Jigs

This is the bait to take if you're only going to take one. I fish with jigs more than any other lure. They catch anything that swims. Jigs, from tiny to large, can be cast, trolled or drifted. Drag or hop them along the bottom. Swim them over weed tops or rocks, or through mid-water. Tip them with live bait, or use a plastic tail or bucktail hair dressing. They can be worked to match the feeding mood of fish at any time of year.

If you only have one bait in the tackle box, make it a jig.

Ball heads are the most versatile of all jigs. They are the fastest-sinking head style, and can be cast and retrieved, hopped or twitched along the bottom, or at any depth.

Stand-up heads are designed to keep the hook, jig dressing (if any) and live bait up, as the jig is worked over the lake bottom. They help keep snagging to a minimum. Most stand-up heads are also perfect river fishing jigs, because the head design digs into the current, letting you fish deeper with lighter weight.

Tipping Jigs

When you tip a jig with live bait, you really increase the chances of catching more fish. There are various ways to tip a jig with a nightcrawler. You can thread the nightcrawler onto the jig head, hook it midway so it trails off in a "v" fashion, or simply hook it once through the head. As the drawing indicates, you should hook a crayfish through the tail, so it streams off backwards, because that's the way a crayfish moves naturally in the water. Normally, a smaller minnow is hooked up through the head. Larger minnows can be hooked through the lips. Tip a jig with a leech by hooking it once through the sucker (fat) end.

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