Whats your favorite Jig Presentation for Muskies?

[10,000 Casts]

Just curious what you guys like to use?

About the only Jig set up that I use is one that I saw on In-Fisherman.

Take a 6-8 inch swim shad and rig it sideways with the biggest Grassmaster Jig that you can find ( 1 1/2oz).

It is a great presentation in the fall and a good throw back bait.

What is you favorite Jig?

John

[RK]

Hiya -

I use jigs quite a bit. Incredibly versatile, great hookers, and very very easy on fish, which i like.

I use Bait Rigs Esox Cobra Jigs almost exclusively, whether I'm using one with a skirt and a shad body or twister tail, or bare with a reaper tail. The Cobra jig is a true swimming head jig, with the right balance for a horizontal presentation (weight of the head behind and below the line tie) and a slightly concave bottom which make it swim on its own a little bit on the fall. Great hook (5/0, fairly light wire, Big Bite Ultrapoint) too. The standard Cobra doesn't have a weedguard, which is fine with me. With the head design it's almost not necessary, and I think a lot of the time on 'muskie jigs' the weedguards are so stiff they're more like fish guards. For the kinds of cover we fish in most often (cabbage and coontail), if the jig hangs, a pop of the wrist will free it. Lots of hits come when you pop them off a weed stalk - it's a great trigger.

I also use the Cobra Magnum, which is a much bigger-bodied jig with an 8/0 Ultrapoint, a stand-up head and a weedguard, plus a trailer hook system. You can put a 10" Kalin's Grub on these, and fish them a lot of different ways. Great around thicker cover. The final jig type I use is Pat Smith's Stick-Um Stealth jig, which has a wire keeper for rigging a soft plastic body like a reaper Texas-style. Very very weedless, and has an Owner cutting point hook that's really nasty. The best option in really thick stuff like rushes.

I don't use the J-Macs anymore. The skirts didn't hold up, and I positively hate the hooks on them. Hard to sharpen, don't stay sharp, and too narrow a gap for me when you put a plastic body on them. I know Doug likes them, but I much prefer the Cobra jigs.

For trailers, I most often use a 6" Salt Shaker or 6" Action Plastics shad body. If I want to fish shallow and slow though, either over shallow weeds, or up on shallow sand, I use a 1/2 oz Cobra with a skirt, and a twin-tail shrimp body. You can almost walk these in place if you want.

As to how I fish them, a lot of the time I just fish them like a bucktail without a blade. Cast them out, reel them in, and pause/vary the speed once in a while. If I'm fishing weedlines, I'll slow them down and swim them deeper, but it's still basically a horizontal presentation unless I'm popping a reaper through the base of a weedline. Then it's more of a drop bait kind of deal where the bait hits the bottom between rips or lifts.

Jigs are getting more popular bit by bit, but to me they're still the most under-used technique around.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[BrianF]

Great reply, RK.

BrianF.

[cjac]

I use the J-Macs, because that's primarily all I have I guess. Call me a Stange wanna be! I'll have to pick up a few Cobra's to compare. I can say I agree on the hooks not staying sharp on the J-Macs.

Spring and early season I mainly use 6 inch plastics, Lunker City Shakers (Stange influence again). I also use the 6 inch when working the weeds on 'tonka for example. Try pairing up with the Mr Twister 9 inch Exude Shad. Exude plastics are quite popular in the bass world. Makes a nice big profile and at 9 inches the tail really thumps. Not cheap at around $9 per 3 pack, but FMers get 20% off Mr Twister products. Check the bass forum and you'll find the link to use to get the discount.

Regarding using as a throw back: I have but have not got a hook up as of yet, although they do swim well in the figure 8. My own problem, but I was too slow with the jig on follows, need to speed it up and I was a bit to slow in hindsight. A mental thing I know....

Overall, a great presentation and pretty easy to use. Think of how many pike you catch or have bite offs with while using a J&P for bass. I actually use a heavy 7'10" Avid bass rod for my jig set up. Esox like jigs!

Chris

[beatuplund]

If you're looking for more of a swim jig, I like the Lil Hustler Musky Jig. Works great for a faster retrieve and can't be beat for figure 8ing.

[AWH]

Quote:

---

The final jig type I use is Pat Smith's Stick-Um Stealth jig

---

I might be letting the cat out of the bag a bit...but many people know already. One of the biggest names in the musky world these days is Musky Mayhem Tackle. They make the Double Cowgirls which everyone has to have. They purchased and now make Eagletail bucktails as of a couple years ago. And as of just recently, they have purchased the rights to Pat Smith's Stick-Um jig. They had a number of them available at their booth at the Blaine musky show in March. They'll be making them with both silicone rubber skirts and the tinsel that has made their Double Cowgirls famous.

The long winded point I'm making is that these jigs are some of the best ones out there. The fact that Musky Mayhem now makes them just adds credibility to the fish catching capabilities that it has. These jigs along with the Esox Cobra jigs have to be tops among musky jigs.

Aaron

[10,000 Casts]

Thanks for the Posts,

Rk, I am going to make it my goal to get some of the jigs that you talked about, I have already tracked come 10" kalins down.

Thanks,

John

[Muskycrazy]

I just got my stuff from AWH ( Thanks Aaron ) and with it I got a Fuzzy Duzzit and I got this to use as a jig . I read an article quite a while back about Fuzzy and can't remember if this was ment to be vertically jigged or thrown out and kinda jerked back . Can anybody thats used one offer some tips ? I also got a Mojo Triple X , its like a horse tail with two hubcaps . Wow is it BIG !

[RK]

Hiya Muskycrazy -

The Fuzzy is a vertical jigging bait for the most part. I use them in late fall mainly, post-turnover, when fish are deep on steep breaks and tight to the bottom. Had some pretty good luck with ol' Fuzzy on certain lakes... Easy to fish - just a steady lift - not a rip really, just a lift - then a drop on a semi-tight line. Fish almost always hit them as they fall, so when you go to lift again you just feel weight. Although I did have one hit last fall while I was filming a TV show that hit in mid-lift and just about took the rod out of my hands. Surprised the heck out of me...

I do know a couple guys that use Fuzzy all season and catch fish on it.

Horse tail and two hubcaps - that's pretty good...

Aaron - thanks for the reminder about Musky Mayhem and Pat's jigs. I had totally forgotten about that, and I even have a couple of the new jigs. I'm pretty curious to see how they act in the water...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Muskycrazy]

Thanks fot the info Rob , can't wait to give it try .

[bigbritt]

thorne bros actually has Pat Smith's Stick-Um jig from musky mayhem in stock...

[LouBischoff67]

For those of you that use Lunker City Shaker trailers on your jigs, what colors do you prefer for pike ?

Doug Stange recommended white, Ice, or black in his recent article. Any color combo's work - such as blue/black with a pink tail ?

[RK]

Hiya -

For pike, I like either white or black most of the time. They have a sort of dark red one (I have no idea what the color names are...) that's pretty good too.

To be honest with you though, and maybe this is just me, but for pike, I prefer a regular 5 or 6 inch twister tail over a thumper tail like a salt shaker. Don't know what it is, but pike just like twister tails. (Someday when you're fishing a spinnerbait, experiment with twister vs. no twiser and you'll see what I mean...) Black twister with a black jig is almost always good, so is a black jig with bright orange or school bus yellow twister. Or all white in clear water.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Scoot]

RK, I thought you were a color-doesn't-matter guy? Or is that just for muskies? Or am I wrong about you?

Only a couple weeks away until we can go and hit that smallie spot we spoke about at the Expo! I'm trying to swing going West on the 19th to that spot that Brett brought up- I've been hearing the same reports he was talking about. I have a buddy who went out there a week ago and did pretty well- nothing huge, but some pretty decent ones.

[RK]

Hiya -

I think color matters for muskies, and pike, but, I don't think it matters all that much compared to so many other presentation factors like speed, depth, action, etc.

Even to the extent color can matter, I don't get all wound around the axle about picky details. Contrast and general color pattern relative to the conditions (light and water color) are about as in-depth as I get. The super-lifelike paint jobs on a lot of baits these days are totally wasted on me. I'm likely to take a Magic Marker to them to increase the contrast in fact. If light and water conditions make me think I should be throwing a dark color bucktail, black, purple, dark brown - one's as good as the next. I have colors I like I suppose, but it's a confidence thing more than anything. All in my head in other words. Some lakes show color preferences over time too (purple on Leech, red on Mille Lacs), but that's likely a function of water color as much as anything.

Funny that you mention smallies, because those are the one species where I think color can make a huge difference. Largemouth too maybe, but not nearly as pronounced as smallies. Those stinking things can be so color selective at times it's mind-boggling. Example: Last summer I was on a very good smallie bite swimming grubs over some mid-depth rock piles. Went out with the wife one evening and started her with the color grub I'd been catching fish on (it was sort of a smokey blue color) while I tried something different. Fishing behind me, she started catching fish right away. I started switching colors. I'd catch one once in a while, while she was getting them pretty steady. As soon as I switched to the same color as she was using, I'd get bit pretty regularly too. Switch away from it, even to the same brand and size of grub in a slightly different shade, and it was back to one here, on one there...while she just kept hauling them in...

keep in touch as we get closer to bass opener. We gotta do that...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Rivernut]

A black neon ( black w/ red flake) jig w/same color 6" Larew salt craw. Stumbled across thie while targeting big largemouth's. Is now a staple in my musky arsenal.