My 2 cents worth. I find that with jigs bass do not hold them like other soft plastic lures. If you don't pop them quickly on the pickup you will miss them. Since you said you aren't sticking them that might be the issue rather than sticking them and then losing them which may be more of too light of a rod, weed guard, hook, etc. What I found when I started jig fishing was two key things - 1) you have to learn to keep a tight line and feel everything with the jig especially the strikes and 2) you have to cross their eyes immediately on the pickup. When you feel a strike you have to develop a hair trigger that pops them before you even think about it. I have kind of drifted from jig fishing in recent times and I have found my hair trigger is a little rusty and I have been missing strikes because I don't set quick enough (not to mention my graying hair, dulling senses, and loss of muscle tone but that is another story!).
Another factor that I found was the rod has to be super-sensitive and stiff. I remember a night trip back in the '80s where my fishing buddy had just bought a new GLoomis MBR684 and he was wearing the bass out that night and I kept missing them. I wasn't feeling the strikes well on my Shakespeare fiberglass rod and at one point he picked up his spinnerbait rod and handed me his jig rod to try and I put my first one in the boat on the second cast. You can bet your life I had an MBR684 with me on my next night trip and have never looked back. My dad in recent years has been using a medium spinning rod for jigs and tends to stick and lose many of them because of the rod being on the light side. His shoulders bother him so he has trouble fishing heavier tackle for very long so that is a trade off he makes. Hope some of this brain dump helps...
kc
Reply With Quote
