Jig Fishing Muck Bottoms

[dhami013]

If you're fishing a lake or pond with a bunch of gunk on the bottom how would you fish your jig?

I usually try to hop it relatively quickly or swim it.

[backwater4]

I try to go as light as possible and slowly swim it along the bottom, shaking i every now and again. Honestly, it's very annoying and alot of times I go to a wacky rigged bait.

[RoLo]

Even though you're fishing a jig, you're not compelled to use a bottom-drag or bottom-hop retrieve.

For instance, you could rig a glide craw on a swim jig (with or without a skirt), and use a crank-&-glide retrieve.

In this manner, your swim jig will spend most its time gliding "near-bottom" with intermittent bottom-contact.

If possible though, I would avoid muck, silt and other soft bottoms and focus on firm bottom areas.

Roger

[clayton86]

This is the make up of a lot of areas I fish and I hate it but I usually pump a jig on the bottom well close to the bottom usualy a light finnese jig iv found works best

[Ramz]

I use a 1/8 Bitsy Bug (black/blue) with either an Uncle Josh's pork frog trailer or a Berkley chigger craw 3" model. I slowly lift my rod tip and as the jigs falls back down I point my rod tip towards the water and reel in the slack line. Then you just wait for the tug and set the hook. It takes patience.

[dhami013]

I use a 1/8 Bitsy Bug (black/blue) with either an Uncle Josh's pork frog trailer or a Berkley chigger craw 3" model. I slowly lift my rod tip and as the jigs falls back down I point my rod tip towards the water and reel in the slack line. Then you just wait for the tug and set the hook. It takes patience.

Yeah I like using the bitsy bugs. I feel like I can beef them up with a good sized trailer if I want a bigger profile or you can keep them real compact.

[philsoreel]

Can't remember the exact name but Zoom makes a kind of skinny twin tail grub that's a good size match with the 1/8th bitsy.

[dhami013]

I'll have to be on the look out for that said grub. I got a twin tail grub fron gander, it's got a skirt on the grub, it looks like a GY grub but I cut them in half for a smaller profile and keep the skirt if I want it beefed.

[Hooligan]

I've caught some of my largest "pond fish" on muck bottoms. Fish don't read books, they don't know that they're supposed to be on bottoms other than muddy or mucky types. One of my favorite ways to fish them is drag a half ounce or heavier jig kicking up a silt cloud like a crayfish would. There are times that you can observe large fish hunting crayfish in those areas and you'll see a large mud boil when they find one. The best is when they're covered with filamentous algae and have a few interspersed weeds and rocks. Don't overlook them by any means.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

If the bottom is so soft as to make your bait difficult or immpossible for the fish to find,you can try a drop-shot rig.

[Kbissonnette98]

On 6/1/2011 at 6:40 AM, Hooligan said:

I've caught some of my largest "pond fish" on muck bottoms. Fish don't read books, they don't know that they're supposed to be on bottoms other than muddy or mucky types. One of my favorite ways to fish them is drag a half ounce or heavier jig kicking up a silt cloud like a crayfish would. There are times that you can observe large fish hunting crayfish in those areas and you'll see a large mud boil when they find one. The best is when they're covered with filamentous algae and have a few interspersed weeds and rocks. Don't overlook them by any means.

What kind of jig do u use

[MassYak85]

If it's the kind of much I'm thinking of, I don't. Even with a grass jig I'll pull up a ball of muck that not only completely obscures the jig but takes about a minute to get off. If it's that kind of stuff I'll opt for a weightless worm and try and find fish that are willing to hit on the fall, or go light enough that it can just rest on the stuff without getting to cluttered. 

[thinkingredneck]

Almost everywhere I fish has muck or dead plant material under the actual plants.  I tend to go with weightless or lightly weighted worms or swimbaits and flukes if it is too bad.

[WRB]

I fish jigs all the time but not on muck bottoms. Bass don't feed on mucky bottoms, bullhead catfish do.

Find areas with different bottom naterials like clay, sand, gravel, clam shells, soil without decaying matter to make bottom contact lures like jig and worms work on the bottom.

Tom

[Cak920]

Where I live 95% of the places to fish are pure mud bottom. That’s why I never bothered trying to fish a jig until a week ago then I broke 2 off. I just stay away from jigs in the mud. Just starting to try them on the little bit of rock available

[scaleface]

I fish a spot  that is 100 percent muck and its one of the best places I know .  I dont use jigs there but douse texas rigs with a light weight . 1/8th or 3/16th .

[drew4779]

4 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I fish a spot  that is 100 percent muck and its one of the best places I know .  I dont use jigs there but douse texas rigs with a light weight . 1/8th or 3/16th .

x2