Dumb question about fishing a jig in deeper water. Long winded.

Hi guys - my previous years of crappie fishing usually consisted of a minnow under a bobber. Sometimes a small crank bait or roadrunner.

My local lake was created by putting a dam across an old creek for flood control. I’ve been fishing, fairly successfully, with a jig under a bobber, letting the wind bounce it over to the tree trunks and downed trees. In about 8’ of water. Bit shallower on occasion.

Now that it’s warming up, the crappie have seemed to move into deeper water. Around 15’ or so.

My old boat is a small 12’ jon boat. Very hard to fish long rods out of. Unless I want to get wet. Lol. Tough to stand up in safely. Casting a lure is tough to do cause of the heavy cover along the old creek channel. I lose a fair amount of tackle as it is due to snags.

I have watched the videos on YouTube of guys casting jigs and using a slow retrieve. I could probably get away with that if I stick to just the creek channel. Are you guys just casting the jig out and slowly retrieving it? How do you control your depth, or not worry about it as during the retrieve it’s going to go thru the strike zone anyways.

Or, should I perhaps try a 10 or 11 foot rod, utilize a slip float, and fish my jig under that at around 15’ or wherever I find the fish holding? That seems to be about the only way I can get next to cover along side the old creek bed. I think I could get away reeling in the small bobber stop when I reel in a fish.

Perhaps use both methods? I dunno the best approach to use for the deeper water with heavy cover.

Very sorry for a very long winded question on something that maybe should be obvious.

Thanks!

Joe

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Originally Posted by 68748Joe

Are you guys just casting the jig out and slowly retrieving it? How do you control your depth ...?

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Yes, just cast and retrieve. Lose the bobber. Count the jig down to your chosen depth. A constant retrieve will keep it at that depth. If you’re losing a lot of jigs, use weedless jig heads.

:hesaid

In water deeper than 20ft I prefer to fish vertical.

Usually when casting, I'm not reeling very much, more letting the jig pendulum back towards me on a tight line. Most of the time you'll get thumped right as you stop reeling and let the jig slow fall.

Use weedless 1/32 or 1/16 oz jigs for heavy cover, and train yourself not to jerk when you feel resistance. If you feel something solid, most of the time if you don't pull hard, you can let the jig fall back through it and try again without getting hung up.

Sounds like good advice. What do I do though if I want to fish next to the dead tree trunks? I’m pretty much limited to vertical jigging then right? I’ll just have to experiment more on what’ll work. I will be trying the cast and retrieve in the old creek channel.

Have to wait till Monday though. Lake is just super busy on weekends. Violates my social distancing guidelines. Nobody closer than 200 yards. :)

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Originally Posted by 68748Joe

What do I do though if I want to fish next to the dead tree trunks?

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Try this:

https://www.crappie.com/crappie/crap...tical-casting/

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Originally Posted by Atimm693

In water deeper than 20ft I prefer to fish vertical.

Usually when casting, I'm not reeling very much, more letting the jig pendulum back towards me on a tight line. Most of the time you'll get thumped right as you stop reeling and let the jig slow fall.

Use weedless 1/32 or 1/16 oz jigs for heavy cover, and train yourself not to jerk when you feel resistance. If you feel something solid, most of the time if you don't pull hard, you can let the jig fall back through it and try again without getting hung up.

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:hesaid as well!

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Originally Posted by deathb4disco

Try this:

https://www.crappie.com/crappie/crap...tical-casting/

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Thanks for sharing that tip. Something to try out for sure. I like it.

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Originally Posted by 68748Joe

Thanks for sharing that tip. Something to try out for sure. I like it.

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I do that a lot in the winter and summer fishing deeper brush vertically.

Let it fall to the bottom, bring it up one crank at a time, pausing in between. You will almost always get whacked on the pause.

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Originally Posted by Atimm693

I do that a lot in the winter and summer fishing deeper brush vertically.

Let it fall to the bottom, bring it up one crank at a time, pausing in between. You will almost always get whacked on the pause.

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You know, I've never really used my Vertical Casting method in Winter ... but, what you're saying about getting whacked on the pause makes sense. Seeing as how the fish are a little more lethargic during cold water times (& probably also in very hot water times) it would make sense that they might follow the jig up or as the jig reaches their level (& their strike zone), that a "pause" might give them just enough time & opportunity to make up their mind to strike ... and without having to expend much energy doing so.

Thanks for that info !! I might just incorporate that little tidbit into my Vertical Casting next time !!

You should use braid if your losing a lot of jigs. I pull the jig until the hook straightens and retrieve it. Reset the hook and get back to fishing. It saves lots of time and lots of jigs. I like to fish vertically if the water is cold. The colder it is the less a crappie is going move to hit a bait. Put it in their face and you have a better chance in getting bit.

try a number 6 ,1/32 on 6 lb mono maybe , use a fairly fat plastic and then cover the hook point with a nibble so its a little on the weedless side with NO hook point visible .
cast it and let it settle for a bit watch the line as it falls with lots of slack it in . try to see about how much line is going down and when you think you are close to the depth you want slowly raise the rod tip and reel very slowly .
it will take practice and you will lose a few jigs ,but once you master that free fall , you will likely ketch fish floating it along past the tops of the cover .
there are likely some better ways to present it but that's probably what I would do ….
we fished a spot like you are talking about years ago and ruined a bunch of fishes day letting a light jig fall on the opposite side of a submerged tree line and slow dragging them back across the tops of those trees on the old creek bed .
my 2 cents

Vertical jigging is very effective. I would jig all those dead trees and the creek channel.

You might want to read the DK Method of Single Poling. It is found on the TN page and is a sticky at the top. Pretty good info.