Hanging jigs in brush

[tablerock]

I’ve been having success lately fishing shallow brush/logs 10ish feet on Bull Shoals and Table Rock lake. I am typically using a 1/16 oz head, 4lb line, light action 6 to 6.5 ft rod. I have a livescope, but no turret so I’m not usually able to watch my bait constantly due to wind/boat wakes etc…

At some of these locations, there are multiple limbs just under the surface, so backing off and making a cast can be pretty risky. The water is clear here, so I also try and avoid prop wash and getting the boat right over it.

Any tips on not constantly having to retie due to break offs?

Thoughts on weedless heads?

[justinp61]

I use weedless jigs 90% of the time when casting.

[CrappiePappy]

I've used weedless jigheads for decades, specifically for casting a jig into those "jungles" ... and that was well before having Livescope. I've even used weedless jigheads for Livescope Flippin', but that was mostly out of frustration ... after having to retie three or four times, while my fishing partner was yanking in fish after fish.

You can & will still get hung up with a weedless jighead, just usually not as often or as "bad" ... especially once you learn to "drop & pop" that jig over limbs. I call that "bowing to the jig" ... where once I realize the jig is draped over a limb, I reel the jig up to the limb, then "bow" the rod tip down about 6" and then lift the rod tip up about 12" (the rod is "taking a bow") all in one smooth motion. This usually makes the jig "jump" over the limb, rather than being dragged over it & having the hook fall sideways and potentially snag into the limb (or bark of the tree). Once the jig clears the limb and starts to fall back down ... be a line watcher, because I've had many a strike at that point. Sometimes it's a "thump" & sometimes the line just stays slack or becomes slack ... but, in any case, it's time to set the hook !!

[bugman]

BRUSH HOG Jigs - Ultimate Heavy Cover Jighead - SUPER Light Wire Hooks, wire keeper, wire guard at Simply Crappie

Any time i'm fishin heavy cover it's with these the wire guard helps keep from being hung all the time and when you do get hung the x lite wire will bend out most times with 6lb test.

[Les Young]

15 lb braid to a 10 lb clear big game mono leader will pretty much cure that problem.

[Ketchn]

15 lb braid to a 10 lb clear big game mono leader will pretty much cure that problem.

it will but , not a good way to fix it , the jerking on the limbs will surely run off the fish and the bent jig won't be worth a flip after the temper is ruined , seen folks do this a million times and most if not all of them were not hurting the fish much , just saying

[Ketchn]

they make lots of different types of weed guards , some use those lil pcs. of plastic to cover the hook point , some use the wire versions as well , I would likely do neither and use a float and double crappie nibbles on my hook point , it works pretty well , my cure is pretty simple .
AND for sure no big gap hooks , number 6 max ....

[Les Young]

it will but , not a good way to fix it , the jerking on the limbs will surely run off the fish and the bent jig won't be worth a flip after the temper is ruined , seen folks do this a million times and most if not all of them were not hurting the fish much , just saying

I also have a diy mold that i made to make soft plastic weedguards too. It works pretty good but iusually just pull & if the hook bends i just bend it back & catch more on it. Of course i ain't been doing the crappie Ketchin thing long.

[justinp61]

Many, many years ago the guy that taught me how to fish for crappie in the winter, used pony head jigs he made, he also fixed his tubes on the jig that helped keep it from hanging up. We were fishing light jigs in deep water, so we had to fish them really slow. He taught us that when we felt the jig come up on a limb to stop and gently shake the rod tip, most of the time the jig would hop over the limb. After we felt it come over the limb, we'd lower the rod tip and let the jig fall, as mentioned above, that's when most of the bites would happen. When I bought my pony head mold, I modified it to accept a weed guard.

These are jigs I make from a mold I modified, I still lose a few every winter but nothing compared to non weedless.