Jigging for Early Spring Bass by Saltheart

  I thought I'd share some of what I know about jigging for early spring bass.

  First of all , size matters. You won't do too well in the early spring with a 5 OZ ball jig and a 9 inch shad body. You got to go way down to jigs in the range of 1/2 to 1 OZ depending on their shape. Flat head jigs at 1/2 are proven fish getters this time of year. Typically, these are bucktail jigs. You can also do well with a bare jig and some sort of plastic tail. Small curtail grubs work well as do 4 inch fin S fish, 3 inch sassy shads, small sluggos types, small polywog looking things, Zoom flukes, etc. My favorite plastic jig tails for spring fishing are the Zoom, Salty Fat Albert curltails in white. I like these because I think the salt in them causes the bass to hold on a second longer, increasing your window of opportunity to set the hook.

  OK back to the jigs themselves. In the 1/2 to 1-OZ range mentioned, I believe that it's the visible profile of the jig that matters, not its weight. So for a flat head, you need something smaller than for a round head. Say a 1-OZ round head has about the same profile as a 1/2 OZ flat head. There are substantial differences in the way a 1-OZ ball behaves verses a 1/2 OZ flat head (sink rate for instance) but I'll get to that later.

  The reason I mention the trade off between the shapes and sizes of jigs is that some people have a hard time casting a 1/2 OZ jig under surf fishing conditions. Sure it's easy in the local pond but on the ocean with wind and waves and structure, etc., you need to be able to cast a 1/2 Jig about 40 yards. If you can't , you could consider moving up to a heavier jig but with a smaller profile.

  While I'm talking about casting, let me point out that its much easier to cast the very light stuff with a spinner than it is with a conventional reel. Experts can do it all with a conventional but most will find it much easier to get the 40 yards and not have down time taking out overruns if they use spinning gear.

  You also need a light action rod. Freshwater bass rods or Steelhead rods work well for throwing jigs in the 1/2 to 1-OZ range. For schoolie fishing, both in the spring and fall , I use a Lami GSH 108-2H with a Suveran 400 spinning reel. I use 10 or 12 pound test. I prefer 10 but sometimes if the tackle shop doesn't have 10, I can do OK with 12. Very often I tie direct but unless you are willing to retie often , use a 3 foot leader of 20 LB mono. The Suveran is an expensive reel (way less than a VS though! ) so if you don't have the money, never fear. The new Abu center drag spinners like the C4's and C6's are fine reels too with the same Abu center drag and cost much less. You would also do well with a smaller pen like the 4500SS and Daiwa and especially Shimano also makes some nice smaller spinners.

  I'm currently building myself a St Croix 70 M for a light conventional set up. I haven't decided for sure but right now I'm leaning towards one of the small ABU 5500 size reels. Maybe a small Shimano Calcutta. Once the rod is done I'll take it to the tackle shop and try a few reels on it to see what feels good. For a very light conventional, I'm partial to a center thumb button like a Morrum or Calcutta but there are some newer small Abu's out there with center thumb buttons at a much lower price now.

  You need a casting tail. That is, you want to have the jig hanging down away from the rod tip some distance to cast. For a spinner, a tail of only 18 inches is fine. For a conventional, you may want a 3 foot casting tail. Anyway, cast it out there. Now you are in the game.

Now what?

  The first thing to remember when jigging is the same as the first thing in any other style of fishing, pay attention. I don't mean look out on the water. I mean be ready mentally and physically to hook a fish. You don't get a five minute pull for you to wake up and set the hook. You get a 1/4 second bump and if you are in space when it happens, you won't hookup. The best thing I can use as an analogy of your awareness level would be to be poised like you would be if you were touching something that may be hot. You approach it fully away to sense the heat and have you body and muscles set to pull away fast before you get burned. That's the level of awareness you need to be a good jig fisherman. I've posted about the ready position before and was very disappointed by the response I got from even very experienced fisherman. Excuses like "its hard to stay concentrated for two hours when its cold and windy", etc. Well what I can tell you is that its mental awareness that separates the good jiggers from the great jiggers. If you remember nothing else from this article, remember that mental awareness is the secret to jigging and maybe the most important thing in all types of fishing.

  Ok, so hopefully you are on you toes, aware, and you lay out a good cast. The simplest and easiest thing to do is simply let the jig hit the water and start a steady retrieve. Keep the rod tip low so that if you feel anything touch you jig, bang, set the hook. A quick sweep of the rod tip up will do that for you. You don't have to swing too hard that you lose you balance and fall in. A perfect hook set to me goes from about horizontal to about 70 degrees up with the actual hook set happening between 50 and 70 degrees. Now keep the line tight and reel the fish in.

  Ok, that's a basic easy technique. The next thing I would practice is a countdown. After the jig hits the water, count 2 seconds or 4 seconds or 6 seconds, before starting the retrieve. This shouldn't be done randomly. By counting down, you are causing the retrieve to occur at different depths, thus locating the depth of the fish eventually. So, you want to be systematic. Try 2 seconds for 3 casts. Then try 3 for a few, then 4, etc. When you find the fish, keep using that countdown to be able to consistently reach that depth cast after cast. It's not unusual for the fish to be in a very narrow depth range. It may change from day to day and spot to spot but on any given day in any given spot, they are likely concentrated within a particular depth range.

  You'll find that this is one place the jig weight and shape matters. A 1-OZ round ball will sink faster than a ½ OZ flat head. It will also have different action in the current. So if a 3-second count is working for a round jig, you might need 5 seconds (or whatever) if you switch to a lighter, higher surface area jig.

  The next thing you want to learn is how to find the bottom. Some of the best jigging opportunities are right on the bottom. A simple way to do this is to cast out, just let it sink an inordinate amount of time, then slowly retrieve. Get to know what it feels like to have the jig touching bottom under conditions when you know for sure its down do to the long countdown before starting the retrieve. Another way to find the bottom is you sort of want to combine the countdown method with the steady retrieve method. You want to let the jig sink but you need to keep in touch with it so you can feel the drag when the jig bottoms out. Another good technique to add is a gentle raising and lowering of the tip to also try to sense the jig touching the bottom on the uplift of the tip.

  Now, once you get good at finding and feeling the bottom, try to learn to bounce the bottom. That is, get the jig down and feel the bottom with a tight line as described above but raise and lower the tip enough to get that jig to go up a couple of feet then bounce back down and hit the bottom, then up again, etc. The bottom bouncing produces some sort of sound or vibrations and will also result in a puff of sand or mud to be kicked up thus making a visible sign to attract the fish too.

  There are other ways but I think these basic techniques, used alone or in combination, are actually at the root of anything more complicated.

  Buy jigs with good hooks. A good hook is essential, even for small fish. I've never broken an 8/0 hook in my life but despite spending $2.50 on a jig with nice hair, I've had several hooks break right where the hook meets the lead head on smaller jigs with minuscule fish on. Before you buy a jig, hold the lead head in one hand and the hook in the other and give it a good rock from side to side. If it can be bent easily or break in you hands, it won't even hold a small fish. Forget about jigs that come 12 in a package for $3 for saltwater striper fishing. You are far better off to economize by buying a good bare jig with a solid hook and painting and tying yourself than to buy cheap jigs that save a few bucks but result in many lost fish. All my jigs have forges and Cad plated Mustad Hooks. We make all our own. Two reasons why we make our own; We save money, and we know that jig won't let us down.

  My last comment is about using teasers with jigs for schoolies. It works great but I'm not in favor of it. Spring fish that will hit a teaser will almost always hit the small jig. Unlike later in the season where teasers will increase you chance at hooking up at all, teasers used on spring schoolies just gets you double hook ups. That's fun if you haven't done it much but spring fish are easy to catch , one after another, so why go for doubles except to have a big number of schoolies to brag about. One fish on the line is plenty fun. It really kills me to see guys tying on 3 teasers plus a jig going for doubles, triples and quad hookups of 12 inch fish. Then later we hear how they caught 2000 fish that season. Sometimes a teaser will get you a fish when the jig won't. Then its smart to use the teaser but just to get many many fish at once, it just doesn't make sense to me. Multiple hookups means harder handling of the fish (the other three bounce on the rocks while you lip and release number one) and longer time out of the water for them. Give the little guys a break and catch and release schoolie fish one at a time. In my opinion, it's more sporting.