Thread: Longlining Questions?

Tip jigs with minnows or no? I've talked to some very good long liners that say they almost always tip the jigs and some other extremely good long liners who rarely tip the jigs with minnows. I'm sure the answer is somewhere in the middle with...it depends. But I'm curious how many of the experienced long liners on here tip their plastics. To me it seems to kill the natural action of the plastic and looks weird, but I have caught many limits with tipped jigs and have a hard time getting away from it. It sure would make the process simpler if I could develop confidence in not doing it. But if I troll for a while and don't get bit I find myself pulling in lines and reaching for that minnow bucket.

Personally, i very rarely use minnows. Unless bridge fishing at night is usually the exception...nothing wrong with tipping jigs with minnows. I have friends that are successfull with minnows only, no jigs. Everybody has to develop their own style. That is the great thing about fishing, that nothing is absoloute...with the price of minnows today, if you stay several days and buy minnows each day, by the end of the trip. You can have quite an investment just in bait alone. Jigs are not cheap tho, but when i started jig fishing 20 or so years ago. I kept going to the minnow bucket if i didn't get some crappie with jigs. But finally had to leave the minnows at home to gain confidence i needed in jigs... Whatever style you develop and catch fish wil be a confidence booster.

I ran an experiment once with half of my rods tipped and the other have not tipped. I seen not so much difference. I dont tip anymore and havent for years.

About 50% of the Charlie Brewer 1.5 in sliders that I try do not have good tail action at less than 1-1.2 mph. I saw someone mention microwaving but before I do that is this normal and are there any other ways to increase tail action without speeding up?

The sliders only have movement on the very tail end of the rubber bodies. The movement is way less than curly tail bodies and is why they sometimes are a good attractant to the predator fish crappies. I usually keep 4 or 5 rods with them on out of the 14 rods I fish. In early spring and early summer I believe they out-catch curly tail grubs. During the spawn they will hit almost anything that moves if you are in the fish. I hardly ever pull my jigs over 1.0 mph. Any faster this time of the year and you will be untangling messes the hybrids and stripers will make. Just my limited experience and opinion though...

Originally Posted by gabowman

The sliders only have movement on the very tail end of the rubber bodies. The movement is way less than curly tail bodies and is why they sometimes are a good attractant to the predator fish crappies. I usually keep 4 or 5 rods with them on out of the 14 rods I fish. In early spring and early summer I believe they out-catch curly tail grubs. During the spawn they will hit almost anything that moves if you are in the fish. I hardly ever pull my jigs over 1.0 mph. Any faster this time of the year and you will be untangling messes the hybrids and stripers will make. Just my limited experience and opinion though...

I'm talking no action - the other ones wiggle just fine around 0.8-1.0. I know it's a subtle movement but it might as well be a straight body until 1.0-1.2 on some of them. Lately I've caught 75% on curly tails and 25% on sliders with an evenly split presentation.

Originally Posted by gabowman

The sliders only have movement on the very tail end of the rubber bodies. The movement is way less than curly tail bodies and is why they sometimes are a good attractant to the predator fish crappies. I usually keep 4 or 5 rods with them on out of the 14 rods I fish. In early spring and early summer I believe they out-catch curly tail grubs. During the spawn they will hit almost anything that moves if you are in the fish. I hardly ever pull my jigs over 1.0 mph. Any faster this time of the year and you will be untangling messes the hybrids and stripers will make. Just my limited experience and opinion though...

I do not agree, i use the 1.5" sliders (panfish i think they are called?) and the whole body shakes side to side like a swimming minnow on a 1/32 head at 0.8. You may have too heavy of a jig for the full action. I rarely ever use over 1/32 for long lining, if i need more i just add another jig.



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I`m curious what the general consencus is regarding long lining with a double jig setup regarding jig head size. I`ve always used two 1/16 th jig heads but I`ve read where some like the 1/16th at the top and perhaps a 1/32nd at the tail.

Interested in hearing from others how you setup..

Thanks