MAKING THE SWITCH

This has been a hard transition year for me: I have been learning how to catch fish with jigs instead of minners. Thanks to a dear friend and mentor, I have caught more crappie this year with jigs than I ever have. It has been hard!! I'm one of those who thinks that you have to have a minner in the boat at all times. That is just how I was raised I guess. My dad and granddad always used minners and never really used jigs. About the only jig I can remember my grandad using was a yellow marabou jig, any other time it was the old minner bucket. I guess we tend to stick with what we are use to and sometimes not step out of our comfort zone. I went fishing yesterday, and yes I had a few minners withe me from the day before. I would catch a few with the minners, and then I ran out,,,,most of them had died in the bucket!!! So, I opened up my jig box and tried to remember what my buddy had taught me. Tied on a blue/white tube jig, added the nibble, and set off to see what I could catch. I would say that my catch ratio of jig/minner was far beyond what I had expected. If I didn't catch one on every cast it was every other cast. Now it was a farm pond, but I have to say that I have been fishing bigger water this year and have caught more crappie this year than ever just using jigs. Wish I had taken pics of them yesterday, but it had gotten dark by the time I got home. Not sure that I will ever go totally minnerless, but fishing with jigs can be awfully rewarding!!

Good for you building confidence is 90% I have not used live bait for better then 25 years for any thing I fish for from Walleyes to Creek Chubs. Only two species are Catfish and Carp that I use live bait for aka Creek Chubs and Crawlers. I guess I have to throw Sturgeon in there on the live bait side.

I have made a change myself recently. I have fished with 4lb for many years and recently bought a new UL and spooled it with 2lb Nanlfil and took one of my other light rods and spooled it with Stren Crappie 2lb mono. Absolutely effortless to cast and a big adjustment, even for me. When you want to add another aspect to the jig thing, try going to a 4lb rig and 1/32 jigs. Great fun. Glad you're having a good time with it.

I am the same. I like having both but when they are biting I love feeling that thump on a cast jig. I switch back and forth but usually do the jigs

Awesome report. Thanks for sharing about stretching beyond your comfort zone. You might be a 100% jig fisherman before you know it. Your catch was an excellent confidence builder. Great job! :ThumbsUp

Minnow? Who makes those?

Excellent report! These days the colors and types of jigs available for us to use is enormous. They represent every spectrum of natural and unnatural bait species. I haven't use bait in many, many years now and catch just as many as I ever did. Good call and Good Luck!

i'm a jig guy but sometimes the minnow guy in back of boat will put a whipping on me.but a jig guy in back of boat never catches more.

I also am a 98% jig fisherman. The other 2% is only when I am fishing Red Wigglers for Bluegill. I switched to jigs about eight years ago when I started to tie my own jigs and then later learned how to make my own soft plastic bait. I owe the limited knowledge I have to all the people here on Crappie.com who share their ideas and techniques freely. I have yet to find a dead jig in my minnow bucket. In fact I have turned my minnow bucket into a bank fishing Red Wiggler container where the worms live and reproduce freely. I DO NOT buy any bait now. I raise or make my own which just adds to the fun of catching them.