Jig Fishing

[rayford]

Hey Brian! Good to be a member here. I am trying to break in to jig fishing(catching) I have tied up a bunch of jigs and used them several times, but no luck Can anyone give me your preferred wieght. I have tried 1/4, &  3/8 on the green the carbon and the salmon rivers.

[Brian]

  Welcome to our site rayford. So you want to catch a steelhead on jigs, huh? Good choice as they work great. I prefer to go with the smallest jig I can get away with to match the water conditions. In the winter on smaller rivers that will most likely be the 1/8 oz jig. I will also go down to 1/16 oz or up to 1/4 oz depending on water depth, speed and clarity. I seldom go to any color other than pink for winter fishing. If you are not having success finding fish with jigs, I would suggest working more on finding water that is well suited for jig fishing, slower moving water with some kind of structure close by, rather than the type or size jig you are using. Presentation is much more important than color or size. Get a jig  in front of a fish and you will soon find hookups. Good luck.

[Dragfreedrift]

Welcome and I think Brian pretty much summed it up.

For newbies to jig fishing, I 'd suggest that you pay special attention to making sure your line is not dragging on the surface....this will cause your jig to be pulled through the water w/ an unnatural appearance and the fish will rarely take it at that time.

Just be thinking about making sure your float is traveling at the speed of the current.....no faster and no slower...you want that "drag free drift".

just my 2c.....(worth more than that, but whose countin?)

good luck to ya!



DFD

[zonker]

Welcome Rayford,

These guys nailed it. Perhaps the only issue not mentioned is confidence. If you have a go-to method that you are confident with and you start something new, you may not fish it as hard or as often as you do your other method. Once you nail a fish or two you'll start gaining confidence and get in the zone.

Brian has mentioned on the forum before how he fishes jigs upstream, then turns around and fishes spoons back down to the truck. He persuaded me to do the same. This is a great way to do it. Use one method going one way (something familiar) and jigs going the other. That's one of the good things about fishing jigs. You can fish up or down stream so it meshes well with other methods.

I use 1/8 oz. sizes more than anything else.

zonker

[rayford]

Thanks for the input guys! I think confidence is key.....and getting the jig "dragfree" in front of the fish. I will tie up a few smaller jigs 1/8, 3/16, 1/16 and see what happens. I will report my results.

[LEAPER]

I usually do not go heavier than 1/8 oz. If you are using something heavier, the water might not be suited for jig fishing. The vis that is. But I readily go 1/4 oz. with Chum salmon! 

Just my 2 cents!

[BC Steel]

Hey I just thought of something, do you guys off set your hooks like with a siwash? I have been using mine (1/0 or 1 Owners) as they come ie. straight with no off set and so far it has worked quite well.

[First Bite]

I used to use heavier jigs to get down quicker in fast, heavy water but over the last few years I've been dropping down to smaller jigs and using an in-line weight.  I use a sliding set-up and vary the length of my leader according to the depth and clarity of the water.  This has worked so well that even when I'm fishing shallow water I still use the in-line weight and smaller jigs.

[zonker]

Hey I just thought of something, do you guys off set your hooks like with a siwash? I have been using mine (1/0 or 1 Owners) as they come ie. straight with no off set and so far it has worked quite well.

BC,

I offset mine, bending them slightly in toward the shank and then offset to one side. Seems to work OK.

zonker

[First Bite]

BC

I have never felt the need to offset the Owner jig hooks.  They are ready to go right out of the box. 

[BC Steel]

I have had good hook ups too with out off setting them. I have only missed one good take and seen one other missed take on an owner hook jig hook and one short strike on a pink worm. Both missed strikes were on down river hook sets at sharp angles so that might have something to do with it. That is by far the best hook up ratio that I have ever enjoyed by any method at 97 % considering my bait hook up are at around 60 %.

[Ironhead]

Probably has something to do with the barbs,BCSteel , .Just kidding .