Its all a marketing scam like Amway. First you buy the jigs, then you buy the trailers, then the rattles. Next its more boxes of swim jigs or football jigs or bladed jigs. Scam all the way around to make money for the jig mfg.

wait the windmill on ray bob isn't real?

You're quitting during the best time to catch jig fish. RIGHT NOW is when it gets good, I usually can catch some fish all year long on a jig, but Dec-Feb is the best for numbers on a jig, for me anyways.



When did fishing become a "seasonal" activity?

I agreee with Doug this is best jig fishing fishing time now until water gets 60 degrees 48-56 is perfect temps

Everyone has pretty much covered it all with one exception. Sometimes a slimmer profile jig will catch Fish when the bulkier one won't. I have caught fish using 1/2 of a curly tail worm for a trailer. It more resembles a bait fish than a Crawdad. Also experiment with different colors trailers than the jig. Many of the elite pros will use a different trailer color. Caught my personal best on a swim jig in Jan of this year. 48 deg. temp and she was in 2 ft. of water

Snipe hunting!! Hadn't thought about that in far too many years. Thanks for the memory.

My two cents on catching bass with jigs -- which you will do LONG BEFORE you bag a snipe ...

Since moving to Cedar Creek in August, and focusing on bass over crappie starting about a month ago, I've always had a jig tied on -- even though my success with them over the years has been limited. I've caught a lot more bass last few weeks with drop shots, shaky heads and T-rigs. They seem to produce better around these docks. But like a lot of y'all, I'm determined to get better with jigs.

Because by FAR the BIGGEST bass I've hooked here was on a jig just outside a dock a couple weeks ago in 8 FOW. Had to be 6 or better.

I say 'hooked' not 'caught' because after a furious 20-30 second fight, he spit it -- under water. So whoever said bass don't get off on jigs ... I wish!

Still wondering what I could've done differently -- like sharpen hook? Trim weed guard? Go to church??

Just may not have been where the fish are...

I remember back in the days on Fork..Rattleback jig with a Larew Hawg Craw trailer would get you some big bites at night.

A jig is my confidence lure. When it's an off bite it's one of the few things I have enough faith in to slow down with. Keep throwing one man. It will happen, and when it does there will be 2 of ya hooked on jigs at the same time.

1/2 oz black and blue jig with a #11 black and blue uncle Josh pork frog. Pitch it around timber on a creek channel. Bend the hook out slightly and trim the weed guard. Nuff sake

Jigs are tools. You need to use the right tool to get the job done. Like they said you can't force a bass to eat a jig. They either will or they won't. The last three trips I've been to Fork I have thrown a jig at least two hours of each trip. I've had one bite in three trips on a jig and I think it was a sandbass or barfish because all it did was rip off my chartreuse pincher.

However I have had a great deal of success on jigs in the past. Enough to keep me trying one every trip I go because I know the potential that a jig has to attract a big bite.

There are several ways to fish a jig. Since it seems like you are putting a lot of thought into this I thought I would give you some good bathroom reading material.

Target Fishing:

I will select a good flipping style jig 3/8 or 1/2 oz depending on water depth with a stout hook and use either heavy braid or heavy fluoro. Normally it is 65# braid. I am pitching the jig at the biggest stumps on the edge of a creek. I will pitch the jig as close to the stump as possible and allow it to fall vertically as possible, stripping off line as it falls and watching the line very closely until I know the jig is on bottom. Most strikes on a jig presented in this manner will come on the fall. If my jig makes it to the bottom with no bite, I will hop it a couple times off the bottom maybe 3-4 feet up and let it fall. If you haven't had a bite by now you most likely won't get one. Hit another stump. The name of this game is to hit as many high potential targets as possible.

Deep Structure Dragging:

A 3/4 or 1 oz football style head excels at this type of fishing because you are mostly dragging the jig slowly across the bottom allowing the structure on the bottom to give the jig the action. The Strike King Structure jig is also very good for this style of fishing. The key to this type of jig is its ability to wobble back & forth as you drag it. The heavier jig keeps it pinned to the bottom and also allows you to feel what type of structure is down there such as rock, shell beds, or mud. Sometimes I use fluoro for this and sometimes I use braid. It just depends on the amount of bottom cover and the size of fish I believe I am targeting.

Just keep this in mind as you are wondering about jig fishing:

There are No Rules to bass fishing. This is by no means all the ways to fish a jig. It is just the two ways I go about it. Jigs are tools just like crankbaits, spinnerbaits, spoons, or any other tool in your box. Like some have said on here, the best time to fish a jig is when the water temps are cooler. While I do agree winter is a great time to fish a jig, I have caught some of my biggest fish on a jig in 100 degree weather at Fork.

Remember No Rules.

Get you a 3/8 black/blue/purple jig and put a green pumpkin/purple Zoom speed vibe craw on it and pitch it to stumps, laydowns, docks, and to the edge of grass, any visible targets on your lake. Another good color choice if the water is a bit dirty or muddy is a 3/8 black/brown/amber with a zoom black neon speed vibe craw. If the water is real cold I will use the same jigs but with a Zoom big chunk or a Lake Fork Tackle pig claw to slow the fall and give the jig a big profile. In February and March I will also throw a green pumpkin/orange jig with a matching trailer and that seems to work well for me during that time.

I personally like the V&M and Santone jigs in those colors. My two other favorite jigs are the Viper XP and MPack jigs and specifically the Viper XP Lake Fork Special, and the MPack in Peanut butter N Strawberry.

Exactly. Thats how I have learned to fish all new techniques. Force myself to devote the time to them otherwise you'll never learn.

I would not just take jigs to the lake to try and learn how to fish them. If you get out there with only jigs and they are not biting them you will just get frustrated and have even less interest in throwing a jig on your next outing. Take a tx.rig or a shaky head or whatever soft plastic you have confidence in and find some fish that will bite then throw the jig in the same areas. You know that fish are in the area and you know they are biting, so now see if they will bite a jig..That is the approach that I would take to learn the jig.

+1--A jig is and has been my go-to bait for more than 25 years. There are times when fish just won't eat (Recent trip to Lake Austin is a prime example). At one time, I too had no confidence in them. A friend told me to make a couple trips to the lake and take nothing but jigs. I quickly gained confidence and started catching fish in ways and places I never had before and the size of my catches greatly increased as well.