Reefs And Near Shore 4-18-4-20

[PCperchhunter]

Appreciate the info. We took a few on jigs Friday, Saturday, Sunday, but the lack of wind made it hard to drift. I have to admit I'm a lot better dragging a harness than I am jig fishing. Have a lot to learn yet. Some boats nearby were getting them hand over fist while we had to work a long time between fish.

[wallenharms]

Went out this past saturday 4/19, tried the casting out at first, but wasn't nessasary. Just jig straight up and down, very your jigging strokes. Try longer ones 1-2' stroke, making sure to feel the jig all the way down as the fish may hit on the down stroke, which in this case very light so you would just notice your jig stop falling. As well with short pumps, just 3 to 6".
We noticed as the wind front came in and we were drifting faster to do short pumps only 2-3".
Minnow size doesn't matter, they will hit a small one and a big one just as well, and even just using the body. What matter's is color and size. Very your color through the day if they seem to shut down. As well a slow drift would use a light jig 3/8-5/8 oz. And in a fast drift 5/8-1 oz.
A key thing that really helped we found as a tip was to use a ball bearing swivel with a foot leader, really cut's down on line twisting.

Good luck and keep a tight line!

[jkingfish5]

If you use a 2 or 3 foot leader when you snag up you will not have to tie the leader on as much as you would with a one foot leader

[ERIE REBEL1]

When I started fishing on Friday I had about a three ft. leader on both of my jigging rods when I got home Sunday both of the rods leaders had dropped to about one ft. Did I lose any jigs due to snags NO.This was due to changing colors and weights to find the best set-up.You just can't go out there and stick to one jig the whole time and be successful.You have to find out what the fish want.And this can change several times during the day.BE Ready to change when your bite changes.