Beginner...help!

[ArtVandelay]

Hi Guys

I'm 45 and tomorrow will be my first time casting anything other than a fly rod. I've been fly fishing, with great success, for a couple of years now. So I've been watching Youtube videos for a while and reading here (I'm so happy to be part of the digital revolution) and a lot of it makes sense now. I have to say this type of fishing is WAY more complicated than fly fishing, in my opinion, with the exception of casting. Almost everything I've watched and read has to do with Bass fishing so I'm just wondering how much of it is effective in our neck of the woods. I have a lot of questions but I'll start here:

Jigs seem to be popular here and I'm just wondering about the Skakey jig technique. While I was watching the videos I kept thinking to myself that if I were a fish there's no way I'd turn that down. So do you guys have success with this technique? Any tips you're willing to share? There's a lot of secrecy in the fly fishing world and I imagine it's the same here, but I'm offering bribes! ;-)

Thanks a lot guys and good fishing tomorrow if you're going.

AV
Latex International :-)

[TrollGRG]

You don't say where you are from but I will assume you are somewhere in Alberta. You can forget about bass fishing - none in our province.

As for pike and walleye... if the pike are biting then you can through just about anything at them and get a hit. Walleye are a bit more picky but not a lot. If you are fishing in an off time then it will take a bit more finess but you just have to keep trying. Even if the pike aren't hungry, they will strike at anything that gets them irked. They are a very aggressive fish and don't have to be hungry to bite something.

The worse thing you can do is over-think the situation. Just get out there and start chucking things in front of them and you will eventually start getting hits.

Jigs do work well either swimming them through the water or bouncing them off the bottom. So to do spoons (red devil and 5 of diamonds) and plugs (anything that imitates a smaller fish. Plugs that rattle seem to work pretty good to. Unlike flyfishing you don't have to be as particular about size and colour.

If you are in an area that allows bait then use it. Some of the best is the gulp and similar products - be sure to check the regs.

If you are looking for trout the mepps work pretty good, as do the smaller spoons.

The only reason it looks more complicated is that you are new to it and are trying to take in everything all at once. It really is a lot easier than fly fishing (meaning you don't have to be so exact)

Have fun and tight lines

[TexasTornado]

Hahaha, Shaky Head fishing is actually a fairly under-rated Walleye technique. I fish with Shaky Head worms with twist lock shaky heads, would have never said it otherwise...........

[luckyme]

i dunno much about shaky head technique but i have used 3" gulp fry worm carolina rigged with 1/0 worm hook (extra wide gap hook).it worked for walleye.:sign0111