Jigging for Walleye??? possibly pike

[Ghilliesuit22]

I have pretty good luck jigging for walleye with my current set up but it doesn't always work. I usually set up a black or gold jig head with matching body. Then I hook the minnow through the chin and up through the nostrils. A lot of times it gets taken with out me knowing. Sometimes I try the back below the middle fin but it seems to kill the minnow. Any suggestions on color of jig heads and where to hook em?

Also I bought some black and gold gulp jig bodies. I was using the black jig bodies with a black head. My buddy was using an identical setup except with a plastic body instead of gulp bait. He was catching them left and right and I had no bites on the same boat. Has anyone else experienced this with gulp bait?

Any jigging setup ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

[MichiganHunter]

You should try a stinger hook on you minnows and if your rippin the minnows off the hook try to jig a little more gentely or try to set the hook side ways throgh the cheaks..little more meat there.

[bulldawg]

Welcome to Realtree forums. Walleye fishing is a passion of mine, and has been for many years. Jigging is a fantastic way to catch them, and sometimes it takes a little trial and error to find out what will work on a given day. Sometimes dragging a jig slowly works better that aggressive jigging.

I have hundreds of different color and sizes; and a several different types of jig heads. You mentioned a gold head, and sometimes they work really good. I use them mainly on stained waters or rivers, as they sometimes spook fish in a really clear lake. But, on an overcast day, they may catch alot because the shine is lessened. Sometimes a bullet head will work better than a roundhead, etc.

I experiment alot while jigging. I start out with a bright color on a cloudy day, and a white or darker color on a clear day. Then I take note of the fish I catch. If none, or just a few shy bites, I move to something different. Some days, a plain lead head jig will out fish the colored ones. When something starts to work, I stick with it until the bite gets slow.

Sometimes a fuzzy grub body has all the action you need, and sometimes a twister tail works better. Experiment with colors on these too.

Here is a tip for you when losing minnows while jigging. If I use a hair jig, or grub body, I tie a small, short line stinger hook just behind the main hook. I only use fatheads or small emerald shiners for jigging, and I hook the minnow on the stinger. This allows the minnow to move less rigidly, and the stinger will cut down on lost fish.

Use the lightest jig that you can, and still maintain contact with the bottom, unless you are using a slip bobber. On the slip bobber, I like to use 1/16, or 1/32 oz jigs.

I never tried the Gulp baits, but I hear they work good. If you try jigging and can't get them to bite, try a river rig, or a strait set line, and jig them in. Just keep an open mind, and try different things if you have to. Sometimes, positioning your boat is what might mean the difference between fish, or no fish. Good luck fishing this year.

Dawg

[Ghilliesuit22]

Hey thanks a lot bulldawg and to my good friend Michigan Hunter. Those are some amazing tips. I have always been curious about different colors but when I am in the store I kind of just go with what has worked. When it doesn't I just assume that its a bad day. Maybe thats my problem. The stinger hooks sound like a good jig setup for minnow, I will definitely have to pick some of those up. Thanks again

[DU_man_84]

Welcome to Realtree forums. Walleye fishing is a passion of mine, and has been for many years. Jigging is a fantastic way to catch them, and sometimes it takes a little trial and error to find out what will work on a given day. Sometimes dragging a jig slowly works better that aggressive jigging.

I have hundreds of different color and sizes; and a several different types of jig heads. You mentioned a gold head, and sometimes they work really good. I use them mainly on stained waters or rivers, as they sometimes spook fish in a really clear lake. But, on an overcast day, they may catch alot because the shine is lessened. Sometimes a bullet head will work better than a roundhead, etc.

I experiment alot while jigging. I start out with a bright color on a cloudy day, and a white or darker color on a clear day. Then I take note of the fish I catch. If none, or just a few shy bites, I move to something different. Some days, a plain lead head jig will out fish the colored ones. When something starts to work, I stick with it until the bite gets slow.

Sometimes a fuzzy grub body has all the action you need, and sometimes a twister tail works better. Experiment with colors on these too.

Here is a tip for you when losing minnows while jigging. If I use a hair jig, or grub body, I tie a small, short line stinger hook just behind the main hook. I only use fatheads or small emerald shiners for jigging, and I hook the minnow on the stinger. This allows the minnow to move less rigidly, and the stinger will cut down on lost fish.

Use the lightest jig that you can, and still maintain contact with the bottom, unless you are using a slip bobber. On the slip bobber, I like to use 1/16, or 1/32 oz jigs.

I never tried the Gulp baits, but I hear they work good. If you try jigging and can't get them to bite, try a river rig, or a strait set line, and jig them in. Just keep an open mind, and try different things if you have to. Sometimes, positioning your boat is what might mean the difference between fish, or no fish. Good luck fishing this year.

Dawg

dawg lot of great information for him here, here in illinois i mainly fish our river system and we mainly just jig, you can also pull cranks, or pull 3 ways, two pulling is a technique i really dont care for, 99% of the time im jigging with minnows and also remember later in the season when the waters start to warm, it is better to go with crawlers and leeches than it is to use minnows, as for setups just like dawg said you gotta use the lightest jig u can with still maintaining the feel of the bottom on our river system we mainly use 3/8 to maintain bottom but in high waters we have gone as high as ounces, as for jigs i mainly use Northlands short shanks the short shanks i believe give a greater advantage than long shank because you can hook your minnow up through the middle of the back and have only the half end off the hook instead of mainly the whole minnow dangling from the hook if you were to hook it through the lips, as for colors, cloudy days with muddy water, nothing seems to work better than solid bright pink and bright orange jigs, stained waters on cloudy days the pink and orange works but brighter green is a killer, as for clear waters we normally never see that in our river system the best clarity we ever reach is 12 inches, as for those days when we got sunny blue bird days, a parrot colored jig works the best, and like dawg said them cloudy days go with some brighter colors, and sunny days or clear waters use dark colored jigs, and alot of people dont really want to bother with color making a difference, one color can make a tremendous amount of difference when jigging for walleye, if you see me in the boat, if i havent boated a fish in a half hour 45 minutes i will be changing colors, till i find the right one, colors can make all the difference in catching fish and as for plastic bodies i have never really gotten into that, but when the bite gets light and and we start getting alot of short strikes stinger hooks make all the difference too, but also if you are fishing a place with many snags, stingers can really get you hung up also, but remember these are my methods, dont be afraid to try your own methods and when something isnt working change it up, good luck catchin them eyes