FISHING TECHNIQUE : JIGGING

Jigs Fishing with a jig is one of the easier fishing techniques to learn however it is one of the more difficult to truly master and become extremely proficient with it. A jig can be fished 100 different ways and as long as it is in the water there is a good chance that a fish will take interest and bite it. Jigs come in all different sizes with different characteristics designed for specific presentations or situations. The following jigs and associated presentations are some of the most popular styles of fishing a jig for largemouth bass.

1. Flipping / Pitching Jig

• They have an arkie style head jig often
• Rubber or Silicon Skirt
• Use a plastic trailer like a Zoom Chunk or a Yamamoto twin tail grub -oz. oz. to 1 ½ oz. in weight with 3/8oz and 1/2oz as the most standard weight.
• Imitates a craw dad in heavy grass or wood cover
• After the flipping jig hits the water let it sink straight down, lots of bites occur on the fall
• Hop the bait up and down and slowly swim it out of the cover and back to the boat

2. Swimming a Jig

• Bullet shaped jig head - Rubber and silicon skirt combinations- often will have flash of silver, gold or buck tail hair
• Use a single tail grub for the trailer and make sure the tail is facing down
• 1/16 – ½oz in weight with a ¼ being the standard - Imitates a minnow, bream, or other local baitfish
• Cast to likely targets or just beyond them and slowly swim the bait back to the boat
• Try and hit the cover in the water like tree branches or docks to create a reaction

3. Jig head with Worm or Darter head

• Can come in several styles generally slender and bullet shaped
• No jig skirt use a plastic worm 6” Roboworms are excellent anywhere in the country
• Make sure the worm is placed on the hook straight so it does not spin
• Use as light of a weight when dragging a worm as you are comfortable with
• Let the lure sink to the bottom and then slowly swim the lure back to the boat
• When the bite is really tough keep constant contact with the bottom and move it slowly

4. Football Head Dragging Jig

• Football style head jig is excellent in rocky lake bottom lakes for preventing snags
• Rubber and silicon skirt type jigs
• Use a twin tail grub or other typical jig trailers like creature baits, chunks, or beavers.
• ¼ – 1 ½ oz. with ½ and ¾ oz. being exceptional for this style of fishing
• Imitates a crawdad or bream moving along the rocks
• Cast the lure to deeper ledges and rocky points and drag the lure along the bottom
• Excellent bait choice in the winter and summer in lakes with lots of water deeper than 25 feet

5. Swim Jig – Chatter bait Style

• Arkie and bullet head style jigs with metal blade that vibrates and shakes in the water
• Uses Silicone skirts
• Use whatever plastic lure you like a trailer from a worm to grub to even a small swim bait
• ¼ – 1 oz. with a ? and ½ oz. lure being the most popular - Imitates baitfish, minnows, crawdads all depending on the color choice and technique
• Cast and retrieve the bait like you would a crank bait or a spinner bait - Let the chatter bait sink all the way to the bottom and fish more like a jig for a big bite

6. Ball Head jig – Grub Swimming for Smallmouth
If you fish a lake that has small mouths in it, one of the most tried and true methods is swimming a grub. Use a small ball head jig with a spinning rod and a grub anywhere from 3 – 5” and cast it out, let it sink to the desired depths and just start to slowly reel and hang on for some smallie fun. I like a white with some color flake in the plastic or a smoke colored grub for most times of the year but an occasional all chartreuse grub also works.

(bestbassfishingtechniques.com).