and just like that, the jig light.....

[Jaderose]

....came on for me today.  Watched some beginner vids and went out determined to figure out a jig today.  It clicked.  I think I caught 14 and missed a couple.  Other than seeing if the frog bite was on (its not yet) it was the only thing I threw.  Another big gun in the holster.  It's only taken me 20 years or so...lol

[georgeyew]

What did you do differently this time compared to before?

[Catt]

Love it when a plan comes together!  ?

[Jaderose]

2 hours ago, georgeyew said:

What did you do differently this time compared to before?

Made a plan, worked the plan and didn't give up after about 10 casts to go back to confidence baits.  I also watched this video, which someone posted the other day.  For some reason this really clicked with me.  Especial the part about how he positions his finger so the line lays across it and the way he lifts and reels.  It works....  I don't know if this guy is on here but if he is...THANKS!

 

 

[GTN-NY]

I always found the best way to learn something new is take only that with you. Leave all other rods and tackle home

[jtharris3]

24 minutes ago, Jaderose said:

Made a plan, worked the plan and didn't give up after about 10 casts to go back to confidence baits.  I also watched this video, which someone posted the other day.  For some reason this really clicked with me.  Especial the part about how he positions his finger so the line lays across it and the way he lifts and reels.  It works....  I don't know if this guy is on here but if he is...THANKS!

 

 

There’s some excellent info in that video. I ran across it a couple of weeks ago.

[Bluebasser86]

I think the hardest part for me was how much the same but different it was than fishing a T-rig. I pretty much had one of those days I decided I was going to learn it, took a rod with a jig and nothing else, and made myself learn it. Didn't catch as many as I usually do that day but I caught better quality. That's when the light came on for me.

[GreenPig]

3 hours ago, Jaderose said:

Made a plan, worked the plan and didn't give up after about 10 casts to go back to confidence baits.  I also watched this video, which someone posted the other day.  For some reason this really clicked with me.  Especial the part about how he positions his finger so the line lays across it and the way he lifts and reels.  It works....  I don't know if this guy is on here but if he is...THANKS!

 

 

That fella in the video is a Geek.?

[Jaderose]

5 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I think the hardest part for me was how much the same but different it was than fishing a T-rig. I pretty much had one of those days I decided I was going to learn it, took a rod with a jig and nothing else, and made myself learn it. Didn't catch as many as I usually do that day but I caught better quality. That's when the light came on for me.

That's the funny thing....I actually had one of my better days.  I caught quantity and quality.  It was like...why didn't I do this before?  lol  Going back out today to do pretty much the exact same thing

[MGF]

A jig of some sort has been my "go-to" almost since I started fishing more than 50 years ago.

 

Don't limit yourself to the "popular" retrieves. What they now call snapping or cracking is how I remember first working a jig. Dragging or hopping on the bottom was something I came to later. I've caught about every kind of fish that swims in my waters by bouncing a 1/4 oz yellow marabou ball head jig mid water...even catfish and carp. LOL In fact I just started looking for a supply of jigs like that because I haven't seen them in years and I'm all out. I used to get them cheap in the local department store (that's probably why I started using them). Now they're expensive and I haven't found any yellow ones.

 

[roadwarrior]

[Hook2Jaw]

A ½ ounce jig is such a confidence bait for me that a ⁵/¹⁶ ounce has largely replaced a weighted Texas rig when I have to have bites and bottom contact is the way to get it.

 

Somehow, some way, a flaring silicon skirt and a trailer is such a great imitator of a sunfish or crawfish that it just gets chomped violently and oftentimes by very quality fish.

[GTN-NY]

1 hour ago, MGF said:

A jig of some sort has been my "go-to" almost since I started fishing more than 50 years ago.

 

Don't limit yourself to the "popular" retrieves. What they now call snapping or cracking is how I remember first working a jig. Dragging or hopping on the bottom was something I came to later. I've caught about every kind of fish that swims in my waters by bouncing a 1/4 oz yellow marabou ball head jig mid water...even catfish and carp. LOL In fact I just started looking for a supply of jigs like that because I haven't seen them in years and I'm all out. I used to get them cheap in the local department store (that's probably why I started using them). Now they're expensive and I haven't found any yellow ones.

 

I think I have some of those. I’ll get back to you. 
 

edit: I found them but they’re not 1/4oz. More like 1/16

[Jaderose]

1 hour ago, MGF said:

A jig of some sort has been my "go-to" almost since I started fishing more than 50 years ago.

 

Don't limit yourself to the "popular" retrieves. What they now call snapping or cracking is how I remember first working a jig. Dragging or hopping on the bottom was something I came to later. I've caught about every kind of fish that swims in my waters by bouncing a 1/4 oz yellow marabou ball head jig mid water...even catfish and carp. LOL In fact I just started looking for a supply of jigs like that because I haven't seen them in years and I'm all out. I used to get them cheap in the local department store (that's probably why I started using them). Now they're expensive and I haven't found any yellow ones.

 

I use a small jig maker that specializes in hair jigs.  His prices are VERY reasonable, the jigs are high quality, and he'll make any color or variations you want.  I'm a BIG fan.  If you want to know who it is, message me.  I get nothing but I don't want any to think I am promoting anything beyond a good product from a good maker

[Cgolf]

Really good video and I like how he did the whole thing without catching a fish. Most folks like to show off by landing a lunker, which wastes time. 

[galyonj]

12 hours ago, Jaderose said:

Especial the part about how he positions his finger so the line lays across it and the way he lifts and reels.

This was a real gamechanger for me regardless of what I've got tied on. I think the first time I noticed and paid attention to this being a thing was in a post that @WRB made a while back that I'm sure was just incidental, and I can't even remember the post or thread now.

 

Anyway, that helped me realize that you're only ever able to feel so much through even the most sensitive rods. Keeping a fingertip on the line itself has helped me notice the gentle bumps from sneaky or unsure fish that I don't think I would have been aware of before.

[scaleface]

My first texas rig bass , I added a black spinnerbait skirt behind the weight  to imitate a jig . A guy told me he was catching them on jigs and I didnt have any so I improvised .After that I was using both jigs and T-rigs , it didn't matter . Like already stated , I  caught a thousand fish on crappie jigs before I got serious into bass fishing . I knew what a light bite felt like .

[frogflogger]

3 hours ago, MGF said:

A jig of some sort has been my "go-to" almost since I started fishing more than 50 years ago.

 

Don't limit yourself to the "popular" retrieves. What they now call snapping or cracking is how I remember first working a jig. Dragging or hopping on the bottom was something I came to later. I've caught about every kind of fish that swims in my waters by bouncing a 1/4 oz yellow marabou ball head jig mid water...even catfish and carp. LOL In fact I just started looking for a supply of jigs like that because I haven't seen them in years and I'm all out. I used to get them cheap in the local department store (that's probably why I started using them). Now they're expensive and I haven't found any yellow ones.

 

Yellow marabou was a standard for us along with black and white - caught everything that swims.

I still tie my own but haven't tied yellow for a while. Will do so today.

[scaleface]

10 hours ago, GreenPig said:

Especial the part about how he positions his finger so the line lays across it and the way he lifts and reels.

Thats how I have held a rod all my life . Learned it jig fishing for crappie and continue to do it to this day for bass . Back when I started bass fishing the rods are not like they are now. They were short fiberglass and just were not sensitive . I held the line to feel the bite . Then  when graphite rods came onto the scene , I could tell what brand of beer can my sinker was hitting .?

[WRB]

2 hours ago, galyonj said:

This was a real gamechanger for me regardless of what I've got tied on. I think the first time I noticed and paid attention to this being a thing was in a post that @WRB made a while back that I'm sure was just incidental, and I can't even remember the post or thread now.

 

Anyway, that helped me realize that you're only ever able to feel so much through even the most sensitive rods. Keeping a fingertip on the line itself has helped me notice the gentle bumps from sneaky or unsure fish that I don't think I would have been aware of before.

Only mentioned and discussed using your index finger and thumb tips dozens of times over the years to improve strike detection. Primary reason I use rods with 2" fore grip / cork reel locking rings to hold the rod.

Glad it helped you, strike detection is critical to become a consistently good jig angler.

Tom

 

[Catt]

10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I think the hardest part for me was how much the same but different it was than fishing a T-rig

 

Which is why I keep both tied on 24/7/365 ?

[GReb]

Warning - jig bite is addictive. My absolute favorite way to fish

[plawren53202]

17 hours ago, Jaderose said:

....came on for me today.  Watched some beginner vids and went out determined to figure out a jig today.  It clicked.  I think I caught 14 and missed a couple.  Other than seeing if the frog bite was on (its not yet) it was the only thing I threw.  Another big gun in the holster.  It's only taken me 20 years or so...lol

Jig light came on for me also this spring LOL. I have tried jigs at various times over the years but not much success. I think what changed this spring was I started viewing a jig a much more "surgical" than most of my other baits.

 

I am a bank fisherman so I can't be out in a boat pitching or flipping to cover. But this spring I started working on using jigs with a similar approach, as much as possible from the bank. I also started using finesse jigs or even smaller jigs like the Bitsy Bug for this; I think I had only tried standard size (like 1/2 oz.) jigs in the past. The Bitsy Bugs and other similar sized jigs, combined with an appropriate sized trailer like a Paca Tiny Chunk, really brought jigs into the picture for me.

 

I have had some good luck doing this to fish cover right on the bank. Especially if I am very conscious about not spooking those fish first, sneaking up, keeping an appropriate distance, minding casting angles, etc. I have caught a decent number of fish using this "bank flipping" approach with a black and blue Bitsy Bug/Tiny Paca Chunk so far this year, and I think the first fish I caught doing this this year was the first fish I had ever caught on a jig.

[galyonj]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

Only mentioned and discussed using your index finger and thumb tips dozens of times over the years to improve strike detection. Primary reason I use rods with 2" fore grip / cork reel locking rings to hold the rod.

Glad it helped you, strike detection is critical to become a consistently good jig angler.

Tom

 

I honestly couldn't tell you how many times I may have seen you or somebody else mention it since I joined and it just never registered with me.

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Glad it finally stuck, though.

[Bluebasser86]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Which is why I keep both tied on 24/7/365 ?

Yep, usually more than 1.

1 hour ago, GReb said:

Warning - jig bite is addictive. My absolute favorite way to fish

Same here. People go cross eyed when I say I'd rather feel that thump than catch fish on top but I can't help it.