[Saltheart]

This article is too long for the message board in one post. So I'm posting it in parts. Part 2 is in the reply right below.

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. Feshwater 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.
OK so we got the right rod and reel and we have chosen the jig to match our ability to cast and its profile. Now we tie on. I like a clinch cause it's so easy but a Polamar is the best knot to use in my opinion. You got to be careful getting a full bucktail through the loop but it can be done if you leave the loop big then tighten down once you have passed the jig through.
You need a casing 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 to 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.