"The Confidence Jig"

[Scott M]

The Confidence Jig

by Bob Bohland, NAIFC

October 20, 2009

I once heard someone say “Having the right lure is 10% of the equation, but believing you have the right lure bumps it up to about 40%.” This has become almost a mantra to me for ice fishing, because for me it’s true. I have a jig that I know I can catch fish on any body of water and almost any species I have come across. Everyone has that one confidence boosting jig in their tackle box, whether it be a lure that has a particularly big fish memory attached to or one that they know they can catch fish on at any time of the year. An anglers confidence lure always seems to catch them more fish. Is this something lucky about the lure or is it the simple fact that an angler believes so much more in that lure that they spend more time fishing it? I firmly believe it is the latter.

The major problem I see with many anglers is that with all the new products being released to the market every year is that no one spends the time with a single lure. They are all convinced that if one of their new lures doesn’t work they just have to throw one of the new magic lures on and it is gonna turn the fish’s switch to ‘eat’. The majority of the time it isn’t the lure that causes the fish not to eat, it is the way the angler is fishing said lure. Sometimes you just have to be stubborn and refuse to switch.

One thing I think every ice fisherman needs to do is spend some time sight fishing. There is no single thing that will teach you more about how fish act towards a particular lure and how you jig the lure than by watching. Whether it be watching how walleyes react to your jigging spoon with the help of an underwater camera or by sitting in 5 feet of water in a clear lake picking off roaming crappies and bluegills; sight fishing will teach you more than any seminar, book, or video ever will. Sight fishing will also help you gain confidence in just about every lure you have in your arsenal. You will also learn things about some lures that you never would have though of, like how changing the way the knot sits on a Lindy Fatboy will get you twice as many fish, or wacky-rigging a Micro-Mino will catch you more crappies than bluegills.

By slowly going through your tackle box and trying out different jigging techniques and different plastic combinations with different lures and watching how fish react, you will be able to have several confidence lures, though they may never really replace that one lure you once landed a 2lb crappie with. Do I practice what I preach? To an extent. While I am always open to experiment on the ice, I know a blue Genz Bug with a red Lindy Micro-Mino tail will catch me fish anywhere there is ice.

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Another great writeup from Bobb-o.

I gotta comment that I totally agree about sight fishing...you learn more by watching fish reaction than you ever could from a book or video. I probably learned more about jigging and fish reaction from angling out of spear holes as a kid than I did from anything else. Anyone else have fond memories of fishing off the dock as a kid and watching how those fish reacted to the bait? It's a good foundation for how you manipulate your baits.

I believe in the confidence equation. There are a lot of people that are buying a lot of gear each year looking for that magic silver bullet when in all reality, if they can find proficiency with a few baits rather than a few hundred, they can gain the confidence to catch more fish.

[Chnginthhofl]

Pink and white Fuzz-E Grub. Caught my biggest and first ever walleye on it and when things get tough, I throw it on.

[Bobb-o]

It's always just aboot confidence, next time you go out, try bringing just one type of jig/plastic or jig/bait combo with and force yourself to do well on it.

[mr_jman]

A red pixie jig with silver blades for gills and a Northland tackle forage minnow with the single attached hook in pinkish-purple/blue/white for the crappies!

No matter what, one of my 2 lines has my "go to" lure on it. The other is for experimenting!

[Fred_Bear]

A #6 glow green or red ratso for crappies.

Been using that presentation almost exclusively for crappies over the last couple years.

I've also given a number of them away to friends with me wondering why I was catching so many more fish than them. Didn't change their success much so it goes to show you have to know how to use them

[upnorthozzy]

Small Demon pink top. Everything both seasons. The one jig in my tackle if I had no others.

[archeral566]

love the northland tackle, hexiflys. have multiple sizes in all colors in my box.

[CrappieAttitude]

Very tough question...

I will more than likely be fishing with one of the following guarenteed for crappies.

1. Small green Forage Minnow Jigging spoon with 4-6 euros (white euros)

2.various colored diamond jigs with clear/white Nuggie.

3. white head/pink body ratso or rat finkee.

For walleyes, that is even a harder question.

CA

[LipRipper!!]

Love the red glow hexfly...

[BeezeHound]

Forage Minnow for my go to crappie jig tipped with a few waxies or a small crappie minnow. They hammer 'em.

[no bait nate]

small glow shrimpo with gulp replacing the plastic, rigged diagonally is my all time favorite. gills and crappies can't resist.

when the crappie bite is strong I'll always have a glow/pink poppee on one line with a minnow.

if those don't work i probably shouldn't be out there that day.

[panfishpounder00]

ratso's, diamond jigs, small hair jigs down to 1/100 oz. and small jigging spoons are for sure "go-to" lures. anything with a glow paint is a plus.

if those don't work i probably shouldn't be out there that day.

[wbliceman]

Fat boy. Any color any size. I can always catch fish with them!!

[mrklean]

during the summer i love flu flu jigs, or a small genz jig in the winter

[Fredd]

I'm with Bobb-o, treuse Fat Boy. Even started having confidence with some plastice this year.

[Borch]

Depends on the water for me. I love a #4 optic jig and a 2" glow power minnow on Upper Red or other big crappie waters. Although I really like the 2.5" gulp minnows too.

Otherwise when I'm fishing for both crappies and sunfish I'll have a fatboy or an optic stealth jig with a nuggie or a micro minnow on it.

[rusty rapala]

1/16" oz Forage minow with a down sized treble hook(#14)instead of the standard size it comes with.