RT

I do a lot of jig fishing and experimenting with the maker of "Hurley Jigs". Burlyne Hurley makes and sells a lot of jigs in our local area. We fish together all the time, and continue experimenting on new colors, weights, hooks and you name it!

One thing that stands out, to me, more then any other thing, is when you "know" the water that you are fishing in and where the fish usually laid, you got about a 75% more chance of hooking a fish there then the next guy does! Lots of times, it didn't matter what color jig or colored head we were using; it just boiled down to who got to new hole first and put the jig in front of the fish. The guy who got his jig lined up first in the hole usually got the first fish!

Time after time, it's been a foot race to the next hole to see who can get their jig positioned first for the drift. There are days when color does make a difference, but there also are days when colors seem to mean nothing. Most important thing that matters to me personally is to make sure that I always tip the jig hook with shrimp or shrimp tails. That way even if the fish doesn't like the color of the jig that I am using, he probably will eat it anyway because of the shrimp.

I am a firm believer that's it how you present your jig to a fish that gets you success! I have made hundreds of different colors of jigs, but almost always have fallen back to my most favorite 3 colors. People that know me also know that I catch lots of fish on jigs. I always try to keep it simple, and explain to them the basic ways they should be fishing the area and what colors work best for that area. Jig fishing is real fun, but sometimes people make it harder then it really is. It's been my personal experience, that the guys that "know" the holes will be the guys that hook the most fish from the hole!

I also use scents on my jigs sometimes, but I catch just as many fish without using scent. Maybe that because I always tip my jigs with shrimp (but then again I caught a lot of fish on just a plain jig!). Burlyne used to make the brass-beaded jigs years ago and he caught lots of fish on them. He has pretty much given them up now and has gone totally to the lead headed jig now. After what I saw last week, maybe I should start soaking by jigs in Alder chip juice!

Cowlitzfisherman,

Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????