Jigging up freshwater stripers
By the Pro Staff at Core Fishing Tackle

Jigging has been around for along time, but still alot of striper fishermen do not utilize this technique. During some times of the year, jigging can be much more productive than live baiting, trolling and casting. Jigging up stripers isn't hard, its easy and really fun, but it does take some time in order to be confident in jigging.

When's the best time to jig? The 2 best times for jigging is the dead of winter and the middle of summer. In these 2 times of the year, the stripers form very large schools and will stay schooled throughout the day. During these two times of the year, the stripers aren't feeding as heavily as they are in the spring and fall, but you can use this to your advantage.

How do I get started? Well, first and foremost, a good fish finder will be first necessity. If your freshwater striper lake has submerged timber, then a really high-end fish finder will be crucial. A high-end Lowrance fish finder would be the Lowrance 25, 26, 27, 28, 104, 110, 111, 112 and 113 models. If your lake doesn't have submerged timber, then a standard sonar will be fine. To see stripers in the trees or on the bottom, make sure you have your sensitivity turned up to near its highest point before the screen gets totally cluttered. Also make sure that you have any Noise Rejection or Surface Clarity settings turned to the OFF or LOW position. Noise Rejection/Surface Clarity will try and make your fish finder paint a pretty picture and it'll blend fish into the surroundings, which isn't what we're looking for.

Where do I look to jig up some stripers? Trees, trees, trees. If your lake has submerged timber, then this will be the first place to look. During the winter and summer, stripers will retreat to the trees during the daylight hours to cruise around and relax. The best spot to look is near the mouth of a major creek or cove that you know stripers are feeding in during the morning, evening and night. The stripers shouldn't move too far from their food source during the day, but they will want some deeper water to relax in and get down away from the sun.
The next place to look is on main channel points. As everyone knows, stripers don't really associate with structure for feeding, except for points. Stripers use points like a pathway to drive bait up and coral them between the bottom and the surface. During the daylight hours, some stripers will still continue to feed and main channel points are a great location to look. A clean-bottomed point will be best. Start at the deepest part of the point, say around 50-60 feet deep and work your way shallower by dropping your jig to the bottom and just jigging several inches above the bottom. If you have a high-end fish finder, then you should see some 'suspicious bumps' on the bottom, which if you're used to seeing them, will be stripers cruising the bottom. 90% of the time, if you're seeing fish cruising the bottoms around points, then they're in the feeding mood.

Alright, what's the right tackle to use? We'll jump right into the baits, because its pretty simple. You'll need a soft-bodied plastic on a jig head and a spoon-type bait of some sort. For the soft-bodied baits, we've found the Zoom Super Flukes are the best, hands down. They're not elaborate or expensive, but they will catch some serious fish. The reason we believe they work so well is that they're pretty simple in body style, which allows the fisherman to fish it in any way they seem suitable. Next you'll need a jig-head in which to thread the fluke onto. We like ½ & ¾ ounce jig heads for jigging up stripers because they fall quick enough to feel a quick bite and the quick fall allows you to get down to fast moving stripers very quickly. If you're using monofilament or fluorocarbon, they you'll need to rig your jig head with a barrel swivel and a split ring in order to alleviate any line twist. Line twist will definitely occur when jigging for stripers if you do not have the swivel/split ring combination. Here's the rigs that we use:

When jigging flukes try different types of jigging motions to find out what the stripers are looking for. There's no wrong way to work a fluke. Most of the time when we're jigging for stripers, we'll use a fairly long jigging motion until we see active fish on the sonar in which we'll switch to a very quick, short erratic jigging motion to seal the deal on the striper bite. Most of the time the long jig will get the stripers attention and they'll come up and look at it, but sometimes they won't hit it unless you switch to that quick, erratic jigging motion which simulates a fleeting baitfish. A striper will hit a jigged fluke on the fall, the rise and anywhere in-between.

For spoons there are many types, sizes, colors and manufacturers. We're big fans of Hopkins Shorty Spoons and Acme Kastmaster Spoons. Hopkins Shorty Spoons are cheaper, but don't have the bright finish that the Kastmaster Spoons do. Stripers love each, so we'll use both. The ¾ ounce spoon by both manufacturers are the best. We rig our spoons just like our jig heads, by using a barrel swivel and split ring to alleviate line twist. To jig a spoon, some people like to do short, small jigs, but we found it better to use a long up motion to allow for more drop-time which is where the stripers will hit a spoon 9 times out of 10. After you pull a spoon up with your rod, let the spoon fall back down without any line tension. If you have tension on the spoon, then it will not flutter down, it will fall vertically without any motion. While you're letting the spoon drop, follow the falling slack line with your rod tip so that as soon as you SEE a twitch in your line, set the hook! When a freshwater striper hits a spoon, most of the time they're coming up on it which means you won't feel the striper hit, you'll just see the line make a quick jump since its being pushed up.

What kind of rod and reel should I use? Any type of standard bass rod and reel will work as long as you have some decent line that is 12-17lb test. Don't try to fight a 20lb striper out of the trees with 8lb monofilament, it won't work most of the time. The Pro Staff at Core Fishing Tackle have tried countless types of rods, but we're all huge fans of the Airrus Co-Matrix 457 Medium Action 7 foot casting rod. This rod has a very comfortable grip with a long butt which allows you to 'bounce' the rod off of your forearm in order to jig without much effort. These Airrus Rods have a fast action tip which allows for easy jigging, but they also have a tough backbone to horse a striper up out of the trees.
For reels, we like any type of reel that has a fast gear ratio and can hold a fair amount of line. You will need a fast gear ratio in order to get a striper out of the trees as fast as possible. Pflueger Trion baitcasting reels are perfect because of their high gear ratio and their wide spools. With a Pflueger you'll be confident in its drag and the high gear ratio and large line capacity are great added benefits!

Now go get jiggin'.

The Pro Staff at Core Fishing Tackle