Jig Fishing May Not Be For Me.........

[JimmyKing]

I've never fished a jig before and I decided I wanted to give it a try this year so I went out and bought a couple of jigs. The other day I went out and after switching to the jig I managed to get a knot in the line that had to be cut out on only the third cast. Today I decided to go out and give it another try. After getting hung up on something on the bottom I didn't think to check my knot for some reason. On the next cast I lost the jig. Starting to think these may be omens that jig fishing is not for me.

[BrianinMD]

All that is worth doing takes effort. Jigs are worth the growing pains of getting used to them.

 

What setup (rod, reel, line) were you using?

[J Francho]

That could have happened with any bait.  Sounds like you just don't want to put the time in to learning them.  It takes patience and time on the water, but it's probably the most effective tool for starting to catch bigger bass.

[JimmyKing]

All that is worth doing takes effort. Jigs are worth the growing pains of getting used to them.

 

What setup (rod, reel, line) were you using?

 

First day I was using some cheap spincast combo I bought when I first started fishing because someone told me it was good for those starting out (BIG MISTAKE). Today I had it tied on my 6'6 MH BPS Bionic Blade with BPS Pro Qualifier spinner with Trilene XL mono line.

[JimmyKing]

That could have happened with any bait.  Sounds like you just don't want to put the time in to learning them.  It takes patience and time on the water, but it's probably the most effective tool for starting to catch bigger bass.

 

I'm not giving up by any means. Just not a good start to the process.

[senile1]

Each to his own, but I won't fish without a jig tied on to at least one rod.  It sounds like the issues you encountered had nothing to do with the jig, but were problems with your knots.  If you can fish a Texas-rigged worm, you can fish a jig.  Hang in there. 

[CPBassFishing]

Sounds like you have the wrong equipment. Generally jig fishing is done with 20+ pound braid or fluorocarbon. Mono has horrible abrasion resistance in lighter tests. What jigs are you using? If you are using a really cheap or poorly designed jig it won't be as weedless. I like dirty jigs, seibert outdoors, northstar custom baits, and ganns performance tackle when it comes to jigs.

[J Francho]

I was jigging up fish with a spinning rod and 8# mono before braid or fluoro lines were invented.  It can be done.  may not be the best way, but it's certainly do able.  I'd stick with jigs 1/2 oz. or under.

[JimmyKing]

Not looking to fish anything too heavy (3/8 at most). I don't know the first thing about braid or fluoro as I've only ever fished with mono.

[senile1]

Jimmy, I would suggest that you go to the "Fishing Articles" and the "Videos" tabs at the top of the page and do some reading.  I don't know how long you have been bass fishing, but if you are unfamiliar with using lines other than mono, or if you need to learn some different techniques like jig fishing, you will find plenty of information on those tabs for those subjects as well as others.  You can also use the search function at the upper right to find subjects of interest in the forums.  We are more than willing to answer any questions you have, but the articles and videos can really help too and they may even lead you to other questions that you wouldn't have thought of.  Between the articles, the videos, and the forums, you can really learn just about anything you want to learn with regard to bass fishing.

[BassKing17]

Not looking to fish anything too heavy (3/8 at most). I don't know the first thing about braid or fluoro as I've only ever fished with mono.

 

Ive finally decided to do away with mono, I fell in love with 15# Braid with a 8-10# fluoro leader.

 

In a nutshell Fluoro is practically invisible under the surface of the water, it is stronger than mono with less stretch giving you the best feel, it has less memory than mono as well.

[georgeyew]

Ive finally decided to do away with mono, I fell in love with 15# Braid with a 8-10# fluoro leader.

 

In a nutshell Fluoro is practically invisible under the surface of the water, it is stronger than mono with less stretch giving you the best feel, it has less memory than mono as well.

 

I believe that most fluorocarbon lines are more difficult to manage than mono lines.

[BrianinMD]

With flouro there are some more limp but they tend to be the ones which have more stretch than most people believe it will have also. A lot of people have very good luck using KVD L&L to make it easier to manage. I have moved to almost all flouro, except on topwater rods, because the slack line sensitivity is a lot better.

[jhoffman]

If you arent losing jigs, you arent fishing jigs right. More jig fish for me!

[A-Jay]

Fishing a jig is not super hard nor does it require highly specialized tackle.  On the other hand it's not magic either.

 

There are some basics that once learned will certainly aid in your success.

 

There is a bit to it, more than anyone could cover in a paragraph or two.  Especially if you're starting pretty much from the beginning.

 

The advice provided here is solid and reading the articles section (and watching the videos) on BR about the subject is highly recommended.

 

Learning about when, why, where and how to fish a jig will unlock a whole world to you, that no doubt, lead you to try it in the first place.

 

A serious benefit to your hard earned efforts is that you may find you'll improve in some of your other angling areas along the way.

 

Good Luck

 

A-Jay

[TrapperJ]

I started Jig fishing for the first time last year. I picked up the KVD swim Jig. mostly cause you can work it like a jig and work it like a spinnerbait with out spinners. Pair that baby with a Rage Craw and practice away. Caught some big fish swimming it and working it like a jig bouncing it off the bottom.

 

I liked it cause if i got frustrated or tired of crawling it i would just go to fishing it like a spinner bait.

 

Stick to basic colors, watermelon, PB&J and Black/Blue. Heck just stick to watermelon to keep it extremely simple, that was my go to color last year.

 

Dont give up yet, jigs catch fish and they catch BIG fish.

[PABASS]

I was jigging up fish with a spinning rod and 8# mono before braid or fluoro lines were invented.  It can be done.  may not be the best way, but it's certainly do able.  I'd stick with jigs 1/2 oz. or under.

Come on now, your not older then I and while FC and braid may not of been popular for Bass FC was being used in salt water and braid was/is used in Fly lines.  I recall when I was 14-16 using braid or at least fireline, couldnt afford the stuff I am sure when I was any younger lol....  Anyway back to the OP, jig fishing takes patients something I don't always have either but its fun when you get bit on a Jig, if you watch any bass torneys thats typically when you see the huge hook sets, its like a touchdown in football at least that's the way it feels to me lol..

[The Rooster]

If you arent losing jigs, you arent fishing jigs right. More jig fish for me!

X2! Find a tree laying in the water and throw right in the middle of it! I went many years and wouldn't use a jig because I didn't think I could catch fish on them. I finally tried them for more than just a few minutes a couple of years ago and was instantly hooked hard when I caught 2 keeper bass, back to back on consecutive casts from a lake that catching bass in on anything is notoriously hard to do, and this was in November and cold outside. Now, I'll have one tied on year round from now on, no matter what the season is,

[down4ttown]

That could have happened with any bait.  Sounds like you just don't want to put the time in to learning them.  It takes patience and time on the water, but it's probably the most effective tool for starting to catch bigger bass.

This! 

 

I threw a swimbait about a mile and backlashed my reel on my FIRST cast this Sunday. I put down my reel and grabbed another with a jig. Caught 6 in about 4 hours on the river. Not monster numbers but water was about 44 degrees. 

[Jigfishn10]

JimmyKing just put the past in the past and try again. JF's advice about practice and time spent on the water is dead on. Read up and watch the vids to learn and psyche yourself up and hit it again. As far as your equipment, you're fine, you gotta start somewhere and if you do in fact like jig fishing and feel you can improve on you jig fishing experience, then do some research and get another set up that YOU think will help you.

Good luck out there!

[VABassin'14]

I was jigging up fish with a spinning rod and 8# mono before braid or fluoro lines were invented.  It can be done.  may not be the best way, but it's certainly do able.  I'd stick with jigs 1/2 oz. or under.

I agree with this statement. Im a college student, I dont have enough money to have a different set up for each technique I use. I use the same set ups for each technique I fish almost all of the time. 90% of the time I am using my 6' 6' medium heavy rod with my 7.1:1 reel. 

 

Jig fishing is also what I am going to try to focus on this year myself. Keep with it and good luck!

[BassThumb]

Its sounds to me like you gave up way too soon.

[ColdSVT]

I hated jigs many years ago....i forced myself go learn them and to get good with them...it was a loooong year but at the end I was hooked on jigs and one will always be handy when im in the boat

the only two colors you need to know at first are black/blue and green pumpkin

[J Francho]

Come on now, your not older then I and while FC and braid may not of been popular for Bass FC was being used in salt water and braid was/is used in Fly lines.  I recall when I was 14-16 using braid or at least fireline, couldnt afford the stuff I am sure when I was any younger lol....  Anyway back to the OP, jig fishing takes patients something I don't always have either but its fun when you get bit on a Jig, if you watch any bass torneys thats typically when you see the huge hook sets, its like a touchdown in football at least that's the way it feels to me lol..

 

I'm 41.  I tried braid back in the 90s, Gorilla Braid, and it sucked.  No one had a reel fill fluoro for bass fishing.  I don't think it was until the early 2000's I tried something OTHER than Trilene.  I think I started with a baitcaster around '85.  Before that, all we used for bass were crankbaits, spoons, and jigs.  All on mono, all with spinning gear.

[WRB]

Jimmy your tackle is OK, didn't mention the # test of the mono?

Any jig is only as good as the hook it has, must be extremely sharp all the time.

I have caught a few hundred DD bass using 10 to 12 lbs mono over the past several decades, mono line isn't going to be your problem learning to fish a jig. With the tackle you have use 1/4 and 3/8 oz jigs, the lighter weight helps to keep you from snagging as often.

Can you tell use the name brand of your jig and what type it is? Also what type of water are you fishing; a lake, with rocky, brushy or lots of weeds?

Jigs are effective if you fish them in the right areas, at the right depth where bass are located. Regardless of what has been posted, jigs are not easy to learn to fish and you will missed most of the strikes until your figure out what a strike feels like.

Also what knot do you tie the jig on with?

Tom