Deep Water Jigs

[Deitz Dittrich]

BIL--- Sun up to sun down... When everybody else is on a good shallow bite, that same exact good bite is going on deep as well. The thing is, the deep bite lasts longer.

[rockman]

I gotta go with what Deitz posted.The deep pattern will be there all day long.When you find some decent deep spots to jig, more than likely you will not have much for company from other anglers.That is especially true when most everyone else is fishing the shallow water zones, and weedlines, during prime times of the day.Like the folks at In-Fisherman used to say-Not all the fish in the lake are doing the same thing, at the same time, in the same spot.

[Dooley87]

this may be a little off topic but we fish a smallie tourney twice a year (fall, spring) and last year in the fall tourney we fished cranks and plastics but i don't belive we fished over 15 feet (depth clarity of 26 feet). the team that won the tourney had their limit, they said that they caught a majority of their fish in one spot, the spot was around 25 feet and he said he would just slowly drift over the spot and as soon as the depth would start to slowly taper off the fish on the graph would appear, he said the smallies were just stacked up out there and they were pullin leeches on the bottom and they would pick one or two up in every drift.

this sounds like a great place to pull jigs or plastics, the tournament was in september and the fish were in their winter staging areas, i know for sure that we are going to look deeper this fall and watch our electronics more in that 20-30 foot range near shallow feeding areas.

[bassNspear]

alot of great information. Thanks guys for this and always look forward to anyone else that would love to add to it as well.

Thanks again

[Ray Esboldt]

OK. I am a little late to the party here. But, if I am fishing deep weededges, rocks, or any other hard bottom structure, I always have the same three baits tied up - an 1/8oz. or 3/16oz. (depends on the wind intensity) mushroom head jig, a 1/2oz. football jig, and a 1/2 oz. skirted jig. I'll usually tip the mushroom head or football jigs with a bait like a Mister Twister Comida, and the skirted jig is tipped with something like a Zoom Super Chunk.

The baits I pick aren't just random samples from my plastic collection. They are chosen by choice. Namely, I want an accelerated sink rate. My reasoning behind being out of the bank fishing hard bottom structure is that the fish are rooting around the bottom for crayfish and other creepy crawlies that live there. I want bottom contact and baits like a Comida really enable that. I choose a plastic chunk over pork for similar reasons. Pork slows the fall too much.

For me the retrieve is more of drag than a lift and sink. However, when the bait is right by the boat I'll pick the bait well off the bottom and let it crash hard a couple times and then let it sit. It works for me.

With all that being said, jigs and plastics are secondary to location. You really need to concentrate on proper electronics use and boat control to consistently harvest fish out beyond the banks.

[bassNspear]

awesome information bud. Thanks for that. Cant wait to get out with ya this summer again.

[evinrude19]

i am also new to deep water bass fishing and was wondering do football jigs work better than mushroom or regular jigs? and how big?

thanks

zach

[Ray Esboldt]

I don't think I would claim a football better than a mushroom head better than a ball head, etc. Footballs and mushroom heads fit my style of fishing. When I fish outside the weeds, I like a lot of bottom contact. Football jigs add some really nice action to your plastic when you're dredging the bottom with it.

To be honest with you, I am technically misusing (I say extending capabilities) mushroom head jigs when fishing them deep. Mushroom heads really excel for fish on the outer edges of a weedbed. The way they sink with a small/light plastic just "looks" right and seems to appeal to those fish riding higher in the water column. Plus, the light wire hooks do allow you get away with using it in weed cover. A rip on the rod, and you can bust it off weeds cleanly. And, I fish them that way a ton. But, outside of the weeds I turn them into slow moving bottom plows. That's not what they are made for, but I have a ton of them and ones usually tied on (i.e. too lazy to tie on a different jig???).

Football heads come in just about any size. I use quite a bit of 1/2oz. but have started tying on 1/8oz. and 3/16oz. more frequently in place of mushroom heads.

[bassNspear]

ray, we need to get a day locked up on when you want to go.

[Ray Esboldt]

We do. I owe both you and your little brother a fishing trip. We'll figure it out once the weather actually encourages me to fish.

[bassNspear]

thats kool. Maybe dietz and I can beat up on you and my bro