TIPS FOR JIGGING

These are great techniques if the walleye are spread out but what if the fish are tightly grouped on a point or small rock pile?

Then you have to think about a jig.

I know the rule is that you use a jig and minnow in the spring and switch to crankbaits and spinners in the summer and fall, but that's not the way a versatile angler thinks. A versatile angler makes a decision regarding technique after they discover what position the fish are in.

And if there wasn't some credibility to deep jigging then there wouldn't be any reason to make those quarter and three-eighths ounce jigs now would there?

So, let's go do some jigging in August, when the walleye are deep and everyone else is trolling all over the place.

You notice a few nice "marks" on the sonar screen. This is a good word, "marks" because it sounds like you are the hit-man and those walleye are your victim; doesn't it?

You tie on a three-eighths ounce Stinging Foxee because the walleye you see are in 28 feet of water and you want a little more weight to get the jig down. That jig looks so big as you poke a jumbo leech through the sucker with the tip of the hook, but it's not when you consider the size of the forage they're eating right now. That jig looks like an appetizer. Rig the stinger and drop it down to the fish.

You are wondering why I use a stinger? Because deep walleyes have a knack for being able to pull the leech off the jig, but if you have a stinger hiding in the tail of the leech you will catch that fish.

Most stingers don't work well with a leech, but the Stinging Foxee stinger was designed by me to work with minnows, leeches, and crawlers so you won't be disappointed, especially when you're hauling in a big walleye.

If the fish are two feet off the bottom, let's say, drop the jig all the way to the bottom and bring it up two feet. You want to pop, wiggle, and quiver that jig right in front of those fish.

The bite can be subtle. All you feel is a slight bit of resistance. You don't need to try to rip the fish's lips off. Just snap the rod tip straight up until you feel the weight of the fish.

This next jigging technique works real well this time of year for big walleye. You need to use a half-ounce Fire-ball jig with the standup head and a big shiner or sucker minnow, something in the five to six-inch range.

Push the hook into the fish's mouth and bring it out behind his head. You do that to keep the minnow alive, which means you get some action even when the jig is resting on the bottom. What you want the bait to look like is a minnow feeding on the bottom. The walleye will swim up behind the bait and inhale it. You may not even know you have the fish until you go to lift the jig off the bottom and move it.

The one drawback to this kind of jigging right now on the reservoir is that the pike are everywhere and they love the jig and big minnow combination. You get bit off occasionally, but your chances for a bigger than average walleye are great with this technique.

One of the new products I've incorporated into my jigging routine is the new Fireline. At first I didn't like it for jigging, but Barry Day at Berkley told me to keep working with it and now I wouldn't use any other line when I have a jig on the end.

Why? Because the sensitivity is so fine that you can almost tell when the walleye is breathing on the bait. You know when the fish has gripped the bait in its mouth because you can feel it.

You need to use a rod with a lighter tip. Instead of the line stretching and providing the forgiveness, the rod does.

You really get good hook sets with Fireline too. It's that no-stretch property again. You really bury the hook with just a snap.

You might look a little strange jigging around all those trollers, but hey, who cares when you're catching fish?