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Fishing Jigs
- Thread starter bigkano
- Start date
Bigkano
You are making the same mistake as probably 80% of Bass anglers out there, A JIG IS NOT A SEASONAL BAIT IT CAN BE FISHED ANYTIME ANYWHERE IN ANY WHEATHER CONDITIONS. What is true is the fact that you will get a bit less strikes on a jig than on a plastic worm purely because of the size of the jig. I always have a jig tied on and I always throw a jig as it might present that something different the fish is looking for. Also a strike on a jig is ussually a quality fish, if I fish for weight I will throw two lures 90% of the time a jig and a spinner bait. I see you are from Rustenburg, please believe me there is not one venue that I have fished in SA and Zim where I haven't had success with a jig. Look at the Pro's in the states it is their go to bait, we in SA do not fish jigs enough.
As for the trailer, it very much depends on what you are trying to achieve with your jig. I fish a jig without any trailer a lot, the main purpose of a trailer is to slowdown the drop of the jig and to increase the profile of the jig. When I use a light jig I like to use something like a Fat Albert grub. The tail give extra action as well. On my heavier jigs I would mostly use jig & pig (The proper pig skin) or I would use a Brush hog that I have taken a piece of the body of the brush hog. You acn basically use anthing, I focus on contrasting the jig color and getting the drop I am looking for.
Remember a JIG is a HOT lure and like Gary Player says the more I practise the luckier I get. VERY TRUE for Jig fishing! Hope this helps.
You are making the same mistake as probably 80% of Bass anglers out there, A JIG IS NOT A SEASONAL BAIT IT CAN BE FISHED ANYTIME ANYWHERE IN ANY WHEATHER CONDITIONS. What is true is the fact that you will get a bit less strikes on a jig than on a plastic worm purely because of the size of the jig. I always have a jig tied on and I always throw a jig as it might present that something different the fish is looking for. Also a strike on a jig is ussually a quality fish, if I fish for weight I will throw two lures 90% of the time a jig and a spinner bait. I see you are from Rustenburg, please believe me there is not one venue that I have fished in SA and Zim where I haven't had success with a jig. Look at the Pro's in the states it is their go to bait, we in SA do not fish jigs enough.
As for the trailer, it very much depends on what you are trying to achieve with your jig. I fish a jig without any trailer a lot, the main purpose of a trailer is to slowdown the drop of the jig and to increase the profile of the jig. When I use a light jig I like to use something like a Fat Albert grub. The tail give extra action as well. On my heavier jigs I would mostly use jig & pig (The proper pig skin) or I would use a Brush hog that I have taken a piece of the body of the brush hog. You acn basically use anthing, I focus on contrasting the jig color and getting the drop I am looking for.
Remember a JIG is a HOT lure and like Gary Player says the more I practise the luckier I get. VERY TRUE for Jig fishing! Hope this helps.
vince the prince
New member
When my buddy and i fish and it gets tough, we always say "jig-dit-uit" and bam - fish in the boat.... hahahahahhaha
Herman Nel
Senior Member
Hi there guys!
Here is part of a article I did a while ago for a bassing magazine.
Hope this helps
Regards
Herman Nel
Fishing flooded timber by Herman Nel
Life After Death
In the natural cycle, everything dies, but the impact of a riparian tree continues on long after it topples into the water.
The branches of a sunken tree create an ideal habitat for fish. These large pieces of decomposing wood also construct the base of a perfect food web; bacteria and small organisms feed on the wood, larger organisms feed on them, insects feed in turn, becoming lunch for small fish, which end up in the bellies of big fish. Sunken or partially submerged wood is another spot which anglers must explore to locate fish. Not only does it provide cover, shade and an ambush spot, it sports its own buffet! Perhaps the biggest benefit provided by a tree to fish, and in turn anglers, is the veritable buffet of bugs that can be found in the leaves of a stream or lakeside tree. Terrestrial insects such as beetles, grasshoppers and ants are often found exploring the smallest branches of a tree. Aquatic insects, like dragonflies, mayflies and caddisflies use shoreside trees as a resting place as they complete the transition from nymph to adult.
After finding timber standing in water , anglers need only explore the area in the water around it , and always fish the “shady†side of a stump first.
Lets discuss some of my favourite baits for fishing timber and brush, namely Jigs, Creature baits, Flukes , Lizzards , Senkos / Worms , Crankbaits and Spinnerbaits.
Jig Fishing
Bass seem to feed largely on crabs which are picked off of standing timber. Dropping a jig to sink down the tree trunk will often draw a strike.
When fishing jigs, use a strong (up to 10kg), high visibility line. Due to the dirty water and the manner in which these lures are fished, the visible line will have little effect on the fish, but aid the angler greatly. Apart from improved casting - because you can see what you are doing - the line will often act as a bite detector, visibly flicking or twitching as the bass subtly inhales the lure - often on the drop. These takes are seldom felt, and would be missed without the aid of a high visibility line.
When casting or pitching the lure in dirty water, a noisy entry is not a bad thing. The splash as a bulky lure plops into the water will often attract a bass' attention, and help him to home in on the offering. Deflecting the lure off the target tree is another way of announcing its arrival to the waiting bass. Because fishing dirty water often requires getting really close to structure, find a tree with small (strong enough to support the line, but weak enough to snap should the fish pounce on the lure), twig like branch just above the water, onto which the line can be hooked, allowing the lure to drop vertically down the trunk. To accomplish this, accuracy is an important factor. But, if you are to keep the lure on target, and in the strike zone longer, casting over a twig in this fashion will prevent the lure from penduluming back toward the rod tip before the fish has had a chance to see it.
[align=center] [align=center]
[/align]
[/align]
When fishing plastics in heavy brush or structure, some anglers apply one of the various bait scents available. While the attracting ability of these products are questionable, and often times depends on the angler's confidence, a little lubrication on the bait goes a long way to keeping it from snagging in exposed branches. Plastics have a nasty tendency of wrapping themselves around twigs and sticks at the slightest contact. With a bit of lubrication, the bait simply slides through, dropping into the water. If the attracting qualities of the scent actually works too, then it is a bonus.
Yet jig fishing can be a little frustrating at times, and a little mysterious when you first get in to it. I don't think it's because the jig is all that hard to fish with. I think it's because to catch fish consistently on the jig, you need to have the right setup (jig included) and you need to understand the conditions in which certain types of jigs are effective.
There are a lot of theories out there on the weedguard. Some guys trim it just above the tip of the hook. Other guys thin threads out where the weedguard is glued into the jig. Other guys spread the weedguard out by bending it to the sides. When you buy a jig you need to think of the weedguard as raw material to be crafted to your needs. I prescribe to the school that cuts some threads out of the weedguard at the base. I also like to fan the bristles out around the hook. I have had terrible luck cutting the weedguard shorter above the hook. This just makes it stiffer which is not a good thing.
To test my jigs I like to tap my pointer finger on the weedguard towards the hook. If I feel the hook point with a sharp tap of the finger I figure that's good. If I feel 3 or 4 bristles instead of the hook, that's bad. If your finger comes back bloody you are tapping too hard!
The Trailer: The trailer is what makes the jig! There are probably 100+ things you can use as a jig trailer but let's skip to what I know works.
Probably my favorite trailer is a full size brush hog. I know this isn't the first thing that jumps to mind when you think of jig trailers, but then again I've never been accused of doing things the normal way when it comes to fishing. I take a brush hog and cut it right between the two little wings (about ¾" back from the head). I thread it on the hook so that the hook comes out right between the base of the wings. This trailer is very bulky and slows the fall of your jig really well. It also gives a great illusion of a crawdad and has good action at slow speeds with the two thin tentacles. Most importantly, the brush hog wings cause the trailer end of the jig to float up off of the bottom assuming the posture of a ticked off crawdad. You have to see this in a tank to understand it. It just looks killer and the fish think so too. This stand up posture is KEY to jig fishing.
Getting back to the normal thing, my second favorite trailer is a 5" twin tail grub. I use this mostly in open water and in deep water. It also seems to get bit better in warm water when the fish are more active. When you look at this trailer in the tank you will notice something interesting. The legs of the grub after you stop it will often unfold slowly outwards. It's subtle but I think it's the kind of thing that triggers strikes. Give a twin tail jig a little pop and then kill it. It falls to the bottom and the legs unfurl themselves. Kind of like a crawdad that touched down on the bottom, noticed a threatening bass near by and decided to stick up its claws. This trailer doesn't float up off the bottom that well but it does catch a lot of fish.
It certainly pays to experiment with jig trailers. While I may be a brush hog guy, you might find out that you do really well on Zoom chunks. Fish at different lakes key on different things so cycle through the box a bit and see what gets the best response for you.
Colors and Scents
Jig Colors:Lots of jig articles say to keep it simple with colors and I tend to concur. I let water clarity and the color of the cover I'm fishing tell me what color to use. If it's very murky or muddy water I use a black jig. The same is true if I am fishing black rock or dark muddy banks. For clearer water, brown or red mud banks, or banks with green tullies I use a brown jig. One thing that gets me is that most commercially made brown jigs have a lot of orange in them. I pull all of the orange threads out of my jig. Don't ask me why, I just do. Lately the brown and copper Assalt jigs have really been working well for me. The copper color has a look to it like the back of a crawdad might have in a clear lake.
Trailer Colors: For trailer colors I branch out a little from my jig colors. With a black jig I like to use black/red, black/blue or just black trailers. For brown jigs I like brown/purple, watermelon/red, watermelon/black, and plain brown. I have also had good success using a brown jig with black pork on occsion. I couldn't tell you why, but sometimes they really like it. Just think along the lines of crawdad colors and you will do fine. If you happen to see a crawdad at the lake you are fishing, by all means put on a trailer that matches that color.
Scents: I don't know if I believe that scents make fish bite a jig in the first place, but I do absolutely believe that using scent is an advantage. Why? Because I think fish hold on longer with scent, and because scent lubricates your jig and makes it swim through the water more naturally, especially in cold water. It also helps when the fish bites the jig. The jig slides in the fishes mouth easily if it's lubed up with a good scent. I start with Smelly Jelly bass feast scent. Then I spray some Bang pure craw scent in for extra lovin. Wipe the jig around in that and you are good to go for at least a half hour.
When to Fish a Jig:Hey a jig can catch fish any time, but in general the jig is a lure to use from Fall to early Spring and especially in the middle of winter. In dams when the water begins to rise, good fish will move tight to the bank and feed on the crabs that get flushed out of their burrows. A jig is the killer bait this time of year. You'd be amazed how many good fish can be caught out of 2 feet of water in Sept. Jigs are also good in prespawn as fish stage out in deeper water. Find a creek arm in your lake, follow it out to where it drops into deeper water and start fishing your way in August to September.
How to Fish the Jig:Softly! Presentation is everything in shallow water jig fishing. Learn how to flip for short casts to 20 feet but also learn how to pitch a jig from 50 feet and have it land without a splash. Crawdads or crabs don't jump out of the sky! One thing I always used to read about but never understood was the guys who said they caught most of their fish on the fall. I used to just pitch my jig out and wait for it to hit the bottom on a slack line. In water less than 6 or 8 feet this is not what you want to do. What you should do is pitch out the jig and as soon as it enters the water keep a tight line and let it fall as slowly as possible. Focusing on this will get you bites in shallow water. Some of my biggest jig fish have almost all come this way.
[align=center] [align=center]
[/align]
[/align]
As far as the retrieve goes, I know it's a lousy answer, but it all depends. In water 20+ feet I tend to fish slow keeping the jig close to the bottom and shaking occasionally or not at all. Only exception would be with spider jigs where I'm jigging fast. In 5 to 20 feet I'm hopping the jig and shaking more. Three short shakes and a pause, then a hop, then three short shakes. You'll get a feel for the jig you are using and how to retrieve it. In shallow water throwing to specific targets I'm pitching in, letting it fall slowly, shaking it a few times and pulling it out. If I really feel there is a fish there obviously I will leave it longer or dead stick but that's something the fish are going to have to tell you they want.
Here is part of a article I did a while ago for a bassing magazine.
Hope this helps
Regards
Herman Nel
Fishing flooded timber by Herman Nel
Life After Death
In the natural cycle, everything dies, but the impact of a riparian tree continues on long after it topples into the water.
The branches of a sunken tree create an ideal habitat for fish. These large pieces of decomposing wood also construct the base of a perfect food web; bacteria and small organisms feed on the wood, larger organisms feed on them, insects feed in turn, becoming lunch for small fish, which end up in the bellies of big fish. Sunken or partially submerged wood is another spot which anglers must explore to locate fish. Not only does it provide cover, shade and an ambush spot, it sports its own buffet! Perhaps the biggest benefit provided by a tree to fish, and in turn anglers, is the veritable buffet of bugs that can be found in the leaves of a stream or lakeside tree. Terrestrial insects such as beetles, grasshoppers and ants are often found exploring the smallest branches of a tree. Aquatic insects, like dragonflies, mayflies and caddisflies use shoreside trees as a resting place as they complete the transition from nymph to adult.
After finding timber standing in water , anglers need only explore the area in the water around it , and always fish the “shady†side of a stump first.
Lets discuss some of my favourite baits for fishing timber and brush, namely Jigs, Creature baits, Flukes , Lizzards , Senkos / Worms , Crankbaits and Spinnerbaits.
Jig Fishing
Bass seem to feed largely on crabs which are picked off of standing timber. Dropping a jig to sink down the tree trunk will often draw a strike.
When fishing jigs, use a strong (up to 10kg), high visibility line. Due to the dirty water and the manner in which these lures are fished, the visible line will have little effect on the fish, but aid the angler greatly. Apart from improved casting - because you can see what you are doing - the line will often act as a bite detector, visibly flicking or twitching as the bass subtly inhales the lure - often on the drop. These takes are seldom felt, and would be missed without the aid of a high visibility line.
When casting or pitching the lure in dirty water, a noisy entry is not a bad thing. The splash as a bulky lure plops into the water will often attract a bass' attention, and help him to home in on the offering. Deflecting the lure off the target tree is another way of announcing its arrival to the waiting bass. Because fishing dirty water often requires getting really close to structure, find a tree with small (strong enough to support the line, but weak enough to snap should the fish pounce on the lure), twig like branch just above the water, onto which the line can be hooked, allowing the lure to drop vertically down the trunk. To accomplish this, accuracy is an important factor. But, if you are to keep the lure on target, and in the strike zone longer, casting over a twig in this fashion will prevent the lure from penduluming back toward the rod tip before the fish has had a chance to see it.
[align=center] [align=center]
[/align]
[/align]
When fishing plastics in heavy brush or structure, some anglers apply one of the various bait scents available. While the attracting ability of these products are questionable, and often times depends on the angler's confidence, a little lubrication on the bait goes a long way to keeping it from snagging in exposed branches. Plastics have a nasty tendency of wrapping themselves around twigs and sticks at the slightest contact. With a bit of lubrication, the bait simply slides through, dropping into the water. If the attracting qualities of the scent actually works too, then it is a bonus.
Yet jig fishing can be a little frustrating at times, and a little mysterious when you first get in to it. I don't think it's because the jig is all that hard to fish with. I think it's because to catch fish consistently on the jig, you need to have the right setup (jig included) and you need to understand the conditions in which certain types of jigs are effective.
There are a lot of theories out there on the weedguard. Some guys trim it just above the tip of the hook. Other guys thin threads out where the weedguard is glued into the jig. Other guys spread the weedguard out by bending it to the sides. When you buy a jig you need to think of the weedguard as raw material to be crafted to your needs. I prescribe to the school that cuts some threads out of the weedguard at the base. I also like to fan the bristles out around the hook. I have had terrible luck cutting the weedguard shorter above the hook. This just makes it stiffer which is not a good thing.
To test my jigs I like to tap my pointer finger on the weedguard towards the hook. If I feel the hook point with a sharp tap of the finger I figure that's good. If I feel 3 or 4 bristles instead of the hook, that's bad. If your finger comes back bloody you are tapping too hard!
The Trailer: The trailer is what makes the jig! There are probably 100+ things you can use as a jig trailer but let's skip to what I know works.
Probably my favorite trailer is a full size brush hog. I know this isn't the first thing that jumps to mind when you think of jig trailers, but then again I've never been accused of doing things the normal way when it comes to fishing. I take a brush hog and cut it right between the two little wings (about ¾" back from the head). I thread it on the hook so that the hook comes out right between the base of the wings. This trailer is very bulky and slows the fall of your jig really well. It also gives a great illusion of a crawdad and has good action at slow speeds with the two thin tentacles. Most importantly, the brush hog wings cause the trailer end of the jig to float up off of the bottom assuming the posture of a ticked off crawdad. You have to see this in a tank to understand it. It just looks killer and the fish think so too. This stand up posture is KEY to jig fishing.
Getting back to the normal thing, my second favorite trailer is a 5" twin tail grub. I use this mostly in open water and in deep water. It also seems to get bit better in warm water when the fish are more active. When you look at this trailer in the tank you will notice something interesting. The legs of the grub after you stop it will often unfold slowly outwards. It's subtle but I think it's the kind of thing that triggers strikes. Give a twin tail jig a little pop and then kill it. It falls to the bottom and the legs unfurl themselves. Kind of like a crawdad that touched down on the bottom, noticed a threatening bass near by and decided to stick up its claws. This trailer doesn't float up off the bottom that well but it does catch a lot of fish.
It certainly pays to experiment with jig trailers. While I may be a brush hog guy, you might find out that you do really well on Zoom chunks. Fish at different lakes key on different things so cycle through the box a bit and see what gets the best response for you.
Colors and Scents
Jig Colors:Lots of jig articles say to keep it simple with colors and I tend to concur. I let water clarity and the color of the cover I'm fishing tell me what color to use. If it's very murky or muddy water I use a black jig. The same is true if I am fishing black rock or dark muddy banks. For clearer water, brown or red mud banks, or banks with green tullies I use a brown jig. One thing that gets me is that most commercially made brown jigs have a lot of orange in them. I pull all of the orange threads out of my jig. Don't ask me why, I just do. Lately the brown and copper Assalt jigs have really been working well for me. The copper color has a look to it like the back of a crawdad might have in a clear lake.
Trailer Colors: For trailer colors I branch out a little from my jig colors. With a black jig I like to use black/red, black/blue or just black trailers. For brown jigs I like brown/purple, watermelon/red, watermelon/black, and plain brown. I have also had good success using a brown jig with black pork on occsion. I couldn't tell you why, but sometimes they really like it. Just think along the lines of crawdad colors and you will do fine. If you happen to see a crawdad at the lake you are fishing, by all means put on a trailer that matches that color.
Scents: I don't know if I believe that scents make fish bite a jig in the first place, but I do absolutely believe that using scent is an advantage. Why? Because I think fish hold on longer with scent, and because scent lubricates your jig and makes it swim through the water more naturally, especially in cold water. It also helps when the fish bites the jig. The jig slides in the fishes mouth easily if it's lubed up with a good scent. I start with Smelly Jelly bass feast scent. Then I spray some Bang pure craw scent in for extra lovin. Wipe the jig around in that and you are good to go for at least a half hour.
When to Fish a Jig:Hey a jig can catch fish any time, but in general the jig is a lure to use from Fall to early Spring and especially in the middle of winter. In dams when the water begins to rise, good fish will move tight to the bank and feed on the crabs that get flushed out of their burrows. A jig is the killer bait this time of year. You'd be amazed how many good fish can be caught out of 2 feet of water in Sept. Jigs are also good in prespawn as fish stage out in deeper water. Find a creek arm in your lake, follow it out to where it drops into deeper water and start fishing your way in August to September.
How to Fish the Jig:Softly! Presentation is everything in shallow water jig fishing. Learn how to flip for short casts to 20 feet but also learn how to pitch a jig from 50 feet and have it land without a splash. Crawdads or crabs don't jump out of the sky! One thing I always used to read about but never understood was the guys who said they caught most of their fish on the fall. I used to just pitch my jig out and wait for it to hit the bottom on a slack line. In water less than 6 or 8 feet this is not what you want to do. What you should do is pitch out the jig and as soon as it enters the water keep a tight line and let it fall as slowly as possible. Focusing on this will get you bites in shallow water. Some of my biggest jig fish have almost all come this way.
[align=center] [align=center]
[/align]
[/align]
As far as the retrieve goes, I know it's a lousy answer, but it all depends. In water 20+ feet I tend to fish slow keeping the jig close to the bottom and shaking occasionally or not at all. Only exception would be with spider jigs where I'm jigging fast. In 5 to 20 feet I'm hopping the jig and shaking more. Three short shakes and a pause, then a hop, then three short shakes. You'll get a feel for the jig you are using and how to retrieve it. In shallow water throwing to specific targets I'm pitching in, letting it fall slowly, shaking it a few times and pulling it out. If I really feel there is a fish there obviously I will leave it longer or dead stick but that's something the fish are going to have to tell you they want.
Hi Guys, spoke to Herman Nel and asked his permission to post the full article which he wrote, which included pics.
It has got to be the best article I have read so far, and without pics the words on it's own does not do the article justice.
Enjoy the full article!
It has got to be the best article I have read so far, and without pics the words on it's own does not do the article justice.
Enjoy the full article!
Attachments
Little Green Fish
Sealiner
I use them whenever nothing else works, and of-late thats quite frequent, but have yet go get something on them as is the case with my spinner baits.