How to present a vertical jig

[DeadlyDan]

I am using LS to find fish and have become somewhat successful. But, for the life of me, I get very few crappie to take. I think I have a decent idea of what crappie look like on the scope.

I have no experience with vertical jigging and haven’t found much information pertaining to jig presentation on the net.

Any help, resources, or links are appreciated.
Danny

[SuperDave336]

I have best luck sort of pitching it and letting bait pendulum down to target fish. Unless fishing structure I do this. If structure then I’ll try straight down and back up to not get hung up as bad. Keep bait above target and when seeing approaching then a slow rise will sometimes get them to strike

[DeadlyDan]

I have best luck sort of pitching it and letting bait pendulum down to target fish. Unless fishing structure I do this. If structure then I’ll try straight down and back up to not get hung up as bad. Keep bait above target and when seeing approaching then a slow rise will sometimes get them to strike

SuperDave
I have been dropping the bait straight down to the fish in most cases. So, if I’m fishing a 10’ pole and the fish is 10’ off the transducer I’m in good shape.

It might be more natural if the bait slowly swung in. I’ll give that a try.

After watching so many LS refusals, I am amazed how they can be caught fishing blind. AND also how many fish are in the water so very close to the boat. My fishing is most often shallow (<6’) and it is easy to get 10’ away with the troll motor set to super slow. They don’t appear skittish.

[Rojo]

Presentation is a learned skill, I never let my jig just SINK. I lower my jig down when vertical fishing 2-3ft at a time on new cover starting out so the aggressive fish can dart up leaving the congregation behind. You catch more if you don't start out dragging hooked fish thru the group. If I need to be at 11ft say, I lower my jig to 11ft watching my line for any change in tension. If you go down too fast and get any spiral to the jig it's unnatural.

[DeadlyDan]

Rojoguio
Are you fishing with Livescope.
I have tried a slow descent, but may try slowing it down more. SuperDave’s comment about allowing the jig to swing in may make for a more natural swimming presentation.
may try slow rolling Road Runners to them. Actually caught a few using a Road Runner while vertical jigging.
Also plan to try smaller baits.

[CrappiePappy]

If I'm Livescope flippin' in water less than 10' deep .... I'm doing it from 10-15' away, and slow rolling the jig(s) over the top of the cover. That is, IF there's fish showing above the cover. If the fish are down in the cover or beside it, then I'll switch to a single weedless jig and slowly drag it over/thru/by that cover.
I'm "flippin" with a 12' rod & (usually) a double jig rig (open hook jigs). But, if I'm casting a single jig into cover, it's with a 8' rod & a single weedless jig.
Depending on which rods I take .... single jig casting I'm using a 6'6" rod, a 7' rod, or even a 10' rod.

[Ketchn]

sometimes vertical jigging isn't actually vertical until it reaches the fish , as stated in previous posts , "swinging" into them seems to be one of the best options . and the part about interested fish and VERY slowly raising it is often times they key as well .
that all said if you are in water less than 6 foot deep you should have a fixed float on your rig and pitch it past the target and VERY slowly drag it by the target fish , possibly with a twitch or 2 along the way.
just because a fella has LS don't mean he has the magic bullet in hand , we blind slaughter the living heck out of crappie in short water during the summer months here and then there is this ......
we often hang jigs off the side of the boat vertically at a depth of right about the same as the fish and just let the boat and wind give it some action and never touch the rod until it gets bit.
in the end , if you are not scenting the jig , you are going to ketch lots less than if you do , this is a fact ,,,,
watched it myself over LS many times , zero to light interest on a bare no scent jig and sometimes even a group of lightly interested crappie encircle said unscented jig and just look at it .....tip it with a scent and drop it back to them and just watch how they act when its scented .....same approach and looks and THEN one will BOLT in and hammer it ....my 27 cents on the subject

[Rojo]

First of all I'm river fishing for the most part, Tidal river fishing and I use the original Panoptix. It allows me to see movement (fish) but it uses a 2D color screen instead of 3D screen. Single sonar instead of 6 sonar array like Livescope has. I fish sunken trees to tree piles (trash) vertically. When on Ross Barnett to in the Marsh below the tree line in the swamps here Pendulum presentations are used but I mostly vertical jig right down in submerged trees. With the Panoptix display selected I can see my jig descending as I lower it and if the Crappie are active one or two will rise out of the tree limbs up above the structure towards my jig. This is why I control the fall of the jig. I have watched my jig break the surface and a Crappie rise 7-8ft to the jig just 2ft under the surface. If the fish is that active when I feel the thump I lift maintaining the fish's momentum to get it to the surface and out of the water as fast as possible. When they are looking "UP" you can see it in their eyes as you land the fish. I may pull 3-4 fish off the tree before my jig ever makes it all the way to the tree limbs themselves. I catch so many fish I want the thump more than the catch. Here we cast to Speckled Trout and Redfish blind so Crappie fishing I don't cast. If I'm not vertical jigging as explained here I have a shiner under a slip cork. We all have ways to present, pendulum works well on a sloping sea floor, popping out over a ledge, or stratified holding patterns but when you Master Vertical presentation you just smoke'em. I fish with Saltwater Guide Gloves because my palms get destroyed by the fins across the big Blacks back. I get them to move towards the jig, begin pulling away, if they refuse I tease them or aggravate them till once my target rises up, as the fish is rising, I drop it in the mouth. I get a commitment almost every time as long as the fish is rising when I drop. I hope this makes sense, we all catch fish the way we want to. Pappy's way is His way, not good or bad, just his preferred way to catch. I bet He has it Mastered. He's most likely forgotten more than we will learn but the point here is you Must develop what consistently works for You providing fun and enjoyment in the process. If you make it work like I did competing with Shotguns it becomes a job that you find a excuse not to bother to go.

To continue a peeve I feel for those of us who learned before Livescope how to present we have an advantage. It's like the younger generation can't make change in their heads because they didn't grow up doing it. If you turn on your 2D Sonar screen, Turn on A-Scope, get on top of the tree, and focus on feeling the bite as well as the limbs instead of watching the bite first using a visual aide is a benefit. Not developing that subconscious awareness that sets the hook before you consciously realize you even got a tap is a Handicap in my book.

[TreednNC]

There isn't an answer to this. Let the fish tell you. MOST of the time, if Im fishing vertical, I let the bait go as fast as I possibly can until it gets right above the fish, and then hit the breaks. I'm not sure if its a reaction strike or what but they love it. I've had the same presentation spook fish or ignore it. Some times you have to hold it until your arm turns to jello (45sec to a min) without moving it what so ever, and they'll just barely sip it in.

If you have someone tell you that "this is the secret", turn and walk away, they're FOS as a browneyed Christmas turkey. Fish are individuals and what works for this fish won't work for the next fish necessarily. What works today wont necessarily work tomorrow.

That said, depending on where you are, 10ft away could very well be shutting those fish down before you get to them. Before livescope I'd fish brush or a dock and catch half a dozen and think "well I probably caught most of them"...no, I just caught the 6 dumb ones that didn't spook out of that school of 175 sitting there. After LS I realize that I can generally sit back 30-40ft, pitch across the top of them and catch a wad, then when that stopped, work the jig a little deeper, catch those. Work the jig all the way down to the bottom (if fish go down that far), on the side of the pile closest to you, catch what you can there, then ease up to it and methodically (and often time losing jigs), work down into the pile and catch those fish.

I love catching fish vertically, but now it's a last resort. I'll fish as far out as 60-70ft, usually try to hit them at the sweet spot of 25-30, and save the vertical for a must-do situation. There's so much less room for error/noise/ wave slap/ swirling wind moving the boat and having to readjust, when you're fishing them vertically.

That said, I rarely go to just catch fish these days. That said, I rarely fish to just catch fish these days. I'm looking for the best fish I can find, and usually just catching a mess/limit isn't terribly involved outside of extreme summer/winter conditions, so much of what I said, is with an abundance of caution, trying to give myself the best/most opportunities at a certain fish and not just fish in general.

[NIMROD]

I use long rods and flip a jig just past the fish . Let it fall and stop it just above the fish . Closer the better in dingy water . Learn what a Crappie looks like . Sometimes they catch it on the fall and never feel anything . If it looks like they moved on it then pull slightly and set hook if you feel anything . I use only 1/8 or 1/4 oz jigs depending on depth and wind . Crappie look up and many times won't move far on a bait . Close just above but never hit them with your bait .