Best Pole for Jigging on Bottom

I'm looking at buying about 3 new rods for jigging on bottom. I mainly fish the Arkansas river and when we're not in the backwater, we jig the bottom through the rocks. We do this all year long, obviously changing our depth depending on the time of year that it is. The reel I use the the Crappie Maxx from Bass Pro shops. It's able to cast light jigs easily and smoothly. I have already purchased three new reels and I'm looking at buying some rods. I haven't bought any new rods in a while. I'm on deployment right now and I will be home in September and I would like to have all of my fishing gear ready to go that way I can start doing some early fall fishing. I was mainly wondering if anybody really did this type of jig fishing and what kind of pole they would recommend. Like I said I throw a light open faced reel so a spinning reel rod wouldn't do me much good. Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing ya'lls opionons!

Look up the Huckabee Rods in the Grizzly jig fishing catalog. I use the 11' pulling rods and the 10' dipping stick. For the river needing a heavier jig head because of current I would use the pulling rod. I use two jigs when fishing the river a 1/4 oz on bottom and a second about 24"above it 3/8 oz size. great combo for the rip rap and fishing the bottom transition from rock to sand. Hope this helps.

I have and have used the 11' Ozark heavy jigging rods. I love them. Plenty sensitive enough with enough backbone to boat flip any crappie I have caught. I caught a catfish that was about 8 pounds last trip and the rod handled it great.

Chris

I like the BnM Bucks graphite. I have a 12' and an 11' and they perform just fine while jigging down deep! GTT

Thanks for all of the feedback, I will look into all of ya'lls recommendations!

"Thank's for your service".Tough times right now.Keep Safe.Not trying to sell.If you are close to the Bass Pro shop in Little Rock.They have a salesman in the Rod and Reel dept.What you described is what he does on the Arkansas River.He showed us the Crappie Max rod's and reels.Have the Ozark's "meatgetter" Have the Wally Marshall's They are my go to Rod's for jigging. The Crappiemax's are pretty close to the Wally Marshall.we think Mr Crappie designed the Crappiemax's.Good luck.

Thank you for your Service!! They giving you some good rod option to work with. I like the ozark my self.

Thanks for your service brother, BnM guy here

I appreciate all the good wishes guys. That means a lot to me. I have looked at alot of rods online and what not but they seem to be just a little too long for what I'm looking for. I want a casting rod about 7 foot long, but not a bass rod. I thought that maybe somebody knew of a company that made a casting rod for low profile open face reels that were designed to catch and feel a crappie hit. There's a huge difference in a crappe bump and a bass bump obviously and I've had trouble finding a rod that will pick up sensitve hits like a crappie's, even the lighter weight rods. Like I said, thank you again for the well wishes. Just counting my days down now, I will be back in the US next month with a honorable discharge from the military. Been away from home for 4 years now and looking forward to getting back and doing some serious fishing. I haven't had much of a chance except the couple weeks of leave I've gotten each year.

I have a 10 ft BnM bucks ultimate that may work for you. It has lots of backbone, and spinning rod eyes. It feels lots like an Ozark when fishing. I've used it for all kinds of crappie fishing as well as cat fishing and as a beach casting rod for whiting. It is made in a 10 and 8ft. Look it up on the grizzly jig site under BnM rods. Not a bass rod, but a crappie rod and is really versatile. It will double up on a 6 or 7lb cat fish, but there is never any doubt it will hold.

Here's a link to it. https://grizzlyjig.com/p-267-bucks-ultimate.aspx

Bass Pro made a walleye series of rods that was nice. I had a 7 footer that was outstanding. Very sensitive, fast action with good backbone. I really wish I had not traded that one.

Chris

I use those BPS walleye rods also. Nice rods for presentation specific uses.

You would be better off with spinning tackle. You won't be able to cast lighter jigs with bait casting gear and there will be times you need to go light.don't get and ultralight 5 foot rod and a tiny reel. about 6 and a half foot light action fast taper rod with a little backbone coupled with a good standard sized reel can handle almost all you can throw at it. 6 or 8 pound line works better off the larger spools of standard reels resulting in longer casts. Plus you can handle everything the ultralight will.