Dock shooting of any sorts provides for a high mortality rate of my jigs as well
Nice. Dock shooting is my 2nd favorite way to catch crappie, behind timber dippin'.
Most COE res's require floating docks. On a Ga Power lake I fish (Oconee) they are all post docks, and I lose way more jigs on the boards. It's best when that lake is about 2 feet low, then you can shoot docks easier.
"Alive without breath, as cold as death; never thirsty, ever drinking, all in mail never clinking."
Dock shooting of any sorts provides for a high mortality rate of my jigs as well
The love for fishing is one of the best gifts you can pass along
Clint
Far West Kentucky
Old enough to know better and way too old to care!DockShootinJack LIKED above post
I could sure enough see that helping. But I'm sure the weed guard adds cost to the loss. And that in itself scares me... Bangs head... Which one of you guys got a couple hundred jigs out my bag this month?...or did I go fishing again... ROFL
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You just don't lose as many with the weedguard, or at least I don't. I think I pay about $0.25/ea for weedless jigs when buying 100 of them ... and I don't use all 100 of them, myself. I've got 2 buddies that get their share of that 100, and I've only ordered 200 of them over the last 15 or so years. Now, granted, I don't cast as much as I did back then ... since going to Pushing jigs & then going to Livescope fishing (and I don't use weedless jigs for either of those techniques). But, when the "best technique" to use under the circumstances & conditions IS casting a jig to cover or shooting a dock. then I'll have a weedless jig tied on.
If you're observant and a diehard line watcher, you'll know your line is over a branch when you're reeling in but the line's entry point in the water doesn't change (the line stops coming closer to you). At that point I slow my retrieve just a little more, anticipating the jig bumping into the branch. When it does, I stop reeling - drop the rod tip down about 6" and let the line pull back towards the jig (telling me that the jig is sinking behind the branch) - then I raise the rod tip about 12" and stop, letting the jig bump/bounce over the branch and begin to fall/swing back towards me. This is all done in just a couple of seconds, and in one smooth motion ... not a jerking motion. If the line does not fall back when I drop the rod tip, then I assume it's "hung" and will either try to pull it off or break it off unless I can get the boat on the opposite side and pull it off from that direction.
The one thing I have learned, from having it happen numerous times, is that when the jig gets bounced over the branch & starts falling back towards me ... I anticipate getting a hit !! It might be a thump, or the line jumps, or the line goes slack ... but, whatever it is I'm expecting it to happen and set the hook immediately. If nothing happens I just continue the retrieve, take a deep breath, make a mental note of where that branch is and continue casting.
I've posted about it years ago ... calling it "bowing to the jig" ... and it's the main reason I only lose a couple of jigs a season, while my fishing buds lose 10 times as many, even after me telling them what to do to avoid getting hung. Like so many people, any resistance and they set the hook ... some times getting the jig back, but often times burying the hook into the branch. And that's the only reason why I buy 100 weedless jigs.