Basic Jig Techniques for Bass

It would be difficult for anyone to tell you what you need to do to become a better angler. With so many techniques and different lures available it comes down to choosing the right one to suit the conditions in which you are fishing. Beginning anglers have much to learn before they can consistently catch bass in any condition. Learning and gaining experience is all part of what anglers call fishing. The key is to learn something every time you catch a bass, and even more importantly learn something every time you don't catch a fish.

In this post I hope to point the beginner in the right direction while helping others remember where they began their journey into bass fishing. With hard work and some patience, you will master the techniques needed to catch bass in many conditions. However, do not feel that you must become a professional angler overnight, there isn't a darn thing wrong with being called an amateur in this sport. Millions of anglers simply enjoy fishing for the peace of mind as well as the adrenaline of catching a trophy. Bass fishing has much to offer everyone at every age.

If you master one technique with only one lure you can hold your own in certain conditions, but if you throw that lure in the wrong place at the wrong time it is not going to work. Take a crankbait for instance, we all know how effective they can be, but on those days when bass are holding tight to cover it can become useless. This is a situation that you must broaden your horizon and learn a different technique with a new lure. In this condition being able to put a jig into a logjam or a brush pile can make a bad day of fishing a productive one in a few cast.

Many anglers will cast the crankbait all day and think the bass aren't biting, never knowing what they did wrong. Practice, patience and experience not only helps a beginner become good, it also will make a good angler better. The best advice is to belong to a bass club, or fish with experienced anglers as much as possible to learn and gain experience and knowledge.

One simple bait that we will discuss in this post is the common jig. Its simple design and presentation can quickly become complicated if you let it. The important lesson for fishing a jig is knowing what to do when. This is the beginning of the journey to become a better bass angler.

"One mistake that I see many people make when fishing a jig is they don't allow it to get to the bottom," says Nitro pro Donna Bilbrey. "Until there is total slack in the line, the jig is not where the bass are feeding. Bites will often come on the fall, but if they don't, you are wasting a cast by not allowing it to reach the structure. I see anglers working a jig before it reaches where in needs to often be, on the bottom," the lady bass pro observes.

---

Jig fishing knowledge comes from experience. They are very versatile, and a beginner needs to know that not only cover will be holding bass, but a jig fished in a transitional area can be affective as well. Transition areas such as a ditch where clay and sand meet, or gravel and chunk rock come together can be the best place on a lake to begin. Hummingbird side imaging is great but look for clues on the bank too. Steep banks and transition can be seen above the water. Looking for these small clues on the bank and then following up with your side imaging or the 360 degree scan of your hummingbird is encouraged. This way you are learning to read the lake and understanding the relationship between bass and structure.

Dragging, hoping or swimming a jig in the transition areas will often produce a few bass. Bait is attracted these areas and naturally the bass are not far behind. Knowing which jig to use will improve this technique even more. Hair jigs, skirted jigs, heavy jigs, light jigs, large or small, different colors, this is what can make the simplest of lures become complex. Each type has a purpose, but just as diverse as the many types of jig, is the hundreds of presentations in which they can be fished. Don't allow all of it to get ahead of you. Begin and stay with the basics until experience says you are ready to move on.

Simplicity is an important starting place. Many anglers begin with the most basic, 1-ounce jig with a black and blue skirt with a matched trailer. By first learning the proper way to drop a jig in and around cover, you are on your way. A brush pile, rocks, stumps, a laydown tree, these are the places that will hold bass. Jigs have earned their bass-catching reputation not because they are a long casting lure but because they are designed to be put into the cover that holds the bass.

Take the football jig for instance, it has been around a very long time getting its name from its oval shaped head. The football jig has a different descent than other jigs, actually falling level instead of nose first. They give anglers the opportunity to figs a heavier jig and get deeper than a round or bullet shaped jigs.

The decision of choosing the correct trailer to use is the next step. A soft plastic trailer will add bulk and profile to a jig presentation. By adding the detail of tentacles, fins and pincers and action water displacement to the jig will cause a reaction from a bass as it enhances the presentation getting the attention of the bass. The size, shape and weight of a trailer can also help anglers to control the descent of the jig by the bounce and displacement of the plastic slowing the descent. The trailer can make the jig resemble a bait fish or a crawfish with the right color, size and profile to closely match the forage the fish are feeding on.

A jig can be less forgiving than a crankbait or another lure because you can fish many lures incorrectly and still catch fish in the right conditions. If you fish a jig wrong you can bet that you will not catch bass, but with this said, there is not a better bait for tough days in tough conditions. Anglers must focus on jigs after putting it in the right place. Feeling a jig is very important. By staying in contact with the jig and understanding what it is doing is what makes some anglers better than others. It is the rod that puts the jig in motion and keeps you in touch with it as you hop, swim or jump it along. Anglers that fish jigs need at least a 6' 6"-7' 6" rod with a heavy-to-medium action and a soft enough tip so the angler can feel the jig at all times. This rod must have enough power to deliver a solid hook set. The GTS 7'9" pitching rod designed by Gary Loomis has the action, backbone, and sensitivity needed to control a jig with precision. Bait casting reels can handle a heavy jig and the heavier line required to fish jigs in heavy cover and play a big bass back to the boat. For this reason spinning reels don't hold up as well.

Jigs are heavy, weighing ½-1 ounce but despite their weight, they will not fall straight down unless they are on a slack line. To get the jig to fall straight down a tree trunk or in a brush pile, avoid engaging the reel until the line is slack and the jig is on the bottom. A bass holding tight to cover will rarely leave the cover to strike a falling bait, however put it in his face and he will inhale the jig on the fall. The jig needs to fall into the cover to be effected. The pitch of the jig on a slack line is important. Engaging or tripping the reel before the jig has completed the fall into the cover will create a pendulum effect causing the jig to swing back to the rod tip and away from the cover and away from the bass. This is why a long rod with backbone and a soft tip is such an important tool for pitching a jig.

Jigs are thought of as a shallow water bait, but a change in weather will send bass deep. Bass prefer areas where they can easily move from shallow to deep water quickly during changing conditions. Steep banks, humps and points are natural ambush points that provide current breaks in reservoirs that pull water, and offer comfort above the thermocline in summer. In late summer and through the early fall after the water has heated up, most of the life in a lake will be found above this layer of water. This layer forms between the warm water on the surface and the cold lifeless water on the bottom. Baitfish and other creatures will set up in relation to structure in the oxygenated comfortable depth of the thermocline. It can be found between fifteen and thirty feet in depth at times. When fishing a lake with a thermocline layer, begin at thirty feet or so looking for bait fish on your Humminbird. Once you locate the target depth you can then decide what variety of techniques to use depending on that depth. Putting the jig in the same depth that the fish are in is the key. Remember as water heats up, the thermocline will be pushed down, and as the water cools it will rise.

Fishing a jig is simply about the lure falling. Not only do you want a jig to fall in the right place but you want it to call at the right speed. Speed can not only be regulated with a trailer, but it can be controlled by changing to a lighter or heavier head, or a lighter or heavier line. A hair jig will fall much slower than a rubber skirted jig of the same size and weight. Jigs are commonly between the weights of ½ to 1 ½-ounce range. The most common jig weight for bass anglers being ½ and ¾ ounce sizes.

Anglers look for jigs with the weed guard being positioned as close to the hook as possible. The closer the weed guard is to the hook, the better the hook set will be. A jig with the tip of the hook close to or touching the weed guard will require a bit more finesse when fishing it through wood cover to keep it from snagging but it will pay off once you find a bass.

The simple jig should not intimidate new anglers – in fact, it's versatility will increase an angler's confidence greatly with a little patience and experience. We have laid out the basic techniques needed to master the jig. Keep in mind a few things that will increase your skill, the fall of the jig, placing it in cover, and focusing on what the jig is doing. One final tip is to take it easy on the trolling motor when fishing in shallow water. These jig basics will improve your fishing, so fish responsibly and practice catch and release.

Happy Fishing.

Click here for more bass fishing tips!