1 By TubeDude 1/19 Fligs is the catchy little handle I have attached to my line of floating jigs. I have been experimenting with them for many years making various types and using a wide range of floating materials, designs and colors. I have proven to my own satisfaction that they work on many waters and for many species. The use of floating jigs has been around for a while. I first became aware of them when introduced to fishing Walleyes in Arizona s Showlow Lake. That was about 1990 while I was living in Tucson, Arizona. A fellow employee in my office had been up there the week before and was told about floating jigs by another angler who seemed to be having more success than anybody else. After picking up a few of them at a local tackle shop he rigged up with a floater and quickly became convinced that they worked. I accompanied my workmate/fishing buddy back up to Showlow Lake the following week. I first tried all the standard walleye stuff crawler rigs, plastics, crank baits, etc. I managed a couple of fish but my companion was almost limited out on walleyes before I switched to the floating jig rig. It didn t take long for me to finish my limit and to gain a respect for the effectiveness of presenting my offerings a bit up off the bottom. Silly me. It was several years before I tried floating jigs again. The waters I fished near Tucson had no walleyes. I already had the bass, sunfish, crappies and cats dialed in and never felt the need for trying fligs. But after I moved to Phoenix I was fishing new lakes with more species and different conditions. Lake Pleasant was one of those new waters. It is an impoundment northwest of Phoenix and is subject to great water level fluctuations each year. Like most Arizona waters, it warms up quickly as daytime temperatures climb above 100 degrees by May each year. The fish react to higher water temps by going deeper. One week in late spring I had been catching bass on topwater and shallow running lures close to shore. The next week I needed to move offshore, go deeper and make vertical presentations in 30-40 feet of water to find any fish. Although I have since become more proficient at the technique of drop-shotting, I had not tried it much for fishing vertical in deeper water at that point. But I had used high-low tandem bait rigs with two droppers above a sinker both in salt water and fresh. And I had substituted bait for flies or plastics with good success on several species. So, technically I did know a bit about the concept. I had to kick my float tube out into the deeper waters, away from shore before beginning to see fish near the bottom on my sonar screen. Lake Pleasant had populations of several species including largemouth bass, white bass, several species of sunfish, crappies and catfish. As is common on many lakes, most of these fish would hit the same baits or lures. That is, if they were presented at the right depths. On one trip I noticed a couple of left over floating jig heads in one of my lure boxes. Ta daaa! Light bulb over head. I rigged up a semi Carolina rig with a ¼ oz. egg sinker above a swivel and an 18 inch leader between the swivel and the flig. I decorated it with half a night crawler, sent it down and went bendo almost as soon as I reached bottom. Over the next few weeks I fished both crawlers and plastics on floating jig heads. And I caught just about every species in Lake Pleasant on them. I also used them to catch a few finicky walleyes and other species in Saguaro Lake on the Salt River. Just like the fish, I was hooked. I couldn t believe I had been overlooking this technique for so long after already experiencing success with it elsewhere.
2 A couple of types of floating jig heads available commercially. Most will work. There are quite a few floating jig heads available from tackle suppliers. But, since I make most of my own lures, I had to try my hand at crafting my own. I began to round up various floating materials and to cut, shape and paint them in my basic food groups my favorite colors. Over the years I experimented with a wide range of floating stuff to make different sizes, shapes and colors of fligs. Essentially, anything that floats and that you can cut shape and paint and which will hold up for at least a few fish will work to make a flig. I make small fly rod poppers for bass and panfish so I already had some cork popper bodies preformed. They worked. I also bought small pieces of plain cork and sanded them to shape myself. Ditto for balsa. Both cork and balsa are soft but have good floatation. Harder and heavier woods don t float as well for fligs. For my early flig making, I tried a variety of lightweight and foam packing materials. Some things worked better than others. I also crafted punches from sharpened edge tubing to cut out plugs from sheets of rubber foam. Many of these cushion mats, flip-flop soles and other such foam items are about ½ thick suitable for some fligs but limiting in the sizes and variety I now make.
3 I also tried Styrofoam. It was extremely lightweight and floatable, but more difficult to shape and more subject to damage. It also had a rougher surface which made it tough to paint pretty and it was prone to dissolving in some glues and finishes. Ultimately, I discovered some super little foam cylinders supplied by Wapsi to several online purveyors of jig and lure making supplies. They are closed cell rigid foam, available in several sizes and colors. I used mostly the 1/4 and 3/8 for fligs, but I also used some of the larger 1/2 size for floating whole minnows, cut bait or large crawlers. The main downside to buying and using these precut foam cylinders is cost up to 20 cents per flig.
4 A couple of years ago I began experimenting with cutting my own plugs from a high density EVA foam kneeling pad. As a builder and repairer of fishing rods, I had lots of pieces of rod blanks, from which I could make plug-cutting drill bits. I sharpened the cutting edges and was pleased to find they cut down through the foam like hot butter. Over a period of experimentation I made several sizes of tube cutters and was able to make a whole range of different sizes and types of fligs. I have put together two other companion writeups to this one. One is on SIZES, SHAPES & COLORS. The other is on MAKING FLIGS. Here are just a few examples of the ones I use the most.
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6 RIGGING A FLIG Size and color can be important factors in choosing a flig to fish. Proper rigging and presentation can also be critical to fit the prevailing conditions and targeted species. You must choose the right size head and hook, the best color, use the right bait and attach it to the flig the right way to achieve maximum appeal and hooking potential. This picture illustrates a typical flig rig. There is a sliding sinker, stopped by a bead and a swivel, with a length of leader between the swivel and the flig. There are many options in how you rig and fish fligs depending on waters, species, water conditions, food resources, etc. Another effective option is to rig dropshot style with a sinker on the bottom and the flig on a short dropper off the line above the sinker.
The following three diagrams illustrate some of the easier and more effective ways to rig a flig. After that we will discuss how to fish them. 7
The picture above shows several sinkers I use for drop-shotting or for fishing fligs. Actually, you can use any kind of weight that will provide the right amount of weight with minimal snagging. Two good options are plain old bell sinkers and specially made drop-shot weights with the little line clips on the end. But they are more spendy. I make my own, using a jig mold I have for spinner bodies. If you don t have all the terminal gear to make up any of the rigs suggested, do not despair. You can fish a flig just like fishing bait with a split shot a foot or so above the flig on your main line. And since most fish smack a baited flig pretty hard you should be able to detect bites and set the hooks with a high degree of efficiency. Of course, the better quality (sharp) hooks you use and the better your hook setting techniques the better your hookup ratios will be. 8
9 FLIGGIN TECHNIQUES CHUCK AND CHANCE IT: There are some trips on some waters where you can do just fine by simply casting out a baited flig rig and letting it set waiting for fish to find it and bite. This works while shore fishing or anchored in a boat. Just make sure you have enough weight to both cast your rig and to maintain a tight line once it is resting on the bottom. You want to be able to detect any change in the force. Larger and more aggressive fish will often gulp and go hooking themselves against the pull of the rod. Smaller and/or more tentative fish may just swim up and suck in your flig setup without registering much on the rod tip. If you think you detect an inquiry raise the rod tip slowly feeling for signs of life or solid resistance and then set the hook in the cagy critters. Passive fligging can work well for several species. Trout often cruise just above the bottom and if they find a flig waving in their face sweetened with worm, minnow or bottle bait will generally open up and accept your offering. Ditto for walleyes. They are more prone to bite something above the bottom than if it was resting in mud or weeds. Catfish are equal opportunity. They can be drawn in by the scent of your bait but are definitely not just bottom feeders. They will rise up several feet in the water column to chase live prey or to slurp in a bait hanging below a bobber or floating up on a flig. And when cats respond they are usually not very dainty. One second your rod will be straight and unmolested. The next it could be bent over and heading for the water. Wiper fans may also benefit from fligging a worm, a minnow or a wad of mussels. Again, the combination of above-bottom presentation and the bling of some flash or color on the flig is helpful in getting them to climb aboard. Wipers are also known for dragging off poorly anchored tackle so either hold your rod or have a good rod holder. CAST AND RETRIEVE: If you are fishing from shore, and don t like the inactivity of just soaking a bait enhanced flig, you might try casting and retrieving. But, unlike fishing action lures like spinners, crankbaits or swimbaits you will not be chunkin and windin on each cast. Instead, you make a long cast allow the flig rig to settle to the bottom and then begin a varied and erratic retrieve. Ideally, your offering should be dancing just up off the bottom. Start each retrieve by simply tightening up the line, between the rod and the rig. Then try lifting and dropping a few feet followed by several seconds of doing nothing. That can trigger a following fish to grab it. If not, keep on stopping and starting with a few rod twitches from time to time. If you are fishing upslope casting into deeper water and retrieving into shallower water try to determine at what distance from shore and at what depth you are getting bites. Thereafter you can make shorter casts to be in fishy water more of the time. You can also make your casts parallel to the shoreline into the right depth zone and similarly improve your efficiency. If you are using the cast and retrieve method of fligging from a boat you may need to reverse the procedure. Cast in toward shore, let the flig rig settle to the bottom and then lift and drop it downslope back to your craft. Again, pay attention to what depth seems to be holding fish and then position your craft so you can make casts parallel with the shoreline and into the most productive depths.
10 DRIFTING OR DRAGGING: Many times the fish are scattered and you have to cover a lot of water to find them. Sometimes there will be only singles here and there with no real hot schools. Dragging a flig rig over the bottom at these times will help you prospect more area to find those strays that probably wouldn t find you if you just stayed put. If you are in a boat and if there is a light breeze on the water that is the perfect condition for slow dragging a flig rig A, B or C as long as the sinker helps you maintain contact with the bottom and you are not going too fast. Moving too quickly will not allow the fligged bait or plastic to stay up off the bottom and may cause it to spin and twist. If you are in a boat and there is absolutely no breeze at all and if you have an electric motor nudge the electric periodically to help you cover more water. Sometimes the hits will come while you are moving. At other times they will happen after you stop and are motionless. The fish will let you know what they want. This is an ideal way to fish a second rod while you actively cast around your boat in all directions with lures or flies. Or, if you are in a lazy mode, drag two flig rigs at a time and hope you don t suddenly have two fish on at once. That can happen if you drift into the ZONE. I fish this way from my float tube a lot and it seems like I can go a long time between bites and then suddenly have two large fish each going a different way. Some problems are definitely better to have than others. BOTTOM BOUNCING: This is the next step up from drifting. It involves maintaining a slow speed while moving your flig rig over the bottom in your search for fish. It may require a slightly heavier weight and it may require some adjustments in speed, leader length, swivels, method of hooking bait or plastic, etc. to get the presentation just right. Improper rigging or going too fast for the bait and flig you are using can result in tangles and no fish. There are some carry-over techniques from fishing bottom bouncers and crawler harness rigs that can be applied to fligging. One of those is to not let out a lot of line. Try to have the angle of line going into the water as vertical as possible 45 degrees at most. The more line you have out and the further it is behind your craft the more likely you will be to get snagged and the lower your hookup percentages. Slower is better than faster with fligs. The faster you go the more drag there is on your flig and bait or plastic. More drag pulls the flig down deeper and you might as well just be trolling. That s why slowing or stopping periodically can help. Ditto for raising the rod tip and then dropping the rig back a bit can change the cadence and creates some erratic action at the business end. While drifting or bottom bouncing it is also wise to move in big S turns and go back and forth from shallower to deeper water. Once you find the preferred depth and bottom conditions you can use sonar to try to keep you in high percentage water more of the time. The good news is that if you are using the right size and color of flig with the right plastic or bait and if the fish are active you should be able to count on getting some action and hooking some fish. If you are having trouble finding fish or getting the fish on your sonar screen to play nice change up your rig, your bait and/or your presentation.
11 DRESSING FLIGS As has been mentioned, you can adorn your fligs with almost any kind of bait or plastic. Floating jig heads were originally developed to present minnows and crawlers to finicky walleyes. And that is probably still one of the greatest uses for them. But over the years fligs have been used to present a lot more different baits and almost any kind of grub, swim bait, tube or other plastic you can imagine for virtually any and all species. Those who fish lead head jigs discover that using the right size and color heads and the right size, color and action plastics can make a world of difference in their catch rates. Some days when the fish are crazy active it does not seem to make a lot of difference what bait or lure you use or how you rig it. On those days fishing is easy. But when conditions of season, weather, water temps and clarity and other factors have made the fish more temperamental you may need to use flig finesse.
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16 RESULTS I can t think of many species that have not munched fligs. Well, maybe suckers. But I have caught both carp and chubs on them. There are really no limits on what kind of baits you can pin on fligs or how you can fish them or what species you can catch. I did not collect many pictures of my fishing trips during the earliest days of using fligs. That was while I was living in Arizona. In that state I caught largemouth and smallmouth bass, yellow bass, white bass, crappies, bluegills and other sunfish, walleyes, channel cats, bullhead cats, flathead cats and even a couple of softshell turtles on fligs. And while fishing them in salt water the Sea of Cortez in Mexico I probably caught well over 30 species sometimes all in the same day.
17 After moving back to Utah I experimented with various sizes, shapes and colors of fligs on my favorite ponds. I have caught rainbow, brown, cutthroat and tiger trout on them in several lakes. Ditto for largemouth and Smallmouths. Fligs have caught a grundle of walleyes and perch in Deer Creek and Starvation. In Willard Bay Reservoir I have caught walleyes, wipers, catfish, crappies and perch on fligs. And in Utah Lake I have fligged bunches of white bass as well as a few crappies and some humongous catfish and walleyes. The following pages are a collection of some of the pictures I have taken of silly fish with fligs hanging out of their mouths. They may constitute nothing more than fish porn to most folks. But I remember the details of most of those pics and the fact that on the days they were taken the fligs often produced more and bigger fish than other offerings. I catch lots of trout on fligs. These two rainbows (Starvation steelhead) came from Starvation while working crawler-sweetened fligs for walleyes or perch.
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