How I learned to use the JP and similar stuff!

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The following was my reply-of-advice to the surprising question asked by Doyle McEwen (Bass Fishing USA), on how to learn the jig & pig. (Mac is a very experienced angler and offers great advice on that forum.)
This may be of interest to some.

Mac, as the experienced angler I know you to be(from your informative posts), I'm surprised that jig-fishing isn't part of your 'tool kit'. I'm going to assume your not referring to jig-and-fly or grub fishing, so I'll give you my advice that is an alternative to all of the good suggestions you've already gotten.

First, let me illustrate a technique that I found purely by accident in the late 80's and which I've used more than any of those mentioned.

On the weekend, I fished a tournament where my more experienced, partner caught quite a few dinks on a black-and-blue skirted, jig&pig. The pork was a blue, #11 Uncle Josh Frog. Just seeing him catch those 11.5" bass on that ugly, unrealistic-looking lure got my attention pronto. (At the time, I was also not a believer in spinnerbaits.)

Thus, I bought a living rubber, 3/8 oz. jig and a jar of blue pork frogs (having lost my prejudice of unrealistic colors) and decided to call in sick on Mon, to try my 'new lure'.

The day was beautiful, but the fishing slow, on my local lake. I threw the j&p for awhile but went back to plastic worms, assuming that jigs for were for 'certain lakes' and not others.

I forgot that I had cast the jig in shallow water, behind the jon-boat. As I began leaving the area with the trolling motor, I heard the noise of a rod sliding on aluminum and turned just in time to save my rod from being pulled overboard.

The day was nice, but the fish weren't, and I wasn't in the mood for another snagged lure (or a lost rod). But, I'll bet you've already figured it out. It was a 'dink' that bit the lure as it started moving off bottom and hooked itself trying to take the bait away from me!! I know this, because I didn't think I needed to set the hook on a rock, and tried to pull the lure steadily towards me! (Of course, the line started moving (very unlike a rock) and a minute passed until I realized rocks can swim! (Not to worry, I wasn't smoking anything but pipe tobacco that day!)In any case, I finally set the hook and released the virgin.

I proceeded around the rocky point and caught 5 more bass in 30 minutes - all keepers! I was in love with my new bait and vowed never to use worms again!

Conventional, bottom-dragging technique - observed and learned!

But, on the same day I happened to look into the water and noticed the action of the two, triangular, pig-legs as the lure was retrieved. They fluttered like a flag on a car antenna! Well, hose-me-down >> technique #2 >> a swimming retrieve! (I'd been catching many species of fish on curly-tail grubs and worms for over 5 years. I've always been a big advocate of action-tails.)

I went to the opposite point, that contained much larger rocks and gravel, and caught 3 more keepers by swimming the jig (with a few small jerks), across the top of a shallow rock wall that dipped down to 4'. The lure never touched bottom or anything else, (except the fish). It caught fish exactly like swimming, Sassy Shads or Mister Twister grubs, and the strike felt the same - loose-line, that shoudn't be.

I read an article about short-arm spinnerbaits and thought, 'what's a jig except a spinnerbait without the blade?!' So, I made a black and blue, short-arm, spinnerbait with a #4 nichel, Colorado blade, and added a #11, blue, pork frog.

I had the best place in the world to try it - a small reservoir that was fished mostly by shoreline, bait-fishermen and that had poor, off-road access. I decided to throw the short-arm like a jig, namely, chuck it under overhanging limbs, as close to the shore as possible, and do inverted-L drops down the steep drop-off. Of course, the slowly fluttering blade and pork legs drove the bass crazy and I boated over 10 bass in a short time. (I think autumn was a good time to learn this or any other lure!)

A few places to increase your confidence in J&P's are the hard stuff you usually fish: hard banks and flats with rocks or stumps; laydowns over deeper water; points; banks with cuts and overhanging trees; hard mid-lake humps or sand bars; and rock walls, rip rap or road beds in shallow water.

Imagine that! - swimming a J&P like a spinnerbait, and working a spinnerbait like a J&P. What will they think of next?

If you follow the above techniques, the world is yours. Even 'dinks' play tug of war with this meaty, salty, rubbery 'creature' that some drunken-genius discovered years ago by accident, just as I had (accept I was sober).

Hope this helps Mac,
Frank M

(We learn from and remember the anecdotes in our lives.)

[johnnie crain outdoors]

Frank, you might as well enter the Jig and pig into another catagory, top water bait. I have had awesome fishing by using a J&P on the surface, just skimmed along fast enough to keep it on the surface, the kicking legs, the wake made by the bulk of the jig and even added rattle chambers make this a great top water lure. It can also be effective in slop fishing and is great around weed beds fished along the surface. If a fish strikes and misses the bait, I simply drop the rod tip and count two, then pop the lure back to the surface, many times, a bass will strike the lure during that 2 second pause or just as it once again breaks the surface. I use a 1/4 or 3/16 ounce jig tipped with a number one frog for this fishing and it seems to work nearly every time. It's a tournament secret I don't tell many people, but I don't keep secrects from fellow Bassin USA anglers. Let me know if you try it. Johnnie Crain Iowa Pro Staff.

[JT_BAGWELL]

Johnnie,

Thats why you are THE MAN. You can come up with any angle to catch fish.

See you soon.

Jeremiah T. Bagwell

[postcard]

Got to try that John! My favorite surface to near-surface pork frog use is on a black Johnson Silver Minnow spoon. I do exactly what you suggested as the action you give to a J&P. I especially chuck the spoon and pork onto the bank, and 'hop' it back into shallow, weedy water. I've caught bass in 1'. Of course everyone uses the spoon technique across the top of duckbill and other weeds.

I will definitely try it come spring.

Frank