help with jigging

[GSP4ME]

Ok I have made a commitment to jigging spoons this year. My question is this I seem to have a lot of fish coming in when I am jigging. Now here is where I am looking for help. Is it better to quit jigging and let the spoon just sit there or is it better to keep the same jigging action up or get more aggressive. Just not sure which way I should be going

[fisherman27]

I usually keep jigging but slowly raise my lure up and see if they follow.

[GSP4ME]

Thank you for the advise

[outkast7222]

When they come in close I usually jiggle more gentle, if they don't take it I then get a little more aggressive. Figure that way I am less likely to spook them.

[harvey lee]

The fish will tell you how or what to do while jigging in how they react when they see your lure.

Yes, some days they fly up and just smack it. Other day's when they are negative, they may move up and if you jig a bit, they will leave, thats when I will jig very slowly but raising it up and slowly dropping it back down. Once they come up to the jig, I will just let it sit there and either they take it or swim away. These times one can also drop down in lure size and then they may hit that. Sometimes just using a head of a minnow like a crappie minnow instead of a fathead can make a difference.

It's pretty much a trial by error type fishing. Jig one way and if it does not work, try another way.

There are times when a change in jig profile will also help or just a color change when the sun is out or it is cloudy.

I like to always drop my lure down and bounce it off the bottom a few times as it will stir the mud up and that can attract fish. Then there are times when I jig very aggressive to try and attrach a fish with a rattlin jig like a Rattlin varmit or there are many other options out there.

One thing I most always do when jigging for eyes is to jig in one hole and use a deadstick in another hole. many times they will hit the deadstick and not the jig and sometimes both depending on how aggressive they are.

Last Friday afternoon I was eye fishing, jigging and a deadstick and I had all my bites on the deadstick. I lost about 4-5 eyes as they were not hitting the bait that hard but just suckinh on the fathead. So, I put a crappie minnow on which of course has a smaller profile and those negative fish have now been all fryed up.

In stained water, I like to use a glo lure. I like thye glo red and glo white esp on my deadstick's.

Rattlin jigs can also be very good at times when using a deadstick to attract the eyes.

I would also tip that jig with a head of a minnow or maybe just a tail if the bite is negative.

Try these methods and your fish catch should pick up some.

[GSP4ME]

Thanks Harvey, great advice I will let you know how it goes. Hope to get out this weekend. Was on the St. Croix this past weekend and did pretty good on the white bass

[Blackhawkxp]

I am no expert but you have to decipher what is bringing the fish in. By that i mean if you are ripping the jig pretty aggressively and the fish are showing up you probably should stay with that motion and vice versa. If the fish are finicky you want to have a little more finesse. I normally never stop jigging if possible because your jig will start to spin when you stop. As said before if the fish are interested just start to move your jigging up the water table and if they follow more often than not they are going to strike. Like everything is isn't a one size fits all situation but this is my normal routine.

[harvey lee]

Black

I use to have a fair amount of line twist when jigging. I use a spro barrel swivel and that helped reduce the spinning. Now I am using Sampo Ball Bearing Swivel's, they cost a bit more but while watching with my underwater camera, it seem's to help even more.

I do not tie tohe swivel to my lure. I cut the line about 12 inches up and place the swivel there, maybe one could tie it to the lure but I have not tried that yet.

I do strip my line off from time to time to get the line twist out also.