Fishing Jigs

[Trick]

I've never fished these nor have I noticed anyone fishing these on the local streams that I frequent. I read the post on removing scent and would like to pick your brains on how these are fished. Types of bobbers, drift fishing without floats, colors, types of jigs, depths, do they work on all sizes of creeks and rivers, etc.....? Thanks in advance.

[First Bite]

Fishing jigs can be very productive under the right conditions. They are my first choice when the water levels are from medium to low flow.
I prefer to use a fixed bobber in almost all cases. You have multiple choices when it comes to bobbers and a lot of it is personal choice. I like using the cork bobbers mainly for simplicity. I'll run the line through the cork and tie directly to the jig. That way there is only one knot. This comes in handy if you're using light line. You then take the orange stopper and jam that into the top of the cork. This way it's easier to adjust the depth that you want your jig to be. I'll vary the size of the cork bobber according to the weight of the jig.
If I'm fishing a drift that I know is say 6-8 ft deep, I'll start fishing the jig at around four feet. If I don't get any takes, then I'll adjust the depth about a foot deeper. Sometimes that is all it takes to get a strike. A lot of the times I'll use a shrimp tail or other bait combined with a jig.
As far as jig colors, my first choice is pink/white. Red,black, and combos thereof work good also. Experimentation is the key. Find what works for your favorite river.
This method works great for me. There are other serious jig fisherman that use completely different set ups and hopefully they'll share their knowledge too.

Mark

[Snagly]

Dave Vedder has written a couple of very good books on this topic,"Float Fishing for Steelhead" and w/ Drew Hawthorn "Jig Fishing for Steelhead". (Both available from Amato or Amazon)

If you do an Internet search under "Dave Vedder steelhead jigs" you'll turn up a website that contains a lengthy excerpt from Dave's book on float fishing. It's worth printing out and hanging on to as most of the bases are covered.

I found floats and jigs to work well in both Alaska and BC when the fish in a hole or run had gone stale on conventional flies and gear. A small jig (on a strong hook!) repeatedly drifted down the slot eventually gets bit more often than not. Jigs and floats are also very good for covering lots of marginal water that holds scattered fish. Neverthless, I'm still a beginner with this method and find myself re-reading the above books and articles before any major trip.

[Sand Shrimp]

Jigs are are very effective for Steelhead and sometimes Salmon.I always use a fixed bobber and tie it directly to my main line like sthdr. They work great for summer steelhead but I don't use them much in the winter as it is harder to get them down to the fishes level in the heavier water flows but a lot of guys do use them successfully for winter steelhead.Red, black, and pink are excellent colors to use if you are just getting in to jig fishing.A lot of people think they are just for deep holes but you should fish them in all types of water.I started using and making my own jigs 10 years ago after hooking a fish on my first cast with a black jig.Good luck

[Jigman]

Jigs work excellent in all types of water. An excellent color for both winter fish and summer fish is pink/white, 1/4 oz being a good size to fish in the winter and 1/8th in the summer. Floats(bobbers) are a personal preference and any kind will work, a cork float is a good way to start. A good marabou jig is the way to go, as they have excellent action in the water. There's an outfit in Auburn they sells Quality jigs designed for Steelhead fishing with heavy wire hooks called Rainbow Jigs. You can e-mail them at rainbowjigs@aol.com and they can send you a catalog of their products, they sell mail order. As for depth I run mine 2-4 feet below the float in most water but you want to keep them above the bottom and drift them drag free(Your float should not be pulling your jig downstream!). Hope this helps!

[Trick]

I'll give it a try, thanks for the great info.....

[Wog]

tshickam,
One thing to remember when fishing with bobber and jig, is to be patient. If you are fishing a hole that you know contains fish, don't give up on it to soon. As mentioned before try adjusting your depth, adding some bait, or tie on a different color. More than once I have pulled fish out of a hole on the first cast, when someone else left and gave up on it.
Like the saying goes,
I spot em, I got em!
Well.............most of the time
Good luck

[sandi]

It also helps to have a 10-12 ft. long rod as the extra length helps keep excess line off the water. I've also been hearing alot of talk about maintaining a natural drift. That's good for most situations but steelhead take a jig on what i call the swing too. when your bobber and jig reach the end of the drift let the setup "swing" into shore and be ready for a thunderous take. it happens