Just Can't Seem To Catch Any On A Jig

[HP43]

I've been using jigs for a little while now, and I can't seem to catch ANYTHING on them.. I've tried swimming the jig, working it slow, working it really slow (lol) and just fishing it at a steady pace. I've used regular jigs, football head jigs, finesse jigs and I catch nothing. Where I fish the water it anywhere from mudy to a little dirty tint to it. I've been using black and blue jigs with a blue craw trailer. I sometimes switch to a black and red/orange colors as well. Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong.. Or give me some tips to fish them better. Thanks!

[derekxec]

try replacing the craw trailer with a swim tail trailer that has the tail stick out a little from the jig(doesnt have to match the jig color either) and skim it off the bottom so it kicks up a tiny bit of stuff as its slowly moving along....you can also bounce it off the bottom at a decent pace(some small fish feed off the bottom with their tails sticking up)

 

 

[WRB]

Are you catching bass in the same place you are jig fishing?

Jigs are not a magic panacea to catching bass. The fact is a jig can be very challenging to learn to fish. Strike detection is the most difficult to learn for nearly all bass angers and location being essential; can't catch them if they are not there!

Tom

[rockchalk06]

Are you catching bass in the same place you are jig fishing?

Jigs are not a magic panacea to catching bass. The fact is a jig can be very challenging to learn to fish. Strike detection is the most difficult to learn for nearly all bass angers and location being essential; can't catch them if they are not there!

Tom

Good info.

 

Also to add, the jig bite can be very very light at times. Also very fast. Watch your line for movement. remember a jig feels nothing like a reel craw when its in its mouth. They will spit it quick. You have to be quick on the hook set. It requires more attention than say cranking.

 

How sensitive is your rod?

 

Try a different color. Try matching your jigs colors to your trailers as best as you can.

 

What is your confidence bait? What ever you know produces fish in certain area, try first. When you know you are on the fish, switch up to a jig and see what happens. You will be surprised at what happens.

 

I start off with swim jigs. I throw on a green or blue colored jig first with a matching Havoc Subwoofer and start covering all the areas I think I will find fish. Slow roll it or bounce it off the bottom. When I get onto fish, I will switch up to a flipping jig. I don't have a fish finder yet, so its hit or miss for me.

[Loop_Dad]

HP43, others gave some good advice already. Let me add my .02. We don't know anything about your experience, so here's what I would say to someone relatively new to bass fishing who asked the question you asked...Keep the jig in your tackle box but don't use them for now. Learn to fish plastic worm well. Make sure to use weight, weightless fishing doesn't count for this. Learn to bottom fish first. Learn to feel the bottom. Then one of those good days that you caught multiple fish already on worms, tie your jig.

[Bankbeater]

First of all Welcome to the forums. 

With only water clarity to go on, I would say that you are not where the fish are, as mentioned above.  Where I fish, my best luck in muddy water comes from fishing around wood.  Also depending on the strike zone of the bass you may not need to work the jig all the way back to the boat.  Drop it in around cover and work it out maybe 10' or so.  If you don't get a bite then reel the bait in and try again.

[slonezp]

I just ordered 40 jigs from Northstar. Maybe I should cancel.

 

I agree with what was already said. My problem is I can't put the jig down. Once you figure it out you may have that problem as well.

[Chris]

This might help a little For me it took awhile to figure out a jig.

1. Do not set the hook on a jig bite like you would on a plastic lure. If you think something is different even if the bait took less time to hit the bottom than normal or something is just different set the hook HARD. Don't worry about coming up empty when in doubt set it. This will help teach you the difference between fish, cover, bottom.

2. It is all about the fall and rate of fall. Depending on the weight of the bait and the kind of trailer you use and line to a degree it will effect the fall of the bait. Use how thick the cover is, depth, and activity level of the fish to determine how fast of a fall you need.  

3. After you make your pitch or flip strip off some line so that the bait falls straight on slack to simi slack line. Many times if you let the bait fall on tension the lure will swing away from your target. 

4. After the pitch engage your reel (if need be take up some slack with your reel) and raise up on the rod to about a 2 o'clock position and feel for your jig or anything different (refer to 1) 

5. work the bait either hop it, drag it, shake it, without moving the bait far and repeat step 4 

6. If your fishing targets in cover pick a new target and pick it apart using steps 1-5.

7. You got to believe in it and put time into it soon it will be hard to put down

[Drewski73]

I was just like you a month ago. Then I decided to leave everything else at home, and fish the jig exclusivley. I got skunked two out of the first three days, and I just kept fishing it. I missed bites, I wasnt setting the hook hard enough, and had three in a row throw the jig back at me. I just kept fisihing it. This weekend I fished local ponds 5 times (Fri night, Sat am, Sat night, Sun am, Sun night) with nothing but jigs and caught probably 50 fish for 8 hours of fishing time.

 

Ill fish the same area three different ways. Ill slow hop it, then quick hop it, then swim it and let the bass tell me how theyd like me to present it.

[HP43]

Thanks for the replies everyone.. Y'all have helped me out a lot! I'm going to go out the next couple of days and use nothing but jigs. Hopefully the more I use them, the better I will get!

[WRB]

Thanks for the replies everyone.. Y'all have helped me out a lot! I'm going to go out the next couple of days and use nothing but jigs. Hopefully the more I use them, the better I will get!

Not if you fish in the wrong places! Right lure, right presentation in the wrong location doesn't work.

Move to a new location with steeper clay banks, deeper water or points and your luck should change. It's the late summer to fall transition period a lot places now and the bass are on the move.

Tom

[bigbill]

Fishing from shore I tried a 3/8oz football jig in green pumpkin with an uncle Josh craw pork trailer. I casted down a rocky point and hopped it slowly up the point when a bass took it on a hop. I got the presentation down. I do know this Rocky point does hold bass on both sides of it too. I fan cast across this Rocky point with cranks and the bass are there all the time. On one side of the point(left side) is a weed drop off and con the right side is a 10' deep channel. I like seeing the bass comming from the weed side to strike what I'm using. I draw them out at will. But I'm using what they like or want.

Keep on trying it don't give up till you find the right color, size, trailer and presentation. You can and will figure it out.

When I'm out there trying to learn how to use a new lure and presentation I remain calm, decades, motivated and a strong will for success. Go to a spot you know we're bass are and try different presentations. When you get it right a bass will interrupt you. I hate it when I'm practicing.........(smile) bigbill

Staying motivated is the key to learning a new pattern. Skill is how we learn to use that pattern. Skill and success go together.

It's not luck in fishing we are in control in fishing, it's our skill that catches fish. Luck is for the casino. I'd rather buy lures with my casino money.

[Chris]

Most of the time I use pork chunk sometimes plastic it just depends on what effect I am looking for. For example I take a pork trailer and take a knife and cut a wedge in the fatty side nose portion of the chunk. I also make a cut or two the width of the chunk. (nose hooked fatty side down) What it does is on the fall the chunk will flap like a paddletail worm. Sometimes I take the plastic version of a pork chunk and thread it on the hook instead of nose hooking it. (chunk side up) This gives you a nice flat surface for skipping the bait and it also glides different directions on each fall, if it is deep enough and weighted right it will spiral on the fall. It also shortens the bait for those pesky fish that are finicky.

[HP43]

BigBill, I found this big lake you can walk around the other day and that's where I'm fishing at. It's kinda muddy tint to it. The bad thing about it is you can't see any logs, grass, or brush. So I'm not really sure where the bass are. How ever there is a line of big rocks on one side. Should I start there and fish the rocks?

[bigbill]

I would fish near the rocks but what water conditions do you have stained or muddy or slightly stained? My next question is does your jig have a rattle and do you use scents?

[WRB]

Lets recap this thread;

You can't catch bass on jigs.

You are fishing a new small lake from shore and have no idea where the bas are located.

Why would you use a lure you are not familiar with, in a lake you know nothing about?

Jigs are not good search lures,they are good saturation lures when you know bass are eating crawdads.

We do 't know if this lake has a crawdad or bass population.

If you want to learn how to fish jigs go to a lake known to be a good jig lake and start there.

I rarely fish jigs from shore because they are not the lure for shore fishing. T-rigged worm is a far better choice, if you want a bottom bumping lure. A buzz bait or spinner bait would be a good choice for a search lure to determine where bass maybe located. After you have located bass and caught a few, then try you jigs in that area.

Tom

[BadBassWV]

I would first go and click the fishing articles section above and read the articles on Jig fishing by some of the best. I think I read in one of the articles that a Jig was a good search bait, I can't remember which one though. I learned to fish a Jig working it like you would a texas rig. Just remember what you did to get bit, and repeat. The bad part I can see fishing jigs from shore is its either going to cost you a lot of money in lost jigs or your going to do a lot of swimming to get them back. Good Luck and let us know how you do!

[Smallmouth Hunter]

A few techniques that work great with a jig are dragging and hopping. For dragging just reel down till your line is tight (while your rod is parallel to water), then slowly lift up rod tip to a 70-80 degrees angle off water. Then just dead stick it a few times. This will kick up whatever is on the bottom. When deadsticking it, just imagine that a bass is looking at your jig and that you are kicking up dirt in his face to p*** him off (lol). I get a lot of bites just dragging then shaking the rod just enough to move the jig.

 

For hopping just hop it every 5-10 seconds, but keep the line tight throughout the whole process so you don't miss any fish. With this technique i get most of my bites when i hop it and hold my rod at about a 70 degree angle off water and just keep it tight with my jig so that i can feel EVERYTHING. When you feel that *tap-tap* on your rod, just reel down on him and cross his eyes.

 

Hope this helps

[HP43]

BigBill, it is pretty much muddy water. It has a rattle and no I don't use scents.... WRB, I know this place has good bass population. There is a guy who caught a 12 pound bass out of it, on a jig.

[rockchalk06]

BigBill, it is pretty much muddy water. It has a rattle and no I don't use scents.... WRB, I know this place has good bass population. There is a guy who caught a 12 pound bass out of it, on a jig.

 

 

Try using scents. I prefer JJ's as a dye and Megastrike as a gel.

 

WRB also said you have to think about the prey that's in the lake. Does it have a crawfish population? Jig/Craw your imitating a craw fish. He also mentioned you may not know where the bass are located. If your not an expert on the lake, being shore bound wont let you use electronics to actually see the fish and where they are held up. You may not be in the same location they are. Looks for signs of the Bass busting bait fish on the surface. That's a good indicator.

 

Back to breaking out your confidence bait or a search bait. If you can't get hit on your confidence bait or a search bait, chances are they fish are not in that area or are active

[Broc]

I'm fairly new to jig fishing as well, just started this summer.  Probably obvious to jig fishermen, but i found that matching size of jig and size of trailer based on the cover you are fishing.  If im flippin and punching through patches in grass i use a fairly heavy jig with a low profile trailer so the jig steadily falls through the cover, staying in the strike zone to the bottom.  If im flippin/pitchin any structure with open water (timber, outside line of weed walls)  i use a bigger trailer, like a big creature/craw so the jig falls slower, with more vibration.  IDK, just keep trying i guess.

 

Just read that you have rock structure on your lake.  Start there, bounce it from the top to the bottom of the rocks (like a crawfish).  Jigs are designed for cover.  Maybe throw a deep crank or heavy lead weight and try to feel out any hidden logs or rocks in the open water. 

[bassboy13]

I like to pitch jigs ti boat docks fallen timber brush piles and I usually get bit on the fall

[bigbill]

I try to go with a larger size lure, a rattle and use scents when the water is on the stained and muddy side. It makes me wonder why we don't see and chartreuse & brighter red colors in jigs for stained/muddy waters. They could tone the chartreuse and red colors down for stained water and turn them up hotter/brighter in muddy water ever wonder why?

[JD96]

I'm just starting to get the hang of jig fishing after trying for a month with 3-4 catches on a jig. Now it's coming together.

 

My advice: Downsize, I like 1/8 to 1/4 jigs, with a chigger craw as a trailer.

 

I don't try to hit the heaviest cover, but skipping docks, edges of coves, any place you can imagine a craw being.

 

I like the "tap tap- sit" method that Glenn teaches, and sometimes I'll drag them. My jig catches have all been in coves and under docks, none in heavy cover. I also find it helps to palm your reel completely if you don't, and a rod that lets your hand touch a part of the blank like a split grip helps detect very subtle bites.

[JT Bagwell]

Some good advice in this thread.