Putting the Jig "On The Spot"

Editors Note: Author, Jim Hudson, is a member of our elite Clam Pro Staff, where he owns and operates the premier guide service on Lake Superior, Hudson’s On the Spot Guide Service. Also, Jim along with a host of other Clam Pro Staff educates new and experienced anglers through his Ice Roads on Ice Clinics. To learn more you can find Jim at: http://www.fishchequamegonbay.com or http://jimhudsonfishing.blogspot.com

Everyone that fishes has that one secret way to tempt and fool their favorite scale laden quarry. It could be a time honored method, passed on from generation to generation, that every fall you send to the abyss to fool a finicky walleye. Or, maybe it is one of the latest and greatest techniques you found while thumbing through your favorite fishing publication that allows you to pluck mega sized crappie, one after another, when all the other fishers around you scratch their heads in amazement. Either way, it’s your prized method that is a sure fire way to get you bit when all else fails. And, don’t let anyone fool you; no one who walks upon the ice or rocks along in a walleye chop is immune to this phenomenon of a confidence lure or method to their own fishing madness. And along those same lines, no fisher in their right mind would ever pass up the chance to hear another of their own kind divulge top secret info. So here goes nothing…

For myself, as most of you know, my specialty when talking about the realm of ice revolves around locating, and then catching, massive Lake Trout in the expansive waters of the Great Lakes. And to this forte, nothing is more dear to my heart then depth charging a jig into the icy depths to catch these fierce fighters. Be it my all around favorites, the bucktail, airplane and tube for when I know conditions are right and the fish will really be on the chew. To the times when the current slacks and the trout turn off the usual glutton factor, now showing their temperamental side, where I then turn to the monotony of slowly bouncing a plain round-ball off bottom. Yup, jig fishing is what I turn to, day in and day out to get the job done. Be it Superior, Michigan or Ontario to the expansive Canadian Shield lakes of the north, the first rod pulled from the Fish Trap always has a jig of some sort tied to it.

But, just like any technique, the bait is only one part of the equation to getting bit and getting bit often. A jig just being danced around off key structure is fruitless when talking the usual winter day chasing trout. Putting that jig smack dab into the sweet spot of their icy lair is what can turn a one fish day into a 10 fish day, or from 5 pound fish into 20lb fish. It is that proverbial fishy spot that is a must find when pursuing Lake Trout. To me, knowing I am on a key structural element is what creates my confidence and then allows me to present my prized jig in a manner I know any Lake Trout roaming about will eat it. It can be a lot of work to create this confidence; from hours in the boat mapping out structural elements to then strategically drilling a course of holes to follow that trout-seam on the contour. But, it is all worth the extra effort. No need to follow the crowd, but now your thinking will be, how will you keep the crowd from following you!

This is nowhere near rocket science at all, just good ol’ fashioned fishing at its finest. From Lake Trout to Walleyes with Panfish and Bass as well, put that jig of yours “On The Spot” and be sure to get bit more often than not.