Thread: Should I try jigs?

Originally Posted by Greenlawnracing

That’s basically all I hear you guys talk about, so I imagine I’ve been missing out my entire life.

Going to try and get out for a few hours this afternoon.

Been using nothing but live bait for 30 years, but I do have this in my tackle box.

Will be going to the small HOA ponds hunting gills. There are some catfish, and a very occasional bass. Attachment 387695Attachment 387694


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For bluegills I absolutely love the panfish magnet (a trout magnet with colors special for panfish), the normal trout magnet kit (I replace the jig head with black instead of silver and gold though but have caught many a fish on gold and silver), mini trout magnet, small hair jigs, and the mini mite.

I love using jigs for almost any type of fish. I use them exclusively for crappie although I am very new to crappie fishing, exclusively for fluke fishing, exclusively for striped bass, exclusively for mahi mahi, ect ect. I love jigs!!

Should I try live bait? Because all I ever use (except once in a blue moon) is jigs. I absolutely wear out some panfish with a jig. For shellcrackers, I will buy red wigglers, but for bluegill and all others I use jigs. Tiny jigs with either of these:
1. Trout Magnet - Don't take it from me, Randy proves they work every time he goes fishing. ( @Alphahawk)
2. Mr. Twister Micro Craw. I learned about these watching TyPigPatrol on YouTube. They work VERY WELL.
3. Renosky Keystone Minnow in perch color. WOW these are deadly. Thank you @ultraslab!

Originally Posted by jawjatek

Renosky Keystone Minnow in perch color. WOW these are deadly.

Those Renosky Keystone Minnow are imposable to find, if you do find them on eBay they are like $ 7.00 for one.

That was a good post, spoon. Good advice to start with, but as you say you have to experiment as well. No two days are alike!
Bob

Originally Posted by Greenlawnracing

Some great input here!

I do have an ULW with four pound line that I presume is the right setup for this.

Ultra Light Weight gear is a must IMHO for any pan fish, especially bluegills. Whether using live bait or lures you really need the flexibility of a really lightweight rod to cast the tiny offerings AND to feel their sneaky little strikes. These days my go to rig is an old featherweight 4'8" Eagleclaw pole with a Pfleuger President XT 20 reel loaded with 2# Berkley Vanish Clear Fluorocarbon. I can put anything I cast right were I want it and feel the bites. When fishing the upper reaches of my favorite spots on Clover Creek I often use a 1" foam bobber to suspend bait AND lures allowing them to float over the fish.

Lots of good advice. On my small stream Bison and Bulldog have been very consistent producers, but I think I have had success with every color in the box. The Leland crawfish is another good one - smallies like them as well, and of course pans and crappies. Plastic jig fishing is a fun way to go - light tackle is a must.
Bob

Originally Posted by robdh51

Ultra Light Weight gear is a must IMHO for any pan fish, especially bluegills. Whether using live bait or lures you really need the flexibility of a really lightweight rod to cast the tiny offerings AND to feel their sneaky little strikes. These days my go to rig is an old featherweight 4'8" Eagleclaw pole with a Pfleuger President XT 20 reel loaded with 2# Berkley Vanish Clear Fluorocarbon. I can put anything I cast right were I want it and feel the bites. When fishing the upper reaches of my favorite spots on Clover Creek I often use a 1" foam bobber to suspend bait AND lures allowing them to float over the fish.

Welcome from Central Florida, glad to have you aboard. Clearly you have some skills and jumped right In Helping someone new, That’s what we’re all about. Look forward to your future posts.

Finally got a chance to give them a try! Unfortunately it was pretty uneventful, but I did finally break my jig virginity! Caught about 15 fish today, but only about three on jigs. Tried a few different colors, with the medium brown doing the best. Used a float most of the time, and ironically had the most hits just a few feet off of shore.


Tried a few different techniques, the majority of which were just a slow retrieve with a tiny twitch. Could not get them to cast worth a durn unless I had a float or split shot.

Was very windy today, I was casting with the wind to my back at about 25 miles an hour.

Definitely a lot of fun, and probably need to go out with somebody who uses jigs all the time. I must be doing something wrong, because I would throw a jig into the worm hotspot with little success.


Action died down pretty quick as the sun starting to come down, but they were hitting pretty good on worms. For reference, about 15 today, about 41 in the same time period last week.

I did use one of the jig hooks with the worms, and had zero gut hooks! Unfortunately, bite detection was tough, and later in the day I kept getting robbed. I grabbed an Aberdeen hook, and was rewarded with back to back got hooks. Went to my trusty number six, and got a pretty bad immediate gut hook. I did catch one fish and noticed that it already had a hook imbedded in its stomach.


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