Pushing jigs

I am wanting to learn to push jigs so I can be a little more versatile when you get to the lake and the winds is not doing what you are expecting. I have my boat set up so I can take long lining and down rods with me and not be cluttered. What I want to know is the rig you use and size weight you use and how they are tied. Played around with a 14 ft rod off the back of the boat with 1ounce weight and 2 jig heads with minnows. Never had a bite so any help will be appreciated or if someone wants to meet and give me a lesson that would be even better. Have watched others pushing and see them catching fish so I know it works. Don

There are numerous type of rigs to use, but the two most common are the Capps and Colman double minnow rig which consists of a three way swivel and two drop lines. First drop line is short, with a single hook, the second line has a 3/4 ounce weight in the middle and another single hook on the bottom. That hook can be exchanged with a jig of choice if the fish prefer it. A more simpler rig to employ, is a slip egg sinker with a barrel swivel to hold it in place. Tie a 18 inch drop line with a hook or jig on the end. Most folks tip there jigs with minnows. I personally use 3/4 ounce lead, and 10 pound line for all my tight lining. Others will use lighter line and lead. It's strictly a preference, the heavier lead will allow for you to troll faster and keep the baits at the proper depth.

As usual, Ink pretty much summed it up. I prefer a 1/2 oz egg sinker, but will go lighter in shallow water (less than ~8 ft). I have used the Capps and Coleman rig in the past, but have gotten away from it. I think mainly because of the hassle of two hooks. Twice the baiting, more tangles when netting fish, more retying when striper run through everything, ect.

I will say there are numerous positives to the double hook rig though. I rarely caught two fish at once, but it did allow me to follow fish up and down in the water column as they moved throughout the day. Because your baits are spaced out nearly 2 ft you could see how the fish were moving up and down based on which hooks were getting bit. Another thing I'll add is that I used to tie up a bunch of rigs and store them around a piece of pipe insulation. I could easily unwrap a new rig and tie to my main line whenever I needed to.

Now I just use the single hook rig with barrel swivel and 18" leader.
I run hooks, jig heads, jig heads with an assortment of plastics, and hand tied jigs like rooty tootys and hair style. I have minnows on every hook. I don't run a constant speed when pushing/tightlining. I bump a long with the trolling motor. Sometimes I find I get more bites when I'm sitting still and sometimes they hit it on the move. Just depends on the day.

Does anyone use 1/4 oz jigs in place of the weights or is it not heavy enough?

I push jigs a lot more often than I long line troll or spider rig ... but I use single jig rigs.

I have three 14' rods out the front
Baitcast reels with heavy braid line
I put the 1/2oz or 3/4oz barrel sinker on the braid (depending on avg speed maintained)
Then I put a plastic bead on
Attached to the braid is a duo snap lock

I have jig heads on 18" mono leaders (6# test), with a loop knot at the other end
Those "rigs" are wrapped around sections of "pool noodles" for storage
All I have to do is open the duo snap lock and put on whatever color/style/size jig on a leader line that I want to use.

I want the lines to be at approx. a 45deg angle when moving, so that I can tell how deep my jig is running. That's easily determined by multiplying the length of line out by 0.6 .... so, 14' of line out @ a 45deg angle would equal my jig depth at about 8.5ft (14 x 0.6 = 8.4)

Now, I'm a stone newbie at doing this ... but, it's worked pretty well in the times I've used this method. I don't use double jig rigs, because it's hard enough keeping one jig out of the brush, let alone two of them !! But, that's just me .... your mileage may vary !!

... cp :kewl

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Originally Posted by smoothlures

Does anyone use 1/4 oz jigs in place of the weights or is it not heavy enough?

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Pushing or tight lining is a controlled type fishing where the baits are placed at a precise depth and kept there via the heavier lead weights. A 1/4 ounce jig would work if the boat was to remain quite motionless, or moved extremely slow, speed of any kind would cause the lighter weight jig to rise in the water column negating the purpose of precise depth fishing such as tight lining

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Originally Posted by Inkdabber

Pushing or tight lining is a controlled type fishing where the baits are placed at a precise depth and kept there via the heavier lead weights. A 1/4 ounce jig would work if the boat was to remain quite motionless, or moved extremely slow, speed of any kind would cause the lighter weight jig to rise in the water column negating the purpose of precise depth fishing such as tight lining

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Gotcha. What size jig would you use if you used one on the bottom?

Smooth I use 1/16 oz jigs under a 1/2 or 3/4oz weight. I have tried a 1/4 jig under the egg weights but it doesn't work as well as the smaller jig weight.

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Originally Posted by STUMP HUNTER

Smooth I use 1/16 oz jigs under a 1/2 or 3/4oz weight. I have tried a 1/4 jig under the egg weights but it doesn't work as well as the smaller jig weight.

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Perfect thanks!

Usually a 1/16 or an 1/8 ounce. Anything to light will get tangled when boats makes wakes near you causing the rods to jump up and down.

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Originally Posted by smoothlures

Gotcha. What size jig would you use if you used one on the bottom?

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