Thread: Jig depths ?

Well, I did a little different than some of the others. I actually went to the lake, got my speed set at .8 mph, casted my jigs "on a long throw" (my terminology for as far as I could cast that jig), and headed to the shallows to "see" at what depth the rods started bouncing. With my boat set up I can get about 8' deep with 1/16ths, 4' on a 1/32nd, and I've never fished anything lighter. Now, with those same jigs on a half throw I can get the 1/16's around 5' deep and the 1/32nds a couple feet deep. And again, with 1/16ths and a splitshot about the same size as the jighead I go 13' deep with the jig. This is with 6# Vicious or Mr. Crappie Hi-vis line, southern pro 2" hot grubs, and round head lite wire jigheads and all my rods off the back and back corners of my boat with rods low to the water. IMO, the only way youre gonna know what your setup does is by dragging the jigs at a set speed on a long throw and see where (at what depth) your rods begin bouncing as you head shallow. IMO, until you actually do this youre just guessing.

Originally Posted by gabowman

Well, I did a little different than some of the others. I actually went to the lake, got my speed set at .8 mph, casted my jigs "on a long throw" (my terminology for as far as I could cast that jig), and headed to the shallows to "see" at what depth the rods started bouncing. With my boat set up I can get about 8' deep with 1/16ths, 4' on a 1/32nd, and I've never fished anything lighter. Now, with those same jigs on a half throw I can get the 1/16's around 5' deep and the 1/32nds a couple feet deep. And again, with 1/16ths and a splitshot about the same size as the jighead I go 13' deep with the jig. This is with 6# Vicious or Mr. Crappie Hi-vis line, southern pro 2" hot grubs, and round head lite wire jigheads and all my rods off the back and back corners of my boat with rods low to the water. IMO, the only way youre gonna know what your setup does is by dragging the jigs at a set speed on a long throw and see where (at what depth) your rods begin bouncing as you head shallow. IMO, until you actually do this youre just guessing.

Lots of good answers, but I've done what Butch has, in regards to dragging until they hit bottom, and I use the same type lures, so I tend to agree with his response. But remember, that suspended crappie at 8-9 feet has absolutely no problem swimming up to engulf a jig a 2 ft or 7 ft, if water clarity allows it to see the lure. As the gentleman who first taught me long-lining trolling said, "Boy, I don't know how deep that jig is going, but the rods are bending and we're catching fish, so what difference does it make?" Kinda hard to argue with that logic...

If I had to random a guess, using round headed jigs heads, and curly tailed grubs, 6 lb. test on a 50 foot cast going .7 mph, I would state that 1/16ths would be running around 9', the 1/32nds around 7', and the 1/48ths around 5'.

Originally Posted by burdawg

There are too many variables to give a concrete answer....unless, you give all the variables to take into account. The variables are: type jig head (bullet/minnow runs deeper than round), size jig head (1/16,1/32,1/24 etc.), diameter of line: (#4, #6, etc.), length of line (30',40',50',60', 80', etc.), angle of rod (0degrees-straight out back, 90 degrees-straight out side...0 degrees runs deeper than 90 degrees etc.,body of jig (curly tail, slider, hair etc.), speed (.7,.8,.9,1.0) now, if I have remembered all of those we can take the guess work out. I think length of line is one area where people "guess"...and unless you are counting it out, you may be surprised. One day we were fishing Greenwood and I had a 12' rod that was about out of line...it was catching fish left & right. When I got home, I measured the amount of line it had out...75' to my surprise. So unless you know that....the formula is worthless. Angle of rods is another area that we fail to make adjustments during the day. Sometimes the back rods are catching more fish than the side rods or vice-versa...the depth is the answer. If the side rods are getting more bites, shallow up the back rods or vice-versa. I would suggest if you don't count out your line...to at least cast your jig on your lawn and measure the distance...then you'll have some idea how far back your jigs are.

Good read

Agree with gabowman about need to just see what depth they hit bottom at to be sure. I seldom troll as slow as 0.7 mph anymore unless I am just trying things to see if I can get a bite. I am usually around 0.9 to 1.1 and sometimes as high as 1.3. 1/16's seem to run about 4 or 5 feet deep at that speed. I go to higher weight if I need to go deeper.

Great read.....and absolutely everyone needs to do their own homework but....this is a great conversation and what this board is for. I still have times where i cant catch fish and the boat beside me is hauling them in and i get to wondering what im doing wrong.....depth of jig ways is 1st question. Happened last weekend and now the responses on here have varified that speed should have been on point and i dont have to take my set up back to the lab

As mentioned, there are a ton of variables to consider and I believe even the boat you are fishing out of plays in to it. Without experimenting like Butch mentioned I believe it's hard to know anything exact, but I believe a 1/16th minnow head pulled at 0.8 mph is running about 8 foot. I think a 1/32nd at 0.8 is probably in the 5-6 foot range and a 1/48th around 3 ft. Just my opinion and I'm a tightliner at heart so take my opinion lightly LOL.