James RickardHave you ever fished a jig?
October 23rd 2008 00:20
Some jigs are a little fancier than others.
Jigs come in a wide variety of styles.
Jigs come in a wide variety of colors and designs. The most common is the round head, but others include fish head shaped, football shaped, sort of blunted or half circle, or just about anything else someone can think up. As far as weight, that varies also. Jigs can weigh only a few grams or as much as nearly a pound for saltwater bottom dwellers!
A big mistake (and waste of time) people often make when trying to fish a jig, is to simply throwing it into the water and reel back. That simple approach is what you DON'T want to do. Sure, a fish may bite as you reel in your lure but, it's probably not going to work. A jig is most effective when dragged or skipped along the bottom.
A weedless jig like this may save a lot of head aches.
No matter what you use, some bottoms have too many large rocks to let you drag a jig after you cast it out. The lure may lodge between the rocks and no amount of tugging is going to free your jig. For that reason, some anglers prefer to use jigs as a short distance lure and limit its use to a 20-30 ft. radius.
It makes no difference what kind of jig you use or how far you cast if you don't connect it to your line properly. If you're not familiar with jigs, take some time before you go fishing and grab a piece of line and the jig(s) you plan to use. Tie the line to the jig and see how it hangs. What you're looking for is to see if the lure hangs straight with no kink in the line--you want a smooth, straight line all the way from the eye of the jig, where you tie your line, to your rod.
The exact placement of your knot is going to depend on the design of the jig. If you're using a common round head jig that hangs straight in the water, tying a tight knot at the 12 o'clock position is probably going to fill the bill. If, on the other hand, you're throwing a jig that noses down in the water with the hook up in the air, you'll want to tie on at the 4 or 5 o'clock position.
Lastly, a few words about the hooks you'll find molded into jigs. To make it simple, anything you know about hooks will apply here! Heavier gauge wire is best for bigger fish. Hook sizes are the same as with plain hooks.
Use the right size jig/hook and you won't have to tell the story of "the one that got away. "
Until next time--watch yourself and watch your line!
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