it hit bottom and repeat the whole process.  A lot of times right after the pause when you go to drag again it will feel heavy, set the hook. Hook sets are free, If you haven't fished a jig a lot , it takes time before you can get a really good handle on determining fish bites from obstructions.   Practice makes perfect and when in doubt set the hook.

That's for mostly open water hump style fishing and beating a bank. In cover I like to throw it in the nastiest stuff possible and shake it around then repeat casting to it (pretty much pick it to pieces.)

Don't ever think there is such a thing as to shallow, I use to cast to about a foot off shore till a guy on the back of my boat beat me bad, the fish were in that spot right on the bank, now I cast to were I'm pretty much hitting the shoreline.

Do you retrieve a swim jig like crawfish along the bottom too?

[Big239Fish]

I use 3 trailers when imitating craws. Rage chunk, Yum's craw papi, and a KVD sweet chunk. Which one I use depends on what I have the most of at the time haha.

For swim jigs its either a double tail grub in the spring or a small swimbait in the summer/fall. Worked out pretty well so far. Especially the swimbait trailer. KVD 4" swimmin caffeine shad works like a charm in summer.

[Schuyler co]

Fished a KVD swim jig i got at my local BPS, caught 10-15 bass but the weed gaurd only has like 2 or 3 strands left...what's a better swim jig I can buy at BPS?

[Brian Needham]

Fished a KVD swim jig i got at my local BPS, caught 10-15 bass but the weed gaurd only has like 2 or 3 strands left...what's a better swim jig I can buy at BPS?

save some cash and get a better product..... order from Siebert Outdoors.

click the link on the right hand side of the page.

[Schuyler co]

Thanks Brian! Just placed an order of Siebert jigs; storm OOMOD, tournament swim jig and bullet jig. Gotta be better than the KVDs!

[Elkaholic247]

I fish a small lake (about 300 acres) that is mostly devoid of cover. There is sparse rock, and some fallen timber and brush piles, but mostly on or very near the bank. There are a lot of docks, but most of these sit in shallow water as well. The bottom of the lake is pretty much all soft mud. There is very little noticeable off shore structure either. The main structure on the lake is a few steep banks, some points, a dam with some rip rap that drops off fairly quickly, and a ton of flats and gradual sloping banks. The lake is 60 feet at its deepest point. The main forage is shad, bluegill, and crawfish. The lake also holds crappie, and catfish. Although it may not seem like the ideal bass fishing lake, it is a very productive lake, and I have caught fish up to 8 lbs. The average fish is probably 1-2 lbs, but there are a ton of 3-4 pounders as well. 

 

I have been trying to learn to fish a jig this summer, but I have yet to catch a single fish on one. I have been using mainly natural colored 1/2 ounce football jigs on 15 lb floro, and dragging it slowly on the bottom. Every once in a while ill give it a couple hops, or stroke it, but mostly I'm just dragging it. As I mentioned before there is hardly any cover, so it feels like I am just dragging the jig through muck. Occasionally Ill bring it over something hard, and then I really try to slow down, or even shake the jig in place. I assume dragging it on the bottom, even where there is no cover, is kicking up some mud. I would think this should attract some fish, but I just can't buy a bite on the jig. I'll refish the same exact areas with a texas rig worm, or even a texas rig craw imitation, and I will often catch 3 or 4 fish right away. I live on the lake so I fish it practically every day. I know I am fishing in productive areas and at the proper depths.

 

Based on all the information I gave above, can anyone give me any tips? Is there another style jig I should be using besides the football head? I know football heads are meant for dragging over rocks, but I figured since Im fishing deep and on the bottom they should work in my lake too. Should a jig always be fished in cover, and therefore is not a suitable presentation on a lake like mine? Any opinions or advice is much appreciated.

 

 

 

[JThoms38]

I am new to Jig fishing.  I purchased some jigs in hopes to learn how to properly fish them.

I have a couple of questions,

When is the proper time to use a jig?

How do I work the lure?

Are trailers required? and What advantages do they add?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

I like to use a crawfish trailer and make it realistic, pop it onc twice or the occasional three times and let it sit, use a craw with floating claws for added realism and watch how a real craw behave so mimick it, good luck man jig fishing is a blast!

[TheSmilingSwordsman]

Elkaholic,

I fish a very similar lake. The bite on a jig seems to have dried up for me right now. Earlier I was fishing natural colored 3/8 oz football jigs dragging and hopping them along the bottom and was absolutely slaying them. With this hotter weather, I can't seem to get much of anything to bite my jigs.

With that said, I am getting bites on other baits. It may be that your fish just don't want a jig drug on the bottom right now. You might try some more aggressive hopping or try swimming your jigs and see if that works. Don't give up on them, it may just be the wrong time of year for your lake.

[Mccallister25]

Swordsman, it's never the wrong time of year for a jig. If the 3/8 oz isn't working for you anymore, move down to a 5/16 oz jig. Big bass will still eat it too, trust me.

[Slade House]

Here's a little piece I put together, The jig is my favorite lure to fish because of it's versatlity.

Representation,

First let's start with what a jig represents underwater, I believe the most

Popular use of it is to imitate a Crayfish but they also can imitate baitfish as well.

Jigs come in many different shapes, sizes and colors etc. The most popular crayfish imitators seem to be the good old skirted jig usually tipped with some sort of plastic or pork trailer.

Speaking of sizes, shapes, colors, I'm only going to really get into the skirted jig with a plastic or pork trailer as this is the bait I primarily use, and use it as a crayfish imitator only.

Sizes,

There is a very large size range available,

I mainly use 3 sizes of Jigs in my arsenal or depending on manufacturer the closest weight to these sizes 3/8 oz , ½ oz and ¾ oz.

I will mainly use a 3/8oz when fishing really shallow. The presentation has more time to be subtle because of the lighter weight than just crashing on the bottom in the shallow water.

1/2 oz. Jig

 This is my go to, if there was only one jig weight aloud in my box, this would be it. I guess you could say the happy medium. I fish this 99 percent of the time from a regular bank down to 15 ft and anything in between.

The only time I go to a 3/4 oz. Is if I need to get through some thick weeds, the wind is really blowing or I am fishing dep but want to fish it faster than normal.

Colors,

I don't get crazy on colors when it comes to jigs. I have 3 colors that I have a ton of confidence in and those are Browns, Greens, and Black. It seems the jig has excepted rules on what colors for what conditions were faced with, green or brown, natural colors for clearer water and black or darker colors for murkier water or night time. I do follow that to a point but not because of the rule but because I have confidence in throwing those baits in those conditions. Ive caught fish in clear water with a black jig and fish in murky water and at night with a green jig so what's that tell us. Color is confidence in my book.

Trailers/Chunks

These come in many shapes and sizes, Most of them are made to represent the pincher end of the crayfish which are either threaded or simply hooked on to the jig.

I go rather simple in this area as far as selection.

I mainly use 3 colors in 2 sizes, Green, Brown and Black in 2 or 3 sizes I always match the color of the trailer with the jig, (just a confidence thing)

I will normally start off fishing with a 2 trailer in tournaments, I feel the smaller size may get me more bites in order to get my limit then I may upgrade trailer size to go after larger fish, but there is no rule here either, as I have caught fish over 6lbs. on 2 trailers and fish less than 12 on 3 trailers.

As far as the many styles and brands of trailers, my selection is simple I use my own, I feel they give me the best chances of catching fish and here is why: When a bass hits a jig they will normally engulf the whole lure, Jig and trailer. It only takes a split second for that fish to reject the bait if it notices anything artificial about it. When I make my trailers I add a lot of crayfish oil to the plastic prior to cooking then once poured they go through a 2 stage salting process. Once you get a fish to bite them they are hard pressed to let it go because there is so much taste for them. Because there is so much craw oil in the plastic it makes the baits very soft which helps release the oils and salt when the bait is bitten. (Shameless Plug I know, but the truth as well)

The Bite!

I have been fishing a jig predominantly for the last few years and have probably experienced every type of bite possible, but then again maybe not, sometimes you don't feel anything at all, then sometimes they almost rip the rod out of your hand, and then you have everything in between, you must always be ready to set the hook.

 It is a must to be a line watcher when fishing a jig because you may not always be in direct contact with the lure, and the little twitch in the line that you didn't see could have been a 10 fish or the fish of a lifetime.

One thing I really like to do is know the depth of the water I'm casting to, I feel this is very important, a ½ oz jig on 15lb mono sinks at about  1ft per second. So I know if I'm casting it into 12ft of water and the line stops sinking when I count to 6, something sucked it in, reel in any slack and set the hook.

This is where I believe salts and scents are very handy, normally when I'm fishing a jig I'm fishing some type of structure, rocks, wood, grass, etc. with the equipment on the market you can pretty much feel everything the lure bumps into, when first getting into jig fishing I might have questioned myself was that a fish or a rock, don't know for sure.           But now using my own baits and good equipment as well as a lot of time fishing the jig,  I have the confidence in them to know that when I feel that little bump, I can pause and wait a second or two to see if there is any activity or lack there of on the end of the line before ramming the hook into a nice bass, or a stump.

Equipment:

For fishing these type and size of jigs, I use a 7' Heavy action bait casting rod, I feel this is very important and will not use a Jig on anything lighter, for a few reasons, 1.) These jigs normally have stout hooks that require a decent amount of force to get good penetration. I don't want to take the chance of losing a big fish because my rod didn't have enough power to drive the hook home, 2.) You have the weed guard to deal with as well when setting the hook. 3.) A lot of times the bass will really clamp down on a jig to crush it making it harder to move the jig on the set to get a good hook set, I noticed this especially with small mouth bass.  As for the brand of rod that is personal preference but I think you should get the best you can afford in this area or the added sensitivity.

For a reel, I prefer High speed reels 6.1:1 or 6.3:1 and a decent amount of line retrieval per handle turn. I like this because I can pick up any slack really fast as well as keep up with the fish if it is charging towards me. This is another brand preference issue, I prefer smaller profile reels so I can palm the reel and rest the line going into the reel on my pointer finger for extra sensitivity.

When I make a cast I let the bait sink, you must always watch your line, a lot of times they will hit it on the initial fall and your line will either twitch, stop before it should, or start going sideways, when this happens reel up the slack and set the hook.   If the bait makes it to the bottom I will wait about 3 or 4 seconds and then drag it about 6-8 inches (Right now he's just cruising on the bottom), then pause, after 3-4 seconds drag again, and repeat this.  Once I feel any obstruction, I pause then shake without dragging, I feel this simulates the crayfish trying to burrow under whatever obstacle it just bumped into.  Then I give it 2 quick very short snaps, this would simulate the crayfish fleeing from a predator, then let it hit bottom and repeat the whole process.  A lot of times right after the pause when you go to drag again it will feel heavy, set the hook. Hook sets are free, If you haven't fished a jig a lot , it takes time before you can get a really good handle on determining fish bites from obstructions.   Practice makes perfect and when in doubt set the hook.

 

Can you elaborate more on this process , specifically where is your rod tip position at each step? 

[BW208]

I just got my first two fish on a jig and I love it!  Bought a swim jig but I caught them just casting it into weed beds and jigging it up and down while bearly reeling.  My question is in a pond that is pretty much taken over by weeds whats a good way to fish a jig.  I think I may have just got lucky haha.  There is no way the jig (or anything else) could make it to the bottom around these weed beds.  So should I just let it hit the tops of the beds like they are the bottom or?

[OroBass]

You have to punch. You need a heavy action rod and a 3/4 to 1 oz punching weight. Rig it like a Texas rig using a flipping hook and a creature bait. I like to use a strike king rodent but any compact bait will work. I usually use 50 lb braid bus some guys go 65 lb plus.

[BW208]

Ya I do that but thats not a jig lol.

[OroBass]

Punching is a brand new thing for me. The ponds we fish are choked with penneywort. There are some big fish in there but the only way you gona get to em is heavy tackle or fish the edges and get lucky.

[OroBass]

If I'm punching I use up to 1 oz

[BW208]

Were you up at wyandotte using a whopper plopper a couple weeks ago?

[OroBass]

I've seen guys use 2 oz tungsten

[OroBass]

No