Just curious of all out there who likes Jigs and who likes eggs better? Of the two mentioned what makes you pick one over the other?

Keith

Ahhh, time for a good ol' Chevy vs. Ford.....

For me it depends on: what river I'm fishing, what time of year it is, how warm the water is, what height the river is at, what color the water is, what species of fish I'm fishing for,

Most importantly, it depends who's fishing them.

This year in the low, clear water, eggs under a float was the ticket for me, so I guess I'm somewhere in the middle.

Ike

More like the Keith vs. John battle...

Neither of them outfish one or the other.

They work equally well in the right given situation.

Herzog would say to hell with your bait and goofy looking weighted flies and preach hardware!

If you've got the deaddrift presentation down for jigs, but you can't present a cluster of eggs worth beans, then you better stick to your jigs and vise versa.

Just my .02

Harbor-Hog

I would answer that water conditions will make a huge difference. Right, now with our low flows I would be tossing jigs. I know that several top O.P. guides are fishing jigs right now. Why? Because they believe they are the best tool in current conditions.

There was a time when I would have said that eggs would almost always out fish jigs, but not anymore. I have seen jigs outperform eggs on more than one occasion.

The day I truly became a jig convert was on the Kalum about ten years ago. My buddy and I fished spawn bags under a float. Noel Gyger was our guide. Buddy had a bad day. He hooked one while Noel and I hooked about ten between us. The next day, just to give buddy a shot, I switched to jigs and he stayed with the "proven" spawn bags. I landed seven that day he landed one. I also lost perhaps the biggest steelhead I ever hooked. He taught me to only use jigs with strong hooks.

I think the wise man does not limit himself to only one lure or bait.

Not that long ago almost no one was using jigs. Times change, as do hot lures. But the jig is here to stay, because it is almost infinitely variable in size, color and materials. Plus there’s, nothing that says you can’t fish a jig with eggs. I often tip my jig with a very small spawn bag.

True story, conditons are key for most as low clear water and rocky tough drifting conditions make it tough for most.

I know I've tossed jigs a time or two using what I would beleive to be a good looking jig with a great presentation... But I'll tell ya, I felt like a naked man walking through a grocery store. I have to drift a bait of eggs through a hole before I can say the fish aren't there.

Keith

Our count today in extreme low clear:

8 fish landed

6 on shrimp

2 on jig

0 on eggs that took 4 of our 7 fish yesterday

shrimp accounted for 80% of casts

eggs and jigs 10% each

Keep a well-stocked aresenal ... and show 'em all of it when condtions are tough!! My worthless 2 cents

Your dead-on bob...

Keith

The nail's been hit on the head!

Words or wisdom right there.

What worked today, might not work tommorow

Harbor-Hog

If you only fished eggs 50% of the time you may have caught the 6 that passed up the shrimp and jigs...

Keith

Perhaps I should relabel the post Bait vs. Jigs?

Keith

Bob: Looks to me that jigs, which were fished 10% of the time, caught 25% of the fish. Yeah, I know, tomorrow can be different. And it makes a bit of a difference who’s; running the boat and the gear, or so i hear.

that's tuff! I've fished both in gin clear summer water and done well on both. I think it just boils down to finding out what the fish want that day.

I'm fishing jigs a lot more lately, and becoming more dependant on them than eggs. With eggs being the standard go to bait, the fish definitely wise up. I seem to have the best luck with them when them water is ice cold and clear, or just clear.

Keith..........you big egg ho'!

Seeing some of the tailouts filled with summers with you on the Lewis, I know you could do some damage by fishing both eggs and jigs. Drag your bait through the meat of the hole, get the biters out of there, then hold the boat above the tailout and feed a jig down to the ones in the tailout. Double trouble, my man.

We'll do a head-to-head when the summers show up and see how it turns out.

Leave the jigs home for springers though...............there ain't no touching your eggs when it comes to bangin' springers.

As always, fishing the right bait and the right technique of fishing it, depending on the water conditions, is the key...if all you fish with is one type of lure, no matter what the conditions are, well...obviously that's what you're going to catch all your fish on, but you might be missing lots of fish because you're not using the best bait for the conditions.

I use eggs most of the time, and as a consequence, catch most of my fish on eggs...I fish jigs the least, so catch the least amount of fish on jigs. In selective waters, I fish pink worms almost exclusively...so I catch most of my fish on those.

Head to head last week on the Hoh?

I used eggs and squid on the lower river...a couple bumps, one solid whiff on eggs, and no hookups.

I used hardware a bit above...one hookup.

I used worms the most...four hookups.

Didn't use jigs, though if it was cold out, which is how we usually have water this low this time of year, I would have fished them quite a bit more.

With the warm weather, warm water, and low and clear conditions, fishing the deeper slots by "swimming" my worm through them was definitely the ticket.

Oh, and if I have a couple of guys who know what they are doing, and the conditions are just right, we'll outfish everything pulling plugs!

Fish on...

Todd

if there's enough water i prefer to drift eggs, (nothing better than tink, tink, tink, tap, tap, BAM ... you know the rest) runnings eggs properly take more fishin skills to run them right w/o having to re-tie & still gettin down where they need to be...

if water is low then i am forced to use jigs, jigs cover way more water and are way easier to fish, (essentially jigs require little to no fishin skills other than having enough sense get it near the bottom & to put some oil & a shrimp tail on it once in awhile) truthfully, with no animosity in my heart , a 10 year old can effectivelly fish a jig & bobber...

so, while I believe you can cover more water & catch more fish with a jig & bobber, I still prefer to run eggs...

(i guess i'm a hard headed old man) ...


both work about the same

Dave said a wise fisherman wouldn't limit himself to only one bait or lure, so I guess as a flyfisherman, I'm unwise. It's interesting for me to read these experienced opinions. From my years of observation, I really didn't think it matters. It has long seemed to me that an undisturbed steelhead, under water conditions that are neither too high, too low, too warm, or too cold, will strike the first properly presented bait or lure it sees. Are steelhead really so finicky that some park themselves in a tailout, determined to eschew any and all egg presentations because they've got a hunger for jigs or pink worms that day?

When I hook a steelhead on a red fly, I assume it was because I was using a red fly at the time and not because they weren't taking pink or purple that day.

It seems like a change up is most productively served to a steelhead that is already disturbed, and therefore maybe not on the snap. That fish could be in the mode to ignore whatever passes by, . . . and then along comes the chrome doo-hickey with pink spots, and he just has to attack. It seems more intuitive that having a large assortment of bait and lures to choose from increases the odds of luring that otherwise reluctant fish.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Salmo G: I should have said the angler who is intent on hooking the most fish will not stick with only one lure or bait. I too fish steelhead with a fly, not all the time or even most of the time. But I have managed to hook a half dozen or so on feathers and fur.

But when I am fly fishing I am doing so because it pleases me to fish that way, not becasue I beleive it's the most effective way to hook a steelhead.

I remain convinced that the guy who has the most fun wins. For some, the only way to have the most fun is to catch the most fish. For others there are many other variables.

One thing for sure, when you're putting in 55-60 hours a week working it's very pleasing to be out on the river. So at this point in my life it's all about being out there BUT catching is key!!

Isn't that what you mean Dave?

Keith :p

Thanks Dave and Keith. The fun part I understand. I've tried drift fishing/boondogging and found it fun for the first couple hours. After that, it was only fun if I was hooking up every 15 to 20 minutes. The downtime between bites became uninteresting, i.e., not so much fun. That's a main reason why I fly fish for steelhead, because it's fun even when I'm not catching a fish, which is most of the time, regardless of method.

However, I really wish you experts would address the other part of my post, about steelhead behavior and preferences, based on your own years of observation and experience. Are they really that picky? Will they really pass on one bait or lure, only to succomb to some other? And particularly, will an undisturbed steelhead, under favorable water conditions, really not strike the first properly presented bait or lure it sees?

Sincerely,

Salmo g.