Jigs in Florida

[JohnnyBigger]

I know jigs work great up north but how do they work in Florida? Also any recommendations on which kind and where to fish them. I have never fished a jig but I would love to give them a shot. Most of the lakes I fish are 10'-12' feet deep but I fish alot of water of 6' and less with light cover. I fish alot of docks and canals. I am willing to experiment with anything from deep water cover to no cover. Thank you for all of your help.

[FL Knifemaker]

I fish jigs often and do well on them.  The problem is, around cattails, you will often get hung as you lift the bait out through the floating stems.  The jig gets squeezed and the weedguard compresses, then you have to unhook or rip through a big long stem    In that type of terrain, I quickly switch to creature bait with a Florida screw in weight.  If there's not much CRAP floating on the water to hang the jig in, I prefer a jig.      Also, pitching light jigs on a spinning rod around docks and other cover works very well for me also.   

[XLFISH]

My brother and I have both done well swimming jigs on Toho. Use it in the same areas you would rip a lippless crank or spinnerbait. I like using the lower half of a Stanley Ribbit frog for a trailer when I am after big bites and a twin tail trailer when I am just trying to get bit.

[FD.]

The 3/8 booyah swimmming jig (minus the rattles) with a super speed craw works well in the K grass, pads and thin hydrilla.  I use the light brown jig skirt with a green pumpkin trailer.  It looks like a blue gill and got hammered last year when the water got over 60 degrees.

I also like a chatter bait(swimming jig) pitched to isolated cover.  Blue/black seems to work best.

[The Guy]

I have been doing pretty good lately pitching a 3/8 oz jig around grass and docks.  The more natural colors like greens and browns seem to do better in my lake, it has about 4ft visibility.  I use craw style trailers that match the jig.

[crank]

This winter was my first foray into jig fishing too and its been a blast. I understand why there are guys who could fish with nothing else.

A lot of the article advice from this site has worked for me. Check them out. They're worth the time, if you want to save time on the water.

Big jigs=big fish and fewer bites. If I just want to catch some fish, a quarter ounce jig weeds out the panfish and pulls 1 to 3 pounders nicely.

I seem to pull more fish with contrasting colors. My local pond pretty much requires a black jig with a green craw or hog. I experiment with other colors and don't get bit. Having a good mix from the start will allow you to experiment, and they're pretty much the cheapest lures on the shelf. Buy a bunch. you'll leave some on the bottom, so you don't want to run out when you're catching fish.

Slowing down was the hardest part for me. I caught my first jig fish in fall when they were hitting everything, and couldn't catch another until February, when I finally slowed down enough. I see the speed thing debated, but patience paid off for me. YMMV.

Good luck!

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

Jigs are pretty much universal... they work well on small ponds, big lakes and everything in between as long as it has bass or crappie

[SirSnookalot]

Jigs work every where and on almost any kind of fish.  Many survival kits include jigs.

[salmicropterus]

I think this has been a great thread and it has really got me thinking. I belong to 2 bass clubs with maybe 60 anglers total and there is only a few people who throw a swimjig, maybe a few more if you count in a chatterbait type swim jig and no one drags one around. Most of the water down here doesn;t have man-made strcuture like docks etc but I have done that where there is some. I have just started throwing a swimjig as a surrogate for a spinnerbait-can't say as I have had any real success yet but I will. As far as dragging a jig around I can see it having the same application here as dragging a 10" worm around scattered grass, stick-ups and canegrass with hard bottoms. Maybe this will show the bass something different.

[bocabasser]

i use a 1/4 oz gambler ninja jig with a paca chunk as a trailer and i swim it. the fish will tell you how they want it. i really like swimming a jig through the pads in the glades. when that bite is on, lookout.

[SirSnookalot]

I use a 1/4 oz saltwater (wahoo) or a flats jig for bass, no trailer and it's does very well.  Put a worm trailer on it and now you have what's referred to as a " snookball", gotta think that set up would do very well  for LMB.

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

jigs or swimjigs usually work in the pre-spawn and spawn times here on the open sandy flats and beds, but those are hard to find since the lake bottoms are mostly covered with vegetation.