Today's soft plastic lure market is booming with new styles and colors of
baits, but when you are looking for the biggest bite of the day, the fish that
consistently win tournaments; then anglers in the know go to the bait that
has been proven over time to catch the biggest bass; the venerable jig-and-pig.
20 years ago, this bait was reserved for the sluggish bass, or for fishing
in the heaviest cover, or for bottom fishing techniques. Today, this bait is
being used at all times of the year, in a variety of different fashions.
This bait has remained relatively the same over the past 30 years. It has
gone through some cosmetic changes, such as better hooks, livelier skirts,
and a
broader spectrum of colors and sizes, along with plastic trailers, which
enable a wider variety of color options, but this bait, dressed with
either plastic
or pork, continues to catch bigger bass when other baits fail.
Because of the popularity of the flipping technique used by most of the
veteran anglers today, the jig has remained among the most popular baits
in many anglers
tackle boxes.
Because of so many recreational anglers concentrating on the flipping
technique, the jig's universal effectiveness has been overlooked.
Many people have forgotten that casting a jig is an effective technique
also. The jig can be presented at a lot of different depths and around
a variety
of structure. You are really limiting yourself if you only focus
on the flipping aspect of it. Many times during the summer months, we
have come
in behind other
anglers flipping obvious targets, or casting more traditional summer
lures, and we have caught bass making roll casts, looking for isolated
pieces
of cover that other anglers have missed.
DIFFERENT SIZES
Jig sizes have changed in recent years, along with skirt material and colors.
The 3/8 ounce size remains the most popular, with smaller versions are being
used more and more with great success. The smaller finesse type of jigs are
much more effective in clear water, while the heavier, bulky versions are great
for fishing stained to muddy water. Not that the heavier jig isn't effective
in some shallower, open water, but a more compact 1/2 ounce bait is more effective.
This is especially true when fishing some of the finger lakes of New York State,
or any of the waters where smallmouth bass are also present. The heavier jig
is more effective when the bass are aggressive, as it allows you to fish it
faster and cover more water. When the fish are suspended, or you need to keep
it in the strike zone longer, the lighter jig is more effective. We always
keep experimenting with several sizes, letting the bass tell us what they want.
In the summer months, when we swim the jig around boat docks, we opt for the
lighter 1/4 ounce size, with a plastic trailer, to imitate a crawfish or baitfish.
Swimming the jig is a very effective technique that is overlooked by many weekend
anglers. Most small jigs don't have a big enough hook to handle quality bass,
which is why we use a Strike King Bitsy Bug. We have been using this bait since
1998, when we had great success with it in several local tournaments in cold
water as well as in the summer. The Bitsy Bug has a bigger hook than most,
and it handles larger bass well. In warmer, clear water, we like to use a grub
or swimming worm as a trailer, this is very effective when you are trying to
imitate a crawfish. In colder, or more stained to muddy waters, we like a bulkier
trailer, as they displace more water and make it easier for the bass to home
in on the bait.
The design of the jighead is another thing you have to think about. They
need to be matched to the type of cover you are fishing. A jig that has
a head that
is more pointed, with its eyelet coming out of the front rather than the
top, is going to pull through weeds better than a broad shouldered jig.
We like
to use a Jungle Jig, by Northland for this. This is one of the jigs that
helped us win the Big Bass World Championship several times. It was very
effective
here in the Northeast, in some of the heavier, weedy cover.
When we fish around rocks and wood, we use a jig with more shoulders to
help stop it sometimes. Many companies make this type of football or
stand up jig,
which is great for these situations. When you pull it over an object,
the jig tips, adding more action. We have used these jigs effectively
on many
of New
Jersey's reservoirs such as Spruce Run. You must also match the size
of the line to the size of the jig hook you are using. A heavy-duty jig
hook
requires
a stronger hook set, so you need heavier line to handle it.
Of course, it helps to know when you're getting a bite. Big bass really
thump a jig with the same vigor they do a plastic worm, and many other
strikes are
felt simply as spongy sensation, or just like you're dragging weeds.
That's why it is important to set the hook on anything that feels unnatural,
it
could be weeds, or it could be a 7 pounder!
JIG COLORS
While a black and blue jig seem to be the favorite, we like to match jig colors
to the water conditions. A dark colored jig with a big crawfish trailer, moving
on the bottom, does a great job imitating a crawfish, but a white jig swimming
over cover and around boat docks does a good job of imitating a baitfish. This
is great when bass want a slower presentation, or when you can't fish a crankbait
or jerkbait with ease. Many times when bass are feeding on shad, but want a
slower presentation than a spinnerbait, this is the best choice. It can also
catch the bigger bass, that are ignoring the spinnerbait. We like the plastic
trailers in the summer months, and the pork in the winter. Pork is more pliable
in cold water, while plastic gets stiff. In places where many anglers cast
tubes or small finesse worms, such as clear water flats, we cast jigs in neutral
colors, and catch bigger bass. Many times when bass ignore other baits, the
jig will trigger a strike. This is also a great bait for night fishing.
