Winter Jig Fishing Techniques with Greg Hackney

I'm Greg Hackney. Let's talk seasonal jig fishing. You know, a jig is by far my favorite lure. There's a couple reasons for that in that it's so efficient. It's very simply made. It's been around forever. It's basically a lead head with a hook and a skirt. It does a great job of resembling crawfish. It does a great job of resembling bluegill. It's slow, it's big, it catches bigger-than-average-size fish. There's just a lot of pluses to it. I really enjoy the whole concept of jig fishing. And seasonal. It's a bait that works year-round if it's applied right, you know, for the different seasons. The first season we're going to talk about is December-January, what I consider the dead of winter period.

December-January is really the dead of winter. And it's funny, depending on what part of the country you live in, if you live in the part of the country I do that time of the year, I'm targeting some type of matted vegetation with a jig. And that's where a lot of our fish go when it gets cold because they like to be around that dying dead vegetation that time of the year because it absorbs heat, and so those fish are in those mats. And the cool thing is December-January, it's when our vegetation dies, so it opens up enough that I can actually get a jig through it.

And what I'll, like, especially, like, around my house I'm targeting, you know, blown-in matts around cypress trees, dead-end canals, a lot of oilfield canals up and down the Louisiana Delta where I live. And a lot of those big females that time of the year will be sitting in those dead ends because a month later they'll be spawning, you know, depending on how warm the weather is. And I live in the deep south. And this would be, you know, even similar conditions to Florida, anywhere up and down the Gulf Coast, South Texas. You know, in that part of the country, winter happens, but it's a lot shorter. And so I like to target really heavy cover that will absorb heat that time of the year, typically with a Hack Attack Jig, a Hack Attack Flipping Jig, braided line. But what I do that time of the year that I might not do other times of the year is I use the lightest version of that jig that I can get by with and efficiently fish in those mats.

And like I said, whether I'm in Florida after a cold front, I prefer a jig in the wintertime when it's cold regardless of what part of the country I'm in over plastic because it's a big profile but it moves slower. And so if you're punching plastics through that time of the year, you know, it has a tendency to fall fast. And what I like to do, and a lot of times, like, it's even to the point where I got to shake that jig. You know, I pitch it out there on that cover, and I shake it to get it, you know, to fall through that stuff. And once it breaks through, that jig just parachutes under that stuff, and I feel like it gets me a lot more bites. And the other deal is when I pull that jig up, I'm not really hopping it that time of the year hard. I'm easing it up, and it does that same thing. It pulls up, and then it parachutes and falls back down, which that generates strikes.

Now with that being said, you know, I grew up in South Arkansas, and in that part of the country, I spent most of my winters fishing lowland reservoirs. Now I grew up in a place called Cane Creek. They had a lot of creek channels and ledges, and those fish actually would be in brush out in the creek channel deep. And for that application, I'd use a structure jig. The structure jig comes through, you know, deeper cover because then chances are I'm using fluorocarbon and I'm casting. Anytime I'm casting a jig in the winter, I like the structure jig.

I actually, I cheated the system with this particular one right here in that I took the skirt off a football jig. Actually, the Strike King Comeback Jig has that long, big skirt. And in the wintertime, like, out fishing deep, even if you were in the Carolinas fishing rock piles, I just like that structure jig. I like to hang a KVD chunk on the back of it. And again, it's that slow. That slow. That time of the year, if I'm on...we could be in central Arkansas fishing Lake Ouachita, I mean, there's a lot of places that time of the year where I would fish deeper with a jig than, let's say, just around my house.

And I like just, again, it's that same principle, is fishing that mat, is I want to use a lighter jig. And the big reason for that is so it'll slow me down. So the bigger jig you throw, the quicker it reaches the bottom. Goes through the cover to the bottom of whatever you may be fishing. And it has a tendency when that jig hits the bottom for you to move it. Okay? If you use a lighter one, you have to slow down, fish it slower so you can feel it and stay in contact with it. So it just naturally slows down, and it has a really natural action.

And so that's another thing, really, I only use two trailers. And that one time of the year when I just really make that switch from a Rage Craw to the plastic chunk is in that wintertime period. And that's the same as if I'm fishing at home, I'm fishing in Florida, I'm fishing in Arkansas, I'm fishing in South Carolina. You know, wherever that part of the country is I'm fishing in the wintertime. Typically, that number is 55. If that water is below 55 degrees, I'm switching from a Rage Craw to that chunk. And really the reason for that is I still want that big profile. I don't want a lot of action.

A lot of times what happens, you know, during the winter months of the year, that fish can be turned off by too much action, if that makes sense, and they don't like that because they're not used to...you know, stuff doesn't move like that when it's cold. Everything just has a tendency... Because, you know, they're eating cold-blooded creatures. So much like the bass, everything they're eating that time of the year is the same as the water temperature. So a crawfish doesn't just root around and shoot all over the water when it's in the 40s. He moves slower, the bluegill moves slower, everything moves slower. So I just feel like when I got that chunk on there and I'm using a lighter jig, it's more natural, you know?

A lot of times what happens in the winter too is I stay away from dirty water, but a lot of times during the middle of the winter you have cleaner water conditions, so you want something that's real eye-appealing. Again, I switch to that living rubber skirt. You know, I robbed one Strike King Jig and put it on that structure jig because that living rubber has a little more life. And so when I'm in that really extremely clean water, you know, deep water wintertime fishing, I like that rubber skirt. It's a little more lively, a little more lifelike, you know, when the is clear and cold.

Now, with that being said, I always trim my skirt. I'm still using the silicone skirt when I'm punching grass and weeds in the southern part of the country when it's cold, but I'll trim that skirt a little bit and make it make it poufy. Because again, when the strands are out like that, it's a parachute. It gives it that parachute look. And I mean, if you've ever pitched a crawfish, a live crawfish out and watch him fall, when he's falling out there, he'll put all his limbs out and he parachutes down, and that jig just has that supernatural action.

Now, as far as rods and reels go, I always like a high-speed, super-high-speed reel. I mean, I'll be honest with you, I'm in love with this is Lew's HyperMag. It's probably the finest pitching and flipping reel I've ever owned, and that's saying a lot because I've used a lot of reels throughout my deal, but it's super fast, say three to one. Super strong. I use it with both braid and fluorocarbon. But, you know, when I'm fishing out deep like that and casting the structure, fishing brush piles, maybe fishing deep weed lines, depending on the reservoir that you're in, when I'm more so casting a jig, I've just used my 7'6" pitching rod. It's a 7'6" rod to me that in your hand, and most people will tell you if they've had the opportunity to use it, fishes like a 7-foot. When you're out there casting, you don't want a great, big, heavy rod. You want a rod that's comfortable in your hand, that's super sensitive.

The other thing is this rod has a soft tip, and when I'm crawling that jig, you want to be able to feel everything, you know, and help you get more bites. And typically, for that wintertime jig fishing, depending on the cover... Now, again, if we're on a lowland reservoir fishing grass, fishing wood brush piles, you know, I'll lean more towards 16 or 20-pound GAMMA Fluorocarbon. But if I'm out here dragging on rock, we fish for spotted bass, maybe we're in Alabama, you know, fishing structure, fishing hard structure, could be on the Alabama river in the wintertime, I'm more 14-16.

And the only time that I would downsize to 12 fluorocarbon is fishing extremely deep on extremely clear water. And I have done that here. We're here currently right now I'm sitting on Lake Hartwell, which is a great wintertime jig lake, and I hardly ever go bigger than 14. Here you're fishing extremely deep. You want that jig to get down there to the bottom. But the main thing is when you're fishing deep with a lighter jig, let's just say, a half ounce, two or three quarter, that light line is you can stay in contact with that jig. You can feel it better fishing extremely deep. And we're talking about fishing in water, realistically, 20 foot is fairly shallow here that time of the year, so really 20 to 60. You know, we're fishing extremely deep here. So anytime we go to those extremes, I have a tendency to want to lighten my line up, you know?

Now, again, if I'm fishing a lowland reservoir and I'm fishing channel swings and 6 to 8-foot, and fishing stumps, and, you know, crawling a jig around that stuff, it's probably 16 to 20-pound GAMMA Fluorocarbon. The main thing is I want the bait to be lifelike, and I want to be able to feel it. So whatever line size you're comfortable with. And again, a sensitive rod that you can feel. You know, that's the whole deal, because you're crawling that jig. It's almost to the point where that time of the year it's almost impossible to fish a jig too slow.

Now, with that being said, if I'm fishing mats, chances are I'm using 50-pound braid. I'm using my 7'11" flipping stick for that. Same reel, but I'm changing rods. And typically how I pick which rod I use, whether I'm using my 7'6" Signature Series pitching rod or 7'11", if I'm fishing the bait back or not. If I'm fishing the bait over a distance, I always like the lighter, softer tip rod because I'm feeling it and I'm fishing it back. Anytime I'm pitching in cover and fishing straight up and down, I always use the big rod. Regardless of water depth, that doesn't matter, I'm fishing straight up and down. That big rod handles a lot more line, and I can actually pitch in deeper water with it because it controls more slack and can pick it up faster, and I'm fishing straight up and down. But if I'm casting, I always use the 7'6" rod. But that's a couple tips.

And far as jigs go, like I said, there's really three jigs that Strike King makes that I use year around. I love that structure jig, Denny Brauer Premier Pro-Model. I'm a big fan of that that time of the year too. I do feel like there are times when that rattle will get me some extra bites. And again, both of these jigs are fluorocarbon jigs. I'm not throwing these jigs on braid. I'm throwing them on the fluorocarbon. If I'm jig fishing in wintertime around boat docks. I mean, it was made by the best boat dock fisherman on the planet, Denny Brauer, I mean, who has really made his career fishing boat docks with a jig. And that Premier Pro-Model, it's got a high-quality Gamakatsu hook in it, and it's got a rattle, and I like to bang that around brush piles and stuff like that. And then if we're fishing grass, we're using a Hack Attack Jig because it was tailor-made for that.

But just a few things that I do wintertime jig fishing. And just keep it simple. I think that's the big thing with fishing in general is don't make it too complicated. Just little simple changes, like I said, changing from a Rage Craw to a plastic chunk, that's a KVD plastic chunk, I just feel like it gets me a few extra bites. And most of these things that I talk about are not going to get you 20 more bites than you've been getting, but they'll get you 2 or 3. And 1 of those 2 or 3 might weigh 6 to 10 pounds, you know, because wintertime's the time to catch big ones, and that's probably one of my favorite times of the year to catch big ones. So just a few things to think about, and I hope it works for you.