Skirted Jigs Question ?

[Robertqq]

Hi,

 

Fish a Pond near house outside of Boston.

 

Lots of Largemouth, Smallmouth and Crappies, mainly.

Nothing "massive"; about what one might expect in a N.E. Pond.

 

Tried a Jig for first time, and had some luck with it.

Just a regular  no-skirted jig with a 4" Senko tied on.

 

Also picked up some of the Skirted variety, and hence my question.

 

Do you fish these by themselves, as they (already) have a Skirt on them ?

 

Or, in addition to the Skirt, you want some kind of a Trailer also ?

If so, suggestions ?

e.g., a Senko Worm, or...?

 

Friend suggested using a Plastic Crawdad on it as a trailer, but If I do put a Plastic Crawdad on as a trailer, together with the Skirt,

i can't imagine what any fish would take that combination for ! ?

But...?

 

Thoughts on ?  Suggestions ?

 

Thanks,

Bob

[Catt]

Rage Tail Craw.

[jignfule]

zooms fat albert twin tails

[Mr Swim Jig]

Yes, you need some type of a jig trailer.

[Shane J]

Your friend thought it was a bad idea to put a craw trailer on a skirted jig? You need new friends.

 

Put a Rage Craw on EVERYTHING, especially a skirted jig!

[David D.]

Your friend thought it was a bad idea to put a craw trailer on a skirted jig? You need new friends.

Put a Rage Craw on EVERYTHING, especially a skirted jig!

No, the OP thought it was a bad idea...

Listen to your friend; use a craw trailer.

[tatertester]

You can use many different types of trailors....Senkos,flukes,twin tail grub, craws, worms, swimbaits,and most any plastic.

[Jason Short]

If you are fishing it on the bottom, use some type of craw trailer. If you are swimming it use a small swimbait or a grub for a trailer, or a craw with lots of action like a Zoom speed craw.

[J Francho]

You should take a spin through our articles. There's plenty there on fishing jigs.

[Topwater98]

I was just reading this post on jig fishing that is in the fishing tackle form. I have done a little jig fishing lately but this will definitely help me. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/12403-jig-fishing-questions/

[papajoe222]

Don't get the wrong idea from us, you can catch fish on a skirted jig without adding any type of trailer. I don't recommend it as the additon only adds to the action and in doing so (IMO) ups your chances of getting bit.  Sometimes you'll want to add bulk, slow the fall rate, contrast the color of the skirt, or any number of reasons that adding a trailer can accomplish.  About the only thing you can do with a plain skirted jig is thin out or shorten the skirt. 

[J Francho]

There are some jigs that are designed to be fished without a trailer. Marabou and buck tail jigs come to mind. I helped design the Siebert Bed Bug, which can fished with or without. But the typical bass jig fishes best with some sort of trailer bait.

[starcraft1]

I make jigs for a living, and I'm sure there's plenty of ideas on how to fish them. When their using a swim bait, I swim a jig, when they drop - shot, I hop the jig, when their using a crank bait, I speed up the jig, senko bite is on, 1/8 or 1/16 oz. jig. I would tell you to always use a trailer, but there are times that you should'nt. If the bite is a bait fish bite then "GO WITH THE HATCH"  a shotrened & thined the skirt or left long skirt with a trailer (single tail), it all depends on the time of year and the size of the bait fish.

Pre- spawn & post spawn - hefty skirted jig - " ME WANTA EAT? I'm a crawdad(crawfish)- (full skirted)  meal type of jig with a twin tailed trailer, your choice of co., but play with the color don't relie on the "trend" try your own ideas. You might want to try a light weight jig (1/8 - 1/4) on beds. The slower fall entices them more than a fast in your face type of presentaion. Another idea, when others are throwing frogs, flip or pitch a jig into the same junk. the action of the frog will knock lose baby crawdads loose from the folige Use enough weight to, again "match the hach" and the fall per the size of tha crawdad & the water temp. I could go now for a few pages or more, fact is read, on the water, pratice, practice, practice!

One fact, a jig has cashed more checks than any other bait. Spend time, don't buy junk (you get what you pay for).

[smalljaw67]

Everyone gave you good advice and so I'll answer the other question you have about the fish wanting to hit a craw on the jig with a full skirt. I can't tell you what the fish think it is but I will do my best to explain a few things for you to understand. I had a friend who told me he would do just as well fishing just the trailer and basically said the jig was useless so it was on, we fished together 4 times in a 2 week period choosing days which we figured would be good. I was using a 1/4oz jig with a 3" craw, it wasn't bulky as it was a finesse craw, and my friend fished the craw by itself, did he catch fish with it?? Of course, did he catch as many?? Yep, were they the same size on average?? Not even close!!! I caught 17 fish, not many for 4 days but all I fished was the jig and craw, my friend caught 23, a few more but the big difference was the size. My fish on average were a little over 15" and the biggest was a 4 lb. 11 oz  and 21" largemouth, the average size of my friends fish was barely 12", his biggest fish didn't even hit 3 pounds. Now he has a nice assortment of jigs and he found out what the jig does, and that is it bulks up the trailer, it makes easier for the fish to spot and it makes it appear big and slow and a good size meal. Once you really learn the jig you can adjust sizes and go heavy to get reaction strikes or perhaps use a smaller jig and adjust what kind and what size trailer to change the action and fall rate of the jig, it is very versatile like that. For a pond I'd go with a finesse jig in the 1/8oz to 5/16oz, the Jewel finesse jig comes in 5/16oz, it is a lighter version of the Eakins jig, take that jig and put a Gene Larew 3" salt craw on it and I will bet money you will catch a lot of fish on it without a doubt.

[WRB]

There are so many different types of "jigs" used by bass anglers and we tend lump all jigs under the Arkie style brush weed gaurd with a trailer added as a "bass jig".

The OP's question about using a trailer is a good one. Jigs with skirts give the jig life, color and will catch bass with or without a trailer. We add trailers to give the jig a profile that represents something the bass may be looking for as prey: crawdads or a baitfish and will catch bass with or without a skirt.

Dart head and shaky head jigs for example work better without a skirt and only a trailer (worm or soft plastic minnow) most of the time. A dart head fished vertically for suspended bass works very good and over looked by most "jig" anglers.

Food for thought.

Tom

[Big Fish Rice]

The Strike King Rage Craw is a great trailer, or if you want to swim a jig, you can use a swim senko as the trailer (cut a couple inches off the worm). While skirted jigs catch fish either way, I would recommend using trailers like many ofthers have said.