newbie question about jig bites

[bassinandrew88]

i just recently started fishing jigs after my uncle introduced me to denny brauer, apparently after my uncle knowing how much i loved bass fishing for the last 5 years my uncle decided "oh yeah i forgot im good friends with one of the best bass fisherman in the world" but we had a conversation about alot of stuff but we did talk a little fishing and he asked me how confident i was in jig fishing and i said i owned a few that people had given me here and there and he got me into them but this spring is the first time i have had any kind of confidence in them at all but i have a problem detecting the difference between a piece of grass or a rock and a subtle bite from a bass...so sometimes i set the hook and end up looking like a fool to anyone else that is watching and sometimes i just let it go and get the feeling in my stomach the good ol " i think i just missed her " feeling...so any tips on detecting the difference between just cover and subtle bites would be appreciated because im learning more and more after catching my new personal record on a subtle bite that they dont always just slam it so thanks in advance

[directlink]

If you think what might be a fish biting, but aren't too sure, watch your line in the water to see if it's moving.  

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

Jig fishing takes a lot of jigging hours, days, months & years to master the touch it requires. You're just going to have to concentrate on it. I took it up and laid it down every year for 20 years until I determined to catch fish on it because I saw the biggest bass coming on jigs. Become an expert on the feel of a jig on bottom crawling over rocks by fishing visible rocks. Do the same over shallow grass you can see. Find stumps you can see and bump the jig into them. Learn those feels. When those feels change in places you can't see (where you're most likely to catch bass), set the hook every time "normal" doesn't feel or look normal. If you're lucky you'll get a hard thump from a bass inhaling the jig and clamping down on it, moving away from you, leaving no doubt you have a solid bite. But most of the time you're looking for a line going limp when not expected. Or maybe the line tightens suddenly when you were not pulling on the jig, just letting it fall to bottom. Probably 90% of the bites will happen on that initial fall, the other 10% happening when you lift the jig, bit when falling agin. Maybe you will feel a soft grinding sensation a little different than a jig cutting though rough bladed hydrilla. The line might slowly get a mushy loading up when you expect a constant temporary loading from a plant followed by a normal release of pressure when the jig clear the plant. Set the hook. You have the jig paused on bottom and the line moves sideways an inch on its own. Take up slack and set the hook. That's a no-brainer. Set the hook firmly with a very quick upwards two handed motion. Cross his eyes with a hard swing and hold the line tight while reeling it down with rod constantly bowed. Never let the rod straighten out or allow line slack from that moment on. Read up on what Denny has written about jig fishing. He has a web site, so find it, study it, and practice what you learn from HIM. He's the jig master.

Jim

[paparock]

Ouachitabassangler said it better than I could have.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

If'n you took time to remember your own experiences and just put them in words I figure you'd have written about the same thing putting in some events I didn't remember. Ya'll add to the list of what to feel/look for. I just touched on it. I'm sure whole books have been written about jigging bass.

Jim

[Biglouie]

watch your line closely, if it does something it shouldn't, set the hook! ;D

[BD]

Alot of times I have noticed the line will feel 'heavy' and anytime the line is very LIGHT, that fish is more than likely swimming right towards you.

other than the 'sure' fire feel way, of you feel weight and the fish turns to either side, those jig bites are very easy to determine.

I have started practicing too, with throwing it out, VERY VERY easily lifting the rod tip up and down for the jigging action. I have found this subtle lifting lets you feel a tree, vs. a rock, vs a bass, because usually the bass holding on to it will feel heavier than the things your jig has been bumping.....I hope this makes sense.

[Bankbeater]

Learn to feel what your jig is dragging over, and at the same time learn to keep your eyes on the line. I have had them take the jig and start swimming off with it while I was dragging it in. I didn't feel it but I saw the line move off to the side. I have also felt the tap-tap-tap while fishing vertically, and the line didn't move.

[Guest avid]

Well my first question is "What did Denny Brauer say?"

It's a common question and I'll bet he has a great answer.  I would love to hear it.

The advice given here so far is great, but I always tell new jig fisherman the same thing.

As a novice jig fisherman you will definitly, ABSOLUTELY feel more bites fishing your jigs on a tight line than on a semi slack one.  

A semi slack line is better because the jig will drop straight down staying closer to the cover and giving a more natural presentation.  But untill you get the "feel" you will, without a doubt, get strikes that you will never know happened.

With a tight line you will get a few less strikes, but you will feel them all (well, mostly).   Your confidence will go up tremendously and then you can start loosening up on the line a little.

Trust me on this one.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

Before owning my first graphite rod I developed a habit of holding the line out to the side like when flippin with free hand while jigging. The old glass rods just weren't very sensitive. So I still grab the line and quite often move the jig without reeling or moving rod tip. I'm pretty certain I feel light tics on those fingers before they come up the now very good vibrating graphite rods. I can't help but believe some energy is lost from bumps jumping up line, into rod guides, down the rod, then into palm. The inside of my little fingers are much more sensitive to slight vibrations. It's also possible to move a jig fractions of an inch, finessing it that way while if using a reel it's going to move an inch or more, less if using rod tip to move it by just raising the line slack droop an inch higher off the water. I like rocking a craw on a football jig head for a super finesse craw imitation of a crayfish busy feeding away on something oblivious to a bass moving in, so that means keeping the jig in place and barely rocking it. I keep some tension on the line all the time even when vertically dropping it over the landing spot. Keeping tension with reel or rod is likely to over tighten and pull the jig back towards you. A lot of bites won't be strong enough to tighten the line up visually, but I can feel things happening before seeing any line jump. I also like to hold the line and pluck it with fingernail to send a different sound down to it. Another little trick, effectiveness not quite certain, is in high wind using a heavy jig I like to tighten the line and hold it high to allow the wind to make the line sing in the rod guides. That siren call comes when holding the rod 90 degrees to the wind. A faint weeEEEeearrrooooommmm sounds off occasionally and off the line goes sideways saying SET IT. I've even had stripers and cats scoop that jig up off bottom right then. They normally don't bother bass jigs fished on bottom. Coincidence or not I allow that every chance I get.

Jim

[Jeff P.]

A tip that I've heard repeated several times is to learn through experience just exactly the feel of your jig when it's in the water.  When your jig hits the bottom, very slowly lift it up and "weigh" it.  As they say, most often you don't feel that tell-tale tap tap or thump on a jig the way you do on a plastic worm.  A bass will often pick up a jig and you'll never feel the pick up.  But when you start to lift your rod tip (here's where a little bit of softness in the tip will help) and the jig feels heavier or mushy, there's a chance that a fish has picked up the jig, and you need to set the hook before the fish spits it back out.  Yes, you are going to whiff a few times, and you'll see your jig go flying by your head as it comes out of the water, but that's going to happen.

[huskertko]

I am not a good jig angler...yet, but I am taking the approach that Woo Daves teaches for fishing a plastic worm.  Learn what the lure feels like when there is no fish on it, which is most of the time, if it feels different than that feeling set the hook.  He made a comment that too many people want to learn what it should feel like when the fish has taken the bait, but in reality, that sensation is only a couple casts out of hundreds a day.  If you know what the lure feels like when there isn't a fish, when it doens't feel like that anymore, there probably a fish on the hook.

[Brian_Reeves]

I've been having trouble with jigs too, but today I think I took the first baby steps in changing my luck.  I went to throw a blue/black heavy jig but my buddy started getting fish off of a tube.  Stubborn in my determination, I tied on a light jig that matched his color tube and went fishing.  Before I walked out to the truck, I took a pair of fingernail clippers (line cutters) and thinned out the weedguard some, trimmed it right, and made sure my trailer was hooked up to be as small as possible.  Within 3 casts, I pulled up the SMALLEST bass I've ever caught in my life.  Then I worked around the bank to this tire in the water, pitched in front of it, and felt a strike.  It didn't feel like anything.  Just a very light bump and then weightlessness.  I slammed back and watched the stupid fish swim through the tire.  Fought through that and got in a nice little 1-1.5lb bass.  Not big or impressive, but it is the first fish I caught pitching a jig and detecting the initial fall.  Keep the line pretty tight, but not so much as to interfere with the bait, trim excess guards off, and I like to keep everything small.  The only real advice I have for you is that hooksets are free.

[bassinandrew88]

i went out and tried the tighter line technique and i caught one 13" bass and you were right avid i worked it on tighter line and i definitely felt the bite....thanks for the advice everyone i am gaining confidence in jigs even though the end of last summer was the first time i had thrown one

[K_Mac]

We have all experienced that sinking feeling of knowing we didn't pull the trigger on a fish. It happens to the best of us. Jig fishing takes concentration, and the minute you lose focus, that is when Murphy's Law comes into play. The more you fish a jig, the better you will get at detecting when something changes. As has already been said: Hooksets are free! I would rather make a couple of false hooksets and look a little silly doing it than miss a good fish by not swinging away. Jigs are great baits, and are well worth the time and effort needed to grow confident using them. Good luck.

[Siebert Outdoors]

A good sensitive rod

a good reel with a fast pickup

good sensitive line,  flouro or braid

7' or little longer rod is my favorite

Like avid said keep a tighter line,

fish slow,

if something doesnt feel right set the hook

Most of my jig bites are pickups and very little movement or felt bit.  If I do feel a bite its usually a little tap.  Line watchin will also serve you very usefull.

And the main one LOTS OF PRACTICE.

[bassinandrew88]

thanks for the advice! i went out today because we had an early release day from school and went to a pond with some friends...i caught 4 fish about 1-2 lb each...my friends were catching little 12" bass left and right with little spinnerbaits, i caught far less in numbers but better in quality...just because i dont want to create a new thread i have another question ....

do little fish stay away from jigs for a reason or is it just the difference in fishing styles between a jig and a spinnerbait?

[BD]

No they don't stay away from them, they are suppose to look like crawfish. I think you catch "less" because the majority of little bass won't mess with them, but yes, I have caught dinks on jigs too.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

Probably the best route to learning jigs is to start off fishing light ones, 1/8 oz. You'll doubtless get a hundred to one bites (from many species) compared to a 3/4 oz jig. You'll put up with a bunch of 8" bass and bream, but that will train you to work a jig expertly. Once you have it down after catching high numbers of bass increase jig size to 1/4 oz, then 1/2 oz. As you go up in size numbers of bass drop off, replaced by far fewer but larger bass bites.  Of course, there are exceptions. I've caught some large bass on tiny 1/16 oz jigs when least expecting it, using ultra light gear with 6# line. I've lost more larger bass doing that than boated.

Jim