The Keys to Successful Jig Fishing

Few baits will ever be as successful as the plain lead-head jig.  As a bait-delivery method or a stand-alone option, it excels for multiple species throughout the country, moving water or stagnant, stained or clear.  It can be swam, hopped, plopped, dropped, dragged, shook, pitched, and fished vertically, among other presentations.  No matter how you choose to fish it, there’s a species that’ll eat it on every water body near you.  However, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily easy to fish, and it can be downright challenging if you’ve never been much for jig-fishing. 

I learned to fish jigs on a river system in current, which is quite the curveball compared to natural lakes.  With moving water, you need to take into account more variables like sweep, casting angle, mono vs. braid, among others.  However, with a few pointers, anyone can catch fish with jigs.  Here’s a few to get you started in the right direction.

Use the Right Tools for the Job – Start with a lightweight, high-quality carbon-fiber (no fiberglass) rod in an Extra Fast (XF) action, along with a featherweight reel combination.  Jig-fishing, perhaps more than any other technique relies heavily on feel, and you simply can’t feel much with poor equipment.  While there are techniques that don’t require you to spend as much on a rod and reel, here’s one instance where you really get what you pay for, and better tech quite simply leads to more fish. 

Line – Start with braid and a fluorocarbon leader of a few feet in length, joined by an Albright Special or Uni-to-Uni knot.  This offers you the best ability to feel the jig, while still having some stealth with the nearly translucent fluorocarbon line up against the jig itself.  Mono can excel in certain situations, especially in current where the sweep and way it cuts through the water presents the jig differently, but braid offers you the best feel overall.

Map the Bottom – Your first couple of casts should be an exploratory mission, as you decipher clues that are telegraphed back to your rod-hand.  Cast out and let the jig settle to bottom.  Then slowly drag it back to you, hopping or with mixed-in quicker pulls along the way.  You’re actively figuring out substrate at distance, such that you can understand the big picture and where fish will be holding.  Like any experiment, start with a “control” retrieve, and compare various types of retrieves thereafter. 

No Cross-Wind Casting – No matter the orientation of shore or where you’re pitching, wind could be the single largest inhibitor to your catch-total for the day.  Position your back to the wind, or directly face it to enjoy far better direct contact with what your jig is doing.  Drift into a crosswind, and every fish in the lake could hit your bait on a single retrieve, and you’d never know it because of the huge bow in your line.  Wind triggers many fish species up shallow, so on these days, mitigate the effect by keeping your rod-tip close to the water and off to one side of the boat to reduce that problem.

Stay Back in Clear Water – Jig fishing can only be productive in the clear shallows when you’re not driving over fish.  In hyper-clear water bodies like Mille Lacs, this means fish spook in 10FOW or even more, meaning you have to stay over deep water and simply pitch a little bit further up to the zones you’d like to cover.

Fish From the Outside In – When fish are schooled up near cover, it pays to work your casts from the outside in.  As you pick off fish after fish from the outside, you have less chance of disturbing an entire school by casting up to the center of the most prime piece of cover.

When Vertical, Stay That Way – Vertical jigging works really well in deeper water, but only if you keep your rod tip directly over the top of the bait.  Poor boat control when fishing vertically leads to baits off bottom, and less ability to detect bites, especially when the bait is under the boat. 

Re-Bait – Whether plastics or live-bait, degraded or destroyed additions to a jig hinder the action and direct appeal.  Resist the temptation to leave it on for “one-more-cast” and put your best bait forward.  It’s amazing how selective fish can be at times, and at the end of the day you may only use a handful more minnows or plastic grubs.  Call that cheap insurance to a successful bite. 

Focus – Probably the single biggest deterrent to catching fish on a jig is distracted fishing.  If you prefer to doze off, drink coffee, or otherwise just relax, start trolling or bobber fishing.  The best jig anglers I know are machines.  They’re casting, processing bottom content, hooking walleyes, and positioning the boat for the next cast.  They’re mentally engaged nearly all of the time, as they pick apart pieces of structure bit-by-bit.  While it’s true that the more you pay attention for any fishing scenario, the more you’ll catch, with jig-fishing it’s absolutely critical.    

What Jig to Fish & When

We are programmed to understand that not all lure types are created equal, with different baits serving different needs seasonally for varying species.  What about baits in the same class however?  While we grasp the thought that a jerkbait is not the same as a spinnerbait, we tend not to distinguish characteristics in-class, with jigs being no exception.  That said, there is a huge number of jig-styles, sizes, shapes, and colors, with all sorts of hardware and appendages molded-in or otherwise attached. 

I have my favorites, but I thought I would call in the advice of successful Dakotas guide and Northland Tackle Pro-Team Coordinator Cody Roswick.  Cody knows his way around both North and South Dakota, often using jigs to guide his clients to quality fish no matter where the bite takes him, or what technique the day calls for.  Like with most guides and pro’s I have fished with, small details frequently reap huge dividends, so it pays to pair the right jig to the scenarios you fish.  Here is a quick run-down of some popular styles, and how to go about choosing which variety to use, and when.  

Jigs For Minnows – These two are an original pairing that have stood the test of time, and Cody fishes them primarily during the early season.  With designs like the Fire-Ball that offer a secondary-eye to attach stinger hooks being extremely successful.  Having the option to attach that extra treble for short-striking fish can really be handy, even if you start the day without.  For larger minnows like shiners, consider this option or other jig types with a long shank that places the business end of the hook further back on the minnow. 

Jigs For Crawlers/Leeches – For the most part, you have quite a few options here, especially with leeches as provided you hook them in the sucker or just underneath, you will not have to worry too much about the hook holding your bait.  With crawlers however, you will want a keeper at the base of the jig ball itself to retain the bait and prevent it from sliding down the hook shank un-naturally. 

Jigs For Plastics – As water temperatures warm, live-bait options for walleyes lose favor to plastic imitations, but you will want some different jig designs for fishing them.  Cody says, “Wire barbs for keepers will prevent everything from bluegills to bass pulling at the tail end of the plastic all the way down to the hook bend.”  Roswick continues, “Not only does this rip your plastics option of choice, it frequently causes the bait to run un-true.”  Premium models that do the best job of avoiding this issue will have dual-barbs or wire-keepers that truly lock the plastic to the base of the jighead. 

Stand Up Jigs – Use this type of jig style in river areas when trying to drag bottom, or lakes when again trying to trace as close to the substrate as possible.  Often, bottom contact can be a crucial part of the presentation, and that is when stand-ups are worth their weight.  “These jigs shine in helping fish suck that bait off of bottom, as the hook points up and back at a 45 degree angle in their face,” mentions Cody.

Jig/Spinner Combinations – This group encompasses a number of jigheads from thumper-style models with a swivel and blade beneath them, to a whistler-style jig with an in-line twin-rotating blade.  Both perform similar tasks in creating flash and vibration to attract fish from distance.  “This can be important in river systems or natural lakes with limited visibility,” says Cody.  “I use them a lot with live-bait when fishing vertically, especially deep river systems.”

Current Cutter – Pill-Shaped Jigheads – Speaking of rivers, current-cutter style jigheads have made some strides in recent years, as the pill-shaped and more elongated design simply offers less drag in current.  “That allows you to fish lighter, while still getting down to the fish,” says Roswick, a key component to many river situations where current can keep a jig higher in the water column than you want it.

Floating Jigs – Of course, one of the best ways to stay near bottom is to rely on another weighting system other than the jig to keep you pinned there.  That makes floating jig head options a mainstay in many anglers’ boxes.  Present livebait in any manner with confidence, knowing your bait will float just above the snags.  Add some current to the mix, and many designs like the Gumdrop or Phelps-Floater will jog side to side like a crankbait for added action.

Hair Jigs -  Whether animal hair like bucktail, marabou, or other synthetic materials, these skirted jigs are often tipped with bait and presented both vertically or casted.  You will need different weights to satisfy the various depths, but hair is a great way to add bulk, color, and life to an otherwise plain offering.  In lakes and rivers, hair jigs do not get as much press as they deserve.

Weedless Jigs – Designs like the Weed Weasel and others with plastic deflectors in front of the hook point are classic heavy cover options.  Roswick who fishes the trees of North Dakota’s Devil’s Lake says, “They’re a mainstay for me anywhere near weeds or timber, and they have a heavy hook if you need to horse them out of nasty cover.”  Tip them with your live bait of choice, and consider them anytime you are afraid to throw other jig styles into the thick stuff. 

Photo Credit - Matt Addington Photography

The Greatest Hunting and Fishing Buddies

I’ve been blessed with some really great hunting and fishing buddies over the years.  Very few of them complain, all but a handful are typically better behaved than I am, and most are pretty talented outdoorsmen in their own right.  As I grow older, I’ve had to bear the occasional loss of one of them, and it’s always difficult to come to grips with the thought that you’ll never share another day in the boat, or a morning in the turkey blind.  Yet places in time and even material things can also have this affect on us, as a certain farmpond will never be as good as it was during a late-May of my youth, and no shotgun will ever hold the same importance as the Winchester 1300 pump my dad gave me. 

So it was when I dropped off my old 1998 Tacoma to its new owner last week.  Don’t laugh, trucks are as much a part of the experience as any one of your friends or family, and you’ll definitely end up spending more time with them.  271,000 miles worth of time to be exact in the case of this truck.  I got it used more than 15 years ago, and took abuse from the get-go.  Few people I knew drove a "foreign car," let alone a truck, and fewer yet used them like I did.  It was equal parts ATV, farm truck, and highway vehicle, at times heavily leaning more towards the side of off-road exhibition vehicle.  It was safer on ice due to its small size and lighter weight, and I drove it as carelessly as I could, less cautiously than I should.  After all those miles and memories, the same friends and family that once ribbed me have gone through 2 or 3 trucks in the same amount of time.

Neil Young wrote a song about his favorite vehicle, an old Buick of all things, singing: “With your chrome heart shining, in the sun, long may you run.”  Or was it about a girl?  Though likely an unknown metaphor, it’s easy to see why he thought of that old Roadmaster having a heart.  Though we know these are just bolted-together contraptions of steel, plastic, and carpet, they also both share and make memories.  Like the time chasing turkeys on some hill in the pan-handle of Nebraska that the old Tacoma climbed such a steep grade, I felt gravity not just pushing me deep into the seat, but almost up and out of it like an astronaut headed for the Moon.  Or the numerous times it skinnied its way through forest rails, field roads, and ditches after everything from mallards to morels. 

It worked harder than it played, like the time we were building our house when I hooked it up to a few strands of grass-buried barbed wire, only to pull out about 100 yards of old fence-line as that little engine groaned.  Or the time I snapped both leaf springs loading mulch for a spring landscaping session.  I was mean, and it was kind.  No matter how much abuse I applied, it only required some gas weekly, oil annually, and new tires occasionally. 

Much like our own friends and family members, we look back and have our regrets.  My Tacoma was parked outside the last 10 years of its life, and I wish now it would’ve been inside.  Weather-checked tires, peeled paint, and rust give it character, but that’s no way to treat an old friend.  Neither were all the bumps, deep gouges, dents, and dings I carelessly applied over its long-life.  We never made it to collector’s plates together, and I’m the sole reason why. 

Still, when we say goodbye, we realize that goodbye is not forever.  This is especially true in the case of my old truck, as it’s going to an old friend in hills and valleys of Pepin County Wisconsin.  Last I talked to him, he’d already taken it around to all of his coon and coyote-hunting buddies to brag about how little he’ll be getting stuck this winter.  By the time this goes to press, my old truck has become someone’s brand-new-used truck.  Parts of it won’t change, as I requested to have the turkey feathers and molded old turkey beard on the dash remain as permanent fixtures.  At the same time, everything changes, nothing stays the same.  I know it’ll have a new dog box installed in the bed for a good group of respectable hounds, and I’m thinking that the 4WD shifter might be strapped into place from September through April.  It’ll be at home on the dairy farm, hauling calves, feed, and logs whenever called upon. 

So as I say so-long to another old friend, I know again, farewells are never permanent.  Sometimes if we look hard enough, and even more-so when we’re not searching, memories well up all around us.  Those beloved people, the places of our childhood, and the things that have been with us the longest can never truly be forgotten.  They continue on, just as we do, becoming more a part of us than what they meant to us.  No matter where they end up or how they get there, we remember them because we are them. 

Long may you run.

Dedicated to my late parents and the Mike Hernke Family. 

The Best Anglers Find Their Ice Spots Right Now

Photo Credit - Matt Adddington Photography

Ice-fishing has undergone an interesting transformation in the past few years especially.  As social media ice-thickness reports hit the internet by the hour, we get on ice collectively faster than we once did.  A legion of mobile ice-anglers get out in their portables sooner than ever, scouring at first the shallows then pushing deep as ice permits.  Yet there is a growing group of wheelhouse anglers that fish in comfort weeks and months later, waiting until the ice becomes thick enough to support both truck and drop-down trailer.  No matter which group you’re in, eventually you’ll hit the lake in search of fish, and just like in school it pays to do your homework.

As ice-anglers, our mobility though better than it’s ever been, is drastically limited by the reality and need to drill a hole in ice to gather information.  So why not put in the work when it’s easy?  Using electronics from a boat to find fish, and more importantly find areas that will gather fish, is far easier on a 60 degree fall day than a 10 degree winter one.  Yet it’s surprising to see so few anglers take advantage of the easy ice-scouting that presents itself in our fall months.  In all honesty, I never stop thinking about ice, and no matter when I’m fishing during the open water months, my mind is racing to determine locations that look “fishy” from an ice-angling perspective. 

Many times, these locations are consistent producers during all months, yet others are specifically good for ice and not during the bulk of the open-water period.  The latter types include shallow transitions from mud to sand, or sand to rock, as well as small gravel or rock patches marooned again in shallow weeds or non-like surrounding substrates.  Early ice fish push to these places, especially after sundown in clear-water systems.  Spots that are no larger than a kitchen table can seem impossible to drill out and find, while they stick out like a sore thumb on a side-scan of any random shoreline. 

Side-scan technology could be the number one asset to an ice-angler during this time of year, as few things hide from it, even in heavy weed cover or timber.  Even if you don’t own this technology, chances are you know someone who does and you could get out for a day on the boat with them.  Spend time getting to know the system in either case, and make sure to idle at the proper pace to provide the very best image you can.  In general, harder bottom areas show up brighter or “whiter” and soft bottom shows up darker, and aside from timber, fish-cribs, or other sunken gems, you’re looking for any break or transition in the substrate.  The more sudden that change is, often the more valuable it can be. 

For the early ice angler, think first about how you access the water-bodies you like to fish.  Chances are, even if you’re walking out on slick-ice that sleds and gear slide neatly over, your spots will be within a ½ mile of your access point.  So focus on the areas immediately adjacent to shore that are within a half-mile ice shuffle.  Shallow water usually provides the first opportunities to fish on safe ice, so don’t worry about anything more than 15 feet at first.    

That’s a great starting point, but realize that eventually you may head out with an ATV, snowmobile, or other ice vehicle.  As ice-thickness progresses, so too does the season and fishing locations.  The first-break off of shore is now another focus area and reason for a completely separate scan.  Stay within 100 feet or so of that break and complete another pass or two until you feel you both understand the variation in that break, and identify key points along it that may concentrate fish activity. 

If you know you won’t be pulling your house onto the lake until vehicle traffic is safe, you’re looking at mid-winter fish locations.  Off shore reefs, rock piles, or islands can be key locations to drop a wheelhouse, and are typically well-marked with many of the contour mapping options we have today.  That said, the devil’s in the details, and small changes in that structure are readily visible again with side-scan technology. 

The mistake many ice-anglers make at this point is marking the spot “generally.”  Just because you can find the underwater point, or even the spot on the rock-pile where boulders are largest, doesn’t mean you’re located on a part of the structure that gives you the best chance for success.  From experience, I can say that this kind of knowledge comes only from scanning it from a boat via multiple angles, dropping waypoints in various locations to pinpoint what you feel is the best location, then following that up on ice with underwater camera work to ensure you’re dropping down on fish. 

If all of this sounds quite involved for a few fish, I would agree.  That said, if you’re the kind of angler that always wonders what they’re biting like “over-there,” you can put much of that uneasiness to rest with a thorough accounting of what you’re looking at well before you drill the first hole of the season.  That type of inventory is without a doubt, best done without ice on the lake.       

Fall Walleye Transitions

The word “transitions” may be one of the more overused terms in fishing today.  We hear about mud-to-sand or sand-to-rock transitions, seasonal transitions, and bait transitions; to the point where the word tends to lose its meaning.  Yet, it’s highly appropriate when discussing fall walleyes, as there are few times of year where everything can change as quickly as it can in the fall.  Which is why you’ll need to be flexible in your approach if you’re going to catch fish during this stage of the game.

“Transitions” to fall walleyes means fish that are behaving differently in terms of their location.  Warm spells and resultant increased water temps push fish back to more summer areas, often deeper than 20 feet of water.  Cold bouts, and especially prolonged cooler temperatures have the opposite effect they do in the summer.  Walleyes push shallower, feed more aggressively, and should be welcomed by anglers, even if they need some bulkier clothes and more cold-weather stamina to handle it.  Nothing kills a great fall bite like an “Indian Summer” that hits as water temps are slowly but surely otherwise dropping nicely.

If walleye locations change, it should be no surprise that the techniques to catch them should transition as well.  After water temps are in the 50’s to stay, you can put away the leadcore gear you used all summer to target scattered deep fish, and look for fish to congregate.  For the most part, cool weather concentrates fish, and often does it shallow where walleyes like to feed heavily.  This is especially true with prolonged wind events that stack fish in shallow, predictable locations.  Cool, windy days in the fall can see the biggest fish in any water body actively feeding during daylight conditions. 

That’s all well and good, but rarely in the fall is any one water body locked into a specific depth and individual pattern that works well for walleyes most of the time.  In reality, fish move at back and forth, with these depth migrations being gradual over time, with all kinds of smaller movements throughout the days and weeks of fall.  They relate to water temperatures, light conditions, and major weather events.  All of which sums up the truest sense of the term “fall transition,” meaning that walleyes in the fall are ALWAYS in flux.

Knowing that, then we have the challenge of determining details in targeting them.  First and foremost, start shallow, and start aggressive.  Crankbaits, both lipless and short-bodied shad diving baits, along with swimbaits, jig and plastic combinations, and even stickbaits are great choices for this type of fishing.  Fish wind-driven points, rock piles, and ledges in as shallow as a few feet of water, and give it a good hour or more of your time.  Make the fish prove to you that they’re not shallow before abandoning that bite, as when it’s on, it’s on in a big way. 

Next, move to the first break, and let your electronics be your guide.  Often, especially in clear bodies of water, fall transition fish will move below the edge of the first pronounced drop-off from shore during the day, still feeding occasionally, while waiting to push to nearby shallows for a night-time feeding session.  These fish may require a bit more attention and subtlety, and large, live minnows are a great presentation for them.  Free-swim a big chub behind ample weight on a larger than average rigging hook, and wait for the thump-thump of the minnow to be interrupted by a “smash.”  Pay the fish ample line and give it some time to get the bait in his mouth before setting the hook, and you’ll be surprised how well fall walleyes are into big minnows.  With some patience, many minnows lost, and some practice, you’ll also be wondering how even eater-sized walleyes can eat these extremely large minnows. 

If live-bait isn’t your game, it’s a great time to try Jigging Raps on these intermediate-depth fish.  You’ve got the combination of concentrated, aggressive fish, along with a bit of distance between you and the fish, such that Jigging Raps really have the space to dive, dart, swing, and work their magic.  I know more than a few anglers that fish this bite from 60 degree water temps all the way until lake ice-up. 

Finally, if fall walleye locations are confounding you, and you haven’t found anything at shallow or intermediary depths, consider going back to what worked in the summer.  This could be live bait rigging deep structure, or even pulling leadcore.  A few years ago, I did really well pulling leadcore, at night, in 25 feet of water in October.   The fish shouldn’t have been there, especially then, but they were and they ate.  It could be due to warmer than average weather preceding your visit to the lake, exceptionally clear water, or a number of other factors including turnover, but know that you’ve always got the patterns from the previous weeks to fall back on. 

Stay mobile, be flexible with your baits, and fish the fall walleye transition in order from shallow to the depths.  Let the fish decide what they want and where they want it, then realize that each fall day can act like a new season altogether as you repeat the process with success.