So i decided to go to academy and buy some jigs, one 3/8 oz-pumpkin and green gourd. and one 1/4,smoke blue and pumpkin. got some trailers for them too. (pumpkin and electric blue craw trailers. I know how to somewhat worm fish along the bottom but jig fishing is completely different to me for some reason. How am i supposed to detect a bite? how often should i reel?

any help is appreciated, im pretty much a novice to wormin.

I keep my rod tip down and line tight. My bait always has contact with the bottom and I barley turn the handle. That's with a football jig. Other jigs I'll fish like a worm.

I learned by fishing finesse jigs. Start with the same colors you like when worm fishing and the colder the water the slower and more subtle the movements. Think about how a crawfish would move and make your jig accordingly. Bites vary from mushy to jerking the rod out of your hands.

Good luck

When the bite is good, 9 times out of 10 you will have no doubt when a fish bites (hammers) it!
Good luck!
You'll be addicted in no time

the only way to really get it is to commit. after a long time of trying to fish jigs with very little results i decided that i would only fish a jig from thanksgiving to valentines day this year. i promise before turkey day i had no confidence in them. now i'm regretting valentine's day cause i'm gonna have to start fishing other stuff again too. can't imagine not having a jig tied on now... EVER. commit and it'll click soon enough.

I was in the same boat last year and like others I got sick of seeing the big pigs others were catching on them so I spent about 6 entire full day trips using nothing but. Mostly like fishing soft plastics. Keep in constant contact with the bait and never stop watching your line. Ever. Hits will range from a straight up hammering to no feeling at all but your line twitches funny or goes slack. A good thing to remember is that as long as you are in contact with the bait and you feel certain it is on the bottom or on a piece of cover to set the hook if your line goes slack for no reason. I promise that there is only one way a jig can rise in the water if you didn't twitch it. That's when it's time to cross their eyes. You will also get a lot of strikes on the fall like many other baits. Pay attention to what you were doing when you got bit, how they bit, and don't get discouraged. You will be an addict in no time!

fished today, around 6:30 pm with a black and blue finesse jig 1/4 oz with a blue super chunk jr tailer, no hits.

They're not magic.....you gotta do your part! Seriously, this is a tough time of year for getting numbers. You read that jigs are great cold water baits and that's true. But in order to really learn about jig fishing, use them at a time you feel the fishing is good so you get lots of bites. Treat yourself like your a 6 year old. Go jig fishing at a time you'll get bit a lot so you build confidence.

Number one rule, bump into things on the bottom. Usually the jig needs to be dropped down right next to an object or crawling through it, over it.

In my experience plastics will often work without bumping into something, jigs won't.

I like to swim jigs preferably smaller jigs like the bitsy flip jig from strike king

thanks for the advice, when i fished it last night i felt the thmp you get with a plastic, i aet the hook and my bait flies at me with a real crawdad on the plastic crawdad trailer i put on!