Winter Fishing - Double Jig Rig

For those of you new to winter crappie fishing, here's a tip that you may not know. Since all fish are cold blooded and their metabolism slows way down in winter, it is generally a lighter bite -and- they are generally in deeper water (more than 20'). It sometimes helps to downsize your jig to 1/16 or lighter. But then you have the problem of waiting forever for your jig to get down to the depth where the fish are. And also on a windy day (which most are... ) a light jig is impractical and just won't work by itself.
One solution is a double jig rig. The bottom jig is heavier and gets your lighter jig down into the strike zone. The simplest is a 1/16 on the top and 1/8 ounce on the bottom, but any variation works.

This method works best on submerged and flooded timber, ledges and bridge pilings. Not so much for BPs, because it hangs up a lot... and then you've lost 2 jigs and maybe messed up the BP.

Sometimes you get a bonus and they hit the bottom heavier jig. Also, you are covering more of the water column, thus improving your chances of getting bit.
I used words like "sometimes" and "generally" because we all know this is fishing and the fish don't care about our theories!



Good luck out there!

Of course, in a month this won't matter. You will be able to put anything in front of them and they will bite it aggressively. Sorry it is at the tail end of winter fishing for this tip.

I double jig most of the time.

Good point on helping in the wind.

Thanks!

any info to help catch crappie is appreciated. I have been doing the double jig this winter for the first time. I saw a guy catch 2 yesterday on a double

Works well on white bass too!

Thanks!
Works "too well" on white bass. lol
Also, for whites you can use a (chartreuse) slab on the bottom and jig on top.

Excellent tip sir. Thank you.

Nice post. I use this rig a lot. A 1/8 oz jig on the bottom and a 1/24 oz jig on top has worked best for me. And this winter, which really wasn't much of a winter, the 1/8 oz jig on the bottom consistently outproduced the smaller jig on top. But yes, on those days where the fish will only hit a smaller jig with the subtle action of something really light, you do have that working for you, with a heavier jig on bottom to keep it straight under you, and keep you in contact with your rig.

When the bite really picks up, which will likely be happening soon, I'll probably mostly go to a one jig rig. But tough days can happen any time of year, and I'll still break out a double jig rig on those days.

I use a double jig rig almost exclusively when I'm vertical fishing, whether fishing brush piles or bridge pilings just to cover more area. I use a 1/4 oz. on bottom with a 1/8 oz. on top and catch fish on both jigs. I also with put two different brands or styles of jigs in contrasting colors to see if the crappie have a preference. I may set up one of my rods with a 1/8 oz. and 1/16 oz. tandem rig and see if I can see a difference than what I normally use.

It's not just for winter. It works well year round. Especially when you trying to get it out of the rod box and it's wrapped around 3 other rods. lol

It depends on how you look at it...Went through a school of them with double jigs on 6 poles on a spider rig, and wrecked havoc...took me hrs to untangle, but pulled up 10...

I will loan you a knife, so you can hand line them and get back to fishing faster!!

Thanks for the tip.

I use the VMC Swivel Spins for the top bait. Works great for me.

LOL Now that's funny! Cause it's true.
They make those little Velcro wrap thingys that bass fisherman use for crankbaits on their rods. Those help some.

YW all and thanks for all the other tips. Especially like the two colors/kinds of jigs for variety. You can see I was using a hot new color last week PP, Purple Passion... on the top and bottom... cause it works! lol
But I should be using two different styles and colors.

Thanks for the awesome tips!