Vertical? Horizontal?

[CrappieJohn]

Custom Jigs and Spins has a pair of killer baits that get a ton of use: the ratso and the shrimpo. They look almost alike with seemingly identical plastic bodies. The colors are the same. They both have that alluring tail piece and all of this can get confusing as to when to fish one or the other for new ice anglers or those venturing into the world of panfishing with lure instead of bait. When you are dealing with sunfish and bluegills, these are possibly the only two lures you need.

The Ratso is a horizontal lure....it hangs off the line with its hook horizontal. This bait is a great tool for early ice

The Shrimpo hangs on the line with the eye of the hook and the tail of the plastic almost straight up and down, vertical. This bait, too, works good for early ice. The confusion comes from WHEN to use either on a particular outting.

Horizontal jigs wil eliminate the guess work if the fish are very active. Horiztontal baits are dynamite search tools if you are snooping out feeding fish or fish that are right on the fence between aggressive and neutral as far as mood goes. These are what I call a utility jig....they produce and after using them for a season you will see understand my terminology. I fish these horizontal jigs in several ways, but I let the fish set the pace as far as how aggressive.

But what happens when the mood of the fish changes or weather comes along suddenly and the fish appear to have just quit hitting that horizontal presentation? If I know the fish are still there as evidenced by the locator, I go vertical. In two senses.

First I size down on the line to two pound and crystal clear and fish it on a spring bobber rod. Then I get out the Shrimpos. I generally choose a color other than what II had been using with the other bait. I choose a bait a size smaller as well.

Starting bareback (no bait), I get the jig to the bottom, take up any slack and "just" get the jig off botom. Very slowly I will lift the rod, maybe an inch of rise per 8-10 seconds, while tapping the rod with my index finger. Sometimes I tap fairly hard and others soft enough to be almost discernable. I watch the Marcum as I lift/tap the jig thru or past where the fish are being marked. I continue this lift for about three feet and then just let the jig sit at rest for about 15 seconds , then drop it all the way down again. If the fish show interest but won't snap it up after five or six lifts, I'll add a half a waxie. It is important to NOT impair the the action imparted by the tail, so keep any extra meat to an absolute minimum. The process is repeated. If I don't get result in that fashion, I reverse the order of presentation....I get the jig to about three feet over the top fish and drop, using the same technique and rate, until I am past the last fish or on the bottom.

Should the fish remain stubborn after this has been done, I try a different color and begin the whole process over again. 99% of the time it is a color issue on these stubborn, negative fish if you have covered the avenues of presentation and profile.

You may wonder why I begin the jigging by lifting the bait up instead of dropping it. I honestly think that the most natural direction of movement the live organisms in the water below ice are upward. You'll notice I said "live". Granted there are things that will appear to be dropping in the water under the ice as well, but most of those are either baits of fishermen or organisms which have died and are waterlogged and sinking. Just about every king of food- resource activity that the fish see begins at the bottom of the water column and anything moving in a similar direction will get a fish's attention a whole lot faster. If an upward direction does not produce, what can dropping down hurt?

Both of these baits are great and very similar in appearence, yet they demand to be fished in much different ways. When you notice the bite falling apart, try going to the vertical presentation with a vertical jig. You may, in fact, find that your largest fish fall to this presentation.

Crappies? Heck yes, both of these will catch crappies too. But I try to spread myself around and have my pet crappie tools too that are outside of this realm. For sunfish or bluegills though, the Shrimpo and the Ratso take first place honors.

[DEADhead]

Well put Tom! Thanks for the great info.

[winona walleye]

awesome infomation, thanx tom

ww

[Matt Johnson]

I love this guy! Tom always provides outstanding insight on anything pertaining to panfish. And being a panfish geek, you can bet I listen to every word this dude says!

Just as a heads up, look for Tom and I to be at Gander Mountain in Mankato sometime in January or February for a seminar. We'll get the details nailed down in the near future and I'll post them once things get set. We'll also work on one in Lakeville too. A great chance to pick Tom's brain, as he always enjoys talking fishing at these seminars, and we usually stick around afterwards and answer questions too.

Again, great read Tom!

[CrappieJohn]

This afternoon I fished for three hours before the wind got the best of me....it was chilly sitting out on the ice. Without electronics too!

I have been itching to try one of JBLures "horizontal teardrops" on some sunfish and today was the day. I started out by threading some finesse plastic on the hook and went at it. By dropping to the bottom and jigging up like I decribed earlier I was able to get right into panfish. As the time got on the fish did a slow but definite shift into vertical territory and I managed a handful on another JB lure, a 1/12 ounce micro-weasel again outfitted with finesse plastic. Slowly the bit ebbed and a ratso was put down the hole with a waxie and that finished the fishing for me today.

To make a point, every fish I got today was taken on a spring bobber rod and the jig was fish up-hill, starting at the bottom and slowly working it up. 90% of the hits were very definite and the other ten percent were detected by seeing the spring "lift".

Sorry I can't say I was into the ten inchers. Seven was the norm , but hey, those guys are fighters too.

[fishercat]

Custom Jigs and Spins are WAY over priced ! They do have one jig thats worth the money though ! When it comes to catching crappie and big gills the "Demon" is hard to beat at any price !

[CrappieJohn]

Move to this area. The shipping costs are much less and help to keep the prices down. lol You are right though, about the Demon. It is a solid stand-by jig. The new jigging demon is also a winner.

[Tyler Holm]

Great post Tom. I'd like to see a live demo in the next few weeks. Lets plan on it. Thursday evening still looks like a "go"

[CrappieJohn]

Should be a go here too, Tyler.

[eyepatrol]

Great article Tom! I've found the technique you've explained to be very deadly on sunnies/'gills. I've had the benefit of seeing this with my underwater camera. The technique of dropping your jig to the bottom, slowly raising up and finesse jigging is exactly what I've seen to produce the best, even on those finicky fish.

I've fished with people who simply pop the jig up 2 or 3 feet in the water column and let it float down and so many times on my underwater camera I've seen the small ones go for it, but the bigger fish will back off and eventually swim away. After telling them to drop their jig to the bottom and slowly jig it up, I've seen the bigger fish move right in and inhale the jig. Sometimes they'll hit it as the jig comes just off the bottom, but most of the time I've noticed that they will take it on the slow rise up above them...and sometimes I've had to raise my jig up 3 to 5 feet off the bottom until they decide to take it. Most of the bigger fish I've caught though has been while slow raising the jig from the bottom. This type of presentation has also worked well for me during open water periods too...especially when those pesky smaller fish get to the bait first...in those situations I'll cast out into deep water, let the jig sink to the bottom, then bring it back in keeping it close to the bottom under the smaller fish which allows the bigger fish an opportunity to take the jig.

As you mentioned though, if they're not hitting it on the rise, then just like you, I'll reverse it and slowly lower the jig through the water column. And again, as you've said, if this doesn't trigger them, it's time to switch colors. Sometimes chartruese is great, white, red and orange can be good too, but for me, I've noticed that black has really produced exceptionally well. Black is my starting color and if it doesn't produce using these techniques, I'll switch to some other color.

Great article though....I can relate to it. For me, having an underwater viewing camera really tells you much of the story with the fish. You can see just how the color, action and overall presentation make the fish react. You could also see this with your locator, but since I don't have one (not yet at least...next week though...LX-3 here I come!), the camera has really come in handy.

Good luck and good fishing!

bc

[CrappieJohn]

I really smacked the fish this morning using this method of jigging with both jigging spoons (Jiggin Eye, glo red, from JBLures and the Custom Jigs and Spins Jigging Demon and waxie tipped) and a small ballhead tipped with either the Custom Jigs and Spins Finesse Plastic or the Lindy Techniglo Nail Tail miniature....both in the chartreuse glo on a 1/64 head of chartresue glo and tipped with a waxie. With the plastic, the waxie was sort of optional.

I was working from deep to shallow but starting the move up from the four foot mark off the bottom. It was incredible how hard the crappies hit this stuff today.