07-23 REELLIFE digital - Flipbook - Page 19
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Jika Rig
MARCH
6,
2022
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By Rick Lawrence
One of the major problems I’ve
had over the years fishing tubes is
how often they get hung up using
a standard tube jig. Whether
you’re fishing in the rocks, or wood
cover they just seem to catch on
everything. To solve this, I’ve gone
out of the box so to speak.
The Jika Rig (pronounced Zee-ka),
offers a new way of presenting
snag proof soft plastic baits to
bass, and one of my favorite
baits to use for this rig is the tube.
Tube fishing is one of the best
ways to catch smallmouth and
largemouth bass on the planet
and if you were to ask Al Lindner,
he’ll tell you a green pumpkin
tube is his absolute go-to bait for
smallmouth bass fishing on any
lake in North America. For me it’s
a green pumpkin or brown craw
here on the Pend Oreille River for
them beautiful pre-spawn ditch
pickles.
I think the tube represents a
crawdad amazingly well. This is
why I love dragging a tube. As it
looks just like a crawdad crawling
slowly across the bottom, but f
you’re on a lake or river infested
with Sculpin as most Washington
and Idaho waters are tubes
become even more effective, as
it can imitate these very well also.
Here is what the Banded Sculpin
native to our waters looks like.
transitions. Traditional tube
riggings tend to dampen the
overall sensitivity of the rig, making
it more difficult to feel bottom.
Both Largemouth and
Smallmouth eat them by the ton
and a tube is a perfect imitation of
these somewhat ugly little critters
and I think one of the best ways to
present them is the Jika Rig.
While we are talking about tubes
right now, keep in mind that you
can use this presentation with
a variety of different soft plastic
baits. Worms, creature baits, flukes,
craws and swimbaits can all be
Zika Rigged to various effects. It
offers a different “look” than what
the fish are used to seeing.
You can make your own Jika rigs
by attaching a split ring to the eye
of a Gammy EWG hook and hang
a finesse dropshot weight from
it. Just tie your line to the split ring
not the eye of the hook.
I go down as small as a #2 EWG
hook for the smaller Gitzit tubes
and up to a 3/0 for the bigger
tubes. I use split rings and weights
to match the size of the hook and
the bait with the conditions I’m
fishing. In general I use a ¼ or 3/8
oz dropshot weight with small
tubes and a ½ oz. up to a 1 oz. on
large tubes fished in deep water.
One of the primary benefits
of using a Jika Rig is sensitivity.
It allows for a more direct
connection between you and
bottom, which helps you feel
bottom composition and
What are some good places
to fish the Jika Rig? You can
fish them in the same types of
areas you might otherwise fish a
dropshot rig or a standard tube.
Look for transitions in bottom
composition, whether it’s a hardto-soft bottom transition, sand-toweed transition, or even a dark-tolight color change on the bottom.
All of these areas tend to attract
bass.
The beauty of this rig is in its
versatility. You can easily change
out weights to adjust of the
depth your fishing or your desired
drop speed. It can be fished on
a spinning rod or a baitcasting
rod, depending on your personal
preference.
JULY 2023 | 19