Jigging with plastics 101 help

[pulleye16]

Goodmorning fellas,

I'd consdier myself a pertty descent walleye fisherman but I only have two techniques in which I use...Lindy riggin' and trolling with crank.

I would like some info on where I can find out jigging with plastics. I would like to find some good alternantives to live bait so I amagine jigging with plastics is probably my best bet. Unfortunetly, no one I fish with jigs (strange I know). So I need everything from jig placement to setting the hook. So If you could help me with the following with pics or vids, that'll be great.

1)Jig head types and weight

2)How to place (best way for hook sets) the jig into the plastic

3)Types of plastics (I am boycotting gulp alive for personal reasons)

4)Do you slow troll (link lindy riggin) cast and retrieve, drift...

5)How often and how high do you "jig" (I understand that depends on how high the fish are suspended but where do I go from there?)

I've search around and have some basic tidbits on these but I have yet to find any vids or pics to wrap all this up. With no one in my fishing group jigging, it's tough to learn!

Thanks

[tunrevir]

Wow, that is quite a bit info your asking for. The jig head will depend on the type of plastic you are going to be working but look at some of the prepackaged plastic optins like the fuzzy grubs, and mister twisters to get an idea. I like to go to a longer shanked hook when running bigger plastics like a 1/0 or 2/0 ballhead jig to get the hook closer to the tail of the plastic, plus it has a nice wide gap. Weights will depend on the applications that you are going to be using the jig and plastic for and if there is current present. As a rule 1/8th-1/4 oz jigs will cover most applications and depths to 20'. I will go to 1/16th in shallow water with little current to about 15'. My personal favorites are twister tails, shad bodied baits and ringworms. Your more active plastics are going to be twistertails and shad bodied baits, your neutral action baits will be beetle spins, fuzzy grubs ect. Jigs can be very versatile presentations, you can troll them, drag them, cast them, vertical jig them, snap jig them, cast them out and let them sit on the bottom, drift them, the sky is the limit with regards to what you can do to add action to them just by the jigging action you impart. Some guys do an occassional wrist flick, a slow pull and fall, a drag, a couple quick twitches and a steady retrieve, lift fall, lift hover, quiver and hold. Each has a time and a place depending on if your trolling, casting or vertical jigging. One of the most important aspects of jigging is to watch the line and to try and stay in contact with the jig as it falls as this is when most hits will occur. A good quality rod like a medium/light 6'6" high modulas graphite rod with a fast action for setting the hook and detecting bites. With a jig the bite can be as subtle as a little extra weight, a tap or a solid thud when the fish hits depending on the mood of the fish. Your typically going to be working from the bottom to 1-2 feet up unless targeting suspended fish or you have a snaggy or weedy bottom. Dragging works well over sandy bottoms withand gravel with few weeds as does snap jigging, where you troll the jig behind the boat dragging it along and make a relatively hard foreward sweep of the rod letting the lure plummet back before sweeping the rod ahead again. Fish are often hooked on subsequent sweeps. Casting can consist of a steady retrieve, or any of the afforementioned styles incorporated into the retrieve. It is common to cast out, let the jig fall to the bottom, make a slow pull or a few wiggles and a wrist flick to dart the jig foreward before letting it settle back to the bottom or to try to keep the jig just skimming along within a foot of the bottom using twitches along during the retrieve. Vertical jigging can be as simple as a lift and drop repeated over and over to lift fall lift wiggle pause, drop. All kinds of options. I am sure others will chime in on what works for them as well. Good luck, once you master simple jigging it will become a great weapon in your arsenal!

Tunrevir~

[pulleye16]

thanks tunrevir, great adviced! while lindy riggin' one usually lets out some line when they first feel the fish. While jigging, does when set the hook when you first feel the bite?

thanks for some plastic bait options. my plan is to buy many varieties with no prejudice and figure out whats works through trial and error (just have to figure out what I'm doing first)!

Thanks

[tunrevir]

Rule of thumb, if you feel more weight then the jig on the initial pull, set the hook! If you see or feel your line twitch, set the hook, if you see the jig stop prematurely on the fall, set the hook. I can't count how many times I have had that"weight" on the end of the line when starting to jig and have missed and then knew it was a fish. A visibale line like a berkley transition can help on sunnier days but on cloudy days it doesn't help alot IMHO. Superlines like fireline and powerpro can help for bite detection but a simple mono while line watching can be good as well. In dirtier water, a super line can be tied direct but in clearer waters I'll tie a 3-4' piece of flouro on. Most of the fishing you have already done is similar to what you can do with a jig but you can get more out of a jig then a crank or lindy rig in alot of situations. That being said, there are times when a lindy will far outshine a jig combo with plastics or tipped with a minnow. Cranks will get reaction strikes and catch aggresive fish, lindys will do that as well as catch nuetral fish and negative fish so a jig falls somewhere in the middle depending on the presentation. Plastics can far outproduce livebait in alot of situations but you have to be comfortable with fishing them and that comes from experience and knowing when to fish them. I fish plastics all season during open water and do well with them but depending on the bite and what the fish tell you sometimes it is the bomb and other times you will bomb. Don't let that discourage you. I catch walleyes all spring and summer on various plastics and into the fall. Good luck out there! It takes a bit of time but jigging for walleyes is very effective with plastics, whether casting, trolling or vertical jiggin.

Tunrevir~

[TruthWalleyes]

Good write up Tunrevir! Lots of good information.

[rkhinrichs]

i was wondering what color of jig heads you guys like to use? are there any colors that work better in clear water then stained dark water?

[MN_Jay]

It's funny because there are plenty of guys that will argue dark water - dark jig, then other half will argue dark water - light colored jig. Truth is it's trial and error. Start with one color, if it doesn't work, keep switching. One day it will be light colors, next day it might be purple and black.

[PerchJerker]

I fish jigs and plastics a lot, and 90% of the time I go with an unpainted leadhead jig. Why? Because they're cheaper and I buy in bulk, and I don't think color on the jighead is important. If I use a painted jighead it is usually glow.

Now jig body or plastic colors ---- I am very particular about color. White is my favorite and usually what I start with, although I have many other colors that I use too.

[Borch]

A lot of time jig color doesn't seem to matter much. Some days it does. I'm partial to chartruese, But white, lime green, and flourescent orange all get a lot of time. I buy the plain lead jigs too but heat them up and dip them in protech powdered paint for a quick easy make over.