Griz Jigs

[Spinner]

Just saw some "Griz Jigs" over at Gander Mountain. Has anybody used these with any success?

[Waterfowler]

No personal experience, but have heard some complaints on the durability, ie loss of feathers. I just about picked some up, but the price was a little steep for two jigs. I was just in the roseville store over lunch. They are closing and have everything at 20% off right now. The fishing department was fairly picked over, but a lot of good buys on clothing.

[Suzuki]

Dont know anything about the griz jig but this jig website was on the discussion board last week and looks pretty interesting. I emailed them and received a response quickly.
http://www.walleyecentral.com/dcf/generaldiscussion/10182.html

I suppose the griz jig is a product endorsed by the Griz?

[Fin Addict]

They are the best river jigs I have ever used. The feathers have (in my opinion) better action than plastic or bucktail and slow the fall nicely while creating a bigger target and more commotion for river fish to hone in on. The light wire hook will easily straighten out if snagged, esp nice for snags in wood. This allows you to fish more aggresively around potential snags.
On the days when the fish want less jazz on the jig I use a fireball but if they want a dressing on the jig, it is tough to beat the Griz jigs.

[REW]

I have used these jigs in the 1/4 and 3/8 oz sizes while "ripping" walleyes on Winni and Leech. It is an outstanding jig.

When everybody else is catching one fish now and then, with the Griz jig and using the ripping technique, the fish come very quickly indeed.

This jig can be tipped with a minnow or other live bait, but in many instances, it simply works much better when fished bare. i.e. no live bait.

Another advantage of fishing like this, is that when the bite is really on, you can land many many more fish without the hassle of bait.

Get the jig, work it right, and you will boat lots of fish.

Take care

REW

p.s.
The comment about the jigs losing feathers, is a complement for the jigs effectivity. The jigs won't be losing feathers, if the fish aren't hitting it. I guess that a 100 or so nice walleye is not to much to ask for a jig befoe all of the feathers are beat off the jig.

Give them a try, I think that you will like them. The Griz has the action, size and amount of feathers just right; to make this an extrememly effective jig.

[Bill W]

Define the term "ripping walleye" Is this a jigging with a fast upstroke? heard the term many tines.

[REW]

Ripping is an easy technique for a novice fisherman to master, but somewhat difficult for an experienced jig fisherman to manster, because you are basically fishing a slack line, rather than a tight line.

You are basically wanting your jig to execute the pattern that you would see on the tooth of a saw. Basically, the jig will be ripped forward, and thus violently pulled up off the bottom at about a 45 degree angle. Then the hard part - you quickly drop your rod back, as far as you started the ripping motion. This puts slack in the line and then the jig basically falls almost vertically back to the bottom. Now, the boat proceeds forward and begans to pull up the slack - at about the time that the line gets tight - the jig is ripped forward again.

On the bottom the walleye is lying down minding his own business. The first thing he sees is a jig with a nice juicy minnow, leech or crawler falling down to him. About the time that he thinks it is lunch, he sees it violently accelerate away from him. He says, Wow, I can't let a juicy morsel like that get away, so he chases it - now - when it falls the next time - just as though it is dying - it falls right into his mouth on the slack line. Now the next time that the jig accelerates away from the bottom, it quickly stops becuse it is lodges in the corner of a nice walleyes mouth.

Basically the thing that is so different about this technique, is that you fish fast, quick and violent. You aren't feeling for a fish to mouth the jig, feed line and set the hook. You are dropping the jig on the bottom, moving away from the jig to tighten the line, and then ripping the jig up and off the bottom.

So, you are doing several things,
a. You are fishing quickly - generally 1-4 mph.
b. You are fishing with heavy jigs - in general suitable rip jigs start at 1/4 oz and go to an oz. The most common size is 3/8oz.
c. You aren't feeling for a bite. If the fish pick up the jig, the next time you rip - you get an excellent hook set.
d. You aren't trying to tempt the fish with a live bait for taste etc. You are working on a reaction strike - i.e. the dying bait fall of the jig, and the final death struggle, as the minnow or worm does a final struggle off the bottom before dying - to give the walleye the impression that this is an easy prey.

e. In general - this technique is a shallow water technique. You can't have a lot of water depth and a lot of line drag for this technique to work well. In general this works very well indeed for spring and fall fishing in water depths that are 5-14 feet deep. When the walleyes start hanging in deeper water, the drag of the line, and the excessive weight of the jig required to keep in contact with the bottom, tend to make this technique less effective.

The one very big advantage of this technique is the speed at which it is done. Compared to conventional jigging which might be done at 1/2 to 3/4 mile of an hour - you can rip jig at speeds approacing 3-4 mph. You cover lots more water - because you are looking for the reaction bite of the active fish.

Take care

REW

[Bill W.]

Thanks REW:
Great description, I'll bet you're a hellofa story teller at the camp fire.