Thread: Count down method for suspended fish

Originally Posted by catchNgrease

Can some of y'all please explain to me the concept of counting the jig down. I understand most of it a certain weight jig tied to certain line falls at a certain rate. But how does the jig stay at a constant depth during retrieval? I have always been interested in this method and would like to add it to my arsenal but I just don't fully understand it. And that causes lack of confidence in it.

Sent from my E6810 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

This is the way I fish...unless bed fishing. In July and August I catch a ton of crappie.....KY bass....in 21 feet of water on the bottom. In October-December I fish for bluegill in 21 feet of water....they are on the bottom. They are in 21 feet of water. This is the main reason I went to a sinking line. Doing a retrieve using nylon it is darn near impossible to keep it down using micro jigs. I also have low speed reels which helps a lot. In the 21 feet I use a count of 35 seconds to get it down for a 1.5 gram jig head....close to a 1/19 ounce. I leave my bail open and let line out to help the jig fall down as straight as possible instead of back towards me. It is very hard to keep it at the same depth. I cast past the fish and on my retrieve it goes though them close to the depth they are at or just above them. You may have read some of my posts where I tell a story about my son fishing together. Same lure...same jig head.....he was fishing nylon I was fishing the polyester line....which sinks. I caught a fish every cast...he caught I think one fish. It is in one of my videos that this happened. I felt bad for him. But the next time out to same spot he stayed with me fish to fish. The difference that time out.....I gave him a spool of my sinking line and he had purchased a low speed reel. Fluorocarbon line sinks even better than the polyester. A small diameter braid...while it is neutral buoyancy also.....will sink better than nylon will. You will need to go out and practice counting down until it bottoms out and then you can get an idea of how long it takes to get the bottom at a certain depth. If you are fishing in 20 feet of water, yet the fish are 10 feet deep, I just make a few cast and count down until I start catching then make the same count every cast. If you give a sinking line a try you will be amazed at how much faster a lure falls over nylon. This past week I had to use nylon line as I was getting into larger white bass than my polyester line could handle. I had to adjust my count and retrieve rate considerably.

Regards


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Count down method is used to get the jig at a certain depth BEFORE you start the retrieve. The speed of the retrieve, at that point, is what keeps the jig at the required depth .... well, to a degree, more or less.

If I cast a 1/16oz jig/plastics 40ft & start my retrieve at splashdown, hold my rod at about the 10 o:clock position, & reel in just fast enough to keep a slight bow in the line (constantly thru the retrieve) ... I'm confident that the jig will reach around 8ft deep at the deepest portion of its dive. If I want the jig to basically stay at the 8ft depth level thru the majority of the length of the cast, I'd count it down (8secs) at splashdown & lower my rod to about the 8 o:clock position & speed up my retrieve to where the line didn't have much (if any) bow in it. I wouldn't know "for sure" that the jig maintained the 8ft depth throughout the majority of the distance, but I could stop reeling when the line was getting close to being slightly angled down from the rod tip & lift the rod up and gauge how deep the jig was at that point. Or, as most people usually do, I could always make several casts to the same spot & countdown starting at say 6secs .... and progress thru the countdown all the way to say 10secs .... and figure I probably ran my jig "close enough, long enough" thru the depth range at some point in that session of casts.

The guys above have given you a good summary. I first started using the method in the late 1970's after reading an article by Charlie Brewer in the old Fishing Facts magazine. (I still have the article.)

I always recommend Charlie's book for anybody wanting to learn jig fishing:

Charlie Brewer Sr. on Slider Fishn'

I really appreciate you guys' wisdom and your responses.

Sent from my E6810 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

A good post and read! Thanks

I have a bud or 2 that do it and it is attainable , I just have not mastered it myself

This is a technique I haven't tried too much yet for crappie. Good information in this thread. I usually use a float rig with a gulp minnow or crappie jig for suspended crappie myself and it normally works better than most other techniques.

I've ordered the book and am looking at options for spare pfluger & shimano spools. Next I'll research archives here for good choices on polyester line.

Sent from my E6810 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app