Jigs In Deep Water

[Grant Schuen]

i love jig fishing and fishing deep but the two don't seem to mix well for me. I fish Michigan's natural lakes and very few of them have a hard bottom which makes if hard to keep bottom contact. if i work the lure along the bottom it hangs up in the mud. I'm wondering if i should not fish this technique or if i should ignore the hangups and tough it out.

[Chris186]

What type of jig are you fishing, and how deep? Generally when I hear deep water and jigs I'm thinking football head.

[merc1997]

often times a muck bottom is not really conducive to dragging a jig. do you have vegetation growing?? if so, perhaps swimming a jig through the vegetation might be a better option. i fish table rock and surrounding lakes, and we do not have muck botoms to deal with. in my youth fishing ponds, i learned quickly that fishing a lure right on a muck or mud bottom did not produce.

bo

[WRB]

The term deep water is relative, what do you mean by deep water; 20', 30' or 40'+?

Natural lakes in your area often are aging by filling with decaying vegetation and silt creating muck bottom areas that are void of life do to very low dissolved oxygen levels. Dragging a heavy weight through the muck isn't productive period. Fishing deep hard structure at 40' can be productive if there is life and bass located that deep.

You can't fish standing timber because no trees are there in older natural lakes. What is there are reefs or rocky areas and that is your best bet for deep structure jig fishing in natural lakes. Otherwise targeting weed growth with lighter weight jigs is a better choice.

Tom

[iabass8]

The term deep water is relative, what do you mean by deep water; 20', 30' or 40'+?

Natural lakes in your area often are aging by filling with decaying vegetation and silt creating muck bottom areas that are void of life do to very low dissolved oxygen levels. Dragging a heavy weight through the muck isn't productive period. Fishing deep hard structure at 40' can be productive if there is life and bass located that deep.

You can't fish standing timber because no trees are there in older natural lakes. What is there are reefs or rocky areas and that is your best bet for deep structure jig fishing in natural lakes. Otherwise targeting weed growth with lighter weight jigs is a better choice.

Tom

Couldn't have put it any better than this.

[papajoe222]

The type of jig you use can make all the difference in the world when fishing muck bottoms.  The best I've found is a tube jig. For one, it won't burry itself into the muck (unless you're using too heavy a jig head) and it's action on the fall is unsurpassed by other types of jigs.  Dragging a tube along the bottom is a great tactic, but don't forget where a jig got it's name. The action on both ends of the jigging motion is where a tube really shows it's stuff.  Try stroking a tube jig in deep water. It may take a little longer to get down to the bottom, but you may just find the wait is worth it.

[TorqueConverter]

Working big 3/4 and 1 oz jigs in deep weedbeds is par for the course in the northcountry.  I like to work them through the weedbed rather than fishing them on the bottom.  Think of it as offshore deep punching.   

[Grant Schuen]

thanks everyone for the info.