Teach me how to fish with artif.

[Jeremy R. Mayo]

Something new I would like to do this year is venture into the ultralights and fish a lil artificial. Ive got 10 bream busters in my boat 1 tiny tackle box with only corks, weights, hooks and 200ft of 10lb tst line and two cages usually loaded with 150 to 250 crickets a pc. Fishing with live bait all your life tends to make you scared to death when you go out without them crickets but I wanna try!

First off when fishing artificials Do you do it like bass fishin? Do you chunk at the outskirts of tree tops? Or do you just jig? How deep do you know you are when your fishing in current. Do you even fish the same spots? Life is scary without a cork. When do you use a blade? Is a rooster tail better than a spoon? How important is the color of the jig head? Should I rub the beatle spin in the worm dirt to add some flavor to it? Life was so simple when it was just a cricket, a stick, a cork, and some string.

Lets have a technique discussion. Imagine your writing to a ten year old kid on what to get and how to use it! (no im not that dumb but lord please be gentle with me to begin with..... I gotta get warmed up first)

This is going to be like Big Country takin his chevy into the city so keep the technical terms slim PLEASE

Scared of the plastic in Al.
Mr. MAYO

[Pat]

Zig has the color thing going, that's for sure! As a fly tyer, I do all my own and will say that color of materials is all the difference, even over size and shape! I typically pitch small streamers, for gills, using a size 8 or a 10, in a 4x length. that size does a fine job of keeping the little BG's off the hook but will allow an easy extraction with the larger fish. By fishing these streamers, I'll often take a equal share of both Bluegills and Crappie, with an occasional bass for fun!
As for color, the hot orange with chartreuse wings will slay on most days with back up colors on stand by in the fly box, including black, olive, reds purple, and more recent addition includes three shades of blue! And as already noted, the retrieve is slow, working to slower! Now, I will say that a crippled minnow stripping action can really kick up a fuss right after a missed strike!
Another secret, if you can call it that:
When I'm working my streamers, I never really have to "set the hook" as most often, even with barbless hooks, the fish is going to do it them selves! The key, I find to fishing a fly that is on the larger size is that often a fish will hit it first to stun it, a reaction hit, if you will, and then take it, full away! This really holds true on a minnow like fly or lure! Even more so when fishing a current. The fish is whacking it to stun, then swallowing it, often almost "face first". My pattern of retrieve, then is a slow, figure eight twitch, with a few seconds of a pause then strip again. If I get a hit, pause to see if you hooked up. If not, a few inches of stripping action to cause the streamer to "flutter" then pause! That last pause is typically met with a slam dunk!
You all take care!
FliTrap

[John Sheehan]

Yo Zuri Snap beans come in two sizes per package 32nd and 16th...I've done well with the 16th oz Silver  black back in clear water ponds.The lure sinks slowly and I feel that is the  thing that attracts Gills to this bait .You can see them come up in the column to greet this bait.I 've caught bass ,pickerel and even Golden Shiners on this bait as well. I'm sure that Perch and Crappie will also be attracted to this bait given the chance.

[John Cachel]

I caught lot of good size bluegills on 1/80 to 1/64 oz jig with one inch twistertail or Gulp maggot. 1/32 oz jig/1.5" tube for crappie and bigger bluegills. Small Roostertail in white, yellow or white/black always good for me but need add small ballbearing swivel for reduce line problem.
Long ultralight rod at least 5 ft 6" up to 7 ft 6" is great that you able to cast small lure farther! 2 to 4 lbs test line! Diffcult to cast small lure on 6 lbs line or above!
Cast your small jig and watch the line until it stop then you know that your lure is on the bottom then hopping or small jigging at reel in at the same time. Or just cast out to any covers as trees, bushes, rocks, etc at least 3 feet deep. Very shallow mean small bluegills!
When I want the biggest bluegills then I use livebait in deeper water!

[Copperhead John]

It's very simple: use an ultra light rod with 4 lb. test Trilene XL; tie on a 1/32 oz. beetlespin in any color with a loop knot; cast it out to cover or obvious bedding areas in three feet of water or less as if you were fishing for bass; let it sink a little and reel back at a steady pace; hold on tight. After you master this, if you can pull yourself away from the beetlespin which will be hard to do, try all the other ultra light lures, among which the top surface lures are the floating rapala #3 and the Bitsy Minnow ultra light crank bait and any in-line spinners. You will catch many more quality brim than you will with baits per fish in my opinion

[Bryce]

I just wanted to add that i have caught a lot of quality bluegills on a plain 1/32 oz jighead and a orange twister tail i usually just cast it to the banks and along weeds. I have also caught a lot of gills on black or brown jigs that i have made

[OldBaldGuy]

My "go to" artificial is a 1/124-oz. microjig with a size #10 hook, inserted in a 1-1/2" skirted tube. Although other colors have worked better some days, my two favorite color combinations are black tubes with chartreuse skirts and black tubes with hot pink skirts. I generally fish them with short sporadic strips -- a few inches at a time -- trying to make them "hop" along.

BTW, if you're catching nothing but smaller gills, try deeper water. Sometimes the big ones are lurking just a little further off-shore; sometimes they're not.

Good luck, Jeremy. You don't need no stinkin' crickets! LOL

[Jeremy R. Mayo]

Oh I will have to take my crickets just as a comfort factor. Kinda like a child with his blanky! haha

[Bruce Condello]

Jeremy R. Mayo.......

Feared by crickets everywhere.

[chris garton]

kinda like me and my worms!!! ha ! ha!

[Dave Britton]

Jeremy 1st rule to jig fishin is "Don't be Skeered." I am of a firm belief that if you can't catch em on a jig you ain't where the fish are. As I have stated I am a crappie fishermen and would gladly welcome anyone to prove to me you need a minnow to catch em. Knowledge is the key to fishing not magic bait. How many times I have gone to my favorite lake 5 miles from home and caught 100 crappie while others come in and say they had no luck,I couldn't tell you. Deep shores,shallow cover,weed lines and just the knowledge of where to start looking at what time of the year.Practice makes perfect appplies to fishing too.

[Jeremy R. Mayo]

I AINT SKEERED NO MORE! HAHA

[Dwayne Denison]

If you like using a float, you can fish a small jig under an ice float. I fish 2 to 3 feet down in 5ft water,just real slow retrive. I like to put a small piece of hot dog or bacon on my jig hook.