Thread: weedless crappie rigs

Originally Posted by kybass1

Best weedless crappie jigs around heavy cover? Or do they work any better than retying regular rigs every few minutes. Thanks, Tom.

Where ya hail from ?? And what lakes do you fish ??

Oh yeah, weedless jigs vs regular jigs ...

There's several types of weedless jigheads, as far as what type of "guard" they use. There's single wire, multi-strand wire, thin wire loop, fibre bristles, and a V-wing ... that I know of.
Lots of mfg's make the fibre bristles version, and they work just fine.
Oldham's used to make ones with a thin wire loop ... but have recently gotten out of the "Crappie" jig making.
Some mfg's make a single wire ... but, I don't know much about them.
Lindy's makes the multi-strand wire style.

When I first started using jigs, to any great extent, for Crappie ... I started out using the Oldham's. They're great, until the thin wire loop gets broken or twisted up, then they're just a plain ol jighead. And at $3.50/8 jigheads, I got tired of that. There's a fellow on this site, Paul Mullins, goes by the screen name of "Grousefly", who owns/runs P&S Custom Tackle (out of Vicco, Ky). He makes jigs of all types. When I was soliciting for donations to our (former) tourney trail, he donated some really nice jigs. I got to conversing with him, and had a jighead from 20 some odd years ago, that was no longer being made ... I sent it to him, and he's been making them for me ever since. The jighead looks like a V-wing fighter jet of sorts :p ... and that's what I call it, when I refer to it - the V-wing. It's my favorite style. He also makes the fibre brush guard style jigheads that I use. The jigheads he makes for me are ball head in 1/32oz & 1/16oz, unpainted, #2 & #4 hooks (in both weights), and in bronze - gold - or red hook color. He recently started making a single strand wire type of weedless jighead ... and is sending me some to fieldtest for him. I'm on a "wait and see" basis, on those, until I've had a chance to try them out
But, as for weedless jigheads in heavy cover ... it's all I'll use !! I especially like to fish blowdown trees, whenever I can find them ... along with brushpiles, standing trees (Cedar & hardwoods), and I shoot docks (slingshot casting a jig underneath docks). Places I throw my weedless jigs, you wouldn't be retying a open hook jig every few minutes ... you'd be retying after every cast
Weedless jigheads aren't all that great for trolling, but I don't troll much. I'm a jig "caster", more than anything else. I don't lose fish, or miss bites, due to the weed guard, either ... in fact, the weedguard CAN help keep a lip hooked fish, stay hooked !! But, they're usually hooked in the roof of the mouth, so once I set the hook on them ... I figure they're coming in the boat :D

Here's a picture of the two P&S Custom Tackle weedless jigheads that I use ... brush guard (top) and V-wing (bottom)



I think Paul has the brush guards in white (as pictured) or black. The V-wings are black.
Paul is selling these custom made weedless jigheads for $0.25/ea (for orders of less than 100 jigs) or $20/100 (to Crappie.com members). General public price is $25/100 jigs. S/H is only a couple of $$
Paul can be reached by sending him a PM, from this site, to "Grousefly" ... or by his email -- [email protected] (and don't forget to tell him I sent you, and that you're a site member)

If you haven't figured it out, yet ... I'm a firm believer in weedless jigheads :p
And with good reason, considering where I like to throw them
Do you hang up a weedless jighead .... yeah, once in awhile. But, here's a little technique to use, on those occasions :

(copied from a previous reply)

Even weedless jigheads can/do get hung-up, occasionally. Here's a method I learned, that can keep you from hanging up and/or freeing your weedless jighead from a snag (before it hangs into it):

"One thing that I haven't mentioned lately, that goes along with casting over submerged wood, even with a weedless jighead, is what I call "taking a bow" to avoid getting hung on a branch. Even weedless jigheads can & will get hung, sometimes. This can be avoided, to an extent. When retrieving the jig, usually the line will swing back to you ... and you will notice it at the point where it enters the water (it will continue to get closer to you, as you reel in). When it stays in one spot, as you reel in, that indicates that the line is draped over something submerged in the path of your retrieve. As you continue to reel, eventually the jig will come in contact with that obstacle. As it does, and when the rod tip starts to bend down, a lot of people tend to try and "jerk" the jig over it. That works, sometimes, but quite often - they get hung. I try and avoid getting hung in the cover I'm fishing, so as not to have to break off - disturbing the cover, losing the bait, or alerting the fish to any unnatural conditions. I do this by "taking a bow" - with the rod tip.
In essence - I wait until the jig comes in contact, and the rod tip starts to bend ... then I drop the rod tip about 6" towards the jig, and in one fluid motion raise the rod tip up towards me about 12". This is not done fast, like a jerking motion ... but, more of a slow drop and lift motion. What this does (or seems to do) is allow the bait to fall away from the obstacle - then when you lift it back (twice as far as you let it fall away) the head of the jig "bumps" the obstacle, and "hops" up overtop of it. Well, most of the time, anyway. The reason I don't drop it down 6" and then lift it up more than 12" - is that I want the jig to clear the obstacle, but remain in the general area. I will work a tree top over, with this method, bumping and bowing and hopping the jig over multiple branches. Another reason I don't pull the jig back more than 12", or reel it back in (once I've cleared the branch) ... is because I've had numerous occasions where I've had a fish hit the jig, once it cleared the obstacle and started coming back towards me. In fact, it's happened often enough that I almost "expect" to get a hit, when "taking a bow" over a branch."

Hope some of my rambling makes sense to you, and answers your question.

...luck2ya ... cp

Crappie Pappy: Thanks for the info, was very helpful. I fish St John`s river, Florida (Lake George area) Jan-Mar) then Taylorsville, Rough and Nolin rest of year. I live in Louisville (Fern Creek) Ky. Tom.

I also use a jighead like crappiepappy (the one on the bottom w/ the "V" weedguard) and it works really well. However, if I'm fishing REALLY HEAVY cover I use a slider grub and slider head........basically like a texas rigged worm and they work great, but you will hook more fish w/ what crappiepappy suggested.