No Jigs on Mille Lacs

Why is everyone using Lindy rigs for walleye and not fishing a jig. There has to be a good reason. Doesn’t there??

Jigs and a Minnow just don’t work on Mille Lacs.

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Jigs and a Minnow just don’t work on Mille Lacs.

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ummmmmmm……. Are you sure?

Maybe it’s just differnent lingo on Mille Lacs, maybe by saying riggin’ everyone really means jiggin? or wait…maybe jigging off the reefs doesn’t work…

I know my uncle was just up at the pond and had his best luck using a jig an leech. No luck using a lindy rig….but i dont know if he really knew what he was doing with a lindy rig either…….

I have never tried a jig as i would rather lindy or bottom bounce.

Jigs work well. Its just not the main stay on mille lacs. A few guys I know only use jigs.

Two years ago I watched a guy smoke everyone on a reef while using jigs. It was insane how fast he was catching fish. I was rigging a pod of fish on a different lake this year, but I couldn’t get them to go. I moved off of them and looked back to see another guy jigging them. He pulled 6 fish out of there in very short order. I think once the rigging bite slows like now, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

I use floating jigs, on a harnass, does that count ?

big g

one of the guys i fish with on mille lacs only uses jigs while i only go with the lindy. he seems to keep up just fine..

Didn’t Al Lindner say “A jig is a rig and a rig is a jig.”

I have caught some decent eyes fishing jigs on Mille Lacs.
But I love jig fishing and don’t rig much. I’m too hyper for dragging bait around.

dd

I was fishing 8 mile on the 4th with the father in law. He is a master Missouri River fisherman up in North Dakota. We get very competitive when it comes to fishing (I think for fun) and he was up on me a couple of fish. I tied on a jig and bam, a 26 incher before it even hit the bottom. Problem was, it was last pass because we had to head back in time for family gathering fireworks.

I do alot of bobber fishing on ML and almost every fish this year came on a jig under a bobber.

I’m pretty green when it comes to open water fishing and never fished with a jig other than beneath a bobber. I’ve seen how they are worked on sport shows but couldn’t tell if they were drifting, trolling, or anchored.

i’ve had some good luck in the past using a black jig and a leech, just dragging it over shallow reefs. ALOT of snags but also alot of fish .

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Didn’t Al Lindner say “A jig is a rig and a rig is a jig.”

I have caught some decent eyes fishing jigs on Mille Lacs.
But I love jig fishing and don’t rig much. I’m too hyper for dragging bait around.

dd

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Hear ya there Drewsdad I remember we worked side by side on the clam bed this spring on Pool 4 looks like both our boats had a blast enough trolling bring on the fall jigging bite

I know what I will be using next time.

I think that walleye will have a harder time swallowing a jig way down to the danger zone.

Thanks guys.

I assume you are referring to “vertical jigging”.

“General textbook” walleye fishing is “generally” a jig is used (actual jigging) when water temps are a bit colder.

When the water temps warm up, the fish “generally” respond much better to a “rig”.

This is “textbook” fishing and to be used as a “guideline”, not gospel (close, but not quite).

Each body of water is different, let alone there are different structures on each body of water that you should fish differently.

Point is, you have to give the fish what they want. Don’t try and force the fish to take what you want them too. If the fish want a leech on a 10′ snell, then don’t force them a jig. Vice-versa……

You have to review your structure that you are fishing and determine the best way to fish it. For example, if you are fishing huge flats, with fish scattered, it makes no logical sense to drop down a jig/minnow and work 1% of that area. You want to pull out some cranks or spinners and go search the flat for active pods of fish.
However;
If you are working deep rock structure that is a small area, the area maybe too small to cover with cranks. Now is the time to drop a jig/minnow or even a lindy rig / or slipbobber and “park” on top of that structure and pluck away at it.

Sure, you may drop a vertical jig/minnow and catch a good fish on the mudflat. You probably will, if you have good boat control and presentation control. People do it all the time, via slip bobbering the flats. Chances are that fish would have bitten anything that would have come its way. However, “most of the time” you are somewhat restricted on covering waters.

I’ll be jiggin minnows and jiggin leeches this weekend.

Slip bobber fishing is nothing more than “precision depth control verticle jigging”! You set the depth so as to keep the jig out of the snags, let the waves give it the jigging action, and the current sweeps your offering thru the area you want to cover.

I’ve probably had over a 1000 walleyes in my boat this season so far doing just that!