Jig n Pig

The jig & pig can be fished all year round in all depths. Spring and Fall are great times to fish them.

The jig is usually lead headed with a rubber skirt or a hair skirt. Use a jig heavy enough to stay on the bottom. The wind and/or current may force you to use a heavier jig but go as light as possible. 1/4 or 3/8 is ideal if you can stay on the bottom with it, but go to something like a half ounce if you have to.

I like a jig that sinks slowly, since I get a lot of strikes on the fall. When you use jigs with a hair skirt the hollow hairs in a buck tail jig makes it sink slower than a rubber skirted jig. Using the Big Daddy pork frog will cause the bait to sink slower also because it's so bulky. You might want to get the jig to fall faster if your not getting hits. You never know what the bass want until you try it, from one day to the next.

Plastic trailers like the Zoom Super Chunk or any of the crayfish imitations are also good, and they don't dry out. If your using a pork frog, keep it wet especially in the hot summer months of fishing otherwise, it will dry out very quickly and then it's no good. The pork frog has more movement than the plastic ones. Plastic has less movement in cold water. With all that said, I'll use pork more in the colder months over the plastic baits.

Flipping and pitching are the usual methods of fishing them, but they can also be cast or jigged.

Flipping jigs - Use heavy gauge wire hooks on something like a 7' 6" flipping rod with heavy action and up to 25 lb. test mono line with a baitcaster reel that has a medium to fast retrieve to flip or pitch a jig into thick cover (weed beds, fallen logs, rocks, etc) at pretty close quarters. You usually pull the boat within a few feet to twenty feet of these spots. Flipping jigs have a football type head. There's a skirt and a weed guard. This method is great for mid day when bass are in more cover. Watch your line for twitching and set the hook hard.

How to flip video:

Watch more YouTube videos on AOL Video

Casting jigs are designed with thinner gauge wire hooks. They are used alot by bank fishermen with spinning gear, who need to cast out to reach heavy fish-holding cover that they cannot get close enough to on foot. Some say flipping jigs are the best way to go. I disagree. I like to go in deeper water straight over the side of the boat and keep that boat just barely moving and bounce that jig just barely off the bottom. In this situation I like to use a medium-heavy rod that's about 6 feet long. I also like to cast towards shore and just barely bounce that jig back to me making sure I'm coming out over a drop off and letting that jig flutter over a drop off. You'll get alot of strikes that way.

Something to remember about how heavy you want your line. The majority of weekend fisherman don't use real heavy line. A lot of professional fisherman do though. It also depends on where you are in the United States, how heavy the bass get in the body of water your on and also the time of year, again depending where your at. If your in Wisconsin like me, the water is pretty cold in the Spring and the bass won't fight as hard. A lot of times, unless I'm going through real thick cover I'll stick with 8 or 12 lb. test.

I pick my color based on water clarity, time of day, depth, and type of food in the lake. I usually use a green for clear water shallower water and where crayfish are present. I use black/blue for stained water, when it's dark out (if I'm fishing in shallower water) or if I'm going deep where it's darker. I use white where there's shad or herring around. I will also use fire tiger or something like it when there's perch or sunfish as the main food. This color is good for stained water, thick cover, or when the fish are really active.

Fishing News