Hi Striperjerk. That is definitely a loaded question. You could go on for hours about jigs and how to fish them in different areas like the breachways , canal and beaches. After discussing it for hours , you could then get different opinions from someone else!
Read my article about fishing smaller jigs in the spring .
For bigger stuff in the heavy currents of the canal and breachways , there is a whole science to it. the short version is that in the canal I use 4 kinds of jigs. I use ball jigs most often and I backbounce the jigs on the bottom. I cast upcurrent , let them sink , then bounce them along trying to keep it from getting stuck until I get a hook. You get a lot of fish this way but you also lose jigs like crazy. I like 2 and 3 OZ ball jigs for this depending on the current. When its rolling , I like 3 and hope to also have some 4 OZ balls for this season.
Another style of jigging in the heavy current is drifting them rather than bouncing them. You still do touch the bottom but you do it more controlled as the jig drifts down current by letting line out and then stopping the spool when you hit bottom. For this technique , I like Smilin Bills. I like 4 OZ when its booking but some people can't retrieve the 4's fast enough at the end and lose them so they like 3 OZ instead. The heavier the jig , the easier it is to get it down for fishing but the harder it is to get it back up to retrieve it without snagging the bottom as it gets shallow closer in to the shore.
I like skin jigs and usually drift them. 4 oz is what I use. The skin jigs are about the most effective way I've ever seen to fish the canal.
The last style I use (and I seldom use them) is the bullet head. The only reasons I use them is to match up better with the rubber I'm putting on. In theory , they should work better than balls for getting down in the current. The reason I don't like them is because at least for the way I do it , they get stuck on the bottom more.
You got to come to grips with losing jigs if you want to fish the bottom in heavy current areas. I'll have some nights where i lose no jigs or just 1 or 2. That's rare though. I also have some nights where i lose 6 or more jigs. Typically , I lose 2 to 3 jigs in 3 hours of fishing but its not uncommon to have a bad night and lose twice that. The fact is that if you are effectively working the bottom where the fish are , you will be losing jigs. If you never lose jigs in the current , you aren't doing it right!
For the beach , 2 OZ Smilin Bill bucktails work great(you can use heavier or lighter too) . I also like 2 OZ balls there with rubber tails of various shapes and sizes. Use some of the same techniques I describe in the spring fishing articles.
I have big plans of writing an article about heavy jigging in strong currents. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be getting done but I still have hope. When I do write it , we'll put it up here with the article about light jigging for sprigtime stripers.
jigs
) all will play some heavy factors in which jig you use.
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