Over the years I have asked our renters if they like to jig for fish or prefer other fishing methods. Some renters jig most of the time and some hardly ever jig. I find very few that do a broad mixture of methods. I’m not sure jigging is the best method all the time but I do know you can catch fish – a lot of fish – by jigging. This article is about jigging for walleyes in the area around Little Eva Lake Cabin in the Canoe Boundary Waters.
Why is jigging so effective? To answer this, you need to understand fish behavior relative to structure and relative to prey. The fish we catch are both predators and prey. A walleye is a serious predator to a minnow but he is a prized prey to a pike. Fish are not “attracted” to structure so much as structures reduce the amount of space in which they need to watch for predators.
This can better be understood by example. A fish swimming in open water is vulnerable to a predator from all directions. This fish must be vigilant throughout an entire spherical view. A fish that is hugging tight to a vertical structure or the bottom only needs to watch for predators in a half-spherical view since danger cannot come from the structure side.
When we are jigging for walleyes we are usually working a flat bottom in our area. Walleyes are not on the bottom because the bottom is “attractive” in and of itself. The bottom is attractive because it eliminates having to look out for predators from half of the entire spherical view below. In other words, it is safer to be on the bottom. Furthermore, the eyes on a walleye are up higher allowing them to see up better than down.
The next question is how deep of a flat should we look for to fish. This can be influenced by many factors such as temperature, sunlight, currents, baitfish to name a few. Here are some things to think about when considering some of these factors.
Temperature is very important. Since fish are cold blooded, they cannot regulate their body temperature but rather must rely on the environment to regulate their comfort. In mid-summer when the water is warm fish will want to be where it is cool. This means deeper water. Most lakes will be cooler the deeper the water but only to a point and then the water temperature tends to level off. For this warmer time of year, you likely will need to get below this warm upper water layer to find fish.
Walleyes do not like bright sunlight. This explains the large eyes for better vision in low light. You may have heard the expression “we have a walleye chop today” when there is a bit of a breeze. Walleyes don’t feel the wind in the air but the wind does creates ripples on the surface. These ripples refract some of the sunlight in different directions leaving less light to penetrate deep into the water. Thus, a surface ripple or chop creates a more favorable condition for walleyes.
Even a slow current can greatly affect water temperature. Still water tends to set up in layers with warmer water at the top that cools as you go deeper. Current essentially stirs the water so the warm and cooler waters are constantly interchanging creating a single temperature throughout all or most depths. If all the depths are the same temperature your jigging depth becomes less important and the other factors consequently become more important.
Obviously, fish will be attracted to baitfish. The good news is the baitfish will tend to react to temperature, structure, and currents the same way your target fish will. The main exception is sunlight, especially for walleyes. Most baitfish don’t seem to be bothered by bright sunlight like walleyes. While the bait fish might like to go deeper for a cooler temperature they seem to have learned that it is better to tolerate a little warmer shallow water than to be eaten in a the cooler deep water. Also, their food is usually found in the warmer shallows too. This is why it can be difficult to catch walleyes in warm still water on sunny days.
Fish find food by using one or a combination of 3 senses; sight, smell and feel for vibration. We target walleyes, bass and pike in our waters and these fish tend to use sight and vibration more than smell when feeding. This is important to consider sight and feel of vibration to attract fish to your lure.
When considering sight, it helps to understand a little bit about the physics of light and how water affects it. Our waters are considered fairly clear as freshwater fisheries go but the water still has an increasing effect on light the deeper you go. If you look at the colors of a rainbow you will see that they are always in same order. This order is according to the color’s particular wavelength. From longest to shortest wavelength these colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
Water tends to filter out the longer red, orange and yellow wavelength colors first. That means the deeper you go, the less red, orange and yellow light is available to shine on your lure. Remember we see the color(s) reflected back from an object and not the colors absorbed by an object. So, if you are fishing in deep water with a red lure there may be very little red light to reflect back for the fish to see.
I know this sounds counter intuitive since we see the bright orange lure much better than we see the purple one but remember we are observing with “white” light which has full blend of all colors of light. The fish is looking at it with light that has the longer red, orange and yellow wavelengths filtered out by the water.
Scientists used to believe fish do not see in color, but this is not true. Just like us, fish have both rod and cone receptors in their retinas but more like cats and dogs, walleyes have many more rod receptors than cones than we do. This helps them see better in low light conditions. These fish can see, and they can see well so remember, for deep water, use blues and purples. For shallow waters, include orange and reds in your lure selection.
To be successful in jigging walleyes you need to find an area with the most favorable combination of the above factors. Then you need to refine your jigging technique to give you the best possible chance of landing a hungry walleye. This means paying attention to both the fish’s sight as described above and feel of vibration senses it uses to find prey.
Your jigging technique should appeal to both feel of vibration and sight senses of the fish. I like to drop my line until it is vertical all the way to the bottom. Then with the rod tip low, reel in any slack but leaving the jig still on the bottom. From here you can quickly jerk the line up so the rod tip is at an 11:00 o’clock position. Then slowly let the lure fall naturally by lowing the rod tip as the jig falls back to the bottom. As soon as it hits the bottom, repeat this action. Don’t delay on the bottom and let the lure get tangled in any debris on the bottom.
The quick jerk upward will attract visual attention as well as provide vibration felt by the fish’s lateral line sensors. The slow fall simulates a small bait fish moving down to the bottom to feed on a grub. Keep in mind, it is thought that fish strike from instinct as well as hunger. This makes the quick upward motion important as it stimulates the fish reflex to a fleeing bait fish to get its attention. Then the slow drop simulates his prey looking for food.
The most important technique when jigging is the drop of the rod tip. The drop must match the natural fall of the lure so it appears to be naturally diving to the bottom. If you lower the tip too fast, the line will go slack and you will not feel the strike. If you go too slow, it might not look as natural. At first this technique takes a little practice to get right but it will become natural very quickly.
Finally, a word about managing the boat while jigging. Jigging works best if you can keep your lines as near vertical as possible. It is nice to drift a little bit but if you are jigging much deeper than 15 feet the skipper must keep the boats drift very slow. This can take a little practice if there is much wind or any current. If you cannot keep your line vertical, you are in for a lot of missed strikes and a lot of bottom snags.