For me it depends on how soft the tip of my rod is. with a soft wiggly tip I like to pull the line back 6 or so inches and drop the jig letting its weight cause the tip to move up and down a few times. Wait a few seconds and repeat. If I am fishing with a stiffer rod like I would be if bank fishing in thick brush a gentle vertical raising and lowering of the rod and be ready to pull the fish out of the water so it doesn't get wrapped around anything. Either way I like using loop knots. I have caught more than a few crappie doing this but would like to hear about other techniques.

My experience is to move the jig as slowly as possible (if at all). The water, waves, and current will naturally move anything around a tad bit; so that need to be factored into the equation. I might very slowly lift and drop the jig just to target different fish in the water column, but rarely if ever does moving the jig around seem to help that much for me.

A soft tip makes it tough to hold a jig still. I have gotten a lot of hits when I dropped the jig and just after it hit the end of the line. If I'm in a boat just trying to keep it where I want is all the action needed most of the time.

I don't jig up and down as there's nothing natural in the lake that moves like that. I either dead stick or twitch the rod tip. However, now that i mostly live scope, once i see the fish show interest in the bait I start to slowly (very slowly) move it up and away until the rod tip gets heavy or I see the fish strike.

+1

I agree there is not much that moves up and down but in order to move a jig upward it first must be down. These were caught swimming the jig in small circles from the shore Wednesday.

These were caught a couple weeks ago jigging vertically 3" or less by my Grandson.

I usually just hold it on their nose. In brush I’ll lower it down and raise it. In muddy water I’ll bang on the rod to get their attention.

I like to lower the jig down with the rod, then slowly lift the line, not the rod.. when you lift the rod, the angle changes and the jig will tend to move towards you.. 'something I like to do is tap the base of the rod with my finger to kind of send a pulse to the jig, to immitate a wounded baitfish that is struggling to swim.
when they are sitting on the bottom, I let the jig go all the way down and hit the bottom, then lift it and hold it as still as I can abt a foot off the bottom..
In windy conditions I like to pitch in front of a brushpile and let it pendulum swing either slightly over the pile or tree, or right along the edge of it.. when the wind kicks up and the water starts rolling, Crappie tend to move tight to cover, to set up an ambush for baitfish going by. its almost like magic.. you can get over the pile in the wind a jig up and down for a half hour and wont get a bite.. as soon as you pitch it out and it naturally swings into or over the pile., WHAM..
Something we have been doing with inactive fish on deep brush or timber, is dropping the jig down and letting it actually hit the crappie. then lift it up.., not sure whats going on but were seeing they will immediately nail the jig.. not sure if its a natural reaction, or it aggravates them, but it works.. We only do this on crappie that just refuse to move,, it seems like they are down there sleeping or in some state of dormancy,, see this in winter alot.. also some times for really deep fish, you may have convinced yourself that there are crappie down there, but nothing seems to move.. If you bounce a jig off thier back,, they will move.. if not, theres no crappie down there.
also if you jig a tree or brushpile and catch a few off of it, then nothing, try jigging all the way to the bottom, then lift a foot.. sometimes there can be alot of fish just sitting on the bottom very close to a brushpile that you just cannot see with livescope or other sonar..
when you go check brush or timber in several different depths , on several areas of the lake, and find nothing, they are doing either or both of two things, they are sitting directly on the bottom, or they are roaming open water..
if you are seeing that the majority of the baitfish seem to be roaming very close to the bottom, thats a good clue as to where the crappie are.. they are sitting on the bottom, looking up, waiting for them to come over them..
Before livescope I never thought much abt crappie sitting on the bottom, but now I do.
so my pattern recognition thinking is
1. are they relating to cover or structure
2. are they sitting on the bottom
3. are they roaming open water
4. or is it a combination of 2 or all 3 above..

^^ This is all good stuff. LP I do the bump-line thing too except I strum the line just off the reel like I'm playing a guitar when the fish get picky about what they will hit.

another good tactic in spring is drifting jigs across a large shallow flat. the fish are naturally more spooky in shallow water, and when you try to run them down, they scatter or leave, so what I do is motor in deeper water to the end of the flat, then kill the motor and set several poles down on the deck of the boat with different jigs at different depths, then let the wind push me across the flat. when I get to the other end, I motor out to deeper water, then go back to the top of the flat and do it again. theres something abt the jigs just drifting over the crappie, with no noise that can get them to bite when otherwise they wont.

Dead sticking for Crappie , I like it. Especially using the ghost pole technique .

Edited for easier reading. BTW- GREAT ADVICE! leanin post (Will delete if changes not welcome.)

1. I like to lower the jig down with the rod, then slowly lift the line, not the rod. When you lift the rod, the angle changes and the jig will tend to move towards you.

2. Something I like to do is tap the base of the rod with my finger send a pulse to the jig thereby imitating a wounded baitfish

3. When they are sitting on the bottom I let the jig go to the bottom then lift it and hold it as still about a foot off the bottom.

4. In windy conditions I like to pitch the jig to the front of a brush pile and let it pendulum. It will either swing slightly over the pile or tree or right along the edge of it.

5. When the wind kicks up and the water starts rolling, crappies tend to move tight to cover to set up an ambush for baitfish going by.
It's almost like magic as soon as you pitch it out and it naturally swings into or over the pile -, WHAM!

6. Something we have been doing with inactive fish on deep brush or timber is dropping the jig down and letting it hit the crappie. We only do this on inactive crappie common in winter. Once in position, I lift it and they immediately nail the jig. Maybe it's a natural reaction or the lure aggravates them, but it works.

7. Some of the time for deep fish, you may have convinced yourself that there are crappie down there, but nothing seems to move. If you bounce a jig off their back, they will move. If not, there are no crappie down there.

8. If you jig a tree or brush pile and catch a few but no more bite bites, try jigging to the bottom. Lift the jig a foot. Sometimes there can be a lot of fish just sitting on the bottom very close to a brushpile that you cannot see with livescope or other sonar.

When you check brush or timber at several depths in different areas but find nothing, they are doing one of two things:
a. they are sitting directly on the bottom or
b. they are roaming open water.

If you see baitfish roaming very close to the bottom, it's a clue to where the crappie are. They will look up, waiting for a meal to come to them.

Before Livescope I never thought much about crappie sitting on the bottom, but now I do.
In brief, my pattern recognition consists of:
1. when they are relating to cover or structure
2. are they sitting on the bottom
3. or a combination of 2 and 3 or
4. are roaming open water

1. I only use flexible rods unlike what I use for bass and pike lures.
2. Lure action/shape and total weight dictate retrieve along with depth
3. Where in the water column my lure works its stuff, dictates jigging technique (bottom, near surface, mid-depth
4. Lure type dictates retrieve (spoons, light jigs & soft plastics, balsa floating crankbaits, etc.)

If fish are located in shallow water around 5', catching fish is just a matter of making long casts using 1/32 or 1/24 oz jigs. Lure weight added to jig weight allows for 50'-60' casts. A combination of slight rod tip twitches along with short turns of the reel handle with pauses keeps the lure moving slowly. Shallow water calls for slow & subtlesimilar to the subtle motions of the fins of all suspending fish gliding along.

I nor anyone else can be sure why fish bite lures, but lure design dictates the retrieve. A curly tail requires more of a steady horizontal retrieve unless hopped off bottom. I have actually removed the tail and caught more fish without it. The rod tip-&-pause retrieve produces a dartling action in place sure to irritate a fish into striking.

A thin flat-tail grub I pour has the subtle action of a fish's fins slowly flicking back & forth. Its retrieve is more or less a gliding one with slight rod tip twitches to make the lure dart ever so often. Slight turns of the reel handle add to the effect.

I don't drag lures lures across the bottom whereas jigging lures off bottom with pauses seems to work better.
Floating Rapalas need only a pull using the rod tip and then reeling in the slack. The surface disturbance caused by the bill makes fish look up and changes a fish's body position to one of attack - angled upward vs horizontally. Pausing surface lures is necessary.

Thin braid also allows for the best action and the knot I use most is the uni-. A loop knot works best for Rapalas and other surface lures and spoons.

would love to see a pic of your grub.,,. grubs used to be VERY popular but hard to find anymore.