What type of jig RETRIEVE?

What type of jig retrieve does everyone use? After a long chat that I recently had with a very nice elderly guy. I asked him a lot of jig questions. I asked him what type of plastics that he used, he mentioned all the normal plastics including plain tube jigs and when I asked him what type of retrieve he used, he said just a steady one, no action at all, no twitching, no start and stop. It got me to thinking how y’all do it.

Thanks
Flymoron


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Under a float a slow start and stop retrieve. When shooting docks it is more of a pendulum type of retrieve where it swings back to to the boat others a slow and steady retrieve. The fish will let you know what they want

Depends on the fish, keep trying different retrieves until they start hitting it :dono

in my case, a highly variable one, slow and steady sometimes and even way slower and not so steady at others .
under a float creep speed is often very very effective.
fickle creatures are crappie fish and one day on one lake they want it one way and the next day somewhere else they want it way different.
sometimes twitching it makes a big difference and other times they dont like it , not sure why but to be very sure they are all over the map in these parts . some days sitting it still and just twitching it and others a short drag and twitch , the possibilities and combinations on retrieves varies immensely on what works well and what does not .

I like the no retrieve at all. 90% of the time get to the depth I want and hold it still or pitch to the target and let it fall back to the boat. I'm not a chunk and wind guy for crappie.

The spot I was fishing before covid and all the magnet fishers hit it and ruined it, required a slow retrieve. When you thought you were winding in slow, cut that speed in half, sometimes in half again. Extra slow.

Learned a lot with Livescope. They definitely "DON'T" like aggressive jigging in their face. Even a dead still presentation is not as good as a slow moving one. Ideally, I like to pendulum down over their head and pull it away from them as they run it down. Helps with a better hook up too.

Mostly depends on what I'm throwing, as to how I retrieve it.

Single jig/plastics ... slow & steady 90% -- slight twitch now & then 10%
Double jig rig ... slow & steady once the rig gets into the zone 99% ... slight twitch or rod tip jiggle 1%
Road Runner ... slow & steady 100%

I taught people way before livescope to drop it in a brushpile and hold it still . With a long rod the jig will never be completely static . I put it in their face with livescope and hold it there . Many times they turn up and move so slow . If you over animate jig presentation (jig up and down) many times it will spook them . Seen times where a jig under a cork gets more bites without moving it . The waves or wind imparts enough on it's own .

Of course no crappie ever chases a bait in open water, so never ever cast to them and retrieve it , maybe drag it around behind the boat and let it do the retrieval thing for ya ….:Rofl

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

Of course no crappie ever chases a bait in open water, so never ever cast to them and retrieve it , maybe drag it around behind the boat and let it do the retrieval thing for ya ….:Rofl

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I have watched males leave the nest and race 60' for my jig intended for another fish.

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Originally Posted by flymoron

What type of jig retrieve does everyone use? After a long chat that I recently had with a very nice elderly guy. I asked him a lot of jig questions. I asked him what type of plastics that he used, he mentioned all the normal plastics including plain tube jigs and when I asked him what type of retrieve he used, he said just a steady one, no action at all, no twitching, no start and stop. It got me to thinking how y’all do it.

Thanks
Flymoron


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When casting and retrieving, I have found that a slow and steady retrieve works the best by far for me.


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Since around 2008 I have been fishing strictly UL. I have used a 1/64 ounce Trout Magnet for more than 98 percent of my fishing. I have always used the Twitch method. I have done it for so long it now just happens naturally. My lure is shaking all the time. I have caught all the crappie one would care to catch. All that movement has worked very well for me. The TM was designed to be twitched. At age 72 I don’t see myself ever changing. The best method is the one that works for you and puts fish in the boat.

Regards


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Originally Posted by NIMROD

I taught people way before livescope to drop it in a brushpile and hold it still . With a long rod the jig will never be completely static . I put it in their face with livescope and hold it there . Many times they turn up and move so slow . If you over animate jig presentation (jig up and down) many times it will spook them . Seen times where a jig under a cork gets more bites without moving it . The waves or wind imparts enough on it's own .

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Great advice from Nimrod.


ClearCreek

If I am so called jig fishing after using livescope, I do not jig . I may shake it a second but never up and down .(like a couple inches ). When casting road runners or curly tails its a steady slow retrieve. Will alter to rise and fall if they want hit steady retrieve . :popcorn

I cast 1/16th oz jigs, once they hit the water I count the depth down, then slow roll back to the boat, if I'm using a cork ill slow retrieve, rest, pop, rest retrieve and repeat. I will try different depths/counts till I find them.

Very seldom do I ever just cast and retrieve, I do shoot docks though, and I have a sorta danny wiggle to the bait, it just a little action I put on the bait. Most of the time I am livescoping and just drop the jig on their head and wait for the fish to react to it before I make my next move, maybe wind it up a little and see, or just let it down a little. But when I fish treetops with a jig, I put a very small jig on and every once in a while, if I know they are down there and not biting I will twitch it a little bit, not a big twitch, just move the jig about a inch or two, in other words make it look alive, not like it’s going to fly. If you decide to jig your bait make very small movement in your baits at first, then move to more movement, to much is not good. Just my 2 cents.

No right or wrong way to jig crappie and all methods work sometimes. Personally I fish slow in cold water and speed it up as the water temps warm up.

I usually drift with jigs, so the wind or wave action imparts the only movement, except for action tail jigs, like curl tail or paddle tails. If I'm casting and retrieving, slow & steady always produces more than imparting movement for me.

Jim

Hav caught lots Crappie on Southern Pro twister tail in Tenn Shad. Just reeling real slow

On a bobber, I will switch between dead still and 1, pause... 123 pause cadence. I may throw in a slow retrieve depending on how the fish are behaving.

On the underspins, I do a slow retrieve with the same cadence but with no pauses just as slow as I can retrieve it without going deeper.

The speed of the cadence and retrieve solely depend on what the fish are looking for that day. It takes a lot of trial and error, but when I find what they want I will start getting on them.

I fished the same spot from the bank 3 times this week. Caught a few each day. Saturday they wanted mayfly color baby shad cast and just let it sit. Wednesday it was itty bitty in electric chicken. Cast pull float back a couple feet and let it fall. They would hit it on the fall. Almost didn’t figure them out yesterday. But it was a black and chartreuse slider with a steady retrieve much faster than I would normally reel back. In my opinion it’s like my mentor has told me many times,let the fish tell you what they want. And that will usually change from day to day,or even hour to hour.


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slow roll....... sometimes thats still toooooo fast.

Presentation dictate lure tail shapes and actions and those two dictate the best retrive for making the best of those lure actions.

If I want to try a faster presentation to cover more water, I'll cast lures that are retrieved steadily such as curl tail, Beetle Spins and some crankbaits. A few pauses in the retrieve get fish interested seeing as how fish themselves and various prey that swim, stop-&-go.

Finesse lures too many to mention, dictate many different retrieves but always on the slow side. Take these to finesse-tail lures. You wouldn't want to do a steady retrieve because the tails would do nothing. The flat thin tail on the left flutters and quivers with the least movement whereas the Magnet tail on the right whips a bit with rid tip twitches but also quivers.

Attachment 453167Attachment 453168

This lure shape allow two retrieves depending the hook rig. When rigged from the front, the lure whips back & forth in-place:
Attachment 453169

When wacky rigged and given rapid rod tip twitches, the whole body and tails quiver-in-place.
Attachment 453171 Attachment 453172

This fin tail quivers with the least action given as long as the knot is at the top of the line tie on the jig and the lure's body/flat tail is horizontal to the bottom.
Attachment 453173

Most of the above can be used under a float and show their finesse actions with a bit of waves bobbing everything this way and that.

There are many more retrieves that are matched to lure action, but you get the picture.