Most efficient crappie jig retrieves?

[jacob2000]

Very new to jigging for crappie and would like to know good ways to retrieve.

[Zippy]

Slow and steady, no jigging at all.

[DockShootinJack]

I used slow and steady, or reel up and let fall kind of like fishing a worm for bass.

[skeetbum]

A long time ago I was told of the " pitch and glide". Cast toward a given structure, or alongside of it, and engage the reel. Take a half a turn on the reel and lift your rod tip to around 10 o'clock. Now begin to count until the jig hits the bottom on this first cast. Pick it up and slowly retrieve it back and on the second cast begin the retrieve 1 count before it hits bottom. Now that you know where the bottom is, if it stops falling before that number then a fish has picked it up on the fall. Keep reducing the number til you get fish regularly and repeat. Sometimes you will feel the thump, others the line will fall slack as they come up from underneath, other times you might just see the line twitch. Hi Vis line helps a lot. If the line does anything you didn't tell it to, set the hook from the wrist. Too hard and it can pull free.

[DockShootinJack]

That's the retrieve I described as like fishing a worm for bass. Didn't know it had a name.

[CrappiePappy]

Well .... are we talking "casting" a jig or "jigging" one ??

Vertical jigging doesn't really have a "retrieve" ... as you are doing more drop & hold, lift & repeat.

Casting, on the other hand, has several good retrieve styles - stop/go ... slow/steady ... slow/jiggle/steady ... pitch/glide (pendulum swing) ... countdown (and you can add a 1sec longer wait per each cast to cover entire water column).

When I'm casting a jig, I normally use the slow/steady retrieve .... keeping a slight bow in the line from rod tip to water's surface by my retrieve speed. Now, when that isn't working, I will add the mechanics of one or more of the other styles to my slow/steady retrieve until the fish tell me I've hit on the magic formula for them.

I don't vertical jig very much, but I do Vertical Cast under various situations. This article relates the "how to" for what I call "Vertical Casting" : Crappie Pappy Article

... cp

[Zippy]

I like that skeetbum can't wait to try it

[kickingback]

What Skeetbum said.

[brush pile]

I would say the best retrieve would be the one with a fish on the end

[DockShootinJack]

Very true Brush Pile