How I came to T.H.E. Jig

[crappiekeith]

This post goes to explain why I tie & use T.H.E. Jig.
Please do not take this as a sales pitch.
There are some other tiny baits available like Loby's plastics on the market.
There are others that tie small jigs of their own too.

As far back as I can remember I've used minnows or waxies attached
to several types of crappie or sunfish spoons,ants,tear drop,plain hooks of all colors. Glow ,non glow you name it.
I caught fish on them all. You bet I did.
So why T.H.E. Jig?
I found a better way or better system if you will.
So here it it is,please bear with me.

Face it anyone can catch a crappie or sunfish. When they are biting of coarse.
For whatever the reason when the feed is on,it is ON. Drag just about anything and everything in front of that fish & it inhales it.
When both poles are going down at once while ice fishing,you know those days or every time you cast out from the boat and the cork hits the water
it goes under.

Now what about the days you had to go to the tiniest minnow?
They would not take anything ,but that little minnow or maybe a euro.
It was a negative day. That kind of day would send most guy's home skunked.
You had the locator.You saw the fish ,but you could not get them to bite.
I've heard you,"they raise up and will not hit it. Instead they swim back to the bottom.

So now you got a choice to make.
#1 Go home hungry
#2 Change tactics

1 out of 4 guys will go home hungry because what they are confident in is not working. They say & I've said it,they are not hungry.
A fish will feed most every day at some point in that day.
Confidense in a bait can and will make or break your day.
You have to be willing to admit that what you are doing is not working.
That admittance does not make you a poor fisherman.On the contrary.
That is what all of the pros have in common.Being able to switch tactics.
That is why they are successful. Being able to switch as the conditions change.

I met this guy who showed me a different tactic.
Time and again before I gained confidence in this system I'd get spanked fishing next to him.
It took a good year of seeing how well he did compared to my limited
success before I finally made the switch.
I did not think he was any better of a fisherman than I.Heck I logged 3 times the hours fishing than he did,but he always & I mean every time he out produce me.
I kept saying I'll get you next time.
Next time would come and go with the same result.
If I caught 30 he had 100. If I caught 10 he had 50.If I got skunked he made a meal.It never failed.
After the multiple beatings I succumbed to the admittance that what he was doing was better than what I was doing.

Fishing all winter & early spring for panfish T.H.E. Jig out preformed everything else I had tried.
My ego was on the line and it was smashed,totally obliterated .I had most assuredly hit my bottom.I felt worthless and he rubbed it in he was THE KING!
I could not offer 1 once of proof that he was wrong.How many weekends did I have to punish myself. It was a dark time for me,but then something happened that I'll never forget nor regret.
I asked him.Can I have 1 of those. He was shocked and stunned beyond belief. Sure he said.
So I took that little jig and tied it on my 6 test line under the smallest bobber I had.Weighted it so it almost sank.
I managed a few crappies that day ,but missed so many I had him laughing.

He said to me in his grandios manner,Son you need a spring.
So I had him set me up with a spring bobber.
This was way before I owned my 1st Vexilar.
We both fished blind.
We drop to the bottom .Come up a couple cranks & watch that spring. Nothing would happen so I'd reel up another crank as he did.I copied everything. He was pounding them and I was still not getting them near as fast or as much.
Then I saw him tie his jig on and he was making this loop knot so the jig would hang horizontally were as I was making a palymar. My jig hung vertical. Aha,I switched. I also started to get more fish.
Yet I was still not getting the numbers like he was.
Then I notice how straight his line was were mine had small curls in it.
I soon begun to see that I could not see the hit because those curls in my line acted like a shock absorber. So I bought some smaller diameter line that did not have that curl and I started to get more.I was going fish for fish with him.
Then he drops a bombshell on me.
Hey look at my new Vexilar FL-8.

Man,just when I was doing so well .
Now he could see the fish and he could get the jig right in front of that fish.
I was guessing,leaning over his shoulder to see where the fish were coming in at ,but he would reposition the screen out of my site.
I took that abuse for about 1 season then guess what.
Ha, Hey look at what I bought. Yup a FL-8 and you know I still struggled that year.
I had to learn what I was seeing.

Now after almost a decade of using this system without much help from him I can say I got it down.

The Vexilar made my millennium.
It shows me how aggressive they are so I know to up or downsize.
It shows me that there are fish there.
It shows me depth.
After seeing how fish react .I can almost to some degree tell the species too.

I know this was a very long post,but I wanted all of you to know how I came to T.H.E. Jig.
I'd promote it even if I was not making them.Yet The guy I was talking to you about could not keep me in them so I HAD to learn how to make them or stop fishing.

There is a system here.It does work like nothing else I have ever tried.

Once you have gotten to where I had been ,maybe you may be ready to try something different.
Unlike my buddy,I'll share everything I have learned to help you.
I will even teach you how to tie them all for nothing.
My motivation is to make us all better fisherman so that we can
spread this new found excitement I have found.
Spreading this excitement to others so that our sport we love so dearly
will survive the digital craze taking over our youth.

Thank you for taking your time to read this and I hope that maybe some of this will make a difference in your fishing experience.

[J White]

Not sure I follow on the knot/jig position -
When you say hang vertical, which way is the tip of hook pointing?
Up? or 90 deg. to the side?
I know with most of the regular old ball-head jigs I've got, a loop
knot will let them hang at something like a 45 degree...
Are your jigs balanced different? Do tell :D

[crappiekeith]

Yes there are balanced as the hair does not extend much past the hook.
I'm trying to keep them little.
A minnow swims or is horizontal,therefore the jig needs to be horizontal in the mimicking of that minnow.

[Songdog]

The rig you're talking about has been used in salt water for 100 yrs WE.ve just always called it a bottom rig I don't ness agree with the horizontal position A crappie will hit a falling or rising bait it's just according to where he/she's waiting to ambush them imo

[talegunner]

Hey Crappiekeith, I have been testing the concept of keeping my jigs as horizontal as possible when vertical jigging. My experience has been as good as 3to1. This was done useing two rods, one in each hand and the same tubes. Now that my partner and i have caught on to this.We will do this just for a laugh. When one of us hooks up, the other one will ask which jig was bit and most of the time its the standard reply "YOU KNOW WHICH ONE" Then comes the laugh.

[BleuGhill]

I liked you post and appreciate you sharing the experience. The fishermen I can NOT stand to be around are those pompous ones who are all smug and won't tell you diddly! Cast your bread upon the waters I say. Or, what goes around comes around..or some other similar saying. I don't know very much, but I'll tell anyone every possible detail if they're willing to listen. Better to develop friendships and have fun than to be selfish.

If you're willing to tell how to tie them, I'm all ears! PM me if you will and I will send my email addy.

Thanks again!

[must buy my fish]

I agree I will tell any info I know, to help anyone that asks. But most of the time I learn more in return.

[Prybis]

One thing you might want to consider if you tie your jig on with out using a loop knot is the position of the knot on the jig. It should be posistion to make the jig horizontal and be check after ever hook up and snag as the not will slide after a while. Another thing to consider is the type of jig hook used. Most jigs are tied using a standard 90 degree jig hook. A straight eye jig hook would be better suited than a standard in most situations.

I do agree that a loop knot will give any jig more life like appaerance since the knot is not tied snug against the jig and restricting its movements. Since I like to also fly fish, this is one thing that many people over look. Most fly fishing knots are one form of a loop knot or another. Also most flies are tied on a straight eye hook.

Know comes the best part of using a jig or fly. You have to have it act like what you are trying to imitate. If you are trying to imiatate a crawdad you dont want to have it float in the water. If you are trying to imatate a minnow you usualy want it to float, swim glide or just hand in the water colume. All these factors affect the way any jig performs in the water. Knowing how they affect your jig is the key to sucess.

Mike P.