Affordable Mini Jig Rod, beginner angler looking for advice.

[gokuguy]

Hey guys, Long time reader of these forums, first time poster.

I just had a question about equipment I was hoping some of you could give me some advice on. I've been fishing for 15+ years with my pops usually in Arizona along the Colorado river, the Dams, drain ditches, and lakes along the indian reservation. Mainly go for bass, catfish, carp, bluegill, and trout during the winter months. It's been a while since my pops and I have been able to make it out fishing together, but my love for fishing has been renewed recently since I was able to introduce fishing to a bunch of my close buddies. They're all hooked now. :D

Now, Ive been using most of my dad's equipment this far, and am now interested in piecing together my own gear. My dad has a mixture of Shimano and Daiwa reels/rods, mostly ultra light, fast action, in the 5'6 to 6'0 range, which I use for rigging a Carolina rig with powerbait, or attaching a spinner ( Rooster tails, panther martins and super duper being the lures I use most). 6# main line attached to a barrel swivel and a fluorocarbon 4# leader.

Now, We have been fishing at Lake Dixon and Lake Poway since the local lakes (irvine, sarl, etc) charge a considerable amount more for the permit. 6-8 of us in a group at 25 bux apiece can get pretty expensive pretty fast.

At Lake Poway, I've had a little success, but feel like I could be doing much better. This past weekend, we were fishing up in a spot called Hidden Cove, amongst an army of fisherman as it seemed to be a hot spot. People all around us were catching fish left and right, from the shore, and from the boats. In fact, there were about 4 boats parked in the middle of the tiny cove with anglers covering almost the entire shoreline. Now, I was able to get 2 nice rainbows with my powerbait rig, but the fish didn't seem interested at ALL in my spinners. There were schools swimming by where I would cast out my rooster tails and panther martins and spin it in front of them, but they wouldn't even take a second glance at any of my spinners.

It was pretty frustrating experience when for about 3 hours people all around us were pulling in fish after fish cast after cast yet my buddy and I were having no luck at all.

There was a nice experienced angler who told me that most of the ones that were slaying the fish around us were using mini jigs. He caught his limit of 4 trout in about 45 minutes using his mini jig, so I looked in my tacklebox and found a pack of crappie 1/32 mini jigs. The angler was nice enough to put a powerworm on the end of the jig for me.

Now, The problem I had is that I could cast it out literally about 3 or 4 feet from the boat. By the time I had tied on the mini jig, the sun was already going down so I couldn't experiment to see if using a bobber would help me cast it out farther, or I thought maybe a split shot a couple feet above the jig might work too. Some of the people using the jigs on shore told me to look for about a 7' ultra light fast action pole and small 1000 or 1500 size reel for mini jigging. I did a quick search online and it seems the Phenix are definitely one of the best to get, but they are a little out of my price range at the moment. Any suggestions for a combo for under 100 or 150 dollars? I was thinking maybe an ugly stick 7' or 7'6 rod with maybe a Shimano Sedona reel but am open to suggestions as I'm very much a newbie and the information I got on the brands was the product of a few hours of google searching fishing equipment and reading reviews.


Also, it seems my technique in doing a powerbait/inflate nightcrawler combo on a treble hook is apparently terrible as I couldn't get a single nibble all day, but was able to get nibbles as soon as I switched to just powerbait by itself. Any tips or suggestions on how to hook on the combo? I had difficulty putting the powerbait on the hook once I had the worm hooked on all 3 hooks.

Sorry for posting a novel and probably boring the hell out of most of you, but I wanted to make sure I included enough background info.

[Sir.Snags.A.Lot]

When it comes to mini jig rods, I prefer the daiwa series (either the spinmatic or the presso). I would use the spinmatic for dropshotting over the presso and the presso for mini jigging over the spinmatic. Just my personal opinion. The longer your rod, the more casting distance you are going to get. Also, you want to use either 2# or 4# line (i prefer 2#). With only 1/32oz of weight, you want light line in order to toss it out further.

As for your whole setup with the crawler and powerbait, I would get rid of the crawler completely. Use a power worm instead and pinch it halfway. Put that on your treble hook and then power the powerbait on over it. Remember not to use a lot of powerbait, just enough to cover the hook. If you really want to use a crawler, after all that may be the only thing they are biting, I would use a mosquito J hook (size 12 maybe smaller) and inflate the crawler. Dip it in some Bite-On Garlic and use it with the Carolina rig. Just my two cents. Good luck out there man.

[shiromaguro88]

I was in the same situation as u described not too long ago. I have since bought an 8 foot daiwa presso with a shimano sedona reel with a 2lbs test. At first I thought 8 foot seemed excessive by now I am considering getting a longer rod. I mainly had success drop shotting a Berkely trout worm attached to a size 10 mesquito hook. I also do use minijig but I had better success drop shotting. I bought my daiwa presso at turners on sale for $64 bucks on sale. Look for their sale or else they are $75. If you want to go cheaper I heard a lot of people like the spinmatic.

[shiromaguro88]

I forgot to mention that I also had great success using Berkeley mice tale. Since going to this method I don't even carry the smelly powerbait anymore. Last time I was fishing an area where I could see the trout and they would chase the rooster tale but soon as they got of hold of it they would spit it out or they would not even try to bite it. Maybe I should replace the trebble hook for a single hook.

[Pudd Legend]

I second the Daiwa Presso or Spinmatic rods suggestions. 7 foot 6 inches is ideal for mini jigs. 7 - 7'6" for dropshot/splitshot. Daiwa presso strictly for jigs (softer tip) Spinmatic rod for multipurpose (jig/worm - stiffer tip). Any shimano in the 1000 size within your budget will work. You can find the rods specified above at any Turners Outdoorsman. They also have some other 7'6" ultralight rods there you may want to pick up and feel. Good luck with your purchase.

[Thisfool]

ok i know all about fishing for cheap.

if you can afford about 150 or 170 get in contact with bebop and he will make you a custom phoenix. I have two and i love them best investment i have ever made.

if not Bass pro has a line of rods called the "micro light" series they rang from ut to light from 5' up to 8' and about $50 and are good quality. also a Berkly cherry wood is a great cheap starter rod 5.6' and i think they run around $30.

when it comes to reels and getting good bang for you buck believe it or not Shakespeare makes a kick *** reel called the sigma. it has 5 or 6 ball bearings and a very smooth drag ive had mine for about 3 years now and its almost time to replace it. ive caught countless trout on it and i even landed a 15lb bat ray on it in los almitos bay on 4lb line. very very very very good reel for $20 check walmart they carry them.

then you have the pflueger reels the trion series for $30 you get a very light weight reel with 3 drag discs and like 3 or 4 ball bearings ive also had this reel for 3 years and have caught a ton of fish on it and it is no wear near being worn out.

so there is about 2 set ups that are awesome fish catching rigs for less then $100

for castabilty i would use nothing heavier then 4lb line

[gokuguy]

Thanks for all the replies.

I stopped by a local Turner's today but was pretty unimpressed with what they had. Maybe partly to do with the fact they were remodeling and everything was just thrown together in piles.

I think I may stop by Bass Pro Shops this weekend and see what I can find. I know I have a micro light series from bass pro that I use as my primary carolina rig, a 5'6 fast action, and I love it, so I may check out the 7'6 version. Now, when you say the Daiwa Presso you would get strictly for jigging, but is it that much better of a jigging rod than the spinmatic? I guess I would prefer to have something multipurpose, but than again have plenty of smaller rods that I could use for baiting. Also, would the Presso be good for spinner lures as well?

I looked up bass pro shops online and the micro lite series they have a 7'6 fast action rod that seems nice, but it says it's rated for lures 1/16 - 1/4 oz, but all the trout jigs I picked are 1/32 oz. Will that matter?

Also, that reel is a baitcaster and I have 0 experience with a baitcasting reel, so I think I would prefer to stick with a spinning open face reel. I think the Sedona 1000 is about in my price range. Unless you guys think the Sahara or maybe the Daiwa Aird would be worth the extra 20 or so dollars. So I'm thinking a Sedona 1000 paired with either the microlite 7'6, Daiwa Presso, or the Daiwa Spinmatic. I think I'm leaning more towards the Daiwa Spinmatic for the multi-purpose use at the moment. Also, I will probably be using 4# test line...I'm not the best angler so I don't want to take a chance on my line snapping if I hook a big Tailwalker. I bought some 2# fluorocarbon leader to use for my powerbait / worm presentations though.

Off topic, but another quick question, do you guys go through the trouble of creating a leader for the carolina rig? It seems so much simpler to just use a 1/8 oz bullet sinker with a split shot so you can change the leader length in seconds.

Also, a few of you mentioned drop shopping, does that work pretty well for stocked trout over the carolina rig? Never have done a drop shop before, would you still use a 1/8 - 1/4 oz sinker? From what I can gather a drop shot is just a hook tied with a palomar knot, and the sinker going on the bottom so the bait is suspended above the sinker, am I right in this?

[Thisfool]

Thanks for all the replies.

I stopped by a local Turner's today but was pretty unimpressed with what they had. Maybe partly to do with the fact they were remodeling and everything was just thrown together in piles.

I think I may stop by Bass Pro Shops this weekend and see what I can find. I know I have a micro light series from bass pro that I use as my primary carolina rig, a 5'6 fast action, and I love it, so I may check out the 7'6 version. Now, when you say the Daiwa Presso you would get strictly for jigging, but is it that much better of a jigging rod than the spinmatic? I guess I would prefer to have something multipurpose, but than again have plenty of smaller rods that I could use for baiting. Also, would the Presso be good for spinner lures as well?

I looked up bass pro shops online and the micro lite series they have a 7'6 fast action rod that seems nice, but it says it's rated for lures 1/16 - 1/4 oz, but all the trout jigs I picked are 1/32 oz. Will that matter?

Also, that reel is a baitcaster and I have 0 experience with a baitcasting reel, so I think I would prefer to stick with a spinning open face reel. I think the Sedona 1000 is about in my price range. Unless you guys think the Sahara or maybe the Daiwa Aird would be worth the extra 20 or so dollars. So I'm thinking a Sedona 1000 paired with either the microlite 7'6, Daiwa Presso, or the Daiwa Spinmatic. I think I'm leaning more towards the Daiwa Spinmatic for the multi-purpose use at the moment. Also, I will probably be using 4# test line...I'm not the best angler so I don't want to take a chance on my line snapping if I hook a big Tailwalker. I bought some 2# fluorocarbon leader to use for my powerbait / worm presentations though.

Off topic, but another quick question, do you guys go through the trouble of creating a leader for the carolina rig? It seems so much simpler to just use a 1/8 oz bullet sinker with a split shot so you can change the leader length in seconds.

Also, a few of you mentioned drop shopping, does that work pretty well for stocked trout over the carolina rig? Never have done a drop shop before, would you still use a 1/8 - 1/4 oz sinker? From what I can gather a drop shot is just a hook tied with a palomar knot, and the sinker going on the bottom so the bait is suspended above the sinker, am I right in this?

if the rod is rated for 1/16th then yea a 1/32 might be hard to cast. with that said all my mini jiggs are 1/16th and they work just as good as a 1/32.

rod length really helps with casting distance also.

there is no such thing as a min jigging reel. there are diffrent sized reels but as far as spinning reels they all are muilty pourpouse, obviously if your going to be doing alot of casting then you whant a lighter weight reel but other then that they all do the same thing.

Trust me on the pfuglar trion gx4 reel is freaking sweet i would put it up agenst any reel twice its price you will not be dissapointed. about $29.99


as far as drop shot. I love it i allways drop shot. but honestly i dont think one method is better then the other they all have there advatages and there disadvatages.

for the rig, you want to use a thin wire hook such as a owners mosquito hook in size 10 or 12 maybe 8 if your using a larger bait. if you can tie a polarmar knot on that small of an eye then roll with it. just be sure once you tie your knot what ever knot you want that you pass the tagg end of the line back thru the eye of the hook this makes the hook stand straight out from the line, kinda important that it does that.

for the wieght i like to use a reusable split-shot in either 1/32 or 1/16 size dont think they size them like that i think they go by the diamiter of the weight but i cant recal i usualy just look at them by size.

when drop shoting and or jigging you are littraly trying to feel the bite. so if you use a weight as big as 1/8 or 1/4 it will probably mask the lighter bites.

[fishnbear]

I use a 6'6 rod with a soft tip paired with a 500 size shimano sienna spooled with 2# xxx izorline for mini jigging. This setup gives me pretty good casting distance. You'll definately get better distance with longer rods. I wouldn't waste your money getting super expensive reels, use the money towards a better rod. I got my sienna reel for less than $30 two seasons ago and it has not failed me. A better and longer rod will fight the fish for you because it will have more parabolic flex. Don't be scared to use 2# line, it comes off the spool easier making for longer casts, is less visible, and allows better jig action. Just make sure you set your drag right and let the rod fight the fish for you. You shouldn't have any break-offs if you don't horse the fish in. It's more fun to fight the fish than to horse it in super fast just to stick it on a stringer. Get out there and fish!

[shiromaguro88]

You are correct with the drop shotting method but I would not go over 1/8 sinker. All my fish (stocked) was caught from shore and I haven't lost a fish yet using 2lbs test although I haven't caught a trout over 3lb. Sorry to hear about your bad experience at turners. I went to the San bernardiino store even though they where getting swamped by all the people making a run for guns they took their time showing me all the different rods and even hooked me up with spool of line. Then I went to bass pro and I couldn't get anyone to help me out. I don't think they carry phoenix and I did not see the daiwa presso.

There are two video on youtube describing how to drop shot and split shotting.

1. Drop shotting for trout tutorial video by IrvineLakeVideo

2. Split shotting a trout worm by videooman1

[gokuguy]

Thanks again for the replies!!! After reading through some of the responses I think I may give 2# test line a try. Maybe buy an extra spool of 2# for when the fish are finicky and use a 4# test as my main spool.

I looked up that Pflueger trion gx 4 reel, but wasn't able to locate that particular reel....I do see a bunch of gx 7 reels though, is that just the newer version of the gx4? Seems like the price is much lower than the Shimano Sedona, so if I could save 30 bux and get a comparable reel, than I think thats wat I may go for.

One last question about jigging, do you guys prefer to tie on the mini jig tube directly to the main line with maybe a split shot or bobber above if its windy, or do you guys use the drop shot method for jigging as well?

[Piss on Myspace]

There is no option...your either jigging or dropshotting, THERE NOT THE SAME...Always tie the jig directly to the mainline and never use a split shot it will kill the action of the jig...jiggin is a completely different method than dragging a powerworm along the bottom with a d/s...if you need to cast farther use a larger jighead, but you will have to retrieve it faster. Bobbers work well to entice finicky fish, will get you extra distance, and allows you to stay in the right column when the fish are suspended

If attempting to jig in the wind, keep your rod tip low to the water so the wind doesn't carry your line half way across the lake

[fishmounter]

I too use Daiwa Spinmatic rods. Use a 6 ft. for drop-shotting AND tiny jigs for crappie/panfish (you can do both- works fine), and I use a 4 footer for docks and vertical float tube fishing. Great ultralight rods for the price.

[gokuguy]

Just a little update on the thread.

I went to Bass Pro Shops for the first time and was pretty impressed with the store overall ,its huge! Anyways, I saw a Daiwa Spinmatic 7 footer there but opted to go with a 7'6 bass pro shops micro lite rod. The worker said recommended it very highly. He said for the price it was as nice a rod as any until you get into the 100+ range. Nice little surprise as I got the rod for 39 dollars on sale. The feel of it was really nice, very sensitive, but the only worry I had was that it might be a little too springy, not sure if itll interfere with hooking fish or not.

Also, it said its rated for 1/16th lures, but I checked out many other poles rated for 1/32 and Im' not quite sure what the difference is. THere were many that had very similar feels to the microlite rod that were rated for 1/32. I bought a few 1/16 atomic teasers though just in case. :D

As for the reel, I really liked the feel of the Sedona so I ended up getting a Sedona 1000. It was a tossup between that one and the Sahara, and the ABu garcia Ora. Got it spooled with Izorline xxx 2# test. Thanks again for all your replies and suggestions, they helped a bunch.

The set up as a whole feels really nice and balanced, but Ive never used anything above a 6'6 rod so I hope I get used to it pretty quickly.

Ill give you an update after next week's trip. =)

[Pudd Legend]

You chose a solid starter all around setup. Stick with 2lb. test since casting jigs will be much easier. Good luck with your new rig.

[vdubfiend]

I have a couple of the Sahara and Sedona reels
They work great.

[geedavell]

Glad to hear you got a good setup. Now you need to buy a nice float tube to get you away from shore !!

[hmlim711]

i have been thought a lot of rods for trout. I love the jaws 2-8lb 7'0 model 70208S for dropshot and the phenix iron feather for mini jigs. The jaws rod has a very sensitive tip but with a lot of backbone. its just perfect for dropshot. The phenix iron feather tip is so sensitive that you dont need to jig it hard. I also have the spinmatic, it is good for the price but i would spend more to get the jaws and iron feather.

[fish'n fool]

The rod I use for mini jigs is the American Spirit 7 foot APC Series. It is a fiberglass rod. Very "noodly". I use for deadsticking MiceTails, too. But it seems to be more suited for mini jigs. Also use an American Spirit 7-1/2 foot ETX/Elite Trout Series rod. Not as noodly but more so than a Spinmatic. Both I've bought at Turner's or Longfin Tackle in Orange.