My friend is always talking about them and im not sure what it is exactly, only that it involves a jig. What is a jig and pig and how would I use one?

Heres what I posted on previous "How To's" for fishing a jig. Hope it helps you.

Yeah jigs are amazing baits. They catch alot of quality fish, and they will also catch alot of common size fish too. In my opinion if you want to learn to fish them, fish in some type of river where you have caught bass before. They tend to work great in rivers for me, once you get the hang of them you can fish them in more difficult places, like stick piles in lakes, and heavy cover. But I'd get a general idea for the hits, and how to work the jig before targeting the thick cover etc with them.

Go to a river which you know holds bass, and get yourself a 1/8-3/16 ounce football jig, it can be cone headed too if you can't find the football heads, I like to use cheap jigs in rocky rivers because you tend to lose alot when they get stuck in-between rocks. So my favorite jig for the situation would be strike king bitsy bugs in 1/8ounce or sometimes even smaller if the current lets me get away with it. There are many colors jigs come in, but the best standard colors in my opinion for jigs, would be black/blue, any shade of green, brown, and black. For trailers I recommend using Yum Chunks, (2.75 inch for small jigs, and 3.50 inch for larger jigs), or Paca Chunks, match the color of the trailer to the color of the jig. For rigging the trailer, I prefer to thread the chunk onto the hook, like how this Kreature is threaded onto the jig head in this pic http://www.***/images/jig-trailer2.jpg Some also prefer to just hook the trailer through the center like this http://www.lakeforktackle.com/Images/MegaJigCutFromAd.jpg.

Now for fishing them. Cast/Pitch or flip the jig out there, the best idea for casting the jig is to let it hit the water with the least water disturbance possible, a very "stealthy" approach if you will. If I can, I'll often cast the jig onto land and work it into the water, that to me is the most stealthy entrance possible. The fish tend to hit the jig majority of the time on the initial fall, or 10 seconds after the jig hits the water, so really pay attention when the jig first enters the water. Once some secs pass by without a hit, start slowly crawling the jig along the bottom. Don't just feel the rod, try and feel what the jig is doing down there, feel the rocks, feel the mud etc. When the jig bumps into a rock, let it sit for a second, then gently hop it over the rock, or make it make small hops, as if it were trying to get over the rock but failing. You have to think as if a bass is watching the lure, make him truly want it, try your best to imitate a natural crawfish, and remember crawfish are slow, and they do not swim, they walk along the bottom.

So the general way of fishing the jig should be to let it enter the water quietly. Give it a long pause. Pay attention to it when it first hits the water because thats when the hit tends to occur. After it sat for a few secs without a hit, start to drag it along the bottom, or hop it if it needs to get over sometype of structure, frequently give it 3-8 sec pauses, sometimes even 10-20sec pauses will get hits... no I ain't kidding. You can also give it a real big hop, so it imitates the intial fall, which is what the bass seem to react best to. But majority of the time you should tend to be fishing it with short hops, slowly dragging, and frequent long to short pauses.

Now for how to tell the hits. This is the subject when fishing the jig where alot of people have there biggest problem with the bait, they just can't tell a hit between a rock, stick etc. My solution to this problem is to let the jig sit perfectly still and feel it, when you get the "tap tap" you can be pretty sure a stick or rock didn't swim up and hit the jig while its sitting still  . The hits tend to be either a tap or two, a feeling of mushyness or something alive on the end of the line rather than the feel of the bottom, the vision of the line moving a different direction, or once in awhile which I call the best hit you can have on a jig - they'll just pick it up and run with it basiclly giving off a hard tug. Pay close attention to the line at times too, sometimes you won't feel the hit and all you will see to indicate the hit is a twitch of the line. When you get a hit, set the hook hard and immediately, bass don't tend to hold onto the jig long for some reason, so you want to drive that hook into them as fast as the second they pick it up.

I have only been fishing a jig since September, but I am addicted to using it now, it just catches so many quality fish and its so versatile its unbelievable, just a amazing bait that I can't get enough of. The jig tends to be a hard bait to learn once you start fishing it, in my opinion this is because you do not have any confidence in the bait until you have caught a fish with it, and any good fisherman knows you just can't work a bait you lack confidence in as well as a bait you are confident in. Once you catch a fish on the jig it gets alot easier from there on, so keep fishing it, and trust me, once you do learn it, your going to use it a heck of alot. I just recently caught my new pb on a jig, its a bait that every avid bass angler should learn if you ask me. Good Luck!  .

Ps. You can also search under "tips and tactics" on bassresource.com, and read a few articles about jig fishing. Very helpful information there. Googling about jigs for bass can also find you some good lessons on learning the jig.

wow thanks! ;D

that covers just about everything, except for the whole "pig" thing. or is using a jig and using a jig and pig the same thing?

All Jig trailers used to be made of Pork Skin. Unkle Josh's still makes them. So the term Jig n Pig came from using a jig with a pork trailer.

You can usually find the "pig" on the bottom shelf in a jar.  Uncle Josh makes some.

Most people I know use soft plastic instead though.

i like the paca chunk and chunck sr

Excellent post. But I have a question.  I haven't used jig and pigs a lot but I would like to try them in my local river.  Lots of wood and such for cover.  But my question involves the weed/brush guard.  Do you leave them as is or do you trim them and thin them out?  I have a hard time seeing how a bass is going to pick that up without feeling that huge weed guard and how am I going to get the hook set and move that guard out of the way of the hook.  I know the guard will be necessary to prevent hangups in the wood, etc.

Moby, some guys trim the brush guard and some don't, I don't. I think it's a little more flexable when left long and allows for a better hookset. As far as fish feeling the guard, it's no more stiff or rigid than a crawdads claws and bass eat those like candy.

 good fishin'   Bruce