Fishing In Current With Jigs

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by nu2this

Great article! But have some questions.

When you say the jig "tics" the bottom, I'm guessing you mean hits the bottom. But how exactly are you able to tell it's doing this? Can you feel it stop or can you feel the jig when it hits? I have never been able to feel any indication of by bucktails or jigs (Pt. jude Nautilus, Hopkins etc) except when they dig into a sandbar. When they do this they seem to get stuck and when I finally break them free they will usually have a sandcrab stuck to the hook.

Second question;
I had thought that the jigs should be cast up stream and retrieved as it was being moved downcurrent until it got directly accross from the caster. I had also thought that if one lets the jig get way downcurrent and begins a retrieve that this wouldn't appear to be "unatural" because a wounded baitfish would swim against the current.

Confused. Hope someone chimes in. Thanks.

If you used braided line, you will feel the jig touch the bottom. The next task in the learning process is telling the difference between the jig ticking the bottom, and a fish hitting the jig That's a matter of practice and putting the time in. A hit feels a little more "alive" than the bottom--that's the best way I can describe it. It's a sharper tap, and you may even see the line jump a bit. The bottom usually has a duller feel to it--but, even after 40 years of jigging, a real hard object on the bottom, like a bare rock or a piece of scrap metal, can fool me.

Casting upcurrent is often necessary to allow the jig to get down the 30-50 feet to the Canal bottom. Many people "count down" after the jig hits the water--say, a 10-15 count. Then they close the bail, or flip the free spool lever, and take the slack out of the line. Often, you won't feel bottom until the jig is directly in front of you. This also is something you have to practice, because letting a jig just drift on a slack line can often result in a hang-up before you get all of the slack out of the line.

Jigs often lift off the bottom as they swing far enough down-current. This is what causes loss of bottom contact in most cases. It usually happens at about a 45 degree down-current angle. At this point, you can feed more line. Often the fish will still come up a foot or two off the bottom to hit a jig, though. If you lose bottom contact earlier in your drift, that usually means that your jig fell into a hole--this is usually a good thing