Are we overcomplicating what would otherwise be a no-brainer? Perhaps, grab a 99 cent safety pin spinner and stick it on our jig. Now we are looking at them for 3 bucks and out of tungsten who knows how much more. And for what.....is there a difference?

A good friend of mine is a guide for Roland Martins Marina........in the spring he invites me to fish for shell crackers which are basically an outsize bluegill. We sight fish for them while they are on the beds.......drift over them and throw tiny beetle spins. Fun and engaging.

He tells me what size and color beetle spin to get and lb test. I get out fished 2 to 1. I'm no dope (well mostly ) and I say "hey wait a minute........what gives?" I grab his beetle spin and immediately notice that he has swapped out the regular barrel swivel for a tiny ball bearing swivel. It made a humongous difference....... (we are still friends  ).

Would it make a dif in canoe country? Probably or probably not.......maybe or maybe not. It all depends I guess on conditions. Probably not worth worrying about, slap a cheap one on and fuggedaboutit. Bear in mind, however that the double wire loop (depending on brand) make a lousy connection to tie mono to and you might want some sort of snap. More hardware........

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I've managed to forget thank you. It was a Cabela's XML so not all that much I guess. It was a lot to me though. As long as I don't break it's exact replacement the same way my education will be worth it.

Yup, I think you guys are over thinking it by my standards buy hey, so what, go for it. Whatever works.
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We all use the lures we have confidence in. I justified replacing the graphite rod simply because it's a joy to use compared to what I used before. I don't think fish much care what rod I use or how much confidence I have in my lure. I do know that when I tie to the spinner directly, I need to adjust where the knot ends up after each fish or it will run funny. I don't think a fish knows that my shiny snap swivel isn't part of the lure anyway and I only bring the one rod so....

FWIW - I believe that the direction of my retrieve in relation to the angle of the sun matters quite a bit with different lures on different days and prefer the gold blades on ocassion. Do they make gold snap swivels? Eh, whatever works.

I still say lure manufacturers target fishermen while catching fish is a happy bonus. As a kid I bought a mail order fish caller thingy. It had a light and a chum chamber ... I think it vibrated or ticked too! I can still see the look on my Dad's face as I deployed it - and waited for it to bring us a boatload of fish.

I love jig fishing, find a hump or reef and bump all over it.
I especially like to fish these spots when it is not too windy.
I use a spincast, when I cast I will watch my line fall to the surface, as the jig sinks I watch where the line enters the water, it appears to be being sucked down and racing back towards the rod tip. It is very obvious, when the line goes limp you have reached bottom. From that point I just sneak the jig along the bottom with the occasional twitch. I love to feel the the jig working through rocks and staying in touch with the bottom. If I feel resistance I apply slightly more pressure, with enough experience you will feel a little 'give' or not. If it feels mushy I set the hook. Sometimes it doesn't pan out as a fish and you just wedged your jig in a bunch of rocks.
This brings up the next technique to master, trying to slingshot the jig from between the rocks.

Jim J Solo wrote on Nov 14^th, 2013 at 2:20pm:


As one who has also snapped a nice rod on a lunker (snag), it makes me feel slightly better knowing it has happened to other more experienced anglers than me...     

Now if I could just keep from dropping (losing) entire rods and reels in the  lake (done that twice in the past 5 years), I'll really feel better...        

As for the advice on this thread, thx for the info...I've actually been  jigging more and more on recent trips as I gain experience...good helpful hints on technique and tackle here....but I think there's a reason I don't buy really expensive fishing stuff for the Quetico anymore...

Jim J Solo wrote on Nov 15^th, 2013 at 3:44pm:


Wasn't bad Jim.......as far as cephalopod jokes go (I got a chuckle)

pine_knot wrote on Nov 15^th, 2013 at 1:05pm:


Now there is an admission which takes some character. Care to share how it happened? It could prove to be a learning experience for everyone.

I have a tale of a lost rod, a loomis at that, which happened out of a canoe in the everglades. Well it happened like this.........paddling along, nice sunny day. I had placed my rods on top of my cooler in my dandy plastic coleman canoe and yup, you guessed it, while I was switching sides I knocked the blasted thing over. I immediately pulled to the side of the small canal and started considering my options. I had an acquaintance in our town who was a diver but I thought it unlikely I could get him to feel around on the bottom in an alligator infested backwater.

So I took my other rod, put a treble hook on and about the third cast I hooked the very tip top eyelet. I will never forget the sight of that rod slowly materializing out of the water. How cool was that?