With all of the rain, our lakes have been high and muddy this Winter cutting into my fishing time. So....I've been watching a lot of jig videos and trying to learn a few new tricks. I came across a few tips I want to try this year. 

 

I've always fished a jig fairly slow, short hops and drags. I always have heard you can't fish one too slow. But one new thing I want to try is going a little heavier and keep it moving without pausing. Giving them less time to study it. Anybody fish jigs like this?

 

 

Jigs wouldn't be my first choice for those muddy conditions, but I do think there's something to using a heavy jig for a fast vertical drop to trigger bites.  

It is not written anywhere that Jigs & Texas Rigs have to be fished slow.

 

This is one technique I'm using right now!

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Todd2 said:

With all of the rain, our lakes have been high and muddy this Winter cutting into my fishing time. So....I've been watching a lot of jig videos and trying to learn a few new tricks. I came across a few tips I want to try this year. 

 

I've always fished a jig fairly slow, short hops and drags. I always have heard you can't fish one too slow. But one new thing I want to try is going a little heavier and keep it moving without pausing. Giving them less time to study it. Anybody fish jigs like this?

 

 

same down here in east tennessee! high muddy water means its flip:30 and time to get your black n blue on!

 

i stroke football head jigs quite a bit, depending on the structure you are fishing it can make all the difference in the world. I can think of several times on cherokee(especially in the fall) you would pop it 3-5 feet over a big boulder and it would never touch down

I'll fish a 3/4 to 1 oz. jig in shallow water year round to get a reaction strike. I also find myself swimming a 1/2 oz. flipping jig more that dragging it on the bottom.

4 hours ago, Todd2 said:

With all of the rain, our lakes have been high and muddy this Winter cutting into my fishing time. So....I've been watching a lot of jig videos and trying to learn a few new tricks. I came across a few tips I want to try this year. 

 

I've always fished a jig fairly slow, short hops and drags. I always have heard you can't fish one too slow. But one new thing I want to try is going a little heavier and keep it moving without pausing. Giving them less time to study it. Anybody fish jigs like this?

 

 

 

Can't help you but I can relate to the weather and muddy water here in KY. 

 

I'm ready for it to dry up!

You can always fish a swim jig with a thumping or high movement trailer. Also a bladed jig/chatterbait will work. 

When bass are hunting and eating crawdads nothing out produces a jig because it replicates a crawdad. 

Study the prey to understand the predator. Crawdads are vulnerable when out and about moving around looking for food. When a crawdad recognizes it's in harms way it darts to find cover under something and the bass must get to it before it can hide.

Fast movements can trigger strike when fishing a jig. It's a combination of slower and faster movements that successful jig anlers incorporate into the retreive.

Tom

53 minutes ago, WRB said:

When a crawdad recognizes it's in harms way it darts to find cover under something and the bass must get to it before it can hide

 

Actually the crawfish flips its tail moving it upward, it does this 3-4 times in rapid succession moving the crawfish upwards & away from danger. 

 

This is why stroking or hopping jigs & t-rigs is so deadly.

Any prey Escaping upwards towards the surface is sure death from a pursuing bass. 

Crawdads propell themselves backwards by kicking their tails and also shoot a few inches along the bottom. Agree it's the panicked escape that gets the basses attention along with descending down from into deeper water your initial cast has the jig falling down through the water column and this movement triggers a strike. If the jig makes it to the bottom the bass usually watches it and strikes as soon as it moves or gets close enough to see it move trying to escape. 

This is why I like to move a jig using my reel down hill because 1 turn is about 18" to 24" and the rod is in position to get a quick hook set. Vertically stroking works, shaking works, slow crawling works, short hops works, try everything.

Tom

So everything I've read and watched shows a craw doing one of three things when attacked by a predator fish.

 

1.) Hold their ground and raise up with those big claws up and waving around. (Shaking a jig comes to mind)

 

2.) Shoot backwards fast in 2 or 3 pumps of the tail looking for some cover.

(Stroking or hopping)

 

3.) Become dinner

 

Of course I have caught a lot of Bass just crawling but even then you have to hop it over cover which is often when my attacks occur.

 

This all relates to casting jig. Pitching and flipping are all about rate of fall. I'm going to experiment more with heavier weights and faster retrieves.

16 minutes ago, Todd2 said:

(Shaking a jig comes to mind)

 

It never occurs to some anglers to put a craw worm on a shaky head. 

19 minutes ago, Todd2 said:

This all relates to casting jig. Pitching and flipping are all about rate of fall. I'm going to experiment more with heavier weights and faster retrieves.

 

Exactly 

 

With jigs we are trying to emanate crawfish but we need to remember they emanate bluegill quite well.  

 

Bluegill ain't slow ?

Swim jig/ Rage Tail Structure Bug trailer

 

 

What action jig rod do you guys use for 3/4 - 1oz jigs?

3 hours ago, Todd2 said:

What action jig rod do you guys use for 3/4 - 1oz jigs?

 

Daiwa Tatula 7' 1" Medium Heavy X-Fast ?

2 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Daiwa Tatula 7' 1" Medium Heavy X-Fast ?

I would use the H/F rod for jigs of that size. The Tatula heavy rod labeled as the jig rod casts them a mile too!

 

As to jigging for a reaction bite, many people think to either drag a jig on the bottom in clear water, and flip or pitch a jig into cover to get a reaction bite from fish in the weeds, but there are times when the fish appear to chase at dusk, so when I'm fishing a jig as I move into the transition period and dragging it is not working, I will bomb cast it out and let it sink until it hits the bottom, then raise my rod tip and let it sink again and do that until it get back to me, and I've caught a few, especially in times where a moving or reaction bait may work a little bit but the bite is not fully on like this, so I think Todd is on the right path. Craw trailers are a good bet but first and foremost make sure you're using a trailer that swims pretty well.

I fish jigs a lot. Other than using a swim jig, the only times I cast them is when I want to pick apart a spot where I've caught a fish, or two, on a crank. I work the jig with the reel, varying the retrieve speed throughout the cast. The other time I'll cast a jig is in the summer when I stroke a jig as my first presentation. 

I bought a few 3/4 oz All Terrain Grassmaster jigs because the Arkies I buy only go up to 1/2. I spent a few hours this morning pitching and casting around wood, but no takers. Dropped down to a 3/8 oz Arkie in a similar color and was able to catch a few. So, at least for the day, they didn't want that heavier jig worked faster. My normal drag and short hop with my normal 3/8 did the trick. I do like these heavier jigs, come through cover great but just not want they wanted today in 41 degree water.  

I've found that sometimes the bass are on the jig as soon as it hits the water, but they're only checking it out.  If I work it slow they won't touch it, but if I throw back into the same spot and give the jig a couple of quick jerks I will get bit.