New to jig fishing, interesting thing happened yesterday

[pauldconyers]

Brand new to jig fishing and I told myself come hell or high water this was going to be the year! Went to a farm pond yesterday and had some interesting results. This pond is probably 60 yards by 60 yards. I have been here before and had a lot of success just throwing a RES as far as I could and winding it back. Yesterday I took my wife (who was fishing a Keitech paddle tail) and 9 year old son (who was using a senko primarily) and something I found interesting happened. I started again with a RES and we all had NO luck whatsoever throwing towards the middle of the pond. I figured I might as well pick up the jig and try to get the hang of it. I had a 3/8 oz black and blue Siebert jig with a rage craw trailer because we had rain about two days prior and the water had a good amount of stain. I started throwing close to cover 15-20 yards off shore with no luck. I would let it hit bottom, sit for a few seconds, slowly lift the rod tip up to about 11 o'clock, lower it to about 8 o'clock then reel up the slack and start the process again. Is this a good, basic way for me to start working this bait and presentation?

 

Anyway, the weird thing is all 3 of us ONLY caught fish like 3-4 feet from the bank. The weather was perfect and there was no incoming storm so it was not like they were wanting to hold close to cover, I would not think. We caught 15 or so bass, all pretty much 1 to 1.5 pounds. A lot had obvious signs of spawning but I was just curious if it was normal for them to just be SO close up against the shoreline all around the pond?

[WRB]

Bass eggs need light to hatch and warm water. Depth of light is critical. The problem is predators like herons can kill the bass if the set up beds too shallow, too deep and the eggs may not hatch. I would say the bass beds were about 18" to 24" deep based on being 3' from shoreline.

6" jig hops are usually better then 3' hops in shallow water less then 20' deep.

Tom

[Black Hawk Basser]

I'd say my jig hop/drag motion goes from 10 to 12 o'clock unless I'm really wanting to rip it off the bottom.  Sometimes being pretty aggressive with a jig works well post-spawn.

[Teal]

Sounds like yall caught some skinny males that were on patrol around the beds.  Stained water makes sense why the fish were so close.  Like Tom said, depth of light.  Good job on yall finding them.  

[pauldconyers]

3 minutes ago, Teal said:

Sounds like yall caught some skinny males that were on patrol around the beds.  Stained water makes sense why the fish were so close.  Like Tom said, depth of light.  Good job on yall finding them.  

A few had bloody tails and 2 had red "puckered holes" on the underside

[Ogandrews]

It will really pay to play around with how you work your jig. A lot of the time I’m throwing a jig all I’m doing is dragging it on the bottom, making it look like a crayfish crawling around. Most of the time crayfish won’t be jumping off of the bottom unless they are spooked, so you don’t always need to hop a jig. When the fish are aggressive though you can work them super aggressive. I have caught a huge amount of bass when they are aggressive by working the jig really fast and only letting it tick the bottom. If you are really new to jigs, I would recommend getting a couple swim jigs as well. I use dirty jigs because that’s what I have confidence in but sieberts makes a great product as well. For ponds it’s really hard to beat a 1/4 oz finesse swim jig with a 3.8 keitech or rage swimmer in a a bluegill color. Cast it out, let it get close to bottom, and just fish it slow like a regular swimbait. As long as you get a trailer with enough action you don’t need to shake your rod tip like you see so many people doing, the paddletail will make the skirt move on it’s own. It’s also a great bait to fish beds with because bass hate bluegills so much and a swim jig gives a more bluegill like profile then a straight up keitech.

[Catt]

10 hours ago, pauldconyers said:

. I would let it hit bottom, sit for a few seconds, slowly lift the rod tip up to about 11 o'clock, lower it to about 8 o'clock then reel up the slack and start the process again. Is this a good, basic way for me to start working this bait and presentation

 

The bass thought so

 

10 hours ago, pauldconyers said:

I was just curious if it was normal for them to just be SO close up against the shoreline all around the pond?

 

It's quite common year round 

[Fishes in trees]

Over the years it has been my experience that round jig heads ( like the old Eakins jig ) more often than not hopping works better than dragging.   Any other jig head shape (with the exception of darter heads and some swim jig heads ) dragging works better than hopping.

 

Glad you had a great day pond fishing.  Be mindful, for the future that pond fishing and reservoir fishing are only kinda related.  Don't count on pond fishing techniques translating 100%  into reservoir tactics.  There are LOTS of reasons for this, and exploring all the reasons would make this post WAY too long.

[Quarry Man]

I am trying to learn jigs this year like you. All my jig fish this year, probably 12 or so, have been from pitching. Standard black and blue 3/8 oz flipping jig, rage craw trailer. I find that pitching to a target area, like a stump rock or just the shore works best. Even from the bank cast out 20' or so and drag it back.

[fishballer06]

The best advice I can give for jig fishing is try to keep your bait on a tight line as much as possible. That will help you feel any bites as soon as they happen. Once the bait hits the bottom and you start dragging, try to reel up your line at the same rate that your rod tip is moving your bait. 

 

Keep experimenting with it and you'll get it down in no time. It just takes catching a few fish doing it to gain confidence in it.