Fishing a Jig

In my last blog, I wrote about community holes and how one might find these hot fishing spots.  This month’s blog plan was to piggyback on that topic and discuss how to break down a community hole and find “the spot” on the spot that holds the most fish.  Well, Mother Nature changed the plans for Mississippi River anglers.  She melted all hopes of more ice fishing and gave us open water.  

Let’s discuss a topic more relevant to open water: fishing a jig!

Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish a jig, and he’ll make it his mission to catch every predatory fish that swims. 

Old proverb with a new twist

Jigs are the most versatile baits available. They come in an infinite number of styles, colors, and sizes. A jig can be fished slow or fast, subtle or erratic, deep or shallow. 

Hair caught fish!  

When I started fishing with my father many years ago, hair jigs were the deal.  A bit of hair from the tail of a whitetail deer crudely bound with thread onto an unpainted, hand-poured lead head jig was all that was needed.

Then plastics started to make their way into the picture.  Sassy Shads, Mister Twisters, and Split Tail Grubs slowly began to replace the hair.  Slide a plastic on the hook, and there is no need to mess around with hair and thread.  Plastics caught fish, a lot of fish!   The effectiveness and convenience of these plastics quickly became apparent and are now a staple in my tackle box. 

The popularity of plastics grew, and more styles became available.  Today, there are thousands of plastics, from simple ned plastics to complicated lifelike creature baits that look like something from an Indian Jones movie.  Here are a few examples from Liquid Willowcat.

How many variations of plastics do we need?  

In my opinion, only a few, but it sure is nice to have options. However, give me a paddletail and a fluke, and I’m set.  I use them most frequently and find them effective for 90% of my fishing. 

 Here is the big secret. 

The lure is about 10% of the importance, and presentation is 90%.  You may have the latest and greatest lure tied on, but if you’re not presenting to the fish in a way that triggers their instinct to bite, you won’t catch many fish.

The technique is everything!  Future blogs will detail the finer points of dialing in that jig presentation that will ultimately put more fish in the boat.  Some important topics to discuss will be jig weight, plastic style, line weight, line style, and color.  After all that has been figured out, it comes down to technique and cadence.  I’ll discuss how to fish a jig so that they eat it like I eat a Culver’s Butter Burger.  Check back soon as we dive deeper into the details of pitching jigs. It will change the way you fish!

Talk soon, Angler X

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