Jigs - How, When, What Color, And Where To Fish Them

[PBJ]

I haven't had much luck on jigs, so I was just looking for some insight on how, when, what color, and where to fish them.
-Thanks

[SirSnookalot]

Jigs catch almost any fish that swims in any body of water, some survivor kits come with a jig or 2.

[msolorio]

football jigs: points, gravel beds, humps, ect. colors, i usually only throw brown and variations there of. trailers, most the time its a yamamoto double tail grub. theres been a few threads on this topic, just use the search engine and things will pop up.

[roadwarrior]

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/jig-fishing.html

[Mike__D]

Great video.

Mike D

[smalljaw67]

What you need is confidence and the way to get it is by catching fish on it. When you get a day on the water and you are getting bit try finding a laydown or a weedbed and use a normal casting jig, 1/4oz I say to use as it appeals to a lot moe sizes of fish. Make a cast as close to the cover as you can get and watch your line, feel the jig and slowly work it, maybe a hop or perhaps a lift and drop like a texas rigged worm but once you catch a few fish, which you will, you'll become confident and be able to use it more often. I think a jig is one of the easiest lures to fish and the hardest to learn, the action is up to you in the way you use it and the trailer you pair with it. It isn't a bait to cover water with, it is a target bait and when you find cover that may hold fish a jig is a good bait to try.

[Simp]

Well a jig has become my bread and butter lure. It's a lure some people stay away from but there isn't a reason why they should. Let me say this you NEED only one color combo and thats black and blue. Sure there are times lighter colors are better in clear water but for 95% of the time black and blue will out catch all other colors. Just go buy a couple jigs. DONT OVER PAY! Simply buy some Lunker Lure Ultimate Rattling jig for like 2.50-3$ or Revenge jigs in black in blue to start off. Next buy a pack of Rage Craw's in Okeechobee (it's a light back and blue).

Next comes fishing it. First Pitchin and Flipping. Personally I'm a Pitching man. I can pitch a bait almost as far as I can cast a bait with a long rod. You don't have to learn to do this to fish a jig but 90% of my jig fishing is done by doing this. It allows you to hit a spot with pin point accuracy. This enables you to focus on the high priory spots and bypass un productive water. One of my lakes is a very shallow lake with wood cover and certain years heavy grass. When fishing this lake I can quickly hit priority targets like holes in a grass beds. A point that sticks out ect and still cover water. Whats great is with that rage craw you can also make a cast right down a grass line and swim it. The craw legs just flap like crazy and man there are days this is just the way to fish.

Casting jigs. IMHO this is a different beast and harder to learn. I'm just glad a couple of friends on Bass Resource built my confidence at KY lake on a roadtrip doing this. Casting a jig and bringing it back slowly IMHO requires that you have nailed down the bass are in a certain depth zone or holding to a specific piece of cover. Meaning don't just go down a deep bank slowly crawling a jig on the bottom in early September. This method of fishing generally is not the best search tactic. Examples of when it's good are

1) Post spawn- after a few weeks and bass are looking to move deep. Find a point that is near a spawning pocket or drops to deap water and go up and down it. Look for cover like rocks, trees, or brush. Personally I throw a deep crank first and try to catch a couple. Usually the first two are small and then I throw the jig and work the area again. Many times this is when you catch the big girl. You can also reverse this tactic in early spring when bass are moving up from deeper water.

2) Cold condition- When the water temps start to hit 50 or less a jig in 12-20ft of water can catch you some of the biggest fish of your life. Look for banks with steep sides that drops quickly, then look for rocks and ones with heavy wood. These will be prime areas for a big females. FYI if you ever find a great deep bank like this in 50 degree water. PLEASE look at your graph! You might come across a giant school of shad that look like a giant cloud on your sonar. When if this happens buy a spoon or if you have one put one on. Then just drop that spoon in that bait ball and jig it up and down or whats great is you can also do this with a jig.

Well I've went on way to long, but it's a topic I love and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Please give it time to learn and it will pay off. You can learn it alone but it would help to fish with somebody who has confidence and knows where and when to use it. I know it made a difference to me and I hope we on Bass Resource can help you to.

[roadwarrior]

Interesting response, but I only fish NorthStar and GMAN Jigs.

[Craiger12]

I agree with NorthStar jigs. Excellent quality for the price. You definitely won't be over paying and they are a BR sponsor.

[gr8outdoorz]

Well a jig has become my bread and butter lure. It's a lure some people stay away from but there isn't a reason why they should. Let me say this you NEED only one color combo and thats black and blue. Sure there are times lighter colors are better in clear water but for 95% of the time black and blue will out catch all other colors. Just go buy a couple jigs. DONT OVER PAY! Simply buy some Lunker Lure Ultimate Rattling jig for like 2.50-3$ or Revenge jigs in black in blue to start off. Next buy a pack of Rage Craw's in Okeechobee (it's a light back and blue).

Next comes fishing it. First Pitchin and Flipping. Personally I'm a Pitching man. I can pitch a bait almost as far as I can cast a bait with a long rod. You don't have to learn to do this to fish a jig but 90% of my jig fishing is done by doing this. It allows you to hit a spot with pin point accuracy. This enables you to focus on the high priory spots and bypass un productive water. One of my lakes is a very shallow lake with wood cover and certain years heavy grass. When fishing this lake I can quickly hit priority targets like holes in a grass beds. A point that sticks out ect and still cover water. Whats great is with that rage craw you can also make a cast right down a grass line and swim it. The craw legs just flap like crazy and man there are days this is just the way to fish.

Casting jigs. IMHO this is a different beast and harder to learn. I'm just glad a couple of friends on Bass Resource built my confidence at KY lake on a roadtrip doing this. Casting a jig and bringing it back slowly IMHO requires that you have nailed down the bass are in a certain depth zone or holding to a specific piece of cover. Meaning don't just go down a deep bank slowly crawling a jig on the bottom in early September. This method of fishing generally is not the best search tactic. Examples of when it's good are

1) Post spawn- after a few weeks and bass are looking to move deep. Find a point that is near a spawning pocket or drops to deap water and go up and down it. Look for cover like rocks, trees, or brush. Personally I throw a deep crank first and try to catch a couple. Usually the first two are small and then I throw the jig and work the area again. Many times this is when you catch the big girl. You can also reverse this tactic in early spring when bass are moving up from deeper water.

2) Cold condition- When the water temps start to hit 50 or less a jig in 12-20ft of water can catch you some of the biggest fish of your life. Look for banks with steep sides that drops quickly, then look for rocks and ones with heavy wood. These will be prime areas for a big females. FYI if you ever find a great deep bank like this in 50 degree water. PLEASE look at your graph! You might come across a giant school of shad that look like a giant cloud on your sonar. When if this happens buy a spoon or if you have one put one on. Then just drop that spoon in that bait ball and jig it up and down or whats great is you can also do this with a jig.

Well I've went on way to long, but it's a topic I love and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Please give it time to learn and it will pay off. You can learn it alone but it would help to fish with somebody who has confidence and knows where and when to use it. I know it made a difference to me and I hope we on Bass Resource can help you to.

Let me start off by saying great post! I fully agree with you on most everything you said. However, I have to disagree with the highlighted statement. While that may be true where you fish, I have caught MANY, MANY more bass on a brown/green/orange combo. Now dont get me wrong, I still tie and use black/blue jigs quite often and think they are a good combo color to use. In my experience, on the waters I fish (both clear and stained) browns and greens catch more bass than black/blue. Jus my .02

Carlton

[Simp]

Let me start off by saying great post! I fully agree with you on most everything you said. However, I have to disagree with the highlighted statement. While that may be true where you fish, I have caught MANY, MANY more bass on a brown/green/orange combo. Now dont get me wrong, I still tie and use black/blue jigs quite often and think they are a good combo color to use. In my experience, on the waters I fish (both clear and stained) browns and greens catch more bass than black/blue. Jus my .02

Carlton

No problem, I've got a thousand different colors to for conditions. Black and blue is a good go to when not knowing his water clarity, depth fishing ect. I fish black and blue on my muddy shallow lake and a heavy finesse war early in pond scum on my clear lakes again I'm always changing based on conditions. Just trying to give a begining jig man a tried and tested combo that should work well in all conditions. There are certainly many great jigs out there and the two or three I've listed have worked great for me and at a great price. Lunker lure is out of my home town, heck even my club. Btw make sure your not using mono. I usually use heavy fluro for my jig fishing.

[deep]

Everyone seems to have their favorite jig colors, just like other lures. I personally like the brown/ green/ pumpkin combo, with a touch of red or yellow. I remember Matt Allen saying in a video that you don't need a ton of jigs in the different shades of rainbow, but you do want to have a bunch of colors on the same jig.

I like my Walmart Booyah jigs. They work just fine for me. I re-tie the skirt with braid though. I got some jigs that backwater4 made for me at a great price. I love them too. Not because of how long they last, but because of the custom color he did for me.

I lose a jig before I catch a score of bass on it. So longevity of the skirt, weedguard, paint etc doesn't matter a lot to me.

EDIT: I did have a jig that caught close to a 100 bass though. I have no idea how I managed to keep it that long. It was a lowly Booyah Boo jig

[Catt]

K.I.S.S.

Of all the lures in an anglers arsenal the jig is one of the simplest and yet the most completed by anglers.

Denny Brauer and Gary Klien are two of the top jig fishermen on planet earth, their jig box is simple with both selecting black/blue #1 and 3/8 oz #1.

I would select 1 manufacturer and stick with it for now and then later add you own personnel repertoire of confusion.

[WookieeJedi]

I have long been a jig fisher, but in the last few years football jigs, swim jigs, scroungers and spot removers have made a huge difference for me. I always have some kind of jig tied on.

[Treydizzle45]

I find any kinda cover and flipp onto the cover and try to make as much noise as possible while slowly hopping back. Once I'm outta cover I swim it back