MyFishFinder Forum
MyFishFinder Tips and Techniques => Jigging => Topic started by: wavewatcher on Mar 20, 2006, 08:16 AM
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I have never jigged for eyes before. im wondering what type of jiggs and what type of jigging action.
thanks ;D
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Fuzz e grub jigs are by far my most consistent jig. Day or night river or lake.
Tip it with the live bait of your choice. Action would depend on the conditions. Remember its very easy to work a jig too fast but impossible to work it too slow. Let the fish tell you how they want it presented. I find a slow steady retrieve with a minnow. Leech or crawler use a lift drop. but even that isn't always the best. 1/8 ounce is my go to weight. But I will use lighter or heavier depending on the depth and conditions.
don't get the cheap imiitation fuzz e grubs because the hooks will straighten very easily. I've learned that lesson a few times.
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Wavewatcher,
I believe the most important thing in jigging is your fishing rod. Buy the best you can afford there are allot of good ones out there. I have not looked but there should be a thread on jigging rods. I use several different brands. The one I seem to use most is a Berkley Series one. They are a good rod moderately priced $50 to $80 bucks.
Then make sure you make contact with the bottom at first just drag the jig. Jig it just enough to keep it from snagging on the bottom.
Walleyechaser is right a Fuzz-e-grub would be a good choice tipped with a minnow.
One more thing that I should add is a good fishing line. Try to fish something that does not have a whole lot of stretch. Fireline,spiderwire, power pro, flo. carbon, etc... the list goes on. There should also be a thread on fishing line.
I use some of these but the old Trilene XT will work there is nothing wrong with stretch. I have caught plenty of 5 to 10lb eyes on Trilene as long as you feel the bite Wham! Bam! set the hook " it does not cost you a dime to set the hook"
Wavewatcher/Walleyechaser, I grew up in Michigan. Cadillac/Manistee move to Utica, Graduated from UHS in 74. Sold my car for 150 bucks hitchhiked to Wyoming January 75.
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My wife went to Utica High. She's a bit younger though.
Feeling the walleye's bite is key. I usually keep the line in my fingertips. When a walleye bites it it will be no more than a very subtle tick or the line will just go slack. Very rarely have I had a walleye slam my jig. I would never feel the bite if I didn't have my line in my fingertips. Much like when you are trout fishing and hold the line between your thumb and forefinger.
I use 8lb. Trilene XT for jigging and don't have any problems. Only because I have so much faith in this line. All other line I get seems to be garbage.
I learned saturday to use a stinger if you are getting bit but can't catch. We caught 9 eyes and only 1 would have been caught without the stinger.
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I plan on heading out of Monroe this weekend if the wind is right for Erie. Depending on the drift I'll use 1/4 oz to 1/2 oz (or even 3/4oz) jig head in either chartruse or Orange/Yellow or Orange/Chartruse. If the water is really dirty, I'll make my bait as big as possible, Twister tail, rubber worm, 2-3 minnows. If its clear I'll downsize a little, but I've never seen Erie clear this time of year. Fish two rods, one slow, one fast, and keep your bait "pounding" bottom. After you see what they want for the day, match up both your rods.
I'm a fan of the Sensi-thin 8-10lb. 6'6" to 7' rod. IM-8 or better. You can feel them breath on it. When you do, set the hook.
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Walleyechaser, try downsizing to 4lb mono or 2/4 fireline and a 7 foot one piece fast action rod. On this setup those little tics you feel will be a lot easier to pick up without having to keep one hand on your line (Just another option, not trying to tell you how to fish).
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I just don't know if I trust 4lb. I don't even trust 6 it always seems to break on me. I don't know if I'm just getting bad line or what.
Thanks for the tip but I'll stick to keeping a finger on the line. Had too many break offs to fish any lighter.
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Bigred convinced me to try the Fire Line 2/4, you can't brake that stuff. I landed a couple 15 plus pound carp with it this fall. Great feel, the only problem is I have trouble with my knots breaking off.
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Try adding a few more twists to your knots and make sure the line gets moistened before pulling tight.
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Bigred convinced me to try the Fire Line 2/4, you can't brake that stuff. I landed a couple 15 plus pound carp with it this fall. Great feel, the only problem is I have trouble with my knots breaking off.
Otis, try the Uni-knot. I use 6 turns, and haven't had a problem. Also, I use a 7'6" rod with a nice light tip to protect the line. Don't forget to check your first few inches of line often, with the line as thin as it is, I like to retie every few fish.
This year, I am going to run one rod with 6lb and one with 4lb, and see if I loose any casting distance - If i don't, I am going to go with the 6lb for those just in case scenarios ;)
That 4lb is definitely plenty strong. When I tried it with an 8lb mono leader, the mono broke before the braid :o
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Thanks, I'll give that knot a test run tonight! Do you remove the split rings from your lures before you tie on the fireline? I don't have a problem with the palmento knot on the eye's of jigs, but on those split rings on the cranks it breaks as soon as the knot hits it.
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Thanks, I'll give that knot a test run tonight! Do you remove the split rings from your lures before you tie on the fireline?
no, but I do add a drop of superglue when tying to split rings to keep the line from slipping into the break.
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I also like the bouncing presentation!
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Do you remove the split rings from your lures before you tie on the fireline?
With stickbaits I now ALWAYS remove the split ring on the lure and just tie directly to a snap. Much more reliable action with the lure that way. With the split rings if the gap hits the eye of the lure the action is lost and by taking the ring right off and just using a plain snap you don't ever have to worry about it.
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With stickbaits I now ALWAYS remove the split ring on the lure and just tie directly to a snap. Much more reliable action with the lure that way. With the split rings if the gap hits the eye of the lure the action is lost and by taking the ring right off and just using a plain snap you don't ever have to worry about it.
SB I've now taken the split rings off all my cranks and have noticed a HUGE difference in the amount of fish I catch. I use a very small snap.
So much easier to change lures after dark. I'd recommend this to anyone fishing any cranks.
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Does anyone pour their own jigs. Have been trying they are still coming out looking like s*** not sure what I am doing wrong here. I let them set after pouring about 10 mins is this to long? :o
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you need to smoke your molds with a candle and pree heat them to but not to hot or cold and you can pop them out of the mold in about 1 min. depending on how hot the mold is
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CrowKiller has the right idea. Light a candle and hold the mold a couple inches over the flame until you get a soot buildup in the jig cavities. Then pour a couple test jigs without hooks until they start coming out correctly. I usually don't wait much longer than a couple seconds before opening the mold after pouring.
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I have never jigged for eyes before. im wondering what type of jigs and what type of jigging action.
thanks ;D
Wavewatcher jigging is a good way to catch walleye. There is a multitude of jigs styles and trailers to add to them. I would start with some basics and work from there. The shape of the jig head also determines how to use it.
The 2 types of jigs found are: Jigging heads and swimming heads.
A simple round ball head it the most common type of jig, it's great for vertical jigging.
A slow-poke would be a good example of a swimming style jig head, with the eye on the front of the head.
Jigs with internal rattles, external propellers and blades are great for getting the fish's attention, some good model can be found from Northland fishing tackle.
I like to dress them up with plastics, mostly curly tail or double tails, but minnows, leeches and worms work too.
Colors: The standard colors for jigs would be white, black, yellow, orange and chartreuse, but the multi colored ones work to.
If you are vertical jigging try a lift fall hold type of jig, if casting try a swimming retrieve or a hoping, twitching retrieve.
Good luck with jigging. :)
WW
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I'm fairly new to jigging, and learned a lesson this past weekend on the river below the dam, fishing walleye in slack water behind islands. Fished next to 15 - 20 other boats, we managed two nice eyes as everyone else limited out. Found out later that they were using 4 and 6 pound line and 1/4 oz jig and minnows and we had 10lb , 3/8 to 1/2 oz jigs. Most times we hung up and lost minnow or could not feel bites and came up bare hooks, I'm an old saltwater fisherman and can't get myself to fish with line lighter than 10lb, but I guess this old dog is going to learn a new trick, I'm putting some 6lb on my spare spools for those light biters if I'm having a tough go next time 8)
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Does anyone pour their own jigs. Have been trying they are still coming out looking like s*** not sure what I am doing wrong here. I let them set after pouring about 10 mins is this to long? :o
Another tip is to make sure you use fairly pure lead. Scrape the slag off good. I always used old tire weights and never had a problem plus they we free from the local tire store.
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Lot of good info here, thank you all for the tips
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Does anyone pour their own jigs. Have been trying they are still coming out looking like s*** not sure what I am doing wrong here. I let them set after pouring about 10 mins is this to long? :o
ten minute is to long you need the lead mold hot to do the pouring get some welding gloves and a spoon to remove the hook screw drivers might damage the mold since I use a all metal spoon I ladle off some of the bad lead with it after fluxing.. set the mold on top at start up with it full of hook when it reaches temp start pouring use the spoon to remove the lead covered hooks then pour again with in a minute of the last batch the more you pour the better the lead flows in to the small pockets of the mold smoking the mold will help no mater what but keep the mold hot... I take one glove off to add hook etc In to the mold some time it burns finger tips adding hook swivels etc..so be warned it not fun so do it quick and close it up.. put glove back on and pour again and again and again btw there is a new tackle making post please join in...
also I use lunker city soft plastics in fin-s-minnows when jigging for eyes but were all fishing different waters...
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Also depends on the quality of the lead that you are using.
There is some really crap lead out there.
Old wheel balancing weights always worked well for me.
I had printer lead that didn't look as good way back.
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Also depends on the quality of the lead that you are using.
There is some really crap lead out there.
Old wheel balancing weights always worked well for me.
I had printer lead that didn't look as good way back.
your right there to I had the pot foam up and had to dump it all out. had small particles get Into the lead in another pot I had to dump out twice cause it was the pour spout kind you use for making bullets and the pot corded away a little from the heat and cast iron that's why I ditched my herters pot and went with a lee precision magnum melter .. if you need lead go to the source divers or even scrap suppliers we got a placed less then ten miles from me I by lead 100 -300 pound for .70 cent a pound and if I go to the divers it is .35 cent a pound.. the old scrap worked out the best cause they had tons of it on hand from factories scrap... and it is cheaper then ebay at 1.60 a pound I been trying to find a form for a 2 pound surf claw form but no one had one...best so far is rock cod sinkers or even inline trolling sinkers 3 daisy chained together and a split ring to make the triangle...but for sure check the scrap yards and diver in the area see if they got extra even lures or even diver clubs let them know I buy scrap lead! approach them heck it makes them money for diver session or lessons ,air, new equipment,etc if you let them know I am looking for ton of lead they help out and make some money in the process.. this is ware divers get a bad names from fisher men cause there under water and cut people lines but get good names helping you collect old scrap lead... and helping the enviorment.. but ya ask around I am sure there ton out there it not trade on the stock market for .35 cent a pound for nothing last I looked...
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I poured a bunch of jig heads this fall for steelhead. If you have a lead pot, put your mold on top of the pot for 10-15 minutes before you use it, and if you are using a do-it mold fill the bottom cavity a bit to warm the mold a little more, this will leave you with ingots that you can just feed back into your melting pot. Smoking the mold does help a little but it gets to be tedious if you are pouring a lot of jig heads. Wheel weights now are OK but they contain a lot of tin. Tin isn't as dense, hence a bit lighter than pure lead. Best source I've found is old roof pipe boots. If you know anyone who is a roofer they can get them for you usually for free. One boot weighs 3-5 pounds and is good soft lead. Only problem is they are covered with roof tar so its nasty to melt, and lots of slag. A trick we learned is to put a bit of candle wax in your molten lead, it will flame up quick but it brings most of the slag to the surface and makes it very easy to spoon off. Also, if you use voodoo jig hooks in size 8 for steelhead jigs, they are made strictly to fit in the do it steelhead jig mold and will not fit in a standard do it round head 1/64 mold. I found this out the hard way after I made 20-30 jigs all with mohawks lol. Went on the voodoo website and it shows the distance between the eye and the hook shank is smaller to cut down on the leverage a fish has to straighten the hook
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Do yourself a favor and always pour outside, and wear gloves when handling the mold. If you are interested in painting your jigs too look into pro tec powder paints. I used some on my last batch of jig heads and it works really well. Tons of colors, including glow colors and the finish comes out great. You can bake it on a low heat in an oven (not the one you eat from!!) To cure and harden the coating and its been very resilient go chipping so far even in the cold
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jigging for eyes is very effective and probably the most fun. you can stay on top of the fish easier and usually not have to maneuver the boat a whole bunch.
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Look on YouTube ...Prob 100 if not more videos on jig pouring...as for jigging for walleye ...here in Central New York it's about 95 %
Of my fishing for walleye...bucktails and sonars is the way to go...rougher the water heavier I go...3/8 is my go to size sometimes 5/8oz when fishing rougher waters....off shore in a current might go down to 1/8oz