Do you like to catch big trout? I do! And a great way to do that is with a jig. Why? Well two reasons off the top of my head are first its a big lure. Big lure = big fish. Second is nobody is throwing them. I have never ran across another angler throwing jigs for trout. Now most people know about the magic of a marabou jig. The world record brown trout was caught on a tiny marabou jig and for good reason, they work! I like to fish Marabou jigs. They work great for trout, and they especially work good for steelhead under a float. But as you'll notice in the picture above, there isn't any marabou on that jig. The above jig is made from a rabbit strip, fox hair, schlappen and some polar chenille with UV properties.
Marabou moves great in the water, but rabbit fur moves even better. Just google trout streamers and you will find a host of rabbit fur streamers for fly fishing. Now you can use tiny marabou or rabbit fur jigs and catch trout. But if you're after the big dogs, you need something with substance. The above jig is about 4 1/2 inches in length. Large trout eat small bugs, but once they get to a certain size their main diet shifts to larger prey. If you want to consistently catch large trout you have to throw some meat whether that be a large jig or large streamer. Its the same principal that fly fisherman have. Large streamers = large trout! The same is true with jigs.
This style of jig I have created is inspired after the large rabbit fur twitching jigs used to catch Coho and Chinook salmon. But I added a little steelhead intruder fly style to it as well. The body of the jig is flashabou wrapped around the hook shank with a dubbing ball toward the head of the jig to help flare out the collar.
Then what you see as the body in the picture at the beginning of the blog post is three tier collar of fox hair, UV polar chenille and schlappen with some rubber legs added for movement. This creates a translucent look to the jig, similar to the translucent look a bait fish has in the water. I believe this make for a better jig. After all we are trying to imitate a bait fish of some kind along with the fact its a large jig to attract attention. I tied the above jig on a pink jig head just for that purpose. Plus it adds great color contrast which I believe is another import factor to have in a jig. Color contrast attracts attention.
How do I fish the jig? Well that depends on alot of factors. One way is to dead drift the jig under a float. This can be effective in extremely cold water when trout are not in the mood to chase. Fly fisherman drift streamers sometimes in the same fashion.
Another option is to cast out the jig and jerk it similar to a jerk bait across the current. This imitates a small fish swimming across the current trying to reach shore and slower water.
A third option, and how I fished this jig is to cast straight out across the current. Let the jig sink to bottom. Then impart slow large hops to keep the jig off the bottom and add movement as it drifts down river. Then as the jig drifts down river and gets to a 45 degree angle down stream from your position, let it swing around to directly below you. This imparts two things to the jig. First it gives the illusion that the prey is heading toward shore to escape. Second it will cause the jig to rise in the water column as it swings around below your position which is another trigger for trout to bite. This technique is very similar to how fly fisherman swing flies or large streamers. The evidence for the effectiveness of this techniques is in the picture below.
The key is to let the fish tell you how they want it. Bass fisherman do this all the time with retrieve speed and the amount of action they impart on their lures. So try all methods and the fish will tell you how they want it. On the day I caught this fish, I knew the water was fairly warm still so I probably could get away with not using a float and dead drifting the jig. So I first tried hopping the jig across current like a jerk bait then I tried swinging the jig. I would alternate techniques about every two or three casts. Then once I get a strike or catch a fish, I know how they want it and will continue to use that method.
Now something to note when using big jigs. Your numbers will go down. So if you're into numbers of fish or are fishing in a location with smaller fish then use a smaller jig. You will catch a lot more fish. But if you are after true trophies, throw a big jig and cover water. Covering water is a big factor to success. In a given hole, there may only be one trout big enough to take your jig. So to up your numbers you need to cover as many holes as you can. In a given day you may only catch one, two or four trout if your on foot. But they will all be large fish. If you have a boat even better. In my drift boat I can cover miles of river in a day and can get my jig in front of many large fish which in turn ups my numbers. So if you were thinking about giving jigs a try I hope this post inspires you and gives you an idea of where to start. If you want to get your hand on some of my custom tied jigs check out our shop. Esty.com/shop/DesertFoxAnglers Tight lines!
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