Roam around the ice fishing department at any local sporting goods store, and you know there is no shortage of options for panfish jigs. While lead jigs are by far the most common, many ice heads have learned the value of fishing tungsten over the past 8-10 years. The advantage of tungsten over lead is size and weight. Tungsten jigs are heavier with a smaller overall size than a similar lead jig. This allows an angler to fish a smaller jig and still get down quick to finicky panfish quick.
When I’m seeking out bluegills and crappies, rarely do I fish a hole unless I see them first on my Marcum. We all know the frustration of trying to get a tiny jig down 15-20 ft to those bright red lines, only to have them disappear before your bait gets down to them. With tungsten, you can get down to those cruising fish quick.
VMC has a very nice tungsten option. New for this year, the VMC Tubby jig has quickly become my go-to jig for fishing crappies and gills. Rigged with bait or plastic, this jig has been ultra effective. The Power Gap hook has afforded me very few missed bites and solid hookups.
Here is a “Tubby” gill from this morning. She gracefully posed for this quick pic and went back. I rigged the jig with a Trigger-X 1″ minnow in “Blood Red” color.
Stay safe fellas.
