Publication: Bass Matters
A Beginners Guide to Jigs | |
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><> ><> BASS MATTERS - May 10, 2006 ><> ><>
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Hello Anglers,
A reader wants to know what water temperature is best for
catching bass. Bass like water that is around 60 to 75
degrees. The water temperature often varies from cove to
cove and from coves to the main lake. Find water as close
to the 60 to 75 degrees as possible. If colder or if warmer,
bass often move deeper.
Enjoy a week of fishing!
Brock
email Brock
A Beginner's Guide To Jigs
By Don Applegarth
Jigs have been around almost as long as anglers and they
come in a wide variety of colors, styles and materials. From
the beginning jigs have been a great fish-catching tool, and
can be worked in various ways under a wide variety of
conditions.
Most anglers who want to learn to fish jigs get frustrated
and don't spend enough time using them. That is understand-
able, as these baits often do not produce as many strikes
as some other baits, and usually require the patience of
Job to fish them slowly enough.
First let's examine exactly what it is that a jig is
supposed to represent to the fish. The most common thought
among many anglers is that a jig resembles a crawfish. True
enough, but only when it is fished like a crawfish and in
crawfish colors and patterns. What about other styles and
colors…say a white bucktail? That certainly doesn't
resemble a crawfish to me.
A white bucktail jig with either a red head or a white head
with some red thread tied around the skirt resembles a bait-
fish with red gills, in my opinion. Most anglers find these
work best when cast and fished back with a steady retrieve
or by using a hopping technique along the bottom. They are
also excellent baits for trolling as well.
Similar jigs are made with rubber skirts as well, and these
too can be fished in the same manner. Normally, I fish a
white or any light colored jig a bit faster than a darker
crawfish color, simply because I want to imitate baitfish.
Now let's talk about the crawfish colored jigs. These can be
found in just about every shape and size imaginable, and for
good reason. They all work.
I think that overall the most popular colors for jigs any-
where (universal colors if you will) are black/blue, black,
black/chartreuse, brown, brown/orange, brown/chartreuse,
black/brown/purple, and many combinations of green or green
and brown.
All of those colors are great crawfish colors, and will work
under all conditions. Many anglers prefer to use a pork
chunk such as the #11 or #1 Uncle Josh Frogs. Those are
great trailers and will work fine, but they will also dry
out, and need to be kept wet in warmer weather to work
correctly.
Another alternative is to use some of the new plastic pork
trailers, such as the Zoom Super Salty Chunk which allows
the same advantages with the slower fall and movements of
the pork tails, but also allows you to be carefree about the
risk of it drying out. Another advantage to using these
types of trailers, is the fact that they also allow a wider
range of colors, and can be customized easily with a dye or
dye marker pen.
Continued...
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Many companies also offer a crawfish trailer as well, and
these can be deadly at times. Another advantage to using
these baits, is that they can also be fished on a Texas rig
or Carolina rig and therefore are much more versatile than
the standard chunks.
A Spider Grub or Twin Tail grub is another alternative to
fishing a jig. These can be worked in the same fashion as
other jigs and are in my opinion the easiest of all jigs to
learn. Simply rig them, and fish them as you would a worm.
The swimming tail action will draw strikes, and they can be
fished a bit quicker than the standard pork chunks.
The slender body will allow them to fall a bit more quickly
and therefore you must have several sizes of jigheads avail-
able to adjust the fall when needed. Most times I want the
bait to get down pretty quickly, and the deeper I fish it,
the heavier I want the head to be. The added weight gives me
a much better feel and allows me to stay in contact with the
jig much easier. It not only allows you a better feel for
the bottom's contour and make up, but also makes strike
detection easier.
A twin-tailed grub can be deadly fished with a soft plastic
skirt or behind either a hair or rubber skirted jig. It is
a very versatile bait.
Another thing to consider about jigs is the type of weed-
guard you will be using. If you are fishing open water, then
no weedguard is needed. For most of my fishing along rocky
areas with little heavy cover, I use a leadhead with a twin
wire, which I spread to form a V making it pretty weedless
but still allowing an easy hookset.
If I am fishing thick cover and pitching or flipping, then
I use a heavier head, which is streamlined and penetrates
easily through the thick stuff. A good monofilament bristle
guard is the most commonly found for this type of jig, but
some companies such as Bass Browser Jigs use a wire guard
making it easier to set the hook, and still quite weedless.
If you are fishing a bristle guard, be certain that you
spread the strands apart so that they form a slight V and
are thin enough for the hook to penetrate, and still come
through thick cover easily. This takes some practice, but
it is not difficult to learn, just hard to remember at
first. If you do not spread the guard, then you end up
missing a lot of fish when trying to set the hook.
Sometimes fishing a jig requires it be dropped into a
specific spot, and lifted and dropped a couple if times in
that same spot to trigger strikes from fish holding tight
to cover. Flipping and pitching are good examples of this
technique. There are also times when the fish want the jig
slowly crawling or hopping up and down across the bottom.
The best advice is to experiment, and let the fish tell you
what they want on any given day.
Learning to fish a jig requires determination, and time. It
is not a technique that will produce numbers most times, but
it is a technique which could produce the largest fish of
your life. It is an essential weapon to master and make you
a much more versatile angler. Once you catch a few on the
bait, you will gain the confidence it takes to throw it.
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GopherCentral's Question of the Week
Have you voted for any American Idol candidates this year?
Question of the Week
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FISHING JOKES CORNER
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Have you heard the one about the three blondes that went ice
fishing and didn't catch anything?
By the time they cut a hole big enough for the boat to fit
in it was time to go home.
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Questions? Comments? email: Email brock
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