Jigging for Trout

[Dan360]

I have been doing some reading about jigging for trout and decided to give it a go. I bought a variety of jigs that looked good to me. The last few I bought were at Wal-Mart and were called "trout killers" or some other lame name. They are basically a small rubber worm at 1 1/2 inches long with a split down the last 2/3 of an inch. I bought some in chartreuse, white and brown. I used a 1/16 oz gamakatsu jig head in chartreuse with one of the chartreuse "trout killer" worms.

I found a channel with a depth of about 30 feet and started marking fish. I tossed the jig out about 30 feet and allowed it to swing down and gave it a few gentle hops on the way. As the jig neared bottom, WHAM! 14 inch rainbow. My partner was plunking with power bait and caught a couple of fish around 9 or 10 inches. A couple minutes later, WHAM! a 16 inch rainbow. My partner caught his 5 fish (didn't keep any, but in WA you have to count 5 fish if you're using "bait") in about 20 minutes. I took about 40 minutes, but my 5 fish were between 14 and 17 inches. Nothing under 14 inches. I released several that weren't hooked too bad and a few more released themselves. I kept 5 for the smoker.

This was a lot of fun. Great fight on a 6 foot, light action spinning rod and 4 lb test. Easy, not alot of rigging. Just tie the jig on, slide a rubber body on the hook, and grease it up with some stink'em. I wish I would have known how effective this was sooner.

My buddy went back out to the same spot using a larger maribou jig with scent and took a 21 inch, 5 1/2 lb triploid.

[Dullhook]

Thanks for sharing this Dan. I remember that one of the older Oregon brown trout records taken from East Lake was on a homemade jig. Not sure what it looked like. I've caught quite a few macs and browns incidentally while targeting Kokanee on just standard koke jigs. Using your method with jigs made special for trout sounds a lot more effective. Think I'll give it a shot at Diamond Lake next summer. Just gotta stay over the top of those weed beds.

[Steeleman]

Good for you Dan! I've jigged for trout since I was old enough to hold a rod & real. My home river is the San Juan in New Mexico. Last January, I fished it for 4 hours and hooked 45 trout and landed 33. All were over 12 in; this is quality water as you might know.

The jig I use is a homemade, 35 year secret my Grandpa passed down to me. I've used the jigs in Colorado, Kansas (for bass), here in Oregon and a family friend used them overseas with awesome results on all water.

This year I'm putting them under a float for some steel head and if they prove effective, I may loose my mind!! Some people I've showed this jig to said they've never seen anything like it!

I beleive the most effective way to fish for trout (aside from fly fishing) is JIGGING!

Steeleman

[Wild Chrome]

On a lake in the midwest, when I was young, we'd catch rainbows on crappie jigs tipped with a single kernel of corn, twitched along the shore on windy days. It was fun hooking them 5 feet from the tip of your rod!

[Dan360]

The lakes in my home area have some sort of freshwater shrimp in them. The meat of the fish is pink from them. Not a lot of vegetation, so I find fish mostly around drop offs, channels and boulders. Pretty clear water too. It seems like a good method to use. I know a few guys who do the same thing from pontoon boats on Battleground Lake.

[TTFishon]

I've been using crappie jigs for trout for years. I don't want to give my areas up that I have found jigs to work well for trout, but I knocked em dead this fall up I'll just say hwy 126. When I was a kid we used to catch cutts and rainbows below Fern Ridge dam in the Long Tom R. After they reduced the flow of the output the trout would be stuck in the pools below the dam and we'd catch them one right after the other. On the other hand I couldn't get the browns, for the life of me, to hit my jigs up at Wickiup a few months back. I could see 5 to 10 pounders swimming around and it didn't matter what I tried they just weren't interested.

[SouthSantiamSlayer]

Yea trout love them little grub type rubber curly tailed jigs!!
My fav is hot pink or chartreuse.
Also i like to tie on a Needlefish and put split shot about a foot up my line and sort of jig that. It's more of a rise and let fall kinda deal though.