Thread: verticle jigging question

I'm glad I found this thread. I'm wanting to try this also. What is the best all around pole and set up for a beginner?

Sorry. Didnt mean to hijack your thread.

Originally Posted by jjarvis0007

I'm glad I found this thread. I'm wanting to try this also. What is the best all around pole and set up for a beginner?

Sorry. Didnt mean to hijack your thread.

Get with Conway. Ozark makes a really good jiggin pole. I like te 10ft pole with rear reel seat for vertical jigging cypress. That Ozark has got something to it, when you get a thump, you know it for sure.

Originally Posted by LMBarnett

You pretty much said it all in your original post. All can, and does work. But a word of caution... When in thick cover, NEVER go side to side, only up and down. You will get hung up.

Do plenty of that and you will get good at getting unhung! Reminds me of my Bass fishing days with my buddy Leo Coffman who made spinnerbaits. He told me once ''durn son your good at getting your baits outa the trees!'' All I could say was ''I've had plenty of practice.''

Originally Posted by arkcrappie

I'm with Nimrod on this one. I let the fish decide. I've had them try to grab it on top if the water and then I've had them sit there staring at the jig like they are sulled up and mad at me. When they are sulled up, I've had to hold the jig perfectly still for near a minute before they would take it.
I also agree that in most cases the fish will hit the jig on the fall, but sometimes they don't.
There is no right or wrong. Try different presentations until you find one that works

No such thing as perfectly still on the end of a jig pole. Try holding a jig out in the air perfectly still on the end of a line & jig pole sometime. You will be suprized how much that jig wiggles.

Just like the guys have said all the techniques you described will work at certain times. The up and down though concentrate on the down crappie normally always hit on the fall drop stop, drop stop. I was thinking about your comment taking things for granted there are a lot of things we do with out even thinking about it. Here are just a couple: know what your jig feels like when you don't have a fish meaning it is easy to know when you have a bite when they pop it hard but lots of times you just get slack line, you start dropping down and the bait just stops and your not on the bottom, or go to pull up and there is just a little tension on the line these can all be fish. Most beginners are only getting the fish that hit hard and missing the others. Always pay attention when you do get a bite what depth, structure type, presentation and with in and hour or two you should have a pattern. Now when you come back the next day you can start with how you caught them the day before but more times than not you will have to start over. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by NIMROD

No such thing as perfectly still on the end of a jig pole. Try holding a jig out in the air perfectly still on the end of a line & jig pole sometime. You will be suprized how much that jig wiggles.

Nimrod, you are correct on the perfectly still. I hold the tip of the pole as still as I can. I should have been a little more clear on that!

They dont always hit on the fall. Some days, the side to side thing is the only thing that will get them to bite. Many, many times, I have been jigging Cypress trees without much luck, then decided to slowly move the jig away from the tree and WHAM!!! It looks like a bug or some other critter has fallen out of the tree, settled towards the bottom and is trying to swim away. Your presentation has to look natural. Also, dragging your jig over brush will pay off big time too. Lots of times, they wont even bite until the jig bumps a branch or Slides over a limb. As my grandfather used to say, "If you aint gettin hung up, you aint Crappie fishin." Some days, the deadstick method works well. On those days, they will eye your jig for 30 seconds or more before they bite. If you are lucky enough to catch em on a day when they are on a reaction bite(biting on the fall,) focus on weight more than color. On those days rate of fall is the most important factor, use a Fasnap so you can quickly change weights/jigs. In other words, you will have to change your technique from day to day, experience is the best teacher. Eventually, you will figure out all the different tricks that work on your lake. Then its just a matter of figuring out which one they want on a particular day. Hope this helps.


C.J.

Just wanted to clarify my post Cmj is absolutely correct about them not always hitting on the fall. They normally don't hit on fast upward movement maybe that is a better statement. I am more of a forum "creeper" just started to post but have been crappie fishing for thirty years and didn't want to get someone new to vertical jigging confused.