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Jigs: when where and hows #9656674 01/17/14 11:08 PM
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Kent Meadows aka Team Hooligan Offline OP
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I began fishing jigs when they were still predominately hair and combined with Uncle Josh pork. Black, brown, and combo black and blue where the main colorsMuch has changed since the mid 70s
I have my favorites as do most folks so Im not going to spend anyones time on this. Santone and All Terrain have been very very good to me and we will leave it at that.
What I look for 1st and foremost in any jig is hook quality! If the jig is sporting a wimpy hook I have no use for it. I use jigs to catch large fish and no matter how great a bait looks if the hook can be bent out and costs me a fish then I would have rather never been bit. Ok that being said lets get to the basics
1st thing I do with any new jig is to give it a trim. I like to haphazardly cut the skirt about 1/8 behind the hook bend. This allows your bait trailer to flow freely and natural. I dont like straight cuts, I prefer a few strands to be longer, not many mind you, but a few. Depending on the jig maker be sure that the eye of the hook is completely free of any excess paint/epoxy (especially if using floro or mono). Under line tension it dosent take much to cause a line break. Next fluff out the jig skirt to make sure its evenly separated around the body. Its not much but I really believe in this pre-fish ritual.
Like stated before use the jigs anywhere you would throw a T-rig plastic! That simple! Timber, brush, boat docks, rock!, and vegetation. Bridge pilings work great but can lead to lots of lost jigs. I prefer deep water 15 to 25 but depending on the season and what the bass are up to, remain flexible. Most say color is important depending on the time of year, I have no problem with this. Crawdads do change appearance so it makes since to match the hatch so to speak. I never change my color (PB&J) and have never noticed it effecting me either way, so thats your choice. Remember a jig for the most part is a crawdad presentation solely depending on its presentation. Not to confuse with a true swim jig.
Jigs are just about the most versatile baits ever made. Cast them, flip them, skip them, etcsome like to drag a football jig over gravel. Others will hop em through timber. Those of us that have beds of hydrilla will punch them. But overall, most will use them in lay downs and such. This is where you will systematically pitch or flip the bait in pockets of cover provided by the horizontal laying down tree. You will want that jig to fall in shady places most of the time. This is usually in or adjacent to the thickest part of cover. Some days the fish will be at the end of the tree in deeper water waiting to ambush prey, other days they may be under the main branch or near the bank. You will fish this cover by allowing the jig to free fall to the bottom. Once it hits give it a bit to sit. Now I like to have no slack in my line so if Im bit I can react quickly. If nothing bites on the initial fall I will hop it 2 or 3 times before moving to the next pocket. It may be a foot or may be more depending on the cover and how the fish are behaving that day. Work the lay down extensively, take your time! It may take several trees to find a fish but almost all lay downs hold fish if the water is deep enough.
Boat docks are outstanding jig spots. I almost always start at the lake end of the dock. This allows me to fish the dock as a point initially. After fishing the deeper area 1st, I will skip the jig to the bank and work it out to deeper water. I try to make the bait inter-react with any posts or cross members present. Again letting the jig hit bottom and hopping it back out. Etc Remember not all docks are created equal, so you may fish many before you find the bass. Once you do try to figure out clues as to why this dock is holding fish and find another dock in similar conditions.
Rock Piles especially those off shore!!! This is one of the better places to jig fish. This is also a money pit to lost jigs. Football heads etc seem to work better. Im sure others have their favorite head styles for this structure and please chime in. I tend to fish a jig the same way in just about any cover. Thats a short pitch, free fall to bottom and slow hops. I have never been good enough to drag a jig through a rock pile. But the short hops fished more vertically works for me. Bounce that jig around, when you come up on top of a rock move it slowly and let it free fall off to bottom. Spend some quality time on this structure, and dont get impatient.
This is just a very brief introductory synopsis of the variable places you may find. Nothing beats time on the water using a jig to fully comprehend the little nuances
Trailers! I love the Big Bite Bait Yo Mommas in Black neon! They are easy to find at Academy and they last a bit longer than more pliable soft plastics. Are their better? Absolutely there is, but for the price and availability they are the best fit for me. Crawdads are a constant food source. I honestly cant think of any time of the year a hungry bass would not eat a crawdad. This then should be the type of trailer you would concentrate the most. I would suggest you start with a natural color scheme. There are variables but for the most part black, blue, pumpkin, or any variation. This time of the year, black and red work really well. Black and blue work well together anytime of the year. Now keep in mind, my lake is not your lake. Meaning my lake patterns may not jive with your lake patterns. So any creature bait makes for a great trailer some better than others but you get the point.
For a few months of the year I use a jig with a crawdad trailer and have the other rod with a magnum fluke trailer. Used both in the same manner, short pitches free fall to the bottom and hopped a few times. I find that for a short period during the fall they actually prefer a fluke trailer. Spring time make it some type of creature!!!!
Jigs at night: I love jig fishing at night. I just slow down a bit more. I also make a bit more erratic hops. Followed by an increased dead stick. I tend to fish nights off shore to keep away from snakes and such but generally speaking boat docks, laydowns, structure etc the same as during the day. Im extremely lucky in having off shore grass to fish at night.
Now to me this is the most important aspect. What does a jig bite feel like, when does it most often occur: Im just going to say during 2013, 100% of my jig fish bit as the jig was free falling. Over 90% of those bites occurred on the initial drop! Yea thats not an exaggeration! The bite is a bit more complicated. It depends on cover, line type (mono, floro, braid) slack in line, about a 1000 other factors but when you feel it its a thump, or quiver, or a sponge type heaviness, or a visible line movement. I set the hook on anything that feels odd or different. I dont count to 3 or until I feel tension. Case in point, August of 2013 my competitor and I were working same area for the KBF series. We both were using same jig, same color, slightly different trailers. I feel a slight tick and thought it was a perch didnt set the hook. He pitches over and announces the same perch tick but sets the hook 24.25 8# plus fish, knocks me out of 2 places.so SET THE HOOK!
Except in the clear water winter months I use nothing but #80 power pro braidRight now Im using #25 P-line Mono and will til mid February or so. I use the line I feel most comfortable with to avoid break offs in heavy vegetation. When I was fishing the north Tx lakes I found #17 mono to work fine. Your choice on that. I use a 76 and a 8 xtra heavy action rod due to my harsh environment. I would however say nothing less than heavy action just to be able to get that heavy gauge hook to penetrate. I prefer to sit rather than stand in the yak when jig fishing others disagree but I feel more stable and can get a better hook set than when standing.
Jig size: Hey keep it simple 3/8, , maybe 3/4oz I like 1oz and 11/2oz but im punching. In north Tx I used a 3/8th and never really needed anything heavier. High wind days maybe the 1/2oz.
I will leave you with this the best way to learn to jig fish is by leaving everything but jigs and trailers at the house. Each of us have learned little ways to work a jig that could not be taught! Im able to use a 1oz grass jig in open water or in brush, laydowns, boat docks you name it. It is what I feel best at using, therefore it works better for me Rule of thumb fish slow!!! That dosent mean short little nothing hops. It means to retrieve the bait back to the boat slowly. Hop Hop dead stick.hop dead stick etc.
I know this is elementary and basic. I have kept it that way for those who are interested in learning to jig fish. For some reason jigs have always had a difficult learning curve or they did to me in the beginning. Now with the exception of a few big swim baits and hollow body frogs I seldom use nothing else over the jig. I wish you luck and bear in mind jigs are typically big fish baits. I own several DDs to the simple little jig. Once you become accustomed to it, the jig will become your new best friend.


" Used to Chase giant's on Lake Austin & Town Lake "

Re: Jigs: when where and hows [Re: Kent Meadows aka Team Hooligan] #9657116 01/18/14 01:52 AM
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BKT Offline
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So whats the difference in the jigs themselves? Different shaped heads or something?

Last edited by BKT; 01/18/14 01:53 AM.
Re: Jigs: when where and hows [Re: Kent Meadows aka Team Hooligan] #9657128 01/18/14 01:56 AM
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redsoxnation Offline
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Nice write up. I've been wanting to learn to fish jigs and this is a big help. Thanks


Re: Jigs: when where and hows [Re: Kent Meadows aka Team Hooligan] #9657146 01/18/14 02:04 AM
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PayneFish Offline
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Thanks for the write up Kent!

BKT check this link:

http://www.wired2fish.com/5-skirted-jighead-styles-for-bass-fishing/

Re: Jigs: when where and hows [Re: PayneFish] #9657627 01/18/14 05:14 AM
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BKT Offline
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Originally Posted By: PayneFish


Thanks

Re: Jigs: when where and hows [Re: Kent Meadows aka Team Hooligan] #9658006 01/18/14 02:34 PM
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Blakehock Offline
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Thank you for the write up. Very helpful


Re: Jigs: when where and hows [Re: Kent Meadows aka Team Hooligan] #9658015 01/18/14 02:41 PM
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MtnDew Offline
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Great write up .. thanks


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Re: Jigs: when where and hows [Re: Kent Meadows aka Team Hooligan] #9659968 01/19/14 02:13 PM
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ebk06 Offline
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Nice write up Kent!!

I occasionally get the jig itch but cant always stay patient enough to use them all day. I do find this style head to work great in rip rap and chunk rock. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Jewel_Bait_Pro_Spider_Jig_2pk/descpage-JBPSJ.html Yea, you still lose some (thats the name of the game) but they are easier to free then most. Also a little common sense tip I never thought about (so I guess its not so common sense haha). When fishing rock learn to feel the bait and let it rest on top of the rocks, not in the cracks. A bass can't get to the bait if its sitting in too tight of a spot, so you'll never catch them.

Another question, what reel do you prefer for jig fishing and do you use a different combo for punching? I currently have a Chronarch and a Core MGFV Im getting ready to try. The core will be specifically for flipping/punching though.

Last edited by ebk06; 01/19/14 02:14 PM.

Re: Jigs: when where and hows [Re: Kent Meadows aka Team Hooligan] #9660468 01/19/14 05:50 PM
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Hooligan's fish speak for themselves and his info is spot on... I'm taking notes myself on using jigs for punching and super thick hydrilla. I would add that on these north texas lakes with zero grass and the pressure that comes with being located in a metro area of 3-4 million, sometimes a smaller finesse profile is what works best for me. I like the Eakins finesse jig in 7/16 in either green pumpkin or black/blue-- works really well in a lot of situations. Santones finesse jig is good too... Like him, I'd say that 85 plus percent of all my bites during the warm months come on the initial drop. I think that's what makes jigs so great: they're a reaction bait much like a squarebill on the fall (only vertical, not horizontal) and then they're a very realistic craw once they're on the bottom that can be fished slowly to entice bites as well.

Football jigs dragged along the bottom is an awesome presentation for me as well. Make a long cast across or up a point with 1/2 - 1 oz and start reeling and feeling for the 'bumpy' stuff. It's a lot like a c rig but I feel like you get better quality fish with it. Many of my best fish have come this way. While a hook with some strength is always important, I prefer more of a medium gauge super sharp hook for this if the cover isn't heavy. Often times you've got a lot of line out and getting a beefy thick flipping hook into them under those conditions is tough.

Skirtwise I like a lot of different stuff. I do a similar deal as hooligan with trimming: I like a feathered uneven look. I really like living rubber in the warm months for a bigger profile. But the colors are kind of simple. Sometimes simple is best. I'd say 95 percent of the time I'm throwing green pumpkin with a green pumpkin trailer, black and blue with matching trailer, or brown/orange with a black neon or reddish hued trailer. The thing that isn't necessarily obvious in the beginning is how much a bigger trailer can affect the fall rate and sometimes even the trajectory of the bait as it falls. My favorite presentation for Fork is a 3/4 oz football jig with a living rubber skirt with a big salt laden 5 inch flapping hog. The whole package weighs about 1 1/2 ounces, yet because of the size of the trailer and the big fluffy skirt, this jig actually falls slower than a1/2 oz jig with a sparse silicon skirt and a smaller trailer like say a chigger craw that only weighs half as much total. For a lot of the other lakes in the metro area, this bulky presentation is 'too much' and a smaller 3/8 jig with a 3-4 inch trailer is what's best most of the time. Sometimes even smaller as I mentioned with the finesse jigs is what's necessary.

Winter time jig fishing in temps below 48 degrees is different. Rarely do the fish hit it on the fall for me. Finesse jigs are good still. More often I use hair jigs and real pork trailers this time of year. I think the movement of the hair is more subtle yet realistic, same with the pork chunk. It mimics the sluggish nature of a crawfish or aquatic larva under these conditions better. Best colors are black with black for me. Drop it into where you think they are, let it soak for a ten count, shake the rod tip to give that natural hair and pork a subtle shimmy, then make slow hops or measured drags stopping when you run into rocks or brush or whatever. The whole retrieve might take a minute or two. Those cold water crustaceans are kind of stunned by the frigid temps. I always try and imagine a crawdad with arthritis that wants to get away but can only go so fast LOL...

I'm no expert with swim jigs but I will say this: active fish chasing shad and perch around grass, there's not much better. Great in the fall especially. I like a swim jig with a vertical line tie. For whatever reason, the ones with the horizontal ties seem to collect more grass.

Can't say enough about the jig. Really you can use some form of a jig to fish the entire water column. I also like how fishing one helps you 'feel' the cover and structure in ways you don't often get with other presentations. A couple years back when I had a great jig bite going on Fork I had a trip where I fished for about 4-5 hours and the fish weren't hitting on the fall anymore. I tried dragging, no dice. Then I made a errant long cast and realized that my line was draped across several limbs. I wasn't really concerned with catching anything, but I didn't want to lose that jig. So I just slowly began to work it back. I found that if I just reeled steadily when the jig came up to the limb, the jig would hang up. I learned instead to stop reeling and yo-yo up and down to get a pendulum action going. I could then 'swing' the jig up and over. Guess what? Those fish were still suspending in the trees and while they weren't willing to reach out and grab a falling jig, they couldn't resist one that was yo-yo-ing in their face though! Turned into a 100 inch day. Sometimes the best thing to do is just to put that jig into the gnarly stuff and try to gently work it free. This is often my approach on blistering sunny days in summer.

All that said, starting off I went with the finesse jigs. I think this is a good place for a beginner jig fisherman to start because you get more bites. Really helps you get a feel for the tempo of jig fishing and what the bite feels like. There's nothing better than finding big fish with big jigs, but those types of conditions don't exist everywhere.


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Re: Jigs: when where and hows [Re: Kent Meadows aka Team Hooligan] #9660746 01/19/14 08:35 PM
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The first time I remember fishing with a jig was the winter of 1986 at lake fork. The state record had just been broken on a jig there, so me and my Dad bought a bunch of Stanley jigs and trailers and went to try our luck. I learned a lesson on that cold miserable day that has stuck with me ever since. We were fishing a deep creek channel and I was freezing after a long day with no fish. I cast my jig into this huge tree on the edge of the channel and just held it suspended over a limb near the bottom as I alternated blowing on each of my hands to warm them up. When I continued my retrieve it felt heavy so I set the hook on a 9 lb bass that was easily the biggest id caught up to that point in my life... The lesson?? Any time you are pulling your jig and it's hanging vertically over a limb let it set so that the skirt flares out. It makes em mad, especially when the bite is slow....as far as colors go I've had the most luck with black, purple, and blue in east Texas. Green pumpkin, and watermelon with a little red or orange in the trailer from lake Whitney north. In far south Texas I always catch more ( and it's not even close) on some variation of black and red and or orange. Not coincidently, that's the color of the crawdads in those areas.



Re: Jigs: when where and hows [Re: Kent Meadows aka Team Hooligan] #9661489 01/20/14 12:58 AM
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Thanks! Great information here.


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