Jig And Float Article

[Phil Lilley]

After someone here asked about information on using a jig and float on Taneycomo for trout, I looked at my articles and didn't like what I found. So I wrote an article just on fish a jig and float.

Here's the article - I've got it posted on the main site but haven't gotten all the images done for it. I'll post a link when I'm done.

Jig and Float

One of the most effective trout fishing techniques on Lake Taneycomo is the jig-and-float technique. If you hire a guide on our lake, chances are you'll fish with a spinning rod with a small jig and a float. Why? Because this way of fishing is fairly easy and it flat catches trout.

Guides use spinning rod equipment when using a jig and float, but you can easily use a fly rod and be just as effective.

First we'll cover using spinning equipment since this is what most anglers use.

Spinning Rod

A good general rod for jig-and-float is a medium action, six-foot graphite rod. Some anglers like to use a longer rod such as seven feet or even longer. Length is important because throwing the rig and setting the hook is difficult using a short rod. In setting, you are dealing with slack from the rod tip to the float as well as the line from the float to the jig. If you're fishing eight-feet deep, that's a lot of slack to pull before getting to the fish on the end of your line. A longer rod will definitely help get a good hook set.

Some of our guides have changed to using eight- to nine-foot spinning rods to give them the power needed to set the hook when fishing nine to 12 feet under a float.

A medium to stiff action rod is much better than a soft tip rod. You need all the power you can muster if fishing at a distance from the boat and/or at deep depths.

Casting a jig-and-float can be difficult depending on how deep you're fishing and how much line is hanging off the end of your rod. Place the jig in the water behind you (assuming you're fishing from a boat). With a flicking wrist motion, propel the rig forward using the water and rod as a sling-shot. It's not a lob cast but more of a direct-line drive.

Fly Rod

Using a jig instead of a fly on a fly rod? Heaven forbid!! Many anglers who don't fly fish traditional ways (with nymphs, dries or streamers) are learning to use a fly rod and enjoying the jig-and-float technique. It's easy in that there's only one thing to watch -- the float.

The ideal fly rod here on Taneycomo is a nine-foot, five-weight rod and simple fly reel with a minimal drag system. Nothing fancy. Float WF five-weight line and tapered 12-foot, 3x leader. Add some tippet material, a jig and float and you can catch trout to your heart's content.

I like using a fly rod when jig-and-float fishing because I can recast and move my jig around with just a flick of the wrist. I don't have to reel in and cast back out as with a spin cast.

It's not necessary but it's good to keep your fly line clean and coated with floatant so that your line stays on top of the water. This will help when recasting and setting the hook on a fish. If your leader is sinking, coat it, too.

Line

Conditions dictate what size and kind of line you use for jig-and-float. I suggest using no more than four-pound line on your reel; two-pound is okay but not necessary. Here's a quick list of conditions and what should be used with them:

• Clear water, bright sun, no generation -- two-pound fluorocarbon (6x or even 7x)
  
• Generation, slow drift - four-pound mono or fluorocarbon (6x or 5x)
  
• Generation, medium to fast - four-pound mono
  
• Small jigs, 1/100th or less or micro jigs (half) - two-pound fluorocarbon (6x or even 7x)
  
• Medium jigs, 1/80th or larger - four-pound mono or fluorocarbon (6x or 5x)
  
  As you can see, water color, sun, generation and size of jigs all play a part in choosing what type of line as well as the diameter.
  
  Learning how to use tippet material can be very important when using the jig-and-float technique because you can't change the line on your spools every time you want to change the line that your jig is tied to. Tippet is the line you tie on to the end of the line coming off your reel and the line that you tie your jig to. You can use a triple surgeon's knot to connect these lines. It's easy to use and will connect even a large diameter line to a small diameter line without too much of an issue.
  
  Some of our guides use a barrel swivel to connect the tippet to the line. They tie on the exact length of line they want to fish under the indicator and place the indicator above the swivel (pic). This does make is difficult to change the depth, but if you're confident that you will catch fish at that depth, it's a good way to do it.
  
  Floats
  
  Floats or indicators are used to float the jig at the desired depth and to give the angler an indication that a fish is nibbling on his jig. Size, style, shape and color are all important.
  
  If you're drifting in current and using a fairly heavy jig and it's dragging close to or on the bottom, then your float needs to be large enough not to be dragged under water at the slightest pull of the jig. Large carrot floats are good for this type of fishing. If the current is slow, a large float still may be used -- it just depends on how heavy the jig and how deep you're fishing.
  
  Large floats are also used when you're having trouble casting small- to medium-sized floats. You can pinch a split shot on the line just under, actually touching the float to give you more weight when casting. Just make sure the weight isn't too much for the float.
  
  The downside to using a large float when fishing small jigs in no current is that sometimes the trout will only slightly take the jig, "taste" it and, thus, not move the float but just a tiny bit. A large float won't show this movement but a small float will.
  
  There are all kinds of floats. We like to use carrot style-shaped floats either slit or solid with a hole through the middle for the line. Some come with a rubber band to hold the line in place and some with a wood, toothpick stop. Some anglers prefer to use a rubber band instead of a stick. If you're using tiny jigs such as thread jigs or micro jigs, you can use a Palsa style float, but these are very hard to cast using a spin cast rod and reel. Color is dictated by what the angler can see best in his conditions.
  
  Jigs
  Jigs have been around for decades. They are all-round great lures for all kinds of fish. Here on Taneycomo we use marabou jigs and micro jigs.
  Marabou jigs are tied either with or without a collar. For use under a float, we use jigs as heavy as 1/8th ounce and as light as 1/125th ounce. Marabou are feather pieces demonstrating life-like movement when under water. Marabou is dyed and comes in many colors.
  
  Jig heads are either lead or a lead-type metal and painted to the desired color. Head color does make a difference, just like marabou color.
  Here's a list of color combinations we use for trout on Lake Taneycomo:
  • sculpin, brown head
    
  • sculpin, olive head
    
  • sculpin, orange head
    
  • scuplin/ginger, brown head
    
  • sculpin/ginger, orange head
    
  • ginger, brown head
    
  • olive, olive head
    
  • olive/sculpin, olive head
    
  • brown, orange head
    
  • brown/orange, orange head
    
  • black/black head
    
  • white, white head
    
  • black/yellow, black head
    
  • black/olive, black head
    

  There are more colors and combinations too numerous to list here. And yes, sculpin -- named after the small freshwater "muddlers" in the lake that our browns love -- is one of the best colors to use here on our lake.

  Turner Micro jigs are another extremely effective jig to use for trout. These tiny jigs are made by a small company in Springfield, Missouri. Although costly, they flat catch trout and are just as good as most flies we use.

  Turner Micro jigs come in two sizes. We call them full and half micros. Full micros are about 1/128th ounce while the half micros are about 1/256th ounce. The hackle isn't tied but shrink- wrapped to the collar with heat, unlike all other marabou jigs. The feathers are a hen hackle, not marabou, which demonstrate even more lively movement under water. The heads are hand painted to the finest detail -- right down to the painted eyes.

  We use the following colors, in order starting from the best colors:

  [*]olive, orange head

  [*]olive, gold head

  [*]sculpin, gold head

  [*]ginger, gold head

  [*]black, black head

  [*]brown, brown head

  [*]pink, chrome head

  [*]gray, chrome head

  [*]white, chrome head

  Technique

  Trout are a fickle fish -- moody might be a better adjective. Sometimes they like their jigs moving a lot, sometimes they like them dead still, not moving at all. Sometimes they're aggressive and sometimes very lethargic. You have to determine which mood they're in and adjust your fishing to match. If you're fishing with marabou, it could be as simple as trimming the feathers on your jig if the trout are only taking the end tails.

  Choosing the depth at which you set your float is important. At best, it's experimenting at different depths to see where the trout are holding, especially if you're fishing deep water, more than eight-feet deep. If you're fishing eight feet or less, start halfway down and probably move deeper. Occasionally, trout are holding higher in the water column but not very often. They are usually close if not on the bottom, especially the larger trout.

  Fishing more than eight-feet deep takes a longer spin rod, or you can change to a fly rod. There are occasions when fishing more than eight- feet deep is necessary--when there's generation or when you're fishing lower in the lake where water is deeper.

  The following is likely the most important bit of information offered in this article: FIND AN AREA OF THE LAKE WHERE THE SURFACE IS BROKEN BY WIND. You can catch trout when the lake's surface is glassy, but that's far from ideal. Ideal surface conditions are from slightly to medium choppy. This works the float that works the jig below. Also, fish feed better when there's chop on the surface, for whatever reason. I've proven this out 99% of the time in many hours of fishing on the lake, with and without clients.

  If there's generation, a little or a lot, drifting with a jig-and-float can be very effective. Even if all four units are running, our guides fish nine- to 12-feet deep from jig to float. A good combination is a full pink micro jig with a scud trailer. A trailer is an extra fly tied on a line from 18 to 24 inches below the jig using tippet material, usually 5 or 6x. The line is tied either to the jig's eye or the bend of the hook.

  When casting the rig from the boat, don't cast it out so far that you can't see the float if it moves every so slightly. You can cast too far and miss seeing a subtle bite. Our trout aren't very boat shy. They won't sit right under your boat, but they won't dart out and move 100 yards away either. Fifteen to 20 feet from the boat is fine.

  In any surface condition, experiment with working the float. When I say working the float, I mean moving, twitching or jerking the float, thus moving the jig underneath. Try a little, just every 10 seconds instead of moving it all the time. Then try leaving it alone altogether. I typically only leave the rig in one place for about a minute at the most unless I'm drifting with the current. In that case, the rig will move along on its own.

  Slack control is vital no matter what the conditions but especially if you're drifting in current. Pay close attention to the line between your rod tip and float. Don't let the line swirl and twist in the current. Keep it as straight as possible by lifting the line, re-establishing the line and reeling in slack. This will make setting the hook quick and powerful.

  If you're not getting bit, CHANGE colors, CHANGE jig size, CHANGE depths, CHANGE locations. Keep changing until you find the right combination. It may be that the trout are just not feeding. Know that generation can stop and start at various times of the day for no apparent reason. But keep fishing. That's why they call it fishing and not catching!

  Good Luck

[Micheal Kyle]

Great article Phil.

My favorite jigs are the Turner ginger with a brown head and the Olive with a bronze head.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Is this "sticky" to the top of this Taneycomo forum yet ??

Great article.

As best described as it can be done. Period.

[fish]

Shsssss!!! Don't want this secret to get out.

[Mr. Ed]

This technique is hardly a secret. First time I ever put a fly rod in my hand was on Tanycomo with a foam float and a brown 100th oz jig 5' below it (boat fishing)... that was probably 25 years ago. I've successfully used that same rig many other places and always referred to it as a "Tanycomo rig". Great and easy way to catch a lot of trout... and other species. I don't get to Tanycomo much these days (thanks kids) but it's still my favorite method to use there if the conditions are favorable. If you've never picked up a fly rod this is a great way to learn. Like Phil said... just watch the float. Nice write up!

[Phil Lilley]

The first time I fished this technique was the year I bought the resort. I used a Bassnapper 1/100th oz ginger jig and caught the snot out of rainbows and a good number of browns.

[fish]

Phil - I think if I dig deep enough in my old flyboxes I can find you a card or two of those Bassnappers from back in the day. Did a lot of night fishing back then in the Short Creek area. Used a Moon Glow light and, like you said, caught the snot out of them day or night.

[Mr. Ed]

The first time I fished this technique was the year I bought the resort. I used a Bassnapper 1/100th oz ginger jig and caught the snot out of rainbows and a good number of browns.

We learned this method from the old (about three owners ago) owner of what now is Trout Hollow Resort. We use to keep track of how many trout we boated. It wasn't unusual for a guy to catch close to a hundred trout over a weekend... fun stuff and never a gut hooked fish.

[Jigggg11]

Great article on jig fishing Phil.

[Col Ron]

I'm glad you took the time to write it. I use similar on the White and it also works well. The White in the catch and release has been very spotty, unless you are in the "kiddy pool" just down river of the shoal on the Baxter County side. In the kiddy pool, wholly burgers always work well. Thanks for the information Phil.

Col Ron