Jig selection

[Geezle]

After reading the jig discussion in the Hook Setting thread I came up with a couple questions and figured I should just start a new thread for them.


My main question is how do you select the type of jig to use? Last time I was at TFH I took a look at their bulk bins, and there are a lot of different shapes of jigs. I also saw some with little spinner/propeller blades on them.

Now for the most part all I've ever used is the regular round headed jigs, and I think some sort of 'stand up' jig in the winter for ice fishing.


My second question is about color selection. Is there anything to it? It seems like white/orange/yellow are the most common colors, both for the jigs themselves as well as for plastics to go on them...I'm assuming because these are bright, easy to see colors.

I actually came up with this question after I bought a pack of black plastics, and then after asked myself "where am I going to use these?"

[hockey1099]

As with everything no one jig or color is right all the time. Personally i have an assortment of colors, weights, shapes, some have rattles, some have stinger hooks, i passed on the ones with the blades the last time i bought tackle but i assume i will get those in my box soon.

I really like the glow in the dark jig heads, they cost a little more but they are very effective.

I think the general rule is natural colored lures/jigs in clear water and brightly coloured jigs in turbid/murky waters.

And black plastics look like leaches and have had years of success using them. that said i no longer use plastic bodies just bait. but i am going to try those Gulp leaches in the coming weeks.

[ULTRAlite]

My go to's with jigs are anything that brings the hook up off the bottom. knuckle balls are my current fave. I do mostly vertical jigging, and ice fishing, so that works. Favorite colors - Orange, White, and Glow in the Dark. Sometimes the extra flash of a blade also goes a long way.

helicopter blade
http://www.amishcountryoutdoors.com/images/bait-northland-whistler-jigs.jpg
regular
http://images.cabelas.com/is/image/cabelas/s7_120781_renderset_01?$main-Medium$

[Geezle]

My go to's with jigs are anything that brings the hook up off the bottom. knuckle balls are my current fave. I do mostly vertical jigging, and ice fishing, so that works. Favorite colors - Orange, White, and Glow in the Dark. Sometimes the extra flash of a blade also goes a long way.

helicopter blade
http://www.amishcountryoutdoors.com/images/bait-northland-whistler-jigs.jpg
regular
http://images.cabelas.com/is/image/cabelas/s7_120781_renderset_01?$main-Medium$

The ones with the helicopter blade that you posted are the ones I was thinking of. Wasn't really sure if the blade actually helped catch fish, or just helped sell jigs ;)


So are there certain situations where you would use a certain shape of jig?

Right now I'm thinking particularly of the stand-up jigs I used to have back in the day...used them for ice fishing, usually with a minnow, and like your preference, it brings the hook (and bait) off the bottom.

[Cal]

I use whistler jigs and I think that they do outfish regular jigs sometimes. And heres a good lure I sometimes make, I call it "Cal's Crazy Jigbait".

Pull the tail off of a regular jig, use a needle to thread some fishing line through the jig. Tie one end of the fishing line to the shank of the jighead and thread on the jig body. To the other end tie on a small snap swivle and attatch a spinner to it, in short you are replacing the curly tail with a spinner. Rather than pulling the tail off of a regular jig you can use a tube jig, bucktail, or chunk of plastic worm. The absolute best is to tie a large bucktail jigbait on a pyramid jig head with a weed guard, Ive only ever tied these in black but they are deadly on pike.

[Geezle]

I use whistler jigs and I think that they do outfish regular jigs sometimes. And heres a good lure I sometimes make, I call it "Cal's Crazy Jigbait".

Pull the tail off of a regular jig, use a needle to thread some fishing line through the jig. Tie one end of the fishing line to the shank of the jighead and thread on the jig body. To the other end tie on a small snap swivle and attatch a spinner to it, in short you are replacing the curly tail with a spinner. Rather than pulling the tail off of a regular jig you can use a tube jig, bucktail, or chunk of plastic worm. The absolute best is to tie a large bucktail jigbait on a pyramid jig head with a weed guard, Ive only ever tied these in black but they are deadly on pike.

Wow, I seriously had to read through that 4 times to actually understand and visualise what you're saying, but I'm pretty sure I get what you're saying :cool:

Next time I hit up TFH I'll grab a couple spinners, tie one up, post a pic of it and make sure I'm getting it right! :)

How far back do you tie up the snap swivel/spinner? And what about the size of the spinner...I'm guessing you'd want something fairly small?

[Cal]

You dont want it very far back, close to the jig body where the tail would be. The size of spinner you put on sort of depends on how you want to fish it. If you want to fish it on the bottom like a jig a small spinner is better, if you want to cast and retrieve it more like a spinner or spoon you can use a bigger spinner. The size of the spinner will also control how deep it runs and how fast it falls when you jig it. I supose if you wanted to get realy crazy you could run a clevis with another spinner on it and a couple beads befor the tailspinner, this would not fish much like a jig though.

[Geezle]

You dont want it very far back, close to the jig body where the tail would be. The size of spinner you put on sort of depends on how you want to fish it. If you want to fish it on the bottom like a jig a small spinner is better, if you want to cast and retrieve it more like a spinner or spoon you can use a bigger spinner. The size of the spinner will also control how fast it falls when you jig it, with a large spinner causing it to fall more slowly than a small one. I supose if you wanted to get realy crazy you could run a clevis with another spinner on it and a couple beads befor the tailspinner, this would not fish much like a jig though.
Nice, my next question was "how do you fish it?"

I was mostly thinking about the spinner getting snagged up with the hook regarding how far back it was tied. I guess if it's close enough to the body of the plastic it should stay out of the hook.

Wait...what side of the head does the line/spinner come out of? The side with the eye, or the back/bottom of it? :confused:


And for now I'm fishing from shore, so it would be a cast/retrieve thing. Hopefully by hard water season I'll have made a friend with an auger (anybody? :innocent: ) and I can try this jigging vertically as well :)

[Cal]

The spinner/line comes out the tail end of the jig, thats why you thread it through the jig body with a sewing needle. You tie the line at the head end of the jig body to the jighead just so that when a fish hits it cant take your spinner, it runs through the jig body and out the tail end, thats where you tie on your hardware and spinner. I usualy just cast and retrieve them so I use largish spinner. My neighbor was trying to sell a six inch hand auger for 10 bucks, I can see if he still has it if you want.

[Geezle]

The spinner/line comes out the tail end of the jig, thats why you thread it through the jig body with a sewing needle. You tie the line at the head end of the jig body to the jighead just so that when a fish hits it cant take your spinner, it runs through the jig body and out the tail end, thats where you tie on your hardware and spinner. I usualy just cast and retrieve them so I use largish spinner. My neighbor was trying to sell a six inch hand auger for 10 bucks, I can see if he still has it if you want.

Okay, I follow. What would you consider a 'largeish' spinner? (sorry, I'm a little clueless on spinners)

Slave Lake is a little far, but for $10 if your neighbor still has that auger and it's in okay shape I'm sure I can figure something out to get it :)

[Cal]

Depends on how big of a jig body you have, if your body is only a couple inches long I'd probably put one about 1/2" long on. If I have a 3-4" body I might use one up to an inch long, your body will end up being shorter than the original jig so using a tube jig or a plastic worm will make you a bigger body. My wife is going to Nait right now, she comes home on the weekends and I can probably send it to the city with her, the auger looks in good shape, hard to tell what the blades are like untill you use it though so it might need new ones. Have to check if he's still got it though.

[Geezle]

Depends on how big of a jig body you have, if your body is only a couple inches long I'd probably put one about 1/2" long on. If I have a 3-4" body I might use one up to an inch long, your body will end up being shorter than the original jig so using a tube jig or a plastic worm will make you a bigger body. My wife is going to Nait right now, she comes home on the weekends and I can probably send it to the city with her, the auger looks in good shape, hard to tell what the blades are like untill you use it though so it might need new ones. Have to check if he's still got it though.
Awesome, thanks for clearing up the size thing for me :)

And if you're able to work something out with your wife, and of course if your neighbor still has the auger I'd be happy to take it off his hands :) For that price I'm sure it wouldn't be a big deal to replace the blades.

[Geezle]

Well, I picked up a pack of smallish hammered nickel spinners (#00 size) today, and was all set to try tying one of these funky jigs up, but I can't find a freaking sewing needle to thread the line through the plastic!

Ah well...I guess that's something to work on for tomorrow :)

[Geezle]

Oops...I resurrected the wrong thread