Favorite Jigging Techniques

[Matt D]

I'm hoping this will get a general discussion going on the matter since, based on my experience, the smallest details in presentation on any given day can make a world of difference. What's your favorite technique, and what seems to be the situation that makes it most productive? ... I'll share mine, but I'd like to hear some others for different situations.

I grew up fishing bluegills and crappies on the backwaters of the Miss. R. near Dubuque, IA. Now, the 'gills were fine-sized, but when I say crappies, I mean SLABS (to rival any URL fish!) -- but I digress... The one thing I discovered many times on the River was that less was more, literally. Lots of folks make the assumption that a big fish means big bait and lots of action. Not so in many cases. You could fish a big Sw. Pimple 'til you were blue in the face or put a renegade minnow on a bobber and watch it bounce in your hole all day. The technique that invariably paid off was a small jig with a little rocking action to it, tipped with a wax worm, and jigged slow under a SPRING BOBBER. Yep, a tiny jig & waxie would bring in 1 1/2lb crappies! The trick (Hope Dad doesn't see me print this) was to find what depth they were at (easy anymore), raise the jig up ~2ft above that, and SLOWLY bounce the jig back down; repeating once you got down below, or to the bottom. The slow bouncing drop was the key; it had to be falling not just going up and down in one place. Speed could be varied some, but the general pattern stayed the same.

Try it sometime when you know they're there, but just aren't cooperating. The spring bobber really helps when they seem to just be coming up and "mouthing" it. I thought it was a local technique that probably wouldn't work up here when I moved here in '93, but since then, I've tried it on LOW walleyes, DL perch, ON lake trout, and URL crappies. It just seems to work when other stuff won't. I took a guy from work fishing a few weeks ago and I ended up catching all but one of the fish. When I saw him last weekend on a lake, he had two of his rods rigged with spring bobbers, and a handfull of new jigs.

[Aqua Eye]

Matt D
Great post. I'll enjoy this topic a lot when people find it and start giving their opinions. Here is my two cents.

The first thing I try to remember when fishing is that the quarry I'm after wasn't born yesterday,if you know what I mean. I find that it is easy to get caught in the mind trap that we as humanoids are mentally superior to our lunch.We are not. At least not in every way. While our brains are larger in ratio to our bodies than a 1 1/2 pound crappies might be, I think that what is most important is the clutter inside our heads. A 10-year- old -slab -crappie didn't get to be one by merely existing. Their senses are much more keen than ours are because they have to be.Just as we learn something "new" everyday so does the world around us,fish and animals included. Now,...what we retain from those little "life experiences" is the key here in my opinion.
A couple things I've learned on real light biting days from using my underwater camera;...no matter how light of line a person uses,or how small and life-like the presentation the fish know something just isn't quite right about this food offering. What I mean is that a morsel on a hook still stands out in an unnatural way.
That is why I enjoyed reading your comments about finding what depth the "BIG SLABS" were holding in and offering your bait about two feet higher. Have you ever stopped to wonder why that seems to work? Let's hear some of those ideas also.
Personally, I think it has to do with something I refer to as a fish's "comfort level". A place (cover/ depth/ structure) the fish seemed to be locked into for some reason such as external environmental factors such as oxygen levels,barometric pressure,light penetration,noise,a larger predator etc. These factors may push some fish deep while others take cover in the shallows(weeds). The trick for me is to find what depth the slabs/bulls/eyes want to be and see how far up from that location they are willing to go for a meal. My job is to "push the envelope" so to speak by getting the "prey" to leave "their comfort level" just long enough to try my offering and head back down.
Some days a fish may come up to my lure from four or more feet below (easy fishing,right?) and still other times six inches seems to be too much play for their mood(cold front).
If I notice the fish are "mouthing" the bait I start the process again 4-6 inches at a time which is easy to do while slip bobber fishing.Eventually a depth is reached where the fish will come up to but not want to stay in and a more aggressive strike occurs. The fish "thinks" to itself that the free meal may leave or be seen by one of it's hungry buddies and decides to take action.The fish darts up grabs the bait and heads back the way it came trying not to draw attention to itself and ooops!! Gotcha!!
Much has been said about jigging practices and I was rather surprised to learn how little action above the water surface quickly becomes too much of a good thing underneath it. I often use "flash" to draw them in and then fine tune the more subtle aspects of fishing once I develop an audience. I guess it's kind of like presenting Las Vegas to the desert dwellers.-Enough for now-TROY

[Guest]

Favorite = Take one kid.

Set up two tip ups with shinners. Bobber up for kid, lure em in with jiggen rap and watch em bite on the kids line.

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

I did quite well on gills yesterday and jigging presentation was everything. After experimenting with color and finding what worked best the last thing was presentation. By watching my flasher intensily I found exactly what jigging pattern prompted hits. The gills were extremely finicky but thanks to my flasher I felt like I could almost see the fish. Two other important factors were spring bobbers and mushed up waxies. Moving until I found fish was also important. I cannot say enough about the combined efforts of the spring bobber and flasher once the other basics were covered.

[ifalls_archer]

Thank you for the previous tips, I'll add my $0.02.

I have been working with the AE jr.'s lately and found something the perch can not refuse. Because the AE flutters down, I use a controlled drop to keep the lure going straight down where the vex can see it. When I get about 4 feet off the bottom, I let it free fall. After it hits the bottom, I raise it up about 12-14 inches and using my index finger, barely wiggle the rod tip back and forth, like your hand is shaking from being scared. Several days of this technique resulted in perch hitting almost every time. The AE jr. was tipped with a minnow head and then also tried ripping minnows in 3 pieces, with the same result on any piece of minnow, maybe slightly more with the head.

Hope this helps.

Brent Walchuk

[Guest]

I fished a local lake the other day and spent quite awhile trying to figure out what they were going to bite on. I tried jig color, type, action, size, bait, everything. Eventually it came down to the color of euro larvae. Once I hooked on a RED larvae the fish went nuts. Red seemed to be the only thing that worked. I caught maybe 5 fish off of others presentations and close to 100 crappies/gills off of red larvae. Although most fish were small, I managed to pull up a few eater crappies in the 8-11 inch range.
Good Fishing, Matt.

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

Interesting point MJ5 since red is the teardrop color I zeroed in on to get hits as well.

[Matt D]

And RED was the color of the magic slab jig when I fished the Miss. R. backwaters as a kid. I've got about six of the exact same jig, and always go to it when perch or crappies don't want anything else. Usually helps.

[rap]

i fish for perch the majority of the time. i usually use a small green/white fatboy once i find the perch. i try many different techniques when the fish are finicky. a flasher is the key to seeing how the fish are reacting to what style you are doing. it always seems the "pounding" technique with a couple waxworms gets them biting... i've found that once the fish comes off the bottom and is staring at your jig, that you should keep pounding the jig lightly to keep it moving, they seem to go back to the bottom if you all of a sudden stop when they come up to your bait... before all my maggots died last month, i also found red ones got more bites than other colors

[Piker]

Aqua Eye, I think you hit it on the head there. Since I got my vexilar I have been able to notice fish following the jig. I've noticed that sometimes when you put a jig in front of their face, maybe a foot or so off bottom, that they won't hit it. If you hold it they might suck on it, but not always. I found that if you could pull them up 3 or 4 ft off the bottom that they get out of the "comfort zone" and it's almost as though they get nervous and make mistakes. I found that key early this season. Get them up and there playing by your rules and it helped. Now last week I was at 16 Mile on LOW and up to my same tricks, well I was stubborn, all I used the first trip up was a gold jigging Rapala and a gold Northland airplane. I stuck with that a lot longer than I should have. They wouldn't hit until I switched to orange. Just goes to show that you have to adjust.

[Piker]

I think it's important too, not to stick with something that's not working. The day's too short. If you see fish on the vex and they follow, but don't hit, you better try something else. Be it presentation, color, a different jig, a whole minnow instead of a head, or whatever. That's why you have those toys is to find out if they are there, or not. What worked yesterday or this morning may not work this afternoon. I difinitely learned that this year. Gold is usually lethal at LOW, but not always. Gotta be flexable. I can't wait to get up there.

[rap]

aqua eye and piker are exactly right about pulling fish off the bottom, if you get a fish to chase your bait well off the bottom with the aid of a flasher, they almost always hit it...

[Guest]

One interesting thing I have learned fishing big blue gills(while fishing shallow water in the fishtrap,watching them)is that sometimes they bite better with no bait on a jig. Try it sometime, I've had many times when the bite is good in shallows and you can watch the fish and you can see those big ones lurking off to the side so you keep trying different jigs, or a new worm or half a worm,and watching the reaction of the fish. The you use the same jig with no worm and suddenly that big one comes from the side takes a good look and inhales it. Sounds weird, but I have it in my bag of tricks and it works good enough I ain't throwin it out.
Wayne

[Beerbatter]

I've had some interesting days on the lakes with my electronics. I use camera and a vexilar to view what is happening. (If you get the chance to try this you will learn alot.)
First off you need to find the fish and get setup with the camera so you can see one or both of your lines. (Impossible to see both on Red because of the thick plankton)
Then setup your vexilar and watch both screens. Once a fish comes in try a jigging technique and see how it reacts. You'de be amazed how many times all it takes to trigger a bite is to wiggle,shake or tremble the bait. I know it is alot to keep track of but watch your vexilar too so you can learn what is happening. It has helped me alot,my father still raises an eye brow at me with my odd jigging but the proof is in the catching.

[Gonzo]

I do pretty much exactly what Beerbatter does with the camera and vexilar. Two weekends in a row on Mille Lacs. The first weekend, when a walleye came in, I was just slightly "wiggling" my rattle spoon without any vertical movement, and I could turn them every time. They would then come over, check it out, and bite on the plain 'ol hook and minnow. The next weekend, I tried the same thing when the walleyes came in, and they would flare like mallards. After a couple of those events, I started trying different jigging styles, to no avail. Frustrated, I pulled the spoon up about 2-3 feet, and let it drop straight down and remained motionless. The first walleye I did that to was swimming away slowly and immediately turned and smacked the spoon without hesitation! Two more did the same thing after that one. That technique is one that I usually use for perch, but I learned to try a lot of different styles until you see what interests them.

[rap]

a trick i do alot when the fish aren't biting and they are on my vexilar is to jig at them for a while, and if they don't bite, i reel in my line all the way and leave it up for a few seconds, then i let it back down very slowly, and usually they'll come and hit it... seems like i'm always doing that on slow days, it's amazing what little tricks you can learn with a vex.

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[This message has been edited by rap (edited 02-14-2002).]