vertical jigging

Hey guys I’m looking for some help on vertical jigging for walleye.I fish mostly all man made lakes. What are the conditions when you should vertical jig? Thanks for the help guys

99% is boat control. Either back trolling or using the bow mount. Go as light as possible on the jig weight. Keep an eye on your electronics. Most of the time you should be able to see your jig on the graph. Jig meets mark = bite!

-J.

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99% is boat control. Either back trolling or using the bow mount. Go as light as possible on the jig weight. Keep an eye on your electronics. Most of the time you should be able to see your jig on the graph. Jig meets mark = bite!

-J.

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I guess I’ve never “noticed” my jig on the graph before but I always watch it in case fish are up off the bottom farther than I expect.

Thanks for the tip! How high of a sens. setting are you using on your graph??

Sorry for hi-jack, but these guys have a wealth of knowledge!

Any decent graph should be able to pick up your jig. Most of the time I just run mine in auto. Turn it on and go! Just like watching your vex ice fishing. Drop the jig overboard right by the transducer and watch the jig draw a line down to the bottom on your graph. Once on bottom, you can lift and drop, lift and drop and “draw” a zig-zag line across your screen. As long as your jig is in the transducer cone or “Vertile”, you will see your jig.

-J.

Hey Jon thanks a lot for the help. When vertical jigging do you favor live bait or plastics? Does it work to vertical jig with crawlers and leeches? I’ve only really heard of guys doing it with minnows and plastics. During what conditions do you vertical jig? Would it would to vertical jig while you are drifting or does it need to be done with a bow mount? How far do you lift the jig. Do you normally lift the jig and and drop it right back down or do you hold it there for awhile before you drop it back down. Most of the bites come on when its falling back down to the bottom correct? Again thanks a lot Jon for the help.

Both live bait and plastic work well. I always have a rod set up for bait and one for plastic. hard to beat livebait but there are times when plastics will outshine.
When vertical jigging, leeches are my favorite livebait. Use them from spring until October. When using crawlers, I only use about a 1/4 of it.
If the drift is slow enough where you can maintain bottom contact it work great. Just give the trolling motor a thrust once in awhile to maintain your vertical presentation. As far as lift and drop, I like to slowly raise the jig about 6 to 8 inches and then slowly drop it back down to make bottom contact. This is a good starting point and from here you can modify into other methods such as snap jigging.

Snap jigging would just be a fast aggressive lift and drop right?

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Snap jigging would just be a fast aggressive lift and drop right?

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Snap jigging in a verticle presentation is a quick, sharp up snap, followed by a controlled drop on a taught line. Avoid as much slack in the line as possible.

-J.

Alright boys!!

Figure I need to weigh in on this one!! Jon gives excellent advise about vertical jigging. When I have clients in the boat I typically back troll on producing structure. Keeping clients as vertical as possible is key!! Most people are far to aggressive in jigging techniques to start out. Yep I’ve did OK snap jigging, but more often than not a technique similiar to what you use ice fishing will be your best producer. Remember fish like to chase in the summer as much or more than in the winter. Small jigs and then rise up the water column. Controlled fall and then slight lift and hold. You can jig with everything buddy. My personal favorites for live bait are small shinners or 1/3 of a crawler (Especially during a mayfly hatch). For plastics match a paddletail to your lakes baitfish. Depending on the time of season I’m fishing will depend on what baitfish I am trying to imitate with artificials. Another thing you should definately consider is the “Perchy” hairjigs. BfishN has outdid themselves!! I just received mine, and I am fired up!! I jig walleyes during the entire open water season. This is by far the coolest hair jig I have ever come across!! Walleyes beware!! Trust me you will see lots of pics of Rainy Walleyes with “Perchies” hanging out of their mouths!!

I usually start out dragging jigs or bouncers to cover more acerage and when I dial into a concentration of active fish I change over to jigging. Jigging so to speak, I am actualling hovering my jig 4 to 6 inches off of the bottom. Every so often I lower my rod to make bottom contact and verify that my jig is the correct distance off the bottom. This meathod assures that I have a tight line 100% of the time and keeps my presentation in the zone without spooking or turning off any would be prey. Don’t get me wrong sometimes they would rather take a faster presentation and if I am not successful jigging I will go back to pulling bouncers or dragging jigs.

Another thing you said that you fish primarily in man made lakes, I do also. When dragging jigs I utilize the wind to push me along and depending on the wind speed, may point my bow into the wind or turn the boat 90 degrees to the wind. On the windy days I turn my bow into the wind and utilize my trolling motor to slip down wind. On the calmer days I turn the boat sideways so I can use my boat gunnel as a sail to help propell me down wind.

I almost forgot a piece of night crawler is all I use minows usually find the crappie or cat when I want a walleye and leaches are hard to find down here most of the time.