What areas do I look for to start jigging? I'm an experienced troller but novice jigger. I'll start with the Lake Erie. Seems I pull up on a spot and all the fish scatter. I spend half hour then give up. What marks am I looking for? Do I look for structure? Am I to impatient?
Yeah check out the Erie forums. It gets way more traffic.
But most guys are jigging just right off shore on near shore reefs/rock piles/edges. Or out on the reef complex. Or near islands again near shore on rocks/reefs/edges/schools.
If your worried about your fish scattering don't motor up to your spot. Stop up wind and drift in or use an electric trolling motor to pull you in.
The Erie guys are usually fighting heavy currents,so 1/2-1oz jigs are used. Most of the time you will want bottom contact. An actually I think most guys are really just drifting jigs,rather then "jigging" jigs. But I could be wrong.
If the water is really clear (Not the case this spring) it might be a good idea to cast ahead of your drift an snap jig back to the boat.
I'm cold water temps I imagine guys will anchor up or spot lock on top of fish and go completely verticle. But I imagine we are past having to do that this time of year.
Good luck,keep at it.
Exactly what saugeye said, stop upwind & drift into the spot to keep from spooking fish. Stay with as light a jig as you can but you need to be able to maintain bottom contact without dropping a bowling ball on them.
If you're fishing Erie, head over to that forum & get involved on the reef/jigging threads.
Structure is always a great starting point !!
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