So what is your favorite way to jig up some panfish? There are those days when dropping a lure down in front of the fish, give it a couple of wiggles and its fish on. What is your next step when they dont respond to this?
Here are a few approach’s that I like to go to next.
The chase. This is when those fish come up to a jigging lure but then stop short or dont like to bite. What I will try is when they first start to come up Ill start reeling in line slowly or lifting the lure away from them. There are days when they just can not resist this and it will turn a slow rising fish into a bullet that just wants to inhale that jig. 2 variations of this approach I will try are a slow pull away of the lure and then stop or a basic retrieve of the lure with no stop until the fish hits it. There are times that if the lure stops the fish will turn or stop to.
Pounding bottom. This is basically dropping the lure down to the bottom and with short lifts pounding the lure on the bottom. To me it seems like this may have a couple of effects on the fish. #1 the noise or clouds steered up on the bottom helps attract fish in. #2. Your lure looks like something struggling on the bottom or a bug coming off the bottom. Give this approach a try with very short lifts of the lure by tapping the end of your rod. This way your lure will only be traveling a few inches off bottom before heading back down. I would imagine there are plenty of bugs and minnows on the bottom that never get more than a inch or 2 off of it.
Holding the lure still. Yep. we have all seen it. Those days when any motion at all will stop a fish or turn them around. This is when holding the rod still and patience may be just what is needed to get them to commit. Now holding the rod still with just your hand may be good enough at times there are days when even this still causes to much movement. This is when setting the rod down or on your knee may be needed. Some days I find setting the rod on your knee and using this next trick work well together.
The tap. Next time you are jigging pay attention to how far you rod tip travels up and down. I would bet even a slight jigging motion and you are looking at 2 to 4″s of travel or more. A twist to jigging is just tapping the reel or different places on the rod depending on how much action I want to show the fish. Most times this is done by holding the rod in one hand, or resting it on your knee and just tapping it with your other hand. To me I think this is giving that lure more of a quivering motion than jigging motion. Some time its constant tapping all the way until the fish bites. other times its just a single tap or 2 and then hold.
Just when you thought jigging for panfish was going to be simple, huh.
What tricks or variations of these approaches do you guys like to use?
Good luck fishing this weekend.
who is just going to leave when that happens?
Sunfish seem to run fast away from a downwards jigging approach. Another way to tell what species is on your flasher.. 
