Cold water fishing calls for hair jigs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/05/2022 (1260 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With more rain in the forecast hopefully it is turning out to be one of the wettest springs on record. After reading about all the flooding in different parts of Manitoba, I decided to give my friend Dino Branfield a call. He lives on a farm just north of Morden. I try to plan one fishing trip a year down to that part of the world so I wanted to find out how all this moisture was affecting that part of the province.

Dino said when the snow melted it filled up Lake Minnewasta Reservoir three weeks ago. With two more Colorado lows piled on that, he says the water is running over the top of the dam in town, flooding several properties. He is concerned that many of the crappies in the reservoir will be going over the top of the dam with the water. Only time will tell!

Dino is also an avid turkey hunter, but he hasn’t been out yet because of all the moisture. He also says many of the roads around him have been washed away by overland flooding.

That is the story in many communities and water levels in our lakes and rivers will continue to rise as more snow melts in the central part of Manitoba.

Hardcore anglers were still heading out for stocked trout last week. Friend Roger Geres and his wife Sue have been having good success for tiger trout in the Twin Lakes. Recently Roger landed a nice rainbow trout from Patterson Lake. He caught the fish on Berkley orange trout paste in six feet of water.

When the season opens May 14 in southern Manitoba there will be super cold-water conditions on those rivers and lakes that are ice free.

One of the best cold water lures ever invented is the hair jig. I found out about them by luck a few years back and have had great success with them ever since. They catch a wide variety of fish but are especially effective on smallmouth bass.

With the slow pulsating movement of the hair, even the most negative fish is interested. There are some keys to using them though. You need a light line, no more than six-pound test fluorocarbon as a leader, and a long, medium action rod.

To keep fish hooked up on this setup your hair jig must have a super needle point hook. I learned years ago how critical this is when fishing the Kenora Bass International. The first morning of the tournament I lost several nice fish because my thick shanked hook was not penetrating properly. When the bass jumped, they were able to shake the hook.

Many of the hardcore bass anglers in this part of the world tie their own. Jeff Gustafson and Jamie Bruce of Kenora have won a lot of money with these baits and have spent considerable time custom tying. Bruce even has his own line for sale on his website at btfishing.com.

While hair jigs are really good in cold water, they are pretty great in the summer. Gussy says they shine on those hot, flat summer days when big smallmouths move into shallow water and cruise, lazily looking for an easy meal. Jeff says these small jigs are an “after-dinner mint” as they float through the water column, imitating a leech or small invertebrate. Gussy has tried all the different colours but his go to is black.

Because of their light weight, marabou jigs must be fished slowly. Jeff likes to cast past a likely boulder, log or clump of weed that could be holding a smallmouth and swim it past, never letting the jig touch the bottom.

If you are not into tying our own like Jeff, I have done a bit of research on ones you can buy. One lure manufacturer out there has a hair jig that seems a step ahead of the rest.

Rapid Baits from the U.S has been testing all kinds of hair to go with their custom-made baits and there isn’t a material that they like better for a hair jig than fox fur. Unlike Marabou which can be very compacted in the water, fox fur maintains size in the water without sacrificing action. It is also naturally buoyant and has a much slower fall rate than marabou or bucktail jigs. This allows you to throw it on a slightly heavier jig head and achieve longer casts. You can check out their products at rabidbaits.com.

Whatever way you go, you should make sure to have some in your tackle box this year. As mentioned, they are especially effective in shallow water situations.

ANGLERS NOTES:

The Swan Valley Sport Fishing Enhancement (SVSFE) is having their online silent auction from May 2 to 8, 2022. There are lots of great items up for bid. The proceeds of the auction will in part help support the new, MFFA sponsored, musky lake north of Roblin. The link is here: bidlive.swanhillsauctions.com