I think most everyone who knows me or knows much about how I fish understands that I love to fish a jig. I’ve caught a lot of big fish on jigs, and tournament fishermen love big fish — we’re after quality, not quantity. A large percentage of my tournament wins have come with a jig playing an integral part.
In South Carolina, you can catch big bass on a jig in February and March. Those are the two months when I’m looking to catch big fish on a jig all the time; wherever I go, all over the country, at any time of the year, I’m going to have a jig tied on. But if I’m fishing at home in South Carolina in February and March, I’m going to have four or five tied on.
My favorite jig is a Buckeye Mop Jig, and I fish it with a Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog II trailer. I like to fish a few main colors this time of year: green pumpkin, black/blue or black/blue/chartreuse. That’s pretty much it for me. It’s how and where you fish it that makes the difference.
This month, I’m going to fish it where there’s shallow water close to deep water. Unless we really get some sustained warm weather, fish aren’t going to move all the way up on flats, but you may find ’em in six or eight or 10 or 12 feet of water — close to much deeper water. Rocky or rip-rapped banks can be real good, anywhere bass can move up vertically without having to go too far horizontally.
One thing that’s amazing to me is how many people I meet at shows who say they don’t know how to fish a jig. Jig-fishing is not difficult; it’s very similar to fishing a worm. I think people make it more difficult than it is.
I’ve talked about swimming a jig and snatching a jig, but in February, it’s more basic than that. You’re casting it out — you can flip or pitch, but you’re usually fishing a little deeper in February. You let it settle to the bottom and work it back slowly. You just kind of bump it along the bottom like you would a worm. The big difference is, you’ve gotta watch your line and pay attention more than you do when you’re fishing a worm.
When the water temperature is in the upper 40s or low 50s, a jig-bite will often feel like you’re just dragging along a piece of grass — dragging it through molasses. It feels heavy. You hear people talk about that all the time. It’s like the fish is swimming along with the jig in its mouth.
It’s fairly simple. You set the hook anytime it doesn’t feel right. Sometimes you’re bumping into a stump or a piling or a brushpile, and that’s okay — I’ve seen Kevin Van Dam set the hook on a brushpile before. But you’ll set the hook, and the next time, it will be a fish, and you’ll be surprised. Then, you’ll begin to realize how it feels and what feels different about it.
One other thing that will happen a lot early in the year is that bass will suspend under a dock or in a brushpile, and they’ll eat your bait before it gets to the bottom. If you’re paying attention, you’ll realize that it only took three seconds for that jig to fall 12 feet, and that’s not right. Go ahead and set the hook. By paying attention, you’ll be able to tell if that fish has sucked the bait down on the fall.
The other mistake people make when they fish a jig is not setting the hook hard enough. If you think about it, when a bass sucks a jig down, he’s not sitting there with his mouth open; it’s closed. If you put a jig in the palm of your hand and closed your hand, that’s what it’s like. So you’ve really got to move that jig in his mouth to get the hook to penetrate, and you’ve really got to set the hook hard to do that. A lot of people who are just starting to jig fish will try to do sort of a “swing-set” like you would with a Carolina rig, and they get the fish up to the top, and he opens his mouth and the jig comes out, because the hook hasn’t penetrated.
You’ve got to try and cross his eyes. You’ve really got to hit him hard. In fact, when I’m fishing a jig late in the winter or early in the spring, I’ll drop down to a little lighter rod to avoid breaking the line. I’ll fish a 6½-foot medium-heavy All-Star baitcasting rod with a Pfleuger Patriarch reel spooled with 15- to 20-pound 100-Percent Trilene Fluorocarbon. It has less stretch and more sensitivity, so you can feel him better. If I was fishing in heavier cover, I’d go to something like 65-pound Spiderwire braid, but in the clearer water, you’re usually fishing in February and March, I like the fluorocarbon.
Jig size depends on the depth and cover you’re fishing. If I’m fishing a rocky shoreline or rip-rap, I’m going to go with a smaller, lighter jig so I’ll get hung up less. I’ll almost always fish a quarter- or 3/8-ounce jig. If I’m fishing deeper, more open water, I’ll go with a bigger, half-ounce model.
Now, you’ve had a primer on jig fishing. It’s up to you to get on the water and make it happen.
Davy Hite, a 44-year-old native of Saluda who lives in Ninety Six, was BASS Angler of the Year in 1997 and 2002, and he has won the 1999 Bassmasters Classic and the 1998 FLW Tour Championship. He is sponsored by Triton boats, Evinrude outboards, All-Star rods, Pfleuger reels, Berkley Trilene, Yamamoto Baits, Owner hooks, Humminbird depthfinders and Solar Bat sunglasses.
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