Friday, February 15, 2008
Sad, but true.
I regretfully announce that I will no longer be selling crappie jigs. This hasn’t been an easy decision but due to an overwhelming demand and a lack of time, I’ve decided to take down my website. I will, however, keep my blog where I’ll discuss fishing and maybe feature some of my newest jig creations and experiments. Feel free to leave comments or questions you might have about jig tying or any of my jigs. I thank all my customers for the support and would love to hear from you!
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Fishing With Slip Corks
A slip cork can be the most versital tool in your tackle box. This time of year around the Oklahoma City area slip cork fishing becomes very popular to fish deep areas off of lake dams and fishing around docks.
The most important part to being successfull at slip corking is the rod. My favorite length and action of rod for slip corking off of the dock is a 7’6” - 9’ rod with a light action. The pole that I started out slip corking with and really recommend for someone wanting to try Slip Corking is a B’n’M 8ft jigging pole. These sell at Acadamy for around $30, you may think it is a little light but it works almost perfect. You want the lightness of the rod to keep from pulling the hook out of the fish’s mouth and the length to be able to quickly pull in the line when you see the slightest bite on your cork.
The next part is of course the cork. Many people, including myse! lf, make their own or modify premade corks to their liking. However, just starting out I reccomend using a small foam cork that you can buy at any baitshop that allows the line to slide through until it reaches your bobber stop. You will need to take your cork and follow the instruction for rigging it on your line with the beads and bobber stop. Then go to your kitchen sink or a bucket of water and figure out how many split shots or jigs you need to make the cork set how you want it to in the water. I like to have about 1-2 inches of my cork out of the water depending on how windy it is.
Reading the cork. This is the hardest part of Slip Corking and the only way you will really learn how to read you cork is by fishing with it. Most times when we think of fishing with a cork we always wait for the cork to be pulled under. In slip corking that doesn’t happen as often as you would like. Many times you will ! only notice a slight downward twitch and the cork will pause the rise back up. That was a fish taking the jig/ bait holding it then releasing it. Other times you will see you cork rise up out of the water, that is a fish taking the jig/ bait and going up with it. These are movements that you have to learn on your cork it just takes time.
Slip corking is a very enjoyable way to fish and often times allows you to fish areas that others can’t, however; it is a technique that takes a little time to learn.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
How To Fish a Jig: Part III
Part 3: Colors and Size:
One question that I get asked more than any other is what is the best color and size; unfortunately, there is no one size fits all answer. What I hope to do in this article is share some guidelines I use when determining what to fish.
Available Forage:
Fish are like humans in that they like to eat what they are used to eating. What I mean is you want to “match the hatch.” If the main forage is baitfish, then you want to try to use a color that closely resembles them, usually blue, white, or gray combinations work well. If the main food is insects, like in farm ponds or small impounds, yellow, red or dark green combinations work well.
The only color that often works well in different conditions is chartreuse. However, this color look nothing like any natural food sources it works well in most all water conditions.
Size is as controversial as color but my rule of thumb is big fish eat big baits. 1/16 oz jigs are a good all around size for most bodies of water all year round. Many people prefer small baits for crappie because they catch many fish, however; for the past two years I have fished 1/16 oz or larger jigs only and have consistently caught larger fish. You will be surprised at how small of fish you will catch on larger jigs; further proving the point that crappie will hit big baits.
The next time you are out try a few of the guidelines I use and see if they work. Feel free to let me know if you have some tips of your own.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
How To Fish a Jig: Part II
Part 2: Techniques and Tactics:
One thing I have noticed in reading numerous magazine articles is the lack of time given to fishing from docks, banks, and ponds. In this article, I hope to share some of the tips I have learned from fishing ponds and docks.
Ponds:
I have a great affection for farm ponds because that is where I learned how to fish. I remember many mornings or evenings spent with my father watching a red bobber catching sunfish. As I got older, I learned what a beetle spin was. Ponds offer such a great variety of fishing opportunities and are often overlooked by many.
So what should you use in a pond? Well one thing to remember is what the fish are used to eating. In many ponds, the baitfish populations are very small so the large water boiling baits used by tournament fisherman are not your best bet. Small spinner baits, curly tails grubs, minnows, night crawlers, or grasshoppers are you best bet for catching plenty of fish in ponds. Chartreuse is always a good color, yellow works well in locations where the main fish forage are insects, and white works well in clearer water.
Most ponds have good bank access to fish. Always fish visible cover, trees, stick-ups, lily pads, or cattails because those are often the only structure in ponds for baitfish to hide and thus attract their predators. The dams of ponds are another key area to focus on in ponds. Generally, the deepest area of the pond often draws schools of crappie and if the landowner will allow you to place some brush it will hold fish most of the year.
Docks:
Across the nation, most lakes have docks that are accessible to fisherman and are known for holding crappie. Now fishing these docks is different than fishing from the bank. Generally, the docks are positioned over brush or other forms of structure and so you are fishing on top of brush. Rather than casting and retrieving as you would from the bank, you would use a couple of tactics mentioned in my earlier post dipping and pitching. You want to keep the jig just above or beside the brush. One mistake that many people make jig fishing is moving the jig too much. Once you put your jig by the bush, hold it as still as possible then slowly move the jig horizontally in front of the brush.
Even if you do not have a boat, there are still many ways to catch fish without spending a lot of money on specialized equipment.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
How to Fish a Jig - Part 1:
How to Fish a Jig:
Many people get frustrated with jigs because they do not catch very many fish or they may be intimidated with the idea of something that is composed of metal, paint, thread, feathers, or plastic actually catching fish. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t have someone asking me about how to fish a jig. Well I would like to try to share the little bit I know about jig fishing with you in a three part series; 1. Line, Knots, & Terminology 2. Techniques & Tactics 3. Colors and Size.
Part 1: Line, Knots, & Terminology.
Well if you have picked up a fishing magazine recently, walked through the sporting goods department of your local supply store, or browsed your favorite online tackle store you know there are as many varieties of lines as colors of the rainbow. You can pick from the traditional monofilament, braids, or new fluorocarbon super lines. Though all of these lines have their place in different types of fishing and you will find many professionals who use all of these lines during the course of one days fishing, I prefer to find one line that I can use in any application.
Now before I give you my line preferences let me first tell you what I do not like. I do not like braided lines. Yes they have unmatched sensitivity and strength but I change baits a lot when fishing and a braided line is not conducive to changing lures easily. Secondly, braided lines are somewhat dangerous. Unlike other more traditional lines, that will break when put under a moderate load, braids will not. They are designed to endure much higher tensions and this can be detrimental to your equipment but more importantly your hands. When tension is applied a braided line can and will cut you very badly much like being cut with a knife. Lastly, braided lines are 2-3 times as expensive as regular fishing line. For these reasons, I rarely use a braided line.
I do like traditional monofilament and some of the super lines. These lines are much easier to change lures on and safer to use. The main difference between traditional mono and super lines are the diameter and strength. Monofilament will generally have a larger diameter per rated pound than a comparable super line. For example, an eight-pound piece of monofilament will be almost twice as large in diameter as an eight-pound piece of super line. This difference comes into play when you are trolling, pitching a jig, or fishing in very clear water. Personally, I use both traditional mono and super lines. Now I do not have any ties to the two companies I am going to name, they are just the two lines that I always buy. For traditional monofilament, I use Stren Original and for the super lines, I use Silver Thread AN-40.
Terminology:
Terminology or better yet slang is different for different parts of the country so the explanation I give for a word may not be the common one you have heard. In jig fishing there are four main methods of presenting the jig; pitching, dipping, trolling, or corking.
Pitching:
Pitching a jig is a common approach used when fishing from a dock, fishing a lay down, or anytime you want your jig to fall through where you think fish are suspended. To pitch a jig you can either, make a short cast past where you want the jig to fall, preferably an underhanded cast or “pitch” or you can let out a length of line and flip the jig out with a pendulum swing.
Dipping:
Dipping is a shallow water tactic used a lot during the spawn but also through out the year when fish are holding tight to visible cover. Dipping works best when done with a long pole, 8-13ft and a heavier jig, 1/16 - 3/16oz. To dip a jig you let out a length of line usually shorter than the rod you are using, pull the line back with your free hand, place the rod tip by the place you want to deposit the jig and slowly allow the jig to descend. A common mistake when dipping is to give the jig too much action when it first enters the water. You want to hold the jig as still as possible when you first place it in the water. Then if nothing happens move your rod tip horizontally (left or right) to swim the jig.
Trolling:
Trolling, pushing, spider rigging are all synonymous terms. They are all techniques employing the use of longer poles (8-20ft) placed at different locations on the boat while the boat is moved very slowly by the electric motor. This tactic can be a very elaborate and expensive one or can be made very simple. I use a simple method involving two 10ft rods. I tie 3-4 jigs (1/16 & 1/8 oz) 1.5 ft apart on my line and lower them to different depths. Then using m trolling motor set on the lowest speed I move very slowly across point and humps in the lake. This is a very productive post spawn and late summer tactic.
Corking:
Corking, slip corking, or bobber fishing is probably the oldest trick in the book. Cork or slip corks can be used all year long. The more I fish with slip corks them more I appreciate them. They allow you to fish at a constant depth and fish spots much more slowly than you typically would. I like to use the simple and cheep Styrofoam slip corks you can get for .30 cents a piece. I have all different sizes to allow me to use all different sizes of jigs. The easiest rig is to by the tied bobber stops, place one on your line with a small bead, then slide on your cork and tie you jig or hook to the line. I like to test mine out in the kitchen sink to be sure I have the right amount of weight on there so that only the top third of the cork is above water.
I know this is a lot of information to take in a once but I hope this will help you have a better idea of what people are talking about in fishing magazines and websites.
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