Jigging for some tips

So I am looking to get some tips on jigging for mainly panfish and possibly walleye if anyone has some to give.

The reason I am looking for tips/tricks is because last winter my buddy got me hooked on it when fishing for gills in about 6 FoW. I am not sure if it was the late ice factor or just plain luck but I couldn’t keep fish off my line. Now that I have been able to fish early/regular ice season, I cant seem to catch one jigging but I can on dead sticks. I have even used the same lures as my dead stick and to no success.

Thanks.

Jig your lures in a fish tank so you see what it’s actually doing. You’d be surprised at how little a pump is needed to impart action on some lures.

Do you have a flasher to see how they are reacting?

As a kid I was a professional dock fisherman. Would spend hours trying to catch all the fish in the area, then recatch them again. Switching jigs, plastics, parts of plastics, baits, watching how they’d react to slower falls, faster, sideways, vertical movements, even just holding the bait still and flexing the muscles in your hand to impart the slightest variations. Was the biggest thrill to hook that 4″ perch I was battling for 10mins. Ice fishing reminds me of those days.

I live in the west metro of Minneapolis and because of this end up fishing a lot of the lakes around there.I also like to fish walleyes around these lakes in the evening, the only problem is that these lakes aren’t on the same caliber as some of the more well known lakes up north in terms of ‘eye production.

That being said, my jigging style has usually gone something like this: Large aggressive jigs with some type of spoon or rap.(1-3 feet per jig) Once i see a fish on my flasher though I immediately slow it down, but try to keep the “excitement” up. Think shorter sharper jigs (6 inches or so) once the fish closes in and is right on it I usually slow it down even more and just pulse it on the spot(fluid consistent 1″ jigs) and stop it for a few seconds and then start the little jigs again.

The MOST important part of it though, is to watch what the fish does next. I would say that half of my bites come when the bait stops. however, if the fish gets “bored” and starts to swim away I’ll pick up the pace again. That’s why it’s so important to have a flasher and pay attention to patterns.(fish aggressiveness, bait style, and color are my big ones)

I was out during the cold front this weekend and they would only bite when it was at a dead stop. On the other hand I was out early ice in the same spot and they would only hit it if it was jumping up and down with 1’ jigs!

Pay attention, establish a pattern, and get on the water to learn!

I also live in the west metro on the Twin Cities and fish many local lakes. I have been out a few times around here this year, even during the cold snap, and was unsuccessful. I watched countless fish when I would jig extremely aggressive (1-3 ft./jig) follow my bait up. I would then slow it down to the slightest movement and even stopping at points and they would swim away. Repeat above steps for 4 hours and that was how my day on the ice went. I went through, what seemed like, every color and size jig in my box with no changes to the way that they reacted. Continued follows, continued turn aways.

On the other hand, I can jig walleye like no other on Upper Red Lake and Lake of The Woods. I am not sure if this is due to the large quantities of fish in the lake, or if I am just extremely lucky.

I am getting the hang of using a flasher, although I have spent less than 10 hours fishing with them in my lifetime. Up until this year I was a dead stick guy that went out to enjoy the peace and quiet and occasionally the company of good friends. I would guess where the fish were by guessing where I was at on a map. I have since downloaded the Boating USA app on my phone to help pinpoint the areas of a lake that I am looking for. I am still learning how to find fish using a map and assuming where they will be.

You also have to tailor your jigging to certain lures. Spoons that wobble and planes out may need to have a controlled descent instead of free fall. Sometimes you may actually want the lure to pendulum back after it glides outwards. Lures like a Kastmaster.

Some lures are meant to pound the bottom. A Buckshot spoon is a good choice.

Some lures need to be tightlined like a lipless crank bait.

Is this what you mean by a “lipless crank bait”? If so, how do you fish with them? jigging or deadstick? What do you bait them with?

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