Question for spider riggers

[waterboy1]

In the past four years the only bait I have used while spider rigging has been live minnows. I've used road runners with various bodies while long line trolling, and have done well in the past, but I'm having a hard time having confidence in them enough to use them for spider rigging. You guys that push jigs all the time, how long did it take for your confidence in them to grow sufficiently to give up live bait. Am going out tomorrow, and am forcing myself to only use jigs, but my buddy will be using minnows, want to compare catch rates. Any help in boosting my confidence would be appreciated.

[feelay]

Minnows, never leave home without them!

[crappiefarmer]

All I can tell You is don't let one trip discourage You if the jigs don't work as good. You can find jigs that work just as good or better than minnows. You just need to try different ones and let the fish tell You what they want. Spider rigging speeds that process. Let Your buddy who is using the minnows verify that You are on fish Then try different styles and colors until You find the style/color that matches or beats his catch rate. If You do this often, You will eliminate the styles/colors that don't produce and You will end up with a Jig box (tool box) that has a bunch of different jigs but only a few that work great on a regular basis. simplify Your jigs down to 7 or 8 colors that produce and Kiss the minnows goodbye forever. I started out with a big tackle bag slam full of baits and jigs. Now, I can carry what I need in two small plano 3500 boxes and on most days do really well on crappie. Have not bought minnows in 5 years. Oh Yeah, once You have refined Your tackle down, don't be afraid or refuse to try new baits and colors cause there is always going to be something better or there will be.CF

[gabowman]

If you ever learned longlining then you'd know that you dont need minners. But I'm with you on spider rigging...I want MEAT on the hooks.Thumbs Up

[MePreach]

I'm no expert but let me tell you what happened yesterday! I found some feeding crappie and was catching them until I ran out of minnows and tried every bobby garland color and several color tubes and only caught a few keepers. They were wearing the minnows out "while they lasted" but just didnt want a jig! I just use minnows in the dead of winter and then go back to plastics in early spring. Here is a pic...proof is in the puddin they say! Lol

[RogerA]

I ALWAYS tip my jigs with minnows while spider rigging. It works for me. I try both and let the fish tell me what they want and then adjust to what they want. I also fish a jig on bottom hook and plain minnow hook on top a lot and see which works best. Always let the fish tell you what they want.

[Percidae_Papermouth]

I use both, depends how well i know that body of water... but handtied craftfur jigs produce well for me, so do bgbs.... but id much rather cast & count for crappie if using jigs only.

Actually funny, my avatar pic is a good example. was using minnows all day with little luck, when those minners ran out i was using all jigs, started noticing the orange/chart. tube was out performing others, switched all rods to that color and four rods went down at the same time....i managed to land 3... two crappie & a yellow perch.

[skeetbum]

All good stuff so far, and I would rather fool em than feed em. Refining the jigs is a time consuming process and you will get frustrated before it's over. For this reason I still carry assassin's, curl tails, and BGBS and hand ties. My bag of tricks. If you know the fish are there and have the time, keep pluggin away til you find what works, presentation included. I have started out with an eighth and started dropping in size til I got to a 64th, steadily improving the catch along the way. Once I got to the tiny one, it was a fish on most every cast. I know your Question was on riggin, but there's times when the same jig you riggin won't produce til you cast it and let it fall on those same fish. I use mostly natural colors and some bright colors, but few bright ones. Size of the jig and the fall or flutter rate seem to make the most difference to me. It's great to have 4 rods out, alone, and have 3 go down in short order. The minnow guy doesn't like me much.

[jeepguyjames]

why not run some rods w/mInnys.....somew/jIgs and some mInnow/jIg combos.....let the fIsh tell you what they want?

[Jigging15]

why not run some rods w/mInnys.....somew/jIgs and some mInnow/jIg combos.....let the fIsh tell you what they want?

This is how I usually start my day. 4 rods with double minnow rigs and 4 with double jig rigs. This year had several days they would not hit a minnow which is weird. I start with 8 differant colors also on the jig rods. I use a 3/8 oz weight on minnow rigs and a 1/8 oz jig on top and a 1/4 oz jig on bottom on jig rigs. I have these pretied to save time if I break off. With the minnow and jig rigs being the same weight I have no issue when turning the boat of switching rod holders. Once you see what they want start switching out rigs. Same goes for colors. I had a day were probally the first 15 out of 20 fish came off of blk/pink. That was with 8 minnows and 7 other colors in the water. Did not take long to figure out it was time to start changing out baits. Give them a little variety until they tell you what they want.