New to fishing jigs

[SkiBumKT22]

I am relatively new to fishing in general and have never fished a jig in my life.  Would really appreciate any thoughts or advice on best colors, size, techniques, or even brand.  Anything that will make me more successful when I try these out.

Thanks,

Jeff

[JiggaMan512]

read this

http://www.jal.cc.il.us/~timbaker/ctips.html

[Catt]

SkiBumKT22 welcome

Brain pretty much nailed  

[Brad_Coovert]

Jigs are a great year-round bait, but they can be hard to learn how to fish.  The jig bite can be a hard one to detect as many fish hit on the fall and your only clue might be a slight line twitch.  

IMO, the best way to learn jig fishing is to head out with nothing but jigs and trailers in various sizes.  This will force you to use them in all kinds of water/structure/cover until you get some fish.  Keep at it and don't quit if you don't catch too many, these are great baits and you'll eventually do well with them.

As for jigs, there are a ton of styles.  Lots of jigs are made for just wood, rocks or weeds and have heads designed just for those applications.  Other jigs are more universal.  Booyah makes a good all around jig for a lot of applications.  They are not too expensive, have strong, sharp hooks, a good weedguard, a good paintjob, good skirts and removable rattles.  They have standard jigs and finesse jigs.  They have plenty of colors to take care of whatever water conditions you are facing.  I prefer blacks, browns and greens.  Those colors will do it 99% of the time.  Toss in a white jig for some fall fishing as well.

If you're fishing jigs in cover, IMO a 7' MH rod is the lightest you should use.  14 lb. mono or braid is minimum for jigs in cover IMO.  If you're fishing more open water or with smaller finesse jigs with lighter hooks, you can use lighter tackle.

Good luck!

Brad

[basspro48]

Most of my jig fishing is done either flipping and pitching in shallow water or casting around deep structure. For flipping and pitching I always look for very thick cover, logjams, weeds, matted grass etc. and relatively shallow water, no deeper than 5' and no shallower than 10". Once I have ound these things I fish the cover very slowly, making several pitches to the same spot, and mix up my retrieve until I get bit. For tackle I use either a 7' Medium Heavy Kistler or a 7' Heavy Daiwa rod and either 50lb. braid or 25lb. fluorocarbon depending on the water clarity. For a jig I mostly use a 3/8oz. black/blue jig with a black/blue ZOOM super chunk trailer.

When casting around deeper structure I use either a 1/2oz. or a 3/4oz. football jig and a twin tail grub trailer. Basically I fish this anywhere you would fish a carolina rig, deep breaks, offshore humps, deep brushpiles, etc. I use a specific techniqur for this, after casting it out I let it fall and pop it off the bottom with a sharp jerk of the rodtip, known as stroking a jig. If that doesn't work then I employ a swimming retrieve. After casting it out I let it hit bottom and then start burning back to the boat, however you must maintain bottom contact so don't reel it to fast.

Hope this helps

[Shad_Master]

A technique that works well in this area is swimming a jig, this is similar to slow rolling a spinner bait and works well in fairly clear water from Spring through early fall.  Once the water temp starts dropping the fish get sluggish and this won't hold up.  I was surprised at how effective this can be and have been using this more in the last year.  Still prefer the traditional pitch and hop action in the hot part of the summer, though.

[HPBB]

The only the way your going to learn to jig fish is going out and fish it. It can be hard. If you were to have just one jig It would be a 3/8 oz black/blue doesn't really matter which brand. everybody has thier favorate, one that works for one guys may not for the next. But a 3/8oz black / blue jig is a good all around jig. use a rubber trailer first. to can try pork, but a rubber trailer is easier. Try a Zoom big chunk in Black/ blue to match your jig. Make sure you have a strong rod ( MH or H) and  strong line ( for heavy cover I don't go under 20lb). Find some heavy cover and go for it. If you are new to flippin and pitchin or just not real good at it. practice in your yard. I do all the time. It helps when you do can't get on the water

[SkiBumKT22]

Thanks all.  It looks like the consensus opinion is to go out and get a 3/8 black and blue jig and just fish the heck out of it.  Any more advice will be appreciated but at least I know what I will be trying to fish next time out.  

Now to sound really naive...what exactly is a trailer and how should it be rigged?  I would guess it is a worm or something else that drags behind.

[Catt]

Yea I got more

Look at the top of the page, click on home, click on Tips and Tactics, look far articles on jigs.

Some of the best information on the web!  

[nboucher]

Welcome, SkiBum. I'm fairly new to jig fishing myself, and am here to tell you that it's not as difficult as it can sound. Once you catch your first jig fish, your confidence in them will soar. I would keep it REAL SIMPLE. The Booyah jigs and the Zoom chunk trailers are fine to get going and are readily available in many sporting goods stores with a fishing department. A 3/8 jig, as suggested, is a fine place to start, though the weight depends partly on the depth of water you'll be fishing. I enjoy using the 1/4 inch Baby Booyah jigs for shallower water and finicky fish. This is more of a finesse jig, but don't concern yourself with those distinctions yet.

About trailers: a trailer is usually piece of soft plastic that essentially gives the jig more action. Everyone has his or her favorite trailer, and the variety people use is mind-boggling. Some trailers are meant to imitate the claws of crayfish; others are more like tails. Most provide a lot of action as the jig falls, and some trailers give off some wiggle even when the jig is sitting motionless on the bottom. Even the Zoom chunk trailers come in four or five different types. (I think the Zoom Super Chunk is a good place to start.) Normally, you try to match the color of the trailer to the color of the jig skirt. Thread it on the jig's hook much as you would T-rig a Senko or other worm and have the hook pop out in the middle of the top flat surface of the "chunk." Line it up so that it's more or less on the same plane as the jig head, and you're good to go.

Unlike spinnerbaits and crankbaits, jigs don't look real flashy, but they are often effective when nothing else is. In my experience, the fish they produce tend on average to be bigger than those I catch on any other class of baits--though I've caught some aggressive little guys on them, too.

Good luck and be persistent.

[Gr8wall]

im a newbie myself when it comkes to jigging, but like someone said before, once you catch one on it, your confidence will soar. this bait was able to somewhat produce for me yesterday at a tournament when nothign else did, and i also agree that they usually bring in larger fish than other stuff. but jigging is fun and it really forces you to hone your skills handling your rod and reel (hmmm i know that statement could have taken a wrong turn). Its pretty fun what kind of combos and colors you can mix together. The combo and color that has produced for me was a green and red jib with a grub trailer. but again you can mix anything together. oh yeah dont froget, your equipment needs to be up to par in order for jigs to be effective.  i have a daiwa tierra s (6'6" mh) and a viento reel.  really fun setup.  you want something that is stout enough to really set that big single hook the first time and also be able to horse it through and out of cover.  have fun with it and be careful, cause jigs can get very addicting

[earthworm77]

do a search here for articles on jig fishing, there has to be a ton, I know I wrote a few.

[RoLo]

For this time of year, I'd stay away from blue and black unless you're in pretty turbid water. Colors like white, chartruse, and some other wacko colors are generally a good bet. Remember...usually in fall, you want your bait to stand out. This isn't the best time of year for subtle approaches (though sometimes they are best) If you're going to go out and just buy 1 jig, I'd go with white for right now.

Good advice Brian, and it's nice hearing from you again soldier

The most difficult part of jig fishing is detecting the pickup and knowing when and how to set the hook.

Jigs are most commonly fished as a Drop Lure, where 'line watching' is the only communication between angler and lure.

For any beginner to jig fishing and even for veterans, I believe that Gliding a lightweight jig

on a semi-tight line is often just as effective.

     Crank the reel a couple of turns and without moving the rod, allow the 1/4 oz jig to glide in an arc, back to the bottom.

Do nothing while the jig is gliding but mend the excess slack, thereby maintaining constant contact with a line in limbo (taut/slack).

You'll know when the glide has ended and the lure is on the bottom, because the line will suddenly go limp (i.e. droop).

In my opinion, you've got plenty of time to learn the freefall delivery, but in the meantime, by maintaining contact with the jig

you'll quickly master the 'feel'. Furthermore, there'll be many days when "gliding" is just as good or better than "freefalling".

Roger

[Catt]

I use a jig to fish deep water structure so I cast more than flipping/pitching and my retrieval is exactly as RoLo described. After the jig has settled back to the bottom I'll shake it in place like one would while flipping/pitching.

On the opposite side I throw Black/Blue, Black Neon (Red), or Junebug/Blue 95% of the time.

Weight wise it depends on the depth of the water, 1/4 to 3/8 for 15' or less, 3/8 to 3/4 for 15' & over. Thick grass regardless of depth 5/8 to 3/4.

Trailers: Gene Larew Salty Hawg Craws in 6, 5, & 4 matching the jig colors

[jomatty]

jig fishing can be as complicated as you want to make it.  fortunately it can also be fairly simple.  like others have commented a 3/8 oz jig with a zoom chunk is a good place to start.  i like either that style or single tailed grubs (at night or when im swimming them) for most of my jig fishing, although i will sometimes use a craw on a finesse jig as well.  quite honestly just starting out you would be fine just to use some grubs as trailers (either single or double tailed).

although 3/8th is a good all around jig when you are just starting out you may get more bites if you use a slightly smaller jig, somewhere around 5/16.  it may take a little longer to develop the feel with the lighter jig so there are pluses and minuses to either aproach.  getting bites builds confidence though and thats why i may start lighter.

watch the line on the fall, get accostemed to how the jig feel and when it feels differently err on the side of caution and set the hook.  no where is the statement "hook sets are free" more applicable then when learning to fish jigs.

keep at it these are great baits and you will be glad you spent the time to learn how to fish them.

matt