Corkin' with a hook or a jig?

[Stick in Mud]

I do a lot of bobber fishing, and I've never really been able to determine a pattern on when it's better to fish with a jig or with a plain hook. Sometimes one will considerably outproduce the other, but I can't really figure out why. And sometimes a particular hook or jig color will signnificantly outproduce all the others.

Have others noticed any patterns about when it's best to use a jig versus a hook, or vice versa? Sometimes hooks seem to work better in calmer water, and then the next day the opposite will outproduce. Am I missing something? \Or is it really this hit or miss?

Carmike

[jmg]

Carmike,

We've been trying to figure this out for years. We used Greg Bohn's little bobber bugs long before he worked with Lindy. I found the smaller ones usually worked better than the larger ones, but the hooks were kind of small and weak. Now we make a lot of our own rigs with his components and have found somedays the fish like the whole menu-blade, bead and jig, but other days a plain hook- sometimes gold, sometimes red and sometimes bronze, outfishes any jig or hook "outfits". Go figure. Guess that's why they call it fishing. Sure is fun to experiment, though. Can't wait to do some more on the water research this coming Sat.

[Stick in Mud]

Yeah, research is fun. It is funny...there have been times when the ONLY thing that would catch a fish was an orange hook. Or a green jig. On our last launch trip of the year, we used black jigs and outfished folks 10 to 1 before they figured out our "secret." Maybe it's just one of those mysteries.

I suspect, though, that there's something having to do with drop rate. A heavier jig will obviously fall much faster than a hook. I haven't been able to figure out a pattern in regards to which they prefer, but I wonder if that's one important difference between the two presentations.

Carmike

[james_walleye]

I always use a regular hook. Sometimes plain, sometimes red with a red bead. Sometimes chartruese with a chartruese bead.

[Stick in Mud]

Well you should try tossing some jigs once in a while.