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Re: Best rig for jigging suckers

I assume your question is how to use sucker meat/strips on a jig... not tip-up sized suckers jigged whole??
I like using bucktail jigs with a piece of sucker meat as enticement. The yellow perch colored jig, that Alan Nute (AJs B&T) started making is my favorite. I use anything from 1/2 to 1 ounce in that pattern. Not many days will that jig not catch fish. It brings in perch, lakers, cusk and occasionally rainbows and salmon (remember you must release salmon as they are a non-target species in winter).
I prefer to cut a strip of sucker meat just wider than the head of the jig I'm using and about as long as the jig. I cut my strips from the back of the sucker down to the stomach. I leave the meat intact along the darker portion of skin and filet it off as it reaches the white belly skin. I then make a couple slits in the belly skin in a "v" shape. This makes the end of the strip look like a pair of pants (use your imagination - haha). The two little strips of belly skin seem to add more movement and flash as you jig. Seems to help my bite ratio... I always hook the meat on so that the skin is down while jigging. Since I like to bounce the jig ON the bottom a lot, I feel having the white meat facing up helps draw the attention of passing fish. If you were to jig mid water column you may want the white facing down to help draw fish up to your hook. Also, the skin is very tough, so you only need to pass the hook thru once. I put it thru about a half inch from the "head" of my meat strip, leaving the belly skin flippers out as a "tail".
You can use sucker meat on just about any jig. Just make sure you only use single hooks on those jigs. You can even use it on an "airplane jig", just cut off all the treble hooks and leave the lone single hook in place.
Some days you'll find the fish like smaller or larger pieces of bait... some days you'll find they like a chunk of meat just sitting on bottom, no action to it at all. Before giving up on a hole, try at least a couple methods of jigging. The fish may be there, just not liking your first presentation.
Things change day to day. As example: I fished twice this week, at the same location, for lakers. The first day, it was a jig bite only. Second day, it was a tip-up bite only (and only with the smallest smelt we had)... couldn't buy a bite on any of the jigs. Lakers can be fussy.

On tipups I hook my smelt just under the dorsal fin. Match the predominant baitfish of the lake/pond for best success. The fish know what the daily feed is and they key in on that species. We use to use shiners on Newfound as a kid. As soon as I had my own money I switched and started buying smelt, the catch rate went waaay up. I have seen this on other water bodies as well. Its worth the extra money to fish the right bait.

Best of luck.

Re: Best rig for jigging suckers

Craig
Great reply. Excellent detail, thanks for sharing.
Richard