I discovered this by accident. We were headed down to a cottage just off the Piankatank River with a wonderful dock in a protected cove and I brought a couple rods, a bag of frozen shrimp, a net, a sturdy bucket, a filet knife, but I left my saltwater tackle box in the basement. Our daughter Laura was coming the next day, and I asked if she would please pick up my gear and bring it. But it was a beautiful afternoon and I just happened to have a small, 1/8-ounce crappie jig already rigged on one of the rods. It was the only hook I had.
There wasn’t much current back in the creek, so I figured, what the heck, I’ll give it a shot. I picked a few pieces of shrimp from the bag and went down to the dock. I cut a piece of shrimp just large enough to shimmy up the jig hook, made a cast and I caught fish. Lots of fish, many more than when I used a 1-oz. sinker and double drop rig.
The secret was that when a fish found the bait and picked it up, he could run with it and didn’t feel the weight and resistance of a heavy sinker. He had it in its mouth and I was able to set the hook with remarkable success.
I have used jig heads in saltwater, usually with plastic jigs and I have caught fish that way. But lots of times, the fish would hit the tail of the jig and you’d miss them, or they’d hit and then spit out the jig. But they don’t spit out a jig tipped with fresh shrimp. That’s dinner, so your hookup rate is way higher than when fishing with artificial bait – even GULP baits or Fish Bytes.
I had good success again this week with some nice croakers, spot, and white perch. In cooler weather I have also caught lots of speckled trout and puppy drum.
So, instead of a heavy rod and reel outfit, use a light or medium, rig with no more than 8-lb. test. Tie on a 1/8 oz. jig, add a piece of shrimp and you will catch lots of fish.
