Showing posts with label catfish jug fishing tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label catfish jug fishing tips. Show all posts

Sunday

Jug Fishing Tips



Jug fishing has been around for quite a while. It is a quick and easy way to catch a lot of fish, quickly. Most of the time, you will catch your limit of fish in a very short period of time. A jug rig is a floating plastic jug, or large foam float, with an attached running line, hooks, weight and bait. You just drop several in the water, follow them in your boat, and bring each rig in when a fish bites. That's all there is to it. This method is not legal everywhere, and even where it is legal, only catfish are allowed to harvested, so check your local laws before trying this.


The best bait for jug fishing is a live bluegill (where legal) or shad. Cut shad also works well. Chicken livers are great, if you don't mind an occasional turtle (they get ate too, in my house). My next favorite bait to live bluegill is Danny Kings Punch Bait. This stuff is almost magic at times, and stays on the hook very well. Dead minnows are also a good bait.

You can make your own jug-rigs, but there are commercial ones available that are so cheap and well-made that it's not really worth the trouble. Even Wal-Mart carries jug-rigs, ready-to-fish, for a pittance. 6 rigs are plenty. Any more and it gets hard to keep track of them on the water. Many states require you to mark each jug with your name, address and phone number, so it's a good idea to write that on the jug with a permanent marker. Another good idea is to number each jug in large dark letters. This is handy if your are baiting each one with a different bait initially. When you catch a catfish, you can tell by the number what bait you had on it, and can re-bait the others to what is working. It also helps you to be sure you haven't lost a jug rig somewhere (it happens).

It is easy to tell when you get a bite. The rigs float on their sides until a catfish bites. Then, they stand up and start moving away. This means there is a fish (or turtle, gator, or snake) on. Catch up with the jug, but keep an eye on the others. It gets crazy sometimes, when a lot of fish hit all at once. You get really busy, really fast. Pull the line in carefully until you know what's on the end. If is is a desirable aquatic resident, remove it from the hook, place it in the creel. You can then re-bait it and toss it back in. If it is is an unwanted species, carefully unhook it, and allow it to go on it's way. If the hook cannot be safely removed (large snapping turtles, snakes and gators take a dim view of having a hook in them, and would like nothing better than to take out their frustrations on the nearest thing they can reach, namely...you), cut the line as close as safely possible, and release them. It's a good idea to wear gloves when running the lines. It's not uncommon to hook some very large fish, and it can get ugly. Don't use more than 2 hooks per rig, because it gets too dangerous with more.

Jugs will last a long time if cared for. Check the lines periodically and replace when needed. Check the hooks for sharpness and sharpen them when they get dull.

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Jug Fishing Tips