November 12, 2022
There’s infrequently a nasty time to fish a jig. Over time, I’ve caught massive largemouths on them in all 12 months. Nonetheless within the occasion you dwell south of the Ice Belt, a jig turns right into a excessive select by way of the coldest situations.
One trigger is that it’s deadly when fishing at a variety of depths and speeds, nevertheless always scores extreme when the chunk is sluggish and fairly deep, which often describes the whereabouts of large largemouths now. Work it with persistence, with a watch peeled for a slight bump throughout the line and be attentive to that mushy feeling that at all times indicators a bit.
Jigs within the current day can be found an incredible choice—swim jigs, hair jigs, bladed jigs, wobble-head jigs, and further. Nonetheless for now, we refine the dialogue to the fundamental skirted bass jig in its quite a few shapes and sorts.
Jig Origins
Industrial
In-Fisherman Space Editor Ned Kehde of Lawrence, Kansas, recollects working with early fishing pioneers like Virgil Ward and his son Bill of Bass Buster Lures and Bob Carnes, founding father of Arkie Jigs. “The Wards constructed and purchased loads of marabou and bucktail jigs throughout the late Fifties, then they made the first fiberguard throughout the mid-Nineteen Sixties,” he says. “Throughout the Seventies, Carnes observed the Wards fishing a jig with a fiberguard on the ’Sportsman’s Good good friend’ television current and adopted the identical one on his jigs, which had been properly balanced, making a lure that was a lot much less snag-prone than any out there in the marketplace in the mean time. He’d first used bucktail, then tied them with residing rubber, with silicone coming alongside later. After Bo Dowden gained the 1980 Bassmaster Fundamental on one, Carnes purchased 36,000 on the Okie Bug Current in Tulsa.
“Guido Hibdon’s father ‘Massive Gete’ was launched to bucktail jigs by Harold Ensley and Virgil Ward, and the youthful Hibdon labored to vary right into a jigging grasp on reservoirs of the Ozark space,” Kehde says. “His victory on the 1980 BASS Missouri Invitational on Lake of the Ozarks ignited his occupation, and he adopted that with a win the subsequent yr at that exact same event. In every situations, he used a black-skirted jig with a hand-poured Guido Bug as a trailer.”
Lonnie Stanley of Stanley Jigs recollects the early days as properly. “In 1979, I started pouring leadhead jigs of a modified Arkie design with a fiberguard, using 33 strands of nylon, plus a residing rubber skirt and Eagle Claw hooks,” Stanley says. “I gained the 1980 Lonestar Match on Toledo Bend with thought-about considered one of our jigs and went into manufacturing. I poured them, my partner painted them, and the children bagged them. We launched them to native tournaments and purchased them for a buck apiece. About two years later, Rick Clunn launched me a needle-point hook from England that he’d current in Herter’s catalog. We happy Mustad to supply needle components for our jigs, which grew to turn into the best vendor.
Industrial
“For jigs, stability is necessary to reduce snags and improve hooking share,” he says. “It didn’t hurt when Mark Stevenson caught the Texas file bass at Lake Fork on thought-about considered one of our jigs, the bass named “Ethel” that was thought-about my tons of of hundreds on the Bass Skilled Retailers headquarters in Missouri.” Over time, Stanley made many jig enhancements, along with metal-flake skirts, FireTip skirts, multi-color fiberguards, and hooks of .062-inch wire that wouldn’t flex, with a 2-degree outbend, a key to extreme hooking percentages.
Alongside the best way during which, the Ozarks spawned a jig offshoot referred to as the “Eakins Jig,” initially crafted throughout the early Nineteen Nineties by info and occasion skilled Jim Eakins and made by Jewel Bait Agency. This compact spherical ballhead has a clipped skirt that utterly matches Jewel’s Eakins Craw, a flat lifelike rendering of a 2.5-inch crayfish, which Eakins decreased to easily 2 inches to supply the package deal deal a gorgeous glide that fooled bass wherever anglers tried it—deep beneath docks, brushpiles, cold-front circumstances, finicky bass, and further. Consultants often favor the smallest mannequin, 5/16-ounce, for its sluggish fall, with heftier fashions for extra-deep water or windy circumstances. This lure ignited the sample to finesse jigs—lighter and compact with a quick skirt with half of it clipped to supply the lure a bristly look, with a hook of lighter gauge wire, and versatile fiberguard. Dozens can be found in the marketplace within the current day, nevertheless it certainly’s highly effective to beat the distinctive.
Soccer Jigs
Whereas soccer heads date to the late Seventies, they rose to prominence when touted by Minnesota skilled Jim Moynagh for fishing deep rockpiles. He coupled a 3/4-ounce head he referred to as a Roll’r Jig with a double-tail grub trailer. He gained many massive tournaments on that pattern and lure. When the jig moved, its kind compelled it to tip forward when it encountered the slightest obstruction. Not finest in cowl, they’re deadly on deeper fish feeding on shellbeds, hard-bottom areas, and offshore development with little vegetation. Winter bass often preserve deep until elevated daylight and warming temperatures summon them shallower. Whereas Moynagh hottest a jig with no guard, anglers fishing waters with deep brush and stumps select these with fiberguards, and hookup share is comparable.
The soccer jig stays a staple throughout the arsenal of anglers who ply reservoir ledges—off-channel areas that present feeding flats with current—along with deep-diving crankbaits, large “Preacher-style” bucktail jigs, Carolina rigs, massive flutterspoons, and intently weighted swimbaits. Bass feed in such areas from shortly after they depart spawning areas until early throughout the Prespawn Interval the subsequent spring.
Jig Methods Within the current day
Over the various years, jigs have continued to be a key lure. For lots of, jig-fishing stays mysterious, nevertheless in the event you’ve mastered the refined nuances of lure placement and honed a keen sense of actually really feel for cover and lightweight bites, it’s possible you’ll conquer the bassin’ world. That’s merely what Denny Brauer did all by way of his unparalleled occupation as an expert fisherman. Initially from Nebraska, he moved to the Ozark space, jig-central since Virgil’s Ward’s time, and now lives near the shores of Lake Amistad on the Texas-Mexico border, having retired from nationwide opponents. Throughout the fickle self-discipline of fishing, he gained properly over $2.5 million in top-level events alone, most because of a jig.
“I first realized the ability of jigs after I started to flip,” Brauer says. “In tournaments once more throughout the Seventies, it was deadly for probing cowl and catching the most important bass.” He parleyed his flippin’ experience to a Bassmaster Fundamental victory and better than a dozen totally different wins on the Bassmaster and FLW excursions. “Early on, I was fortunate to get sponsored by Strike King and I labored with them to design jigs,” he says. “We bought right here up with the Premier Skilled Model Jig, which I take into consideration the most effective lure for flipping brush and wood. I fish it on fluorocarbon in most circumstances in wood.
“You get larger hook penetration with horizontal jig eye,” he says, “and that placement moreover helps preserve the jig from snagging in wood. One among many keys to hooking bass solidly is to set the hook as rapidly as you see the jig switch, so that you just stick them throughout the excessive of the mouth, not the nook, the place the hook can tear out. Tooth marks on a slipsinker or jig current your hook didn’t penetrate in the event you set. That’s one trigger you need a onerous finish on a jighead.” Brauer, like Tommy Biffle and totally different jig consultants, has a lightning-quick set, a product of wonderful instincts and stuck monitoring of the street and lure movement. Bass often fool us with mushy bites or drops that we’d have set on if we had been dialed in to the chunk.
Precision casting might be important. Apply, observe, observe. Try to hit a cup persistently at 30 toes, switch it out to 40, and preserve working. Like a critical league pitcher, inches are what make all the distinction.
For fishing vegetation, one different sort of jig is in order—a additional slender design which will slip amongst plant stalks or punch via a mat on the ground. For such features, Brauer switches to Strike King’s Hack Assault Jig, with a heavy-gauge Gamakatsu hook and what he calls a “grass eye,” one parallel to the hook shank as an alternative of turned. This helps it transfer via vegetation. Most consultants select heavy braided line for the densest vegetation, because of its functionality to slice via stalks and preserve massive bass beneath administration.
Info Andrew Grills is among the many hottest youthful guides on famed Lake Fork. “If it wasn’t for a jig, I wouldn’t be guiding,” he says. Beginning in 2007, he fished there from January via March, when his improvement initiatives had been shut down in Kentucky. “I fished the lake from a 10-foot jonboat for a variety of years whereas I spotted to fish a jig for winter bass.” In 2010, he left his job to maneuver there, bought an infinite Skeeter, and commenced guiding.
“Many purchasers lack confidence with jigs, so I help them catch an infinite bass or two,” he says. “Then they don’t have to put it down. To get them on fish, I preserve the boat over deeper water and strong shallower. I contemplate bass are inclined to face deeper water so I work the jig so it comes over their shoulder, shifting alongside steadily and slowly; no hopping or banging. They all the sudden spot the lure and suck it in. Put together in the event you actually really feel the jig come over an object and drop. In winter, there’s no magic depth proper right here, I fish from 3 to 30 toes deep.
“My favorite jig for winter fishing proper right here is Santone’s M Sequence, a balanced Arkie-style jig, and I moreover use their Rattling Jig. We fish a 5/8-ounce model most of the time, nevertheless change to a few/4-ounce in some circumstances. You get additional bites on a lighter jig, nevertheless massive fish will probably be additional drawn to the heavier jig as a result of it kicks up bottom and has a much bigger presence. The heavy jig hangs additional, in order that you have to study to snap them free by plucking the street. Most often, the highest wedges in limbs, so the hook isn’t embedded besides you set onerous into wood. Santone Jigs plane upward in the event you set, so that you just stick bass larger. The hook components upward and gained’t roll over.”
Grills favors inexperienced hues in winter, considerably Bullfrog and Mexican Heaven in Santone’s selection. He isn’t picky about trailers, nevertheless cautions, “A lot much less is additional in winter,” he says. “You don’t want flapping trailers now. I usually use a small Zoom Chunk. Save your movement trailers, like Strike King’s Rage Craw or Berkley’s Chigger Craw, for later in spring and summer season.
“My favorite rod is the G. Loomis 854, 7-foot 1-inch with #4 vitality,” he says. “One different good one is Dobyns’ 736 model. A 7-footer or 7-foot 1-inch rod is sweet. Don’t go too prolonged. Sensitivity is significant, along with vitality to get massive fish out of cover. We use 20-pound Seaguar InvisX—you gained’t break off with it. Spherical woodcover, stay away from braid. I contemplate the sound of braid in opposition to wood alerts bass and makes them a lot much less extra prone to chunk.”
The Winter Night time time Chunk
Some anglers retailer the boat and stash their take care of as quickly as when water temperatures fall into the 40°F differ. Nonetheless within the occasion you’re learning this, you’re most definitely not in that camp. Nonetheless even most die-hards desire to let the photo voltaic warmth points up a bit sooner than hitting the lake. Not Randy Claybourne of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He’s superior proper right into a persistent and intensely skilled winter jigman, learning from experience that winter presents the perfect various for an infinite. His notion was validated on the night of January 12, 2014, when he landed a 13.86-pound Texas ShareLunker at Lake Fork. As fortune would have it, In-Fisherman Editor In Chief Doug Stange, himself an early riser, had walked proper all the way down to seize a cup of espresso at Lake Fork Marina and met Claybourne as he babysat his priceless catch throughout the marina’s large bait tank, awaiting the crew from Texas’ Athens Hatchery. It appears Claybourne had been preparing for that night for almost 20 years, as he honed his jigging experience for winter bass and regarded for areas they like.
“I wanted to teach myself to fish slowly,” he says. “I had under no circumstances been a fast fisherman and don’t do tournaments, nevertheless the tempo took some getting used to. Fishing a jig helps you do that, as you feel it switch alongside, bumping bottom and dealing over and through sunken timber. Don’t forget that winter water temperatures is also throughout the low- or mid-40°F differ, even in Texas. Slower is finest.
“I spotted that giant bass may switch up shortly to feed, then switch once more into deeper water. You should be there when that happens.” He follows solunar intervals on the In-Fisherman web internet web page (in-fisherman.com), and favors the full moon.
He moreover pays consideration to the wind. “When fishing deep components, I like some wind coming all through the highest of the aim, and we fish alongside the tight inside activate the lee aspect of it,” he says. “Wind creates slight currents that baitfish and bass relate to, though they often preserve on the protected aspect presently of yr.” All through January and February, he finds lunkers deep in these areas, generally from 14 to 24 toes down. He focuses on creek channels that sweep by components, providing that deep-to-shallow scenario that’s so important presently of yr.
Trailer Talk about
A jig is simply full with a trailer of some sort. Once more throughout the Fifties, sooner than the looks of rubber or silicone skirts, bucktail dominated, often accomplished with a pork-rind trailer, each an eel or a bit for bulk, underwater movement and vibration, and a stunning style. Though pork rind manufacturing has ceased, reportedly because of leaner circumstances of pigs these days, I’ve dozens of jars of Uncle Josh and Strike King baits squirreled away, and I exploit them often. For the winter chunk, the buoyancy and refined undulations of pork chunks seem to attract lethargic bass, and its meaty and salty nature seems to encourage fish to hold on. The problems of pork drying out throughout the scorching photo voltaic are additionally minimized presently of yr. Moreover, I often wield a single rod for hours at a time and pork’s sturdiness is unmatched.
Nonetheless usually an lively trailer is warranted. Winter bass seem to vary of their train stage and aggressiveness. Craw baits with flapping pincers, such as a result of the Paca Craw, Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw, Zoom Velocity Craw, and Strike King Rage Craw sluggish a jig’s fall and create vibrations by way of the retrieve. In murkier water or vegetation, this may ship further bites. And for shallow work spherical brush and sparse vegetation, a small swimbait gives thump and a little bit little bit of flash, deadly when labored on a sluggish common retrieve or a methodical lift-fall cadence. In case your jig tends to indicate and twist line, modify the trailer to lie flat. Double-tail grubs, similar to the Yamamoto DT Grub, present further movement and likewise stability a jig and prohibit rolling. It often pays to experiment with trailers to stipulate bass need on a given day.
Winter bass will probably be vertically mobile, often preferring spots that allow them fast entry to every shallower flats and deeper sanctuaries with thick cowl, counting on water temperature, local weather, and totally different circumstances. On sunny days, they’ve an inclination to maneuver shallower, deeper in chilly, cloudy circumstances. Nonetheless in the event you define a pattern, it’s usually robust, and will produce a wonderful catch. Nonetheless have persistence this time of yr. I’ve had days with only one chunk, nevertheless it certainly was my largest fish of the yr.
*Steve Quinn, decades-long creator and editor for In-Fisherman publications, is among the many world’s foremost consultants on bass and bass fishing.
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