Night fishing for pike perch using microjig

Microjig is a type of jig fishing that uses the smallest baits (0.5 - 2 inches) and delicate tackle, most often with a weight of up to 5 grams. Belongs to the ultralight class (UL).

A separate class is the so-called nanojig. Fishing with the most extremely small baits using jigs from 0.05 grams to a maximum of 1 gram. Despite all its similarities, this type of spinning has a lot of differences and you should not mix these concepts. Everything is different here - fishing tactics and strategy, choice of gear and bait, philosophy in general. And we will return to this issue separately.

In this review article we will try to reveal the basics and some of the secrets of microjig fishing in sufficient volume for beginners - we will consider the troubling questions of beginners. Starting from choosing equipment and collecting the first ultralight tackle to the first cast and landing fish. What is important to know when fishing with microjigs, how to choose them and serve them to picky fish, what is the strategy and philosophy of the ultralight fisherman?

Perch is the most frequent guest among microjigits

What caused the wave of popularity of microjig and the growth of the population of “microjigits”

Microjig fishing is gaining popularity among spinning anglers, like an epidemic that has literally gripped all anglers, and there are several reasons for this:

Species composition of possible prey. It's always a mystery who will be on the hook. The ubiquitous perch, toothy grass, or maybe quite peaceful silver bream, carp or tench?
The number of bites on the lightest tackle and small baits is incomparably greater than with their older brothers in arms.
The pilot and microjigit enjoy every fight; even a small predator or a “bel” on the thinnest tackle gives an active fight.
Mikrushniks catch on any body of water, at any time, and any fish - predatory and peaceful. This is especially important for city dwellers, who only manage to catch more serious fish on larger bodies of water on vacation. And with an ultralight you can fish in almost any puddle within the city in the evening after work.
Minimum of all necessary equipment. Tackle, bait, additional equipment. And this means comfort and mobility, which gives additional opportunities to the spinner.
Relatively cheap. If high-quality gear for microjig is comparable in cost to gear of other types, then there is no need for additional equipment and accessories. The microjigit does not need a boat, an echo sounder, a satellite navigator, or expensive wobblers.
Ultralight spinning rods evoke emotions that are sharper and more memorable than other fishing methods. And this is the main pillar on which the popularity of microspinning rests.

Modern microjig is no longer the preserve of only athletes; now it is truly a popular fishing method!

Catching peaceful fish with a spinning rod (for food)

Date: March 17, 2021 | 855

Agree, how much the capabilities of spinning tackle have changed over the past twenty years. New elegant gear, new baits - all this allows you not only to catch traditional predatory fish with a spinning rod, but also to regularly catch completely atypical trophies. These are common fish species for floaters and feeders - crucian carp, carp, carp, bream, tench, roach, rudd, ide, chub, etc. how to catch peaceful fish using spinning rods and artificial baits. It is clear that it is extremely rare to specialize in catching only white fish and peaceful species. But, I will tell you my thoughts on how to increase the frequency of such incidental bites when catching a predator.

Indeed, in light of the progress of spinning gear and baits, more and more often oneself and one’s colleagues are faced with catching peaceful fish using a spinning rod. It happens that fishermen who practice ultralight spinning succeed in this matter. Either with a small spinner or with a mini-wobbler, instead of the expected perch or pike, you come across chub, ide, or even bream, crucian carp... But, of course, edible silicone holds the lead in catching peaceful fish with a spinning rod. Since modern soft baits are the central theme of this blog, I could not ignore this aspect of their use. After all, it’s always nice, after a series of caught fish, to feel at the other end of a thin cord the sedate and powerful pulls of a large peaceful fish.

So, how can you increase the chances of catching peaceful fish when fishing with a microjig or nanojig? There are several aspects to focus on:

— Selecting a reservoir.

— Choice of gear.

— Choice of installation.

— Choice of bait.

— Wiring selection.

In the context of these four factors, I will analyze the possibilities of catching peaceful species of fish with a spinning rod.

Choosing a reservoir . To have a high chance of catching peaceful fish using mikruhu, you should choose a body of water where there is a lot of it. A banal, but very logical and important parting word.

There are reservoirs where exclusively peaceful fish live. Let's say crucian carp, tench, carp, and that's it. There’s not even a perch there... Well, you can conduct experiments on microjig fishing in such ponds. However, it's not very interesting. Because, no matter how hard we try, we will not achieve regular catches of peaceful fish, and the rest of the time we will have to thresh the tackle to no avail. Yes, someone will object that there are also serial catches of crucian carp, carp, and bream for food. I agree, because... I encountered something similar myself. But let's be honest with ourselves. How many such enchanting fishing trips did you have during the season? One, two... It happens that in spring and autumn, when the fish are more active and stay in large schools, it is possible to catch several good tails of peaceful species with a spinning rod for food. But, nevertheless, such fishing cannot be called systematic.

So, I would advise choosing reservoirs where there is a mixed species composition of fish. You will be targeting perch and, at times, pike. And pick up peaceful fish along the way. To increase the chances of such bites, you already need to choose the right baits and their presentation. But more on that below.

Let's finish with the topic of choosing a reservoir. We are interested in lakes and ponds where, at the same time, there are a lot of perch, small pike, and also, in large numbers, perhaps in the overwhelming majority, peaceful fish species are represented. There are many such ponds and lakes - large populations of both predators and peaceful fish (crucian carp, carp, tench, roach, etc.).

As for rivers, there is, as a rule, a richer species composition of fish, both predator and peaceful fish of different species are widely and diversely represented. So, in the current, along with perch, pike, pike perch, you can successfully catch chubs, ides, and bream. And closer to the bays, in sections of the river with a slow flow, there will be chances of catching the same bream, tench, crucian carp, rudd, etc.

Choice of gear . This is the rule here. To regularly catch peaceful fish using a spinning rod, use the smallest possible baits and the lightest sinker weights. So, the tackle must match. These will be the most elegant microjig spinning rods with small dough.

Installation selection . Peaceful fish are best caught on a microjig with a hinged mount or on spaced rigs. With microjigging, it is best to use the lightest weights possible. You can use miniature jig heads and jigs. But, nevertheless, the hinge, with its freedom of movement, is preferable.

By spaced rigs I mean drop leader and split shot. They, compared to others, are most suitable for catching peaceful fish.

Choice of bait . As a rule, silicone baits for catching peaceful fish are distinguished by their small size. If we are not talking about catching a carp, which can covet even a five-inch creature, then use silicone in sizes ranging from 1” (2.5cm) to 2-2.5” (5-6cm). And, preference is given to narrow, compact baits. Those. According to my observations, bulky baits, such as crustaceans and creatures, do not bring non-standard trophies as often as silicone worms, small slugs, twisters. This does not mean that bulky silicone baits should be abandoned altogether, or that you should not have hopes of catching peaceful fish with them. It’s simple, if you use bait of this type, then choose the smallest crustaceans, about 1.5-2”, no more.

In addition to the size of the silicone bait, the properties of the material are of great importance. It is better to choose silicone that is soft, elastic, richly saturated with attractant and salts. The use of silicone with increased edibility is especially important in the warm season, hot summer. Here the fish are more passive, and the smell of the attractant spreads better in warm water.

It is better to choose dark shades of bait color. Yes, both translucent, light, and bright, acidic ones also catch peaceful fish. But, somehow I noticed, both from my results and from photo reports on the Internet, that whitefish, crucian carp, and other peaceful fish especially prefer dark baits: black, brown, purple, dark green, dark red .

Apparently, peaceful fish see in silicone bait an imitation of their most familiar food - worms, larvae, crustaceans , etc. So, the colors most characteristic of these organisms are suitable. And they are, in fact, mostly dark.

Actually, in the paragraph above, I indicated the main reason why modern silicone edible baits are so good at catching peaceful fish. And, if earlier, before the appearance of such silicone worms, slugs, crustaceans, nymphs, creatures, etc. I caught peaceful fish on a spinning rod “on big holidays,” but with them it’s a completely different calico! We can say that these baits have fully opened up the realm of non-predators for spinning anglers.

Wiring selection . When fishing with an “anchor” in the brain, which would be nice to catch not only a predator, but also hook something of various kinds, then you should use a more sluggish, smooth retrieve, and take longer pauses. This is the best approach to wiring. Passive predatory fish respond better to this type of fishing, and peaceful fish will be caught more often.

I wish all microjiggers to catch large peaceful fish more often, in addition to our usual predators. After all, it’s so interesting when the catch is varied. And modern edible food, with the proper approach that we talked about here, allows you to achieve this.

Share with your friends:

Categories: Fishing for edibles · Tags: Microjig, Nanojig, Lures, Edible, Technique

What can become prey

One of the advantages of the ULetchik is that the species composition of its catch is not limited only to predatory fish. Often peaceful representatives are also caught on microjig baits.

Of course, the main trophy when fishing with microjig tackle is the ubiquitous perch, which is caught throughout the season. You can catch it on the edges, along and above underwater vegetation, in bays and currents.

Also, from early spring to late autumn, pike, pike perch, chub and roach are caught on edible microsilicon; foals are not disdainful.

But besides this, throughout the warm water you come across relatively peaceful fish - rudd, roach, silver bream, sabrefish, grayling, trout, bream, crucian carp and even tench. The last two, however, are most often used for the most nano-jig silicone micros and tiny foam rubbers.

It’s very exciting and exciting to catch schooling sabrefish using a microjig in early spring, when they roll down from their spawning grounds.

Gear selection

Based on this, the choice of kit(s) should be approached very, very responsibly - night fishing does not forgive mistakes. And if during the day we can see shoals coming out on a reel or stick, loops on the cord, abrasions, then at night constantly lighting a headlamp means scaring away all the pike perch in an area of 50 meters.

All that is required from a reel, and I want to start with it, is smooth running, excellent laying and an excellent working clutch. Leave props like cork knobs on the handle, holes in the body or patterns on the spool for fishing during the day; at night, technical characteristics come to the fore. The size is no less than 2004 according to the dive, let the thousands of people sleep on a shelf at home. Night is the time for monsters to party, and instead of a 5 kg pike perch, theoretically, and often practically, our bait is grabbed by catfish, the size of which can exceed the weight of the fisherman. Now the situation is - you are standing knee-deep or waist-deep in the river, catching a pike perch, suddenly there is a blow and a hook that begins to wander. What do you do with a reel that picks up only 40 to 50 cm of cord in one turn? That's right, you will salt the fish that will come at you. Yes, and it is undesirable to force a small mechanism with loads - it gets caught here, you need to tear it out, then force pumping out there, or something else... I remember, at the very beginning of my night-time pike-perch career, I used an old but reliable Zauber from Ryobi 2500 size. The coil then lived for only six months, and died in October. And it was an old, gray Sauber from Japan, still in a plastic case, not on the infinity, essentially a Soviet tractor. But it couldn’t withstand the loads and crumbled. And this was in 2006, when on the Oka it was possible to surprise only people who were not involved in spinning with pike perch for three. Today, times have changed, large pike perch remain, but have become much more cautious, but we have also become more experienced in fighting strong fish.

If you are completely satisfied with the reel for laying a thin line, the friction allows you to fight, not allowing the fish to break off the thin gear, and your hand has become accustomed to it, then you don’t need to change anything, fish with it for your own pleasure. And even if there is no living space on it, let it rustle, let it tap when the spool passes the dead spots - if it doesn’t spit and doesn’t get boring after an hour of fishing, then it has passed the selection criteria for the “reel for night fishing” group. My friends use old worm dives, without any problems with fishing or laying Japanese lines.

The reel alone cannot catch, it must be installed on the rod.

Recently, my friends and I have switched to using Japanese light and ultralight spinning rods. Particularly notable are the rods marked “rockfish”, but only those made in the tubular type and having a size no less than 7’6”.

Why tubular? If you carefully look at Japanese sites, you can clearly identify a clear distinction in the use of Japanese rockfish class spinning rods. The Japanese use solid sticks (those whose tip is grown in during production and have a monolithic structure) when fishing during daylight hours and often when fishing vertically. It turns out something like jig fishing from piers and coastal rocks. The tips of such sticks very accurately respond to the most delicate bites of small representatives of the mebaru, acting as nods. They are painted white for a reason. But the Japanese use tubular versions of such spinning rods exclusively at night, when maximum tactile sensitivity, power reserves and…..casting are needed. Yes, yes, the Japanese, like us, fish with microjigs and various jigs while casting. This became a recent discovery for me when I talked with a friend who had flown in from the Japanese islands on a business trip.

In addition to Japanese spinning rods, you can quite calmly and without damage to the sensations also fish with American-type spinning rods, the same Talon with the lowest lower test indicators. The only thing is that Talon spinning rods will not allow you to send a Cheburashka weighing 2 g closer to the fairway when using the thinnest 0.3 size PE cord. Japanese sticks, due to their structure, allow this without problems. The Avid spinning rod up to 17 g in size 8’6” is close to the Japanese indicators. Thanks to its noodle quality, it does not tear thin lines during hard casts, and does not drain the fish.

Let me digress from the topic and say a little about how to store kits on the river bank, especially if you have several of them. Night fishing for pike perch involves stationary fishing, rarely when we move ten to two meters relative to the starting point. Having found the point, we catch the moment of exit. Everything unnecessary - food, water, if the night is warm, then we leave things on the shore, hanging them in the trees and laying them out on a bed of polyethylene or light fabric. We leave on a vest and a long-sleeved sweater to protect against mosquitoes and midges, which bite even at midnight. Where should I put the second spinning rod? You can carry a special stand with you, which is extremely convenient, but this is if you come by car. In all other cases, it is convenient to use a specially prepared stand, which we stick on the shore and place a second spinning rod on it. The only thing is to make sure that the cord and the tip of the spinning rod are not near the paths and do not stick out in your direction. At night, while fishing for pike perch, you can easily run into an unexpected tulip of the rod or get tangled in the cord with a working spinning rod; unnecessary problems are of no use at night. Therefore, place the spare rod as vertically as possible, next to your things, so that only you know the approach to it.

A little about the cord.

Thin and thick, flat and round, dull and voiced... There are so many of them in our world today that it is extremely difficult to choose the right one. I use the time-tested Sunline super PE, Varivas of various series. The thinner the cord, the better, but do not try to set up a web that can only catch bleaks or roaches. The night pike perch is strength and power in one person, it doesn’t understand jokes, and it doesn’t care about your “wait, I’ll pump you up and take you.” From a night flashlight or whatever you use. God forbid it sees the light of day, it tears so much that sometimes it cannot withstand a serious jig line No. 1 according to the Japanese classification. Unwinding - as always, no less than 150 meters, no one knows what will fly in on the next Tuk in the pitch darkness. Remember about catfish? Remember always when fishing at night.

Whether there will be color markings on the cord or not is not the point, but cords that transmit impulses very poorly when tapped on a hard bottom are immediately thrown aside. An example of such a cord is Unitika Silver Thread EYE Catch. Having a reeling length of 150 meters, a bright yellow color, and a rather pleasant structure to the touch, it is literally useless when fishing with a jig; it suppresses touching the bottom at once. Use only those cords at night that have proven themselves reliable during the day. Nothing else is required from the cord.

Search for places.

The most important thing in night fishing for pike perch. From my own experience, I will say that it is difficult to find stable operating currents; you have to devote more than one fishing trip to the search, remaining after a whole day of fishing until it gets dark, and it is possible that a couple of zanders that hit will remain a couple of zanders. At the same time, a large seasoned pike perch can actively feed a little higher or lower. You can find the place where pike perch daily forays based on three signs: the presence of small fish after sunset at the intended fishing point, the presence of a small current, and a hard bottom. Looking for pike perch on the mud is a stupid task; more likely a pike will strike there, which we don’t need at all, since we fish without a leash. And again, the presence of three factors at one point is not a sign that when darkness falls, all the pike perch that are in the river will immediately run aground and begin to actively attack the bait. Sometimes incidents happen when a seemingly unremarkable place brings one bite after another, but an interesting, clearly pike-perch place remains silent for a day, two, three... To narrow down the search area a little, you need to calmly fish sections of the river one by one during the day, and discover the presence of pike-perch in during the daytime, somehow mark this place so that you can fish it very carefully at night. A pike perch, feasting during the day on some ridge or riffle, will at night attract more than one flock of relatives, probably many times larger than itself. Naturally, it will no longer be there, since a 3 kg pike perch can easily dine on its relative weighing 200 g, but we only need small pike perch to find a place. River riffles that are visible during the day work perfectly, where the water is divided into several visible streams, there are return lines, and the best thing when fishing at night is to get right into the beginning of such turns. There are a lot of snags in such places, but you need to come to terms with them by calculating during the day at what position of the spinning rod and at what distance from the shore they often occur. At night, all this happens automatically.

Sand spits always work, the main thing is to choose the right one. It should differ from similar ones by a sharper slope, have a small hole behind it, from which the pike perch flies out when chasing the fry, small bushes of grass are desirable. Such areas are not always located in areas of mass bathing; is there a lot of sand deposits among the overgrown shores? My Oka is almost all like this, so it’s not difficult to find the right place, but it’s more difficult to find pike perch there. If you managed to detect the presence of pike perch everywhere, then you are very lucky - the main thing is to understand that these outlets are stable every day, and not to give up your place to anyone. At night, it’s generally better to fish with a maximum of two people, without interfering with each other. By constantly moving along the riffle, we can easily scare away the pike perch, and it will not be at this point until the next evening. Is it necessary, having found a point with such efforts, to screw it up?

An interesting place will be the lunar path, running from the water's edge to the opposite shore, and only we can see it as a path; under water, the moonlight illuminates everything and everyone who dived in the river at night will understand.

Assembling the first microjig tackle

Microjig tackle should be light and perfectly balanced.

The lightest rods with a test weight of up to 2-5 grams, miniature reels 800-1000 according to the Shimano classification and the thinnest monofilament lines or slippery braids are used.

Assembling gear for microjigging is a whole science. And we will consider this issue in detail in separate articles. Now let's go through the basics.

Form

Fishing takes place over short distances, and therefore there is no need for long spinning rods. The optimal length would be around 1.9-2.2 meters. The advantage of such rods is that they are the most sensitive and allow you to control every meter of wiring - in microjigging, high sensors are of maximum importance.

Also, such sticks are as light as possible, elite models weigh 70-100 grams. Working with them is a pleasure - you don’t get tired fishing all day long.

Such sticks are available in all series aimed at ultralight fishing. Both the highest class from Zemex, Major Craft, Graphiteleader, Evergreen, and budget Favorite, Crazy Fish and others.

Since microjig fishing requires working with the smallest possible weights, the test should be in the region of 0.5-5; 1-7; 2-10 grams.

It is worth considering that UL spinning rods can have two types of tips, which greatly differs them in their operation and behavior when retrieving and casting on different types of lures from the test range:

Glued-in (Solid) nod-type tip. Solid and very responsive. Works especially well in the early-mid test range. Closer to the top it begins to fall through. Does not accept aggressive jerking drives in the upper range. Let's say on a solid with a stated test of 0.5-5, it is comfortable to work with weights of 0.6-3 grams. With heavier weights, the tip bends completely and rebounds only when it touches the bottom. We recommend such sticks only to those fishermen who have already gained some experience in microjigging, or who plan to fish with jigs and nanojigs.
Classic hollow tubular tip . The standard works best in the last three quarters of the test and even has a power reserve. That is, it does not fail when the weight of the bait is higher than that stated by the manufacturer. In addition to microjig, it allows you to pull wobblers and spinners. This is a more optimal option for beginners who just want to master microjig fishing.

In microjig fishing, the previous factor is more important than the structure of the spinning rod as such. It is only worth noting that a microjig spinning rod should easily cast microbaits. What is worth either checking in person, if possible (for example, at many specialized exhibitions you can try casting and playing the blank in improvised pools), or read reviews on forums, or borrow tackle from familiar colleagues.

For beginners, a fast system is often recommended, but this is not a dogma. Since it is worth considering that with a semi-parabolic form you can cast the bait further and better track its behavior. But such a stick is more difficult to work on scales that are close to the top declared for a particular model. Such a spinning rod begins to sink greatly, which does not allow you to fish with complete comfort. This is worth considering.

A specific model should be selected so that it fits in the hand, paying attention to the price tag, and also based on possible fishing conditions.

Coil

When selecting a reel, the main rule is the ideal balance for the rod.

It is also important that the spinning reel has maximum compactness and minimum weight. It is desirable to have the latest technologies that improve the quality of casting, allow you to accurately lay the line without dips and sagging, and prevent tangles and twisting of the line. Shimano, Daiwa, Spro, Ryobi have such reels.

Shimano size 1000 is the most common option among “flyers”.

It’s good if the reel has several replaceable spools, which will allow you to quickly change the diameter of the fishing line/braid based on fishing conditions.

The reel matches the rod - delicate, light and smoothly working

Cord/monofilament

Both monofilament fishing line and the thinnest slippery cord can be used. The monofilament allows you to cast the lightest bait further and smooth out the jerks of the fish, while the cord allows you to better track the bite and make high-quality animation.

But it is worth taking into account the fact that the advantages of a braided cord appear on scales of 4-5 grams and above, with smaller ones the sensitivity and sonority of the braid disappears - the work of the bait can only be felt in the hand by nuance and with proper experience.

And of course, fishing line is almost always preferable when catching peaceful fish that are careful in their bites. It is more invisible in the water, and also stretches, which makes bites more active and confident. Braid immediately gives resistance to the fish and often the bait is spat out after the first poke.

Fluorocarbon is also popular; it is stiffer than fishing line, but almost invisible in the water. Can be used both as a leash and as a main winding. Allows you to better monitor the behavior of the bait and the bite, but at the same time having the positive qualities of the fishing line.

You should choose based on specific conditions; for this, a set of spools is useful. On super small weights - definitely fishing line or fluorocarbon, on medium ones they come from the gear as a whole, transitional weights of 5-7 grams and above already work better with cords, although fishing line is not excluded.

Accessories

Accessories (various types of fasteners, for example fly fishing) are used either in the smallest numbers 000, or all baits are tied directly to the fishing line. In microjig there is no need to use swivels and winding rings.

Choosing a spinning rod for ultralight is not an easy task, especially for beginners. You need to pay attention to many different factors without overpaying.

Homemade lures for microjig fishing. How to make it yourself

Fishing for perch with a microjig has become popular among spinning anglers quite recently and, despite the seemingly thin gear at first glance, you can catch both small perch and hefty trophy humpback salmon with it. Catching large perch is a very exciting and exciting activity. However, for this it is necessary to correctly select all the components of the tackle, select a suitable location, and determine the appropriate wiring technique.

Microjigs are very small silicone baits that belong to the group of spinning jig baits. In color and shape they are identical to the larger and heavier “brothers” of their group, but in size and weight they differ significantly from them. Among them we can distinguish passive baits (crayfish, worms, slugs) and active ones (twisters, vibrotails); baits made of regular and edible silicone.

Gear used

For this type of fishing you will need an ultralight or light spinning rod with 5-7 grams of dough, 2.1 meters long with a comfortable cork handle and a small reel with a standard size of 2000-2500. When fishing, both expensive forms of well-known brands (Shimano, Daiwa) and spinning rods of budget brands are used. For example, ultra-light and light spinning rods from Zemex have proven themselves to be quite good.
The jig head can be attached either closer to the tail of the bait (twisters and vibrotails) or at the very edge (crustaceans). In places with a high probability of snagging, an anti-snagging device is additionally installed on it, consisting of a loop made of thin spring wire, which allows you to protect the hook from getting caught and moves freely when the perch grabs.
For fishing, you need to wind a thin, strong fishing line with a diameter of 0.15 to 0.2 mm or a thin braided cord with a diameter of 0.1-0.16 mm. It is not advisable to use a very thin fishing line, since due to frequent contact and friction with the guide rings, it quickly wears out. A fishing line or cord of a larger diameter should also not be used, since they are more noticeable in the water, and perch is a cautious fish, and the casting distance will be significantly reduced. It is better to settle on the “golden mean” of about 0.16 mm for both cord and monofilament.

They catch perch with a microjig throughout the open water season. This tackle is more catchy in early spring and autumn. The main fishing areas are the border between coastal reed thickets and open water; places near the “underwater jungle”, snags, flooded bushes, snags, edges of holes.

Lures

The sizes of the baits used, mounted on a microjig head weighing from 1 to 4-7 grams, should have a length of 2 to 5 centimeters.

The colors used can be different - from light and neutral to bright and provocative.

At the same time, in muddy water and in cloudy weather, bright colors are preferable to light ones, which are better used in clearer water and in sunny, clear weather.

Wiring tactics

After casting, wait until the bait slowly sinks to the bottom and then begin retrieving. There are several possible types here.

Stepped - after casting, they begin a slow, uniform retrieve or tossing of the bait with a rod, alternating with 2-3 second pauses every 5-7 turns of the reel handle.
Uniform – wiring is carried out at a uniform speed (slow, medium, fast).
Pulsating in the middle water horizons is a combination of standard stepwise and uniform twitching of the bait using the tip of the rod.
Surface - at a fairly high speed near the surface of the water, with short pauses.
Creeping bottom - with it the bait moves along the very bottom at low speed.
Jumping bottom - in contrast to the slower previous bottom retrieve, with this technique, slow or medium movement of the bait near the bottom touching the ground alternates with sharp jerks, forcing it to fly up at an angle. The trajectory of such wiring resembles the shape of a saw blade.

With any type, the perch's grip and hook should be separated by 1-2 seconds of pause, necessary for the striped predator to securely grab the bait. In most cases, fishing can be done quickly and without much fear of breaking a securely hooked fish.

Micro jig baits

The baits used are the lightest and smallest - various vibrotails, twisters, crustaceans, slugs, worms, larvae and other crabs.

The vast majority of minifish fishermen prefer edible baits to ordinary ones.

There are a lot of specific baits. It is not possible to review them within the framework of a review article for a beginner. We recommend purchasing several different sizes (1-2 inches), shapes (worm, slug, nymph, twister, vibrotail, crustacean), flavors (garlic, anise, salt) and colors (acid, Coca-Cola, machine oil, color with sparkles, dull colors, light and dark natural) from trusted manufacturers, not necessarily top ones. You shouldn’t immediately chase the price without trying and understanding for yourself all the delights of microjig.

Crazy Fish Vibro Worm

We recommend the following manufacturers:

Lucky John;
Bait Breath;
Crazy Fish;
Fanatik;
Kosadaka;
Mann's and others.

Eared fish and ordinary jig heads, jigs and shotguns clamped onto the shank of the hook are used as weights.

The weight fluctuates around 0.5-7 grams, and the most popular mini is around 2-3 grams.

Small tungsten jigs are very good - they are compact and long-range, compared to their lead counterparts.

Eared sinkers are attached through regular or offset hooks.

The following hooks are suitable:

Owner Slim Offset 10, 12 numbers - small offset printers of standard shape;
Owner S-59 - with a large ear for standard eared rigging;
Owner offsets 5109 - small offsets for the smallest baits;
Owner offset 5133 Down Shot Offset - driven ones are good for worms and slugs;
Varivas Inch Hook Regular is a series of micro jig offset hooks.
The Decoy Single 26 hook is a popular series from Decoy for non-snagging installations.

Among the manufacturers we note Decoy, Ovner, Jamakatsu. This is quality, sharpness and a large assortment.

Owner 51639 slim offset

Equipment for micro jig baits:

How to fish with a microjig - a necessary educational program for beginners

It cannot be said that microjig is the most interesting or outstanding method of spinning fishing. This is just another method and method, for mastering which it is not enough to collect the appropriate gear, you need to understand it from the very basics in order to experience the beauty of such fishing.

The action of the bait, the retrieve and the bite are most often monitored by the tip (in the presence of a cord and larger baits) and by the sag of the fishing line on the smallest scales. It is important to be able to track and separate the behavior of the bait from the fish bite; this comes with experience.

Any unusual behavior of the fishing line is a bite.

Microjig is a short but accurate cast, almost always. You often have to cast to local promising points. Therefore, it is better to hone the casting technique, especially for beginners and on new gear, on land.

If perch or other fish often disappear, you should change the line to fishing line/flure, and the bait to a smaller one.

Crucian carp on ultralight:

Micro jig wiring

In microjig it is important to master as many animations as possible. This will allow you to diversify the behavior of the bait and cause the fish to bite.

Three methods are used - playing with a reel, pulling with a rod, or a combination of both on one retrieve.

Short rhythmic jerks with or without pauses are good at provoking perch, pike and pike perch to bite.

A double jerk, pause 1/2 second and repeat is also good for perch.

For peaceful fish, uniform movement of active baits is also used, as well as various animations almost on the spot with play along in the water column, if these are slugs/worms and other passive baits. A kind of dance occurs with the bait with a minimum speed of retrieving in the horizontal component of the retrieving.

The passive predator responds well to the movements of the bait on the bottom, without active jerks.

A classic step along the bottom or in the water column is possible either on scales from 3 grams, or with the most delicate high-quality tackle, or by monitoring the behavior of a slack fishing line - but this last method of indicating bites is suitable for an experienced fisherman - a microjigit.

You should not expect a bite in the hand on a characteristic microjig on small scales!

Also a good provocateur will be animations with simultaneous rotation of the reel with pauses and playing along with the rod using jerks and pulls of various frequencies and amplitudes. This is a labor-intensive and technically complex process, but it gives excellent results.

In general, it is good to vary the types of animations within one posting and select a new set of animations for each new posting. We play with bait and a game with the fish - who wins?

Catching perch in the spring with a microjig:

Tricky microjigging for perch in a video master class from an expert:

Tactical fishing scheme: search, presentation, weather

A good result when fishing with a microjig is obtained by constantly moving around the reservoir in search of promising sites. Beginning microjiggers, having adopted experience from “hard” fishing for channel or pit pike, can cast even a promising place for hours - this is a road to nowhere. You need to move on if there are no bites after 5-7 casts.

If such a catchable place is found, you need to purposefully catch it with precise, accentuated casts, but also without staying on it for very long - this is boring and not promising in terms of finding new, more interesting points/fish. So, for example, you can switch from perch to a school of rudd, then find a larger perch, and then find a site of grass pike and vice versa.

Microjig - movement!

Also, don’t forget about changing baits - active/passive, shape, size, color, everything can make a difference in microjig fishing. The fish quickly gets used to one bait and stops actively reacting to it. Therefore, it is necessary to either change the fishing location, or change the bait, or both.

Fishing in the rain gives good results, especially when it follows a long period of heat and the air and water temperatures drop.

The movement of schools of perch, rudd, and roach can be tracked by the behavior of seagulls, which always circle above the schooling fish, and literally follow on the heels of such boilers.

About equipping a microjig

The weight of the jig heads that I mainly use is 1-6 grams, depending on the fishing conditions: depth, degree of overgrowth, wind strength, etc. Size of baits used: twisters 1-2 inches long. Why twisters? Because I like their active play. A few words about color. From printed publications I have already heard about how a predator gets used to the most commonly used colors of bait in a particular body of water and, accordingly, ignores them. Since I fish mainly in 6–8 heavily pressurized reservoirs, not far from a big city, after a while I noticed that the predator, mainly perch, began to ignore the colors of the baits I used (all kinds of green colors with shades and sparkles). So I gradually switched to darker and more contrasting colors (machine oil, tea, cola, black, etc.).

I also have a separate box in my arsenal with very bright colors that have helped me out more than once (yellow, white, orange, light green). I already wrote above that fishing takes place on shell rocks, pebbles and where pike are very common. At first, I ended up wasting quite a lot of bait due to the sawn-off shotgun hitting shells and pike teeth. Therefore, I began to draw conclusions and look for a way out of the current situation.

I tried using microleaders from guitar string and all sorts of thin leader materials, but I noticed a significant decrease in the number of perch bites, especially in early spring and late autumn. And at some time I discovered fluorocarbon, which noticeably reduced the consumption of bait and increased the number of pike delivered to the shore, and also achieved a slight increase in the total number of bites by the predator. Some may ask: why monofilament and not braid, especially in microjig?

When I started mastering microjig, I had only vaguely heard about braided, at that time it was not a cheap pleasure, and in our city there was no talk at all about the choice of thin, high-quality braids, so I began mastering microjigging by using monofilament fishing line. And I consider the main advantage of monofilament to be its stretchability. Some time after I started mastering microjigging, I had like-minded people and friends who were passionate about microjigging, but used thin braid as the main fishing line. So there was someone and something to compare with. It’s not for nothing that I mentioned above about my partner’s “successes” on that memorable perch fishing trip.

He had braid as his main line. The number of bites we had was approximately the same, but at the slightest touch of the twister by the perch, it instantly made a hook, which ended in a derailment or the tail being torn off from the twister. Because of the stretchability of the fishing line and, accordingly, its “inhibition,” I yawned the first phase of the bite, when the perch only lightly touches the bait, and then it swallowed the twister, suspecting nothing, and only then did I make the hook. The perch bite that day was very capricious. Even more indicative is one August fishing trip also on a large reservoir. The fishing depth is 3.5–4 m, in places there is shell rock, the bottom is very hard. A big wave. My gear is the same, my partner has 0.09 mm braid as the main line, and a G. Loomis 842GLX spinning rod. The goal of fishing was perch 100–150 grams, which was found in large numbers in that area.

Because of the large wave, it was extremely difficult to retrieve; every part of the body was under maximum tension (we fished on the “Nyrka-41” and “Ivolga-21”). The bites followed one after another, but it was still very difficult to catch the moment of hooking. Once again the stretchability of the fishing line came to the rescue. Through the spinning rod, I felt the perch touching the bait, paused for 1-2 seconds and hooked - the entire perch was caught at the edge of the upper lip. The result is about 60 perches, several catches and one bitten off tail of the twister. No matter how hard the partner resisted, no matter how hard he tried to pause, it all ended the same way - either with the tail torn off from the bait or with the perch disappearing. The result is 2 perches, dozens of unrealized bites and more than 30 bitten off tails of the baits! It is for this type of wiring that I see another slight advantage of monofilament fishing line over braided line - the ability to use slightly lighter weights of jig heads on the fishing line due to its lower windage.

I want to say a few words about fishing. Quite often I had to catch good perches (personal best 1280 g) from depths of 3–6 m, and almost never there was a disappearance in the period of 10–20 seconds after hooking and before being raised to the surface, taken into a boat or ashore. I fish with the clutch tightened and try not to touch it while fishing for perch, with the exception of isolated cases (pike and pike perch, but this will be discussed below). The fishing line with its stretch, coupled with a good spinning rod, forgives a lot and allows you to deliver the perch to the shore or to the boat even with excessively tough fishing.

A few words about equipment

In microjig fishing, a spinning angler usually makes do with much more laconic equipment than in regular fishing. All you need is a small box for bait, a vest to put it in, and a spare spool.

The only thing you absolutely need is a wading suit, since fishing is often done from the water in order to gain a few meters in casting range. The wader also allows you to overcome overgrown banks, which is simply necessary when fishing with the most delicate rods - they won’t tear up the grass. In this way, you can save more than one bait, and also not exhaust the rod, reel and... the angler.

A boat would be a good replacement for waders or a wader, but this is not always available, especially for a weekend fisherman.

It would also be nice to have polarized glasses for comfortable monitoring of the behavior of the bait on a sunny day, a diamond needle file for sharpening hooks right on the water, and scissors for fishing line.

Microjig fishing initially puts the angler in a situation in which the fish have an advantage and winning such a fight is doubly pleasant. Emotionally, a kilo-sized pike on an ultralight tackle causes a release of endorphin more than a three-point pike on a crowbar.

A beautiful victory (as well as an offensive defeat) will be remembered for a lifetime. The microjigit catches fish almost always, fights in every fight and waits for his bird to have luck in the form of a fight with a worthy opponent on the verge of a foul!

Microjig is excitement, delicacy, tenderness and elegance in everything. And this is also an opportunity to fish and catch fish without leaving the city after or before work.

“White” Microjig Part One

There is nothing incomprehensible or mysterious about the word “microjig” at the moment. This style of fishing has become very popular among spinning anglers in the last five years. He began his march from Ukraine as the sole mistress and ruler of fashion in this style, but this is already very, very controversial. We also caught fish about 20 years ago with light heads and small silicone (more often we used homemade bait in the form of rain or a simple bunch of threads of different colors). Ukraine simply presented something that had been forgotten in a new form, and all thanks to numerous athletes, whom I respect very much and use Ukrainian achievements. But we also have no less experience, methods of posting.... Therefore, let’s omit these empty words about who was first or second, and make an unequivocal decision - microjig, having come to us from sports, has given many unforgettable moments. No one knows how many more such moments he will give. Microjig does not have the ability to be squeezed or limited - this is precisely the direction in which there are no limits to fantasies.

Among the trophies are banal and already boring for many spinning anglers, perch, pike, pike perch, bersh, there are moments of catching catfish and burbot. But who said that microjigging is limited to just these types of fish? I’m not talking about exotic tuna, horse mackerel, various scorpion fish and other “dandruff of the marine population”; let’s put aside sea fishing. But catching carp, crucian carp, roach, bleak (!), chub or ide, asp, podust, sabrefish or rudd with miniature jig baits is the main stage in the development of microjig, in my opinion, in Russia. Moreover, bites of the above-mentioned fish are not so rare; there were days when white fish was the main catch, and pike perch and perch were completely absent from it, however, there were not a single number of qualifying asps and chubs.

Why is this happening? Let's compare within one direction of spinning - jig - two approaches - microjig and jig. In both cases, different installations are used, where various silicone and foam attachments are used as the main bait. We will not touch on a variety of jigs and spoons, and will limit ourselves only to soft baits. What irritating factors does such a bait have? A jig (weighing, say, 8 grams and above) has several of them - sound, vibration and play. Microjig most often has one, maximum two such irritating factors. This is a game and this is sound. The sound can be produced by various installation elements, ranging from the tapping of the winding ring on the body of the weight and ending with the rustling of the silicone body of the bait when passing through the water column. Does this bait have vibration? Yes, but much weaker than from a jig weighing 15-28 g, where half of the vibrations are produced by the weight itself. However, microjig baits simply “mow down” fish, ranging from small things like perch to large-sized catfish. But it’s easier for many to catch this banal fish with a jig, putting a weight of 16-26 g and knocking on the bottom, tempting a predator to bite. I know of cases of catching wary seasoned chubs and asps on heavy jig baits, as they say, “I can count them on my fingers.” Most often this happens in the fall and on fairway holes. In the summer, at depths of two meters, there is no point in purposefully catching asp with a load of more than 6 g - at most you will come across a couple of stray fish, and that’s all.

The answer comes by itself, you just have to think - whoever caught an asp or chub with a mikruhu will remember - a fall, a pause, a sharp “sticky” blow and an instant pull. The answer is on the surface - bites occur when the bait falls or hangs in the current. And the bait should fall and be carried away in the same way as everything else falling and being carried away, floating at the moment in a given place with the flow - crayfish, beetles, sticks, leaves, pieces of grass, river and not so living creatures. And for this it is necessary that the bait has as light a weight as possible and moves, not against the currents, but along with them - this is the only way it begins to imitate natural food carried away by the current. A larger and heavier jig begins to go against the flow, piercing the water column, and creating the effect of falling not a beetle or larva, but a fish, hence the bite of pike perch and pike. But we made a reservation not to talk about banal fish, and the topic of our article today is bel.

And here a problem immediately arises - a pause, which on heavier scales is a minimum value, when fishing with a microjig can already exceed the mark of half a minute or even a minute, and not everyone has enough patience and endurance to wait for this very pause. And if an experienced person already knows why and why he is waiting so long, then beginners quickly lose their nerves, and the number of empty bites increases.

A thin cord, which does not initially imply serious loads, experiences colossal overvoltage, literally turning into a “tired” creature in just a month.

The rod blank, ringing under the load, tends to “switch off” from operation, and the main load falls on the reel clutch. The friction clutch, designed for thin PE laces, is also not designed for such loads, and if you tighten it almost to the limit, there is a high probability of the cord breaking. The only way out in this situation is to install a stronger cord, not exceeding the maximum for the blank, which will withstand shock loads with the clutch tightened, but at the same time will not allow the rod blank to shut down completely when fishing.

Well, let’s not talk about sad things, it’s better to talk about such an important and long-awaited phenomenon as the very fact of registering the presence of fish. The bite of white fish is fundamentally different from the bite of pike and pike perch. An asp can take a microjig with a light poke, without a blow, and jerk to the side, or he can simply stop the movement and only after hooking it sharply jerk away. The chub, on the contrary, takes it with a blow, and with short sharp jerks begins to reel in the cord. After a certain number of meters, both asp and chub usually stop, and you can start pumping them out. Although there are exceptions, when a spotted white monster tore and threw so hard that an attempt to pump it out was out of the question. But most of the spotted fish still stop and quite calmly go to the shore, where they give out the main “charge” of force.

As a rule, when playing, the hooked fish does not try to go into the grass or snags, but confidently pulls towards the fairway. At least not a single white predator got away from me because it got stuck in the coastal grass. Because of the “weakness” of the doubles, yes, I can’t imagine how the soft tissues of the mouth of a chub or asp are so crushed and torn by hardened steel doubles, river stones are not capable of this - imagine, a blow, a hook, a monster at the other end of the cord, I let him down to the shore or it goes off in the distance, I am left with a naked double. This is the best case scenario. In the worst case, instead of a double, something tied in a knot or bent hangs on the load, as if it was not a trophy sitting there, but a diver with powerful pliers in his hands. However, you can see everything in the photo. Hence the requirements for gear - everything must be assembled within the framework of the dependence of the power of one on the other. You cannot put a cord with a load of 15-20 lbs on a stick, the load on the form of which is prescribed to be 8-10 lbs, in the hope that the caught trophy will still be picked up. Rather, instead of a broken double, you will be left with a piece of a spinning rod and a reel that has died from the stress. What you choose is your right, I’d rather try to “drain” the trophy while keeping the set. Moreover, under normal conditions, biting the second and subsequent monsters is likely with an accuracy of up to 70%. Usually the area calms down after half an hour, and again a decisive blow follows and a new struggle ensues. And as a rule, even one bite and a merged trophy is enough for the next hours of fishing - the adrenaline spills over the edge.

And the most important thing that I want to emphasize is that the cord reserve should be as maximum as possible, it fits 200 m - wind it 200 m, fits more - excellent. With an increased margin, the likelihood of the trophy getting motion sickness increases in proportion to the remaining tens of meters of cord on the spool. Let's say, sometimes the standard 150 meters is not enough for me, and if the bite happened on the outflow, then what can I say.

Be sure to install a knotless fastening system. Without it, the cord breaks on impact, and the trophy floats away with a “silicone piercing” that it has absolutely no use for.

A trophy bite can happen in any fishing area; most of my monsters landed on the outcroppings located on the river bank. In the summer, in July-August, the number of bites increases sharply with the onset of the evening sunset, when it has not yet gone beyond the horizon, but is no longer shining as brightly as at noon. And as soon as it gets dark, the likelihood of a bite increases not from a white monster, but from a mustachioed monster, that is, a catfish. This bastard, there’s no other way to call her, just like that she crawls out onto the riverbed shoals to prey on fry and other living creatures, and very willingly grabs the silicone. And if the silicone has two tails or is painted in bright, provocative colors, expect “trouble.” It is theoretically possible to pump out and lift catfish onto microjigging gear, but in practice it all ends with a break, or a breakdown, or a derailment. There is no need to put a leash, we are not catching pike. The catfish does not bite as such, it is a simple hook that begins to sharply move in the opposite direction from the wiring. And God forbid that you don’t miss him, but just catch him a little with a double.

Lifting a mustachioed one even 5-7 kg is an extremely difficult task, it takes a lot of strength, and on the Oka, such tadpoles usually don’t climb out onto the riffles; cases of catching catfish have been frequent in the last three years, and all the catfish weighed more than 10 kg. These are the ones I saw. Perhaps someone caught larger or smaller ones, but the trophies I noticed were a dozen. In the event of a catfish bite, if I have already realized for sure that the fish cannot be raised, I break the cord. And let me tell you, make it a rule that if you are already sure that you will not be able to handle the trophy, it is better to give it freedom, cut off the cord. If there is someone nearby, you can ask to film what is happening on a camera; these moments are best remembered when they are captured on camera. And standing and holding a fish, knowing in advance that there is no chance, is a waste of time. With every minute of struggle, the weight of the catfish increases by a kilogram. And even if you managed to lift the trophy to the surface, not everyone’s nerves can withstand it. Moreover, catfish tend to lie low, and while this is a little easier to overcome from a boat, from the shore, a catfish bed is fraught with a snag and a break. Do you need it?

Catfish is an extreme case, and when you purposefully catch asp and chub using mikruhu, then according to your feelings it is better not to see it - it will go well in the distance.

Regarding the asp, this robber is generally cunning - I once observed such a picture - in the shallows, on a sandy beach, there is a flock of fry. These small bleaks are about 6-7 cm in size. From the edge, which is clearly visible in polarized lenses, a chick weighing about three kilograms slowly crawls out. And slowly, as if walking, it swims along this shallow, showing its fin with its back. And again he leaves just as calmly. No hitting, splashing or attacking. And after 10 seconds, a sharp flight of the same asp, splashes, the fry jumps on the sand, and the robber grabs the stunned bleak and swims away to swallow it. No tail strikes, as is generally accepted - the asp needs its tail not for striking, but for developing instantaneous speed, and it is estimated that in a jerk it develops up to 78 km/h. Is it possible to gain such speed against the current and still have time to catch the fry? A huge tail helps him with this, serving as a support on the water. I do not rule out that this behavior is inherited, because the Oka asp is sedentary, and having chosen a riffle or a hole, it does not go far from it. I caught a trophy, its place is taken by other fish - chub or ide, or stray juvenile asp fry. Therefore, my advice is to find the point where the trophy comes out every evening, do not show your competitors how you catch and where. They won’t fish the same way, they’ll just put up donks, taking the place, or even worse, nets, and throw them away later. And the place will be killed, you are guaranteed to get hooks. Be as cunning and careful(?) as our white predators - chub and asp.

Regarding the color scheme of the baits used, everything works, from transparent shades to colors as black as night. Bright colors work great for me when it comes to protruding eyes - chartreuse, orange, red, white, yellow, pink are held in high esteem. It is impossible to predict in advance, only trial by combat. And judging by the speed of the bites, the fish doesn’t care what kind of silicone you have there - white or black - it grabs it and runs away, I caught chubs and asps using simple homemade baits cut out of balloons. And I’ll tell you, the baits made from them are extremely durable. They can be painted in different colors, highlighted with a marker, or dotted. And even though at one time in one editorial office to which I sent an article about making baits from balls, everyone laughed, if you compare the number of bites on these baits, then the owners of Japanese silicone become sad...

Japanese silicone models also work very well - the taste is to the liking of our white robbers. Size - I use a maximum of 2”, there is no point in using more - such a bait flies a fair distance and seduces large fish many times better than fleshy twisters. It is possible to use vibrating tails, but the percentage of response to them from the asp is extremely low. Baits made in the form of leeches, worms, crustaceans, that is, everything that imitates regular food, work very well. Let's say, the banal Relax works very well when guiding in deep water, but there is one trick - its wide, fleshy tail needs to be made narrower with scissors - let's say, a width of 5 mm is enough for the eyes to preserve the game and increase the flight range. To increase the pause, we place baits with two tails; on the same scales they fall one and a half times longer. Any growths or paws on the smooth body of the bait also increase the pause, do not forget this.

Silicone works very well, the tail of which was amputated after catching perch or pike perch - this often happens, and those who catch perch will immediately understand me. Previously, I threw out such baits or soldered tails or Christmas tree showers of different colors to them. I improvised in general. And after the perch bit off my tail, and I was too lazy to change the bait, I continued fishing with a twister stub, and on the very first retrieve I got a pretty good bite from a good asp. The second and third trophies followed. In the end, my twister was torn like a hot water bottle, I had to install a new one from the package, and its tail had to be amputated on purpose - the bites continued. There were bites on the twister with a tail, but only perch bites. Therefore, do not rush to throw away your disabled twister, just put it in a separate compartment in the box, and who knows, on your next fishing trip it will present you with a trophy that will be remembered for a lifetime......

Recently, so-called collapsible Cheburashkas have become popular. They are convenient for those who catch small perch, and their convenience lies in the fact that it has become easier to change the bait. There is no need to remove the double through hard rings and then put it on again. But in our case, this convenience has a negative impact - the impacts are so strong that the movable ears easily pass through the soft lead, sharply losing the strength of the structure. After several good meetings due to the rupture of collapsible Cheburashkas, I completely abandoned their use, and I no longer buy this, sorry, crap for wankers. It’s better to put a regular cheburakh, with the ear turned out, and mount a double on it or a Pankratov mount on a single hook, it’s more reliable. If you don’t believe me, try holding the collapsible Cheburashka so that the body is between obstacles, for example, between the slightly unclenched jaws of a vice, and pull the tied cord wound around a piece of stick with your hand. The ears will begin to push through the lead, and will eventually fit through it. On impact, everything happens many times faster - the asp or chub hits the bait, pinching the load with its strong lips. Although without teeth, the same effect is obtained from the resistance of the hook. The problem with hooks in general is that the stones clamp the weight so that it sometimes breaks even on not very strong cords. Repairing it is difficult and it’s not worth it; we install a classic monolithic Cheburashka and forget about this problem.

I will try to tell you about the rest in the second part of this interesting “action movie” of the fishing world.

And I am attaching a video……. no comments..

Catfish on microjig