Jig Action ?

Hawnjigs

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Mar 23, 2010
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JiggerJohn & I have been bumping ideas for years tho we deal with different area target species opportunities. So, while JJ is obsessed with just right max inherent action in his layered multi media small jig designs my choices tend to favor a simple pin of a 3" soft bait on a bare jig head. As mentioned, after a lifetime of avoiding largemouth bass due to their preference for jig snagging habitat finally started targeting them due to declining opportunity of my favored species walleye, wipers, catfish, & smallies due to an unusually hot summer and increased meathead exploitation. Largies are a species JJ and I now both target.

JiggerJohn has reported great success with his small jigs for largies, and 29 landed 2 days ago might indicate that my method works too. That day cut in half Gulp Sinking Minnow head end 2-1/2" stubs in chartreuse pepper and (discontinued) smoke blue pearl colors got em all. Gulp latex material is stiffer and heavier than plastisol based conventional soft baits + the stubs used have zero taper or appendages to induce action. On a light unpainted 1/13 oz jig head tho they can be twitch darted side to side which may be instrumental to bite appeal.

So I'm wondering if lure action is all that important for eliciting strikes ?
 

AtticaFish

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Maybe the 2 of you are achieving the same goal... just going about it in different ways?

I've always thought that once you actually find the fish there are really 2 things you are trying to do. Put something in front of their face that LOOKS LIKE what they are used to eating and make it ACT LIKE something they are used to eating. Of course, i think you just have to come close. I sometimes go overboard with the perfection side of things but that is just because it is a hobby and i have time to tinker.

I think we all have come to understand there are exceptions to all the rules in the universe so what works one day might not the next. Sometimes the fish seem so hot they will hit things just for fun i think. Other times they are in such a negative mood you would have to put the bait in their mouth.

I kinda lean towards the ACT LIKE side of things being more important. If you throw an artificial lure in the water and just let it sit you don't have much likelihood of catching something. No matter how realistic it looks. If you rip it through the water as fast as you can, you won't likely catch anything either. You have to find that goldilocks amount of action the fish want that day. I'm no fish, but i have to imagine things get pretty blurry underwater so as long as it is generally the shape and size of something that will fit in their mouth...... they will eat it if it acts alive. Just my general thoughts on the matter. ;)
 

Hawnjigs

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Hey AF, after a long lifetime of thoughtful jig fishing and after (semi) retirement LOTS more time to be on the water your experience and theories pretty much exactly mirror mine. So as a younger man from my point of view you're ahead of the game.

Indeed, assuming proper size of lure that will fit in a mouth proper movement IMO is key to triggering a bite response. I can speak with authority as my catches have continually improved in both size & #s with thoughtful practice over the 7 years I've been living here.

Particularly in bass fishing there seems to be wide latitude in defining "proper" movement with some swearing by the frantic action of chatterbaits and cranks and some preferring dead stick wacky rigging.

Noteworthy about JiggerJohn's approach to jig fishing is he definitively proves with extraordinary results that small jigs will catch big fish.
 

Microbaits

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May 2, 2021
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I agree about idea of "if it fits in the mouth " they will eat it. However, I caught fish that aggressively hit a bait much larger than themselves! I am a pan fisherman and I am a firm believer in action entices the bite.I have caught many big panfish. Just sitting in one place watching a bobber is only good if you're sitting on a school fish.
 

Hawnjigs

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Microbaits, what size jigs / hooks are you using? Altho there is very limited BG-crappie opportunity here my go to 2/0 Gamakatsu light wire hook jigs manage to get stuck inside a surprising # of small bluegills bycatch. And altho I had only a single day experience on a real BG lake 3/0 EWG hooks stung more than a few keeper size while targeting bass.

Also, could you describe your presentation tekneeks ?
 

Microbaits

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May 2, 2021
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Most of the big gills were hitting a crank bait with a size 2 treble hook. I had one hit a 1/2oz. Jig with 0/3 hook and a short beaver tail.
 
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