Strawberry Rainbows

[Z-man6]

Back to the original post, the rainbows are getting bigger. We caught 3 over 23" yesterday on a fly, 25 fish, 2 people, 5 hours not a bad day.
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[Papasan]

I do pretty well at the "berry" most days but would like to know how to fish the white jigs I hear you guys talking about. Are you jigging them off the bottom, drifting, slow retrieve, any special rigging? Are you tipping them with bait? Hope I am not asking for "the keys to the kingdom" just want to learn and get better. I have heard bits and pieces about waiting to set the hook, stuff like that.
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[OCF]

Here is one method that works well for me. Go down to sportsman's and buy a piece of frozen sucker meat. Cut the meat into strips (parallel with the ribs) with the skin on, say 1/4-inch x 1 to 1.5 inches. Attach the meat to your jig like you were putting the hook the through the head of a worm. You want the meat to flail around as you are jigging. One very important suggestion that may make your day or bust your day - make sure you jig sits horizontally in the water. You have to check you jig after every strike and after fish caught to reset the knot. It seriously makes a huge difference.

Most of the time, I drop the jig to the bottom and come up 2 to 4 feet & start jigging. However, go as deep as the fish finder tells you the fish are located. If you are within 10 feet vertically of the fish zone and they are interested, they will come to your depth. I have wind drifted out into the middle of the reservoir in 70 FOW and jigged 30 feet and caught a lot of fish. Anchoring or wind drifting are all very effective. In addition, I also cast out from the boat and drop vertically down - both very effective. The vertical fishing is better when fishing in > 20 feet in depth. Otherwise, if I am in shallow water (< 20 FOW) I usually cast out from the boat and jig as I retrieve. Do a little experimenting to see what works well on that particular day.

You hear everyone talking about the white jigs & they do work. I have also been very success full with "Radical Glow" chartreuse jigs both 3.5 and 5 inch tubes (surprisingly all sizes of fish will hit this large 5 inch jig). You pay more for these tubes; however, they last much longer than the others & they glow like crazy. In addition, Some of the biggest fish I have caught have bitten "Maniac Custom Lures" 3.5 inch Cut'R bug - white, pink & orange. I split the tails with scissors to give them more action. What ever jig I am using, I generally use the largest/heaviest jig head I can to cast further and/or sink faster.

I attach the same meat to all of these jig setups. Worms are also very effective. I like the meat because it hangs on and I can catch 6 to 10 fish without rebaiting.

Good Luck! Get ready for tight lines and screaming drags!
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