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Its a mistake to say cast at 45 degrees or don't cast at 45 degrees because of slack , etc. You need to decide how you are going to work the area. beginners are usually just capable of finding bottom and avoiding snags while the jig moves in a bog circular arc with them at the center. essentially they hang on , let line out and take it in but they are following an arc that is determined by the current just pulling the jig from left to right. So if this is what you are doing . its normal but its the most basic of jigging techniques.
You need to be able to decide to work the area in straight lines down rip seams , to follow a course so the jig drops into a certain spot at a certain time , to catch a current that is moving away from the shore to get the best ride of the jig , to work the very edge of the canal without geting caught on that lip , etc , etc. Each of these is a different scenario and requires you to cast , drift , let line out , take it back in , etc , etc so that you work the area instead of it working you.
You should start out by practicing just getting a feel for the bottom and not ettint snagged as the jig follows that natural arc from side to side to side and the natural drift back towards shore once the jig is down current. The next move is see if you can figure out by controlling the upcurrent angle and the letting out of line to stop that arc of the jig coming in and see if you can figure out how to get it to go in a staright line for a while , away from you while its down current. Thats about the most essential skill to aquire if you ever want to be more than a beginner.
The next thing is to try to figure out how to avoid the natural arc by learning to control the slack to a point where you can get a staright line bounce on the upcurrent part of the drift. This is a balancing act. You need to let that jig tumble in the curent with no in pull from you ( the in pull results in the arc towards shore) but you have to stay in touch with it so you will know when to raise the rod tip to quickly take up slack line and get it free when you feel it starting to snag. Eventually you need to do this with just the least amount of slack because you only get a split second to decide when to take in slack by cranking and raising the rod to avoid the snag. snags happen in the blink of an eye sometimes and if you are daydreaming or have too much slack out , you won't be able to give that needed pull in time to avoid the snag.
So now you have mastered how to change the natural arc down current by letting out slack and also up current. This means you should be able to work that jig in staright lines now instead of just the arc which beginners use.
Once you get the idea about how to alter the shape of the drift line using the rod and reel to go from an arc to a straight line or an arc plus a staright line etc , etc (arcs , upcurrent straight lines and down current straight lines combine to make a big variety of paths that your jig can now follow). Now its time to add another tool to your rod and reel to control the course of your drift ( or bounce). That tool is the spot you choose and the time within the current cycle that you fish a spot.
Some spots , notably spots where the shore falls away to your downcurrnet side , allow you to actaully ride the currents out away from the shore. These are the best spots for getting very long times in the water with each cast. When you find these spots , you are no longer waiting for the jig to drift back in close to shore to stop the drift and retrieve the jig. The jig is moving away from the shore (almost like you are arcing the other way. When this happens , you will have to stop your drift (bounce) because you are running out of line.
A given spot may or may not set up to give you this outward pull at any time during that current cycle. For example , there may be no outward pull for the first two hours until things start booking. There may be an outward pull for and hour then things change and the currents start back eddying down current and you loose the outward pull and fall into the dead water of a back eddy. The same thing applies to current seams that develop and then disappear as the stage of the current cycle changes with time.
Anyway , I could start to get really complicated now but [I] think there's enough to consider here for one post.
As a summary , its most importatnt to learn how to use your rod and reel to change the path of the jig from that arc it naturally follows to a course which puts you in cammand as to how to work the area. be able to add staright lines to the beginning and end of your drifts. Next , learn to see how the currents , seams ,outflows and backeddys set up in a given spot and learn to use those current directions in conjuction with your rod and reel techniques to really be able to work an area and send that jig and any direction you want depending on the spot. Lastly , observe how the current and conditions of flow change during the 6 hour current cycle and learn to work the jig different ways to take advantage of the changing character of a given spot as the water changes its course of flow during the current cycle.
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