Question about fishing technique/ tying your own jigs

I hope this is the right forum for this question. I am like many of you bitten by the tying bug. I am not the best in the world but I make do. I tie a lot of jigs and think they will catch fish. For some reason I always stop at the bait store on the way to the lake and buy minnows. I get to the lake and always put minnows on and catch fish. After I break off I put a jig on and continue fishing the same way. I can honestly say I have never caught a fish on my own jigs. How do you spider rig with your own jigs. I would love to get to the point where I use my jigs and my jigs alone... Please help me get there.

Thanks

Tripp

First thing that I would try is don't stop and get minnows one time.Hit the same areas that you usually do and know that there are fish at.Try putting one of your jigs on a slip bobber to get it where the fish are.Keep trying until you find one that works,color wise.Start with one that looks like one of them minnows.Gotta start somewhere.That's what I did.

Leave the minnows at the store especially in the spring and fall. I see no reason to have minnows in these times of the year. I do think summer the minnows sometime is the only thing that works very well. I have always don't really well spring and have not fished the fall as much the last few years due to just being busy, but use to kill them in the fall too. I mostly use a Roadrunner for both times, but not necessary at all. I would try a 1/32 jig even in the fall, but certainly in the spring as not reason to go heavier. Spider rigging is not one of the fishing methods I use, but I do long mine troll a lot in both spring and fall.

Don't know you lake at all, but if it has Hydrilla then this fall I would be looking for that 12'-15' water depth where Hydrilla is present. If no Hydrilla, maybe a nice lay down in that water depth and pulling a 1/32 Oz. bait will let it run higher in the water and of course crappie feed at their level and up, never below. If there is not a lay down, maybe you should pull one out in a spot and leave the lay down there and if need be weigh it down to stay there and soon crappie should be on it. Maybe in the back of creeks too and just look for deep creeks so the back has some water to fish in. Try every depth from 3'-15' and long line troll until you find them. Once you do keep going back and forth over them so keep the line your trolling marked some way.

Skip

Maybe you could show us a pic of some of your ties and we could give you some pointers there.

If you are catching them on minnows then there is no reason they shouldn't bite a jig at the same depth. Your color selection may be the problem. What color water you are fishing and what color the bait fish or crawfish are usually indicate what color jig I use. Like alot of blues and oranges if the water is a little murky.

I just got home from spider rigging jigs. I had 3 poles out each side of the boat and was running my jigs around 8 ft deep. I never got over .6 mph using a GPS to monitor my speed. We caught a bunch, but kept 13 keepers. I caught fish on Fl. pink/Chatreuse, blue/blue/blue, and black/orange.

Scott if they are working tie you some Chart/Blue/Chart and I bet it works well!

Skip

Big, as you've been told, leave the minnows at the store. Many presentations work with just jigs. Find a piece of structure and set your rods in the holders. Set them as close to the top of it as feasible, and put different colors on each line. Start on the downwind side and barely crawl forward til your jigs get in the neighborhood of the structure and cut the TM. You should drift up to or past your target, the wind will stop you and begin to push you back and the rods should start going down. If you drop a marker on the structure before you set up you can drift by the marker on the left, next on the right, next dead on and stop short, you get the picture. Spider riggin takes a little bit of getting used to , but when it's hot- it's smokin! I've had 4 rods go down within seconds of one another. One of the jigs I tie a lot of is all gray with a strip of red, be it floss or crystal flash or angel hair on a 1/16 bare lead head. It's profile is very minnow like and gets a lot of action. Be careful on the structure with your hand ties, if it's cedar or Christmas trees you could donate a lot of work to it in short order. When that happens I go plastic and save my goodies for less grabby conditions. Occasionally curltails out produce anything else, I guess the slow motion of the tail gets their goat. Keep us posted on your progress, we're interested.

I forgot to mention that I vertical jig the same structure that I just described with my hand ties with very good success. One rod in each hand and use the same approach. This past weekend I felt the weight of the jig return to the rod after the fish had spit it, never felt it get picked up. That would have happened un noticed while riggin. When doing this, the line held in your fingers helps a lot in feeling those subtle bites. I found this easier to learn when alone in the boat, distractions lengthen the learning process. Now get out there and catch some fish.lol

Thanks for all the help I am going to get better.

Big'

Skeetbum mentions feeling the weight return....often a jig strike will feel like nothing at all - when in doubt - set the hook - they are free. Also - when tight lining / vertical jigging - use a soft, limp line, and watch your line as well - some times - crappies will stike upward - that is - they take your jig and swim up, taking the weight off your line - you never feel it, but you can see it (the tension on the line by the weight of the jig comes off).

I've been out fishing where I've had strikes that rattle your teeth, strikes you can barely feel and strikes where I've felt nothing at all, all on the same brush pile spot. Each fish is differant in how it behaves.

Another thought - what weight line are you using? I use 4# (mono and fluro carbon) on my crappie rods.

Best of luck to you

UG

don't give up on yourself if you lived in our state of Oregon, which live bait were I live is illegal to use. First off, we use jigs. 99% of the time without any help at all topped off with any type of worms or any other type of baits it would attract fish to your jig once you master the jig itself and have confidence in it you will quit buying life bait. I'm sure that you are aware there's many different ways of fishing a jig try different methods sometimes the fish do not want a slow moving bait you'll have to move the jig faster sometimes they wanted slower. Sometimes this it jig itself. You may have to much action in the jig such as marabou it another flexible type tails you may want to try a stiffer type of tails such is hackle in different types of nylon so give that a shot and good luck can keep a tight line my friend. And don't give up on yourself. I'm sure that your jigs will catch fish.

Good point about eyes on the line Grump. It's tough with a rod on either side of the boat, but I've had days where 60% of the strikes were never felt, but seen. I use hi-vis yellow line from BPS. Cheap and works well, offshore angler on the label. 4000 yds of 4lb for about $7. Use the 6lb also, and will get some 8 next time I go.

Big I have been following this thread and thinking about it for a few days. I have come up with one other thing that you need. Confidence!!!!!! That is something that you can't buy at a store and it is still something that is still FREE. I think that it is the one thing that is most important in jig fishing. Wheather useing a tightline or spider rig or longline trolling is having the confidence in your ablity to catch fish and confidence in your jig that it will work.
Yes when I started out crappie fishing down here I was a minnow dipper and now I know in my heart that I can catch crappies. bass or any other panfish with what I have tied. My friend Carl had to convince me that what I tied would work he gave me his pole and he tied one of my jigs on my pole and started to catch fish. He had confidence more than I did. Well I started to catch fish with my jigs and now that is all I use. BTW Carl raids my jig boxes on a regular basis.
The truth be knowen you are a good jig fisherman you just don't know it. Get some CONFIDENCE and increase your catch and more confidence will come along very quickly. Remember the first one is the hardest the rest come easy.

All the Best

Redman