12-12-2015, 03:47 PM
Jeff,
the way we do it and can assure that we are on the bottom is to vertical jig right below us just like we are ice fishing. When our line goes slack we reel our rod tips down to about 6" above the water before the line tightens, then we just do tiny pops with our wrists making sure that the line is going from slack to tight and bouncing the jig about 3" up off of the bottom before it drops back down to plunk on the bottom again. You want the line to exhibit slack on every bounce and and then pop it again. The frequency of the pops are about one flick of the wrist every 2-3 seconds....its quite active actually. Its almost like we are trying to creat a medium to slow "vibration" with our wrists, but still maintaining the pop upward. It's not usually about actually feeling the bottom as much as watching the line to know that we are on the bottom (if that makes any sense).
The hits usually manifest themselves as pressure more than anything with the occasional "bites" being felt. More often than not, if you feel a decent hit it wil be a trout.
Patience is the name of the game with this style of fishing. They come and go as a school, so the bites come and go as well, but it's just like the race between the tortoise and the hare, the slow and steady approach wins out every time.
If vertical jigging is not your style, then casting and letting it sink and then twitching/popping the jig back with just using your trigger finger to provide the jigging action while reeling so slow that it drives you nuts is the other way to do it, and oftentimes that is the presentation of the day.....just try both and see what works, but give an honest 20 minutes to each before trying something else and you'll find the fish. You'll also find the rocks and that is how you know you're in the zone. Jigs are cheap and if you're doing it right you'll lose quite a few in a day.
I don't know if that helps or if you are already doing it that way, but in my experience most people are fishing slightly too fast and are missing out on a ton of fish.
Oh also, I never usually go above 1/8 oz. unless I am fishing in 15-20+ feet. I find that I get more hits and hook ups with 1/8 and 1/16 ounce jigs, I just use the lightest that I can get away with and still keep it on the bottom without too much effort.
Hope this helps you or any others that aren't quite sure how some of us "locals" are doing it, but it's rare that I don't pull a limit of decent whities fishing for them this way.
Mike
[signature]
the way we do it and can assure that we are on the bottom is to vertical jig right below us just like we are ice fishing. When our line goes slack we reel our rod tips down to about 6" above the water before the line tightens, then we just do tiny pops with our wrists making sure that the line is going from slack to tight and bouncing the jig about 3" up off of the bottom before it drops back down to plunk on the bottom again. You want the line to exhibit slack on every bounce and and then pop it again. The frequency of the pops are about one flick of the wrist every 2-3 seconds....its quite active actually. Its almost like we are trying to creat a medium to slow "vibration" with our wrists, but still maintaining the pop upward. It's not usually about actually feeling the bottom as much as watching the line to know that we are on the bottom (if that makes any sense).
The hits usually manifest themselves as pressure more than anything with the occasional "bites" being felt. More often than not, if you feel a decent hit it wil be a trout.
Patience is the name of the game with this style of fishing. They come and go as a school, so the bites come and go as well, but it's just like the race between the tortoise and the hare, the slow and steady approach wins out every time.
If vertical jigging is not your style, then casting and letting it sink and then twitching/popping the jig back with just using your trigger finger to provide the jigging action while reeling so slow that it drives you nuts is the other way to do it, and oftentimes that is the presentation of the day.....just try both and see what works, but give an honest 20 minutes to each before trying something else and you'll find the fish. You'll also find the rocks and that is how you know you're in the zone. Jigs are cheap and if you're doing it right you'll lose quite a few in a day.
I don't know if that helps or if you are already doing it that way, but in my experience most people are fishing slightly too fast and are missing out on a ton of fish.
Oh also, I never usually go above 1/8 oz. unless I am fishing in 15-20+ feet. I find that I get more hits and hook ups with 1/8 and 1/16 ounce jigs, I just use the lightest that I can get away with and still keep it on the bottom without too much effort.
Hope this helps you or any others that aren't quite sure how some of us "locals" are doing it, but it's rare that I don't pull a limit of decent whities fishing for them this way.
Mike
[signature]