Fishing Hair Jigs for Bass

I’ve found fishing hair jigs for bass can keep you catching fish even when water temperatures are at their lowest this time of year. Here’s a couple things I’ve picked up about fishing hair jigs for bass, hopefully it can help you catch a few even through these colder months.

Fishing Hair Jigs for Bass

I’m the first to admit I get anxious in the winter for things to heat up for fishing, but I’ve found you can still catch a few using a hair jig. I’ve never fished them until recently, and I’ve been surprised at the success they can bring when the water is super chilled off. Apparently there is something to the subtle action that gets bass to snap out of their cold water funk to eat.

Tricks for Fishing Hair Jigs

The key to getting bites on hair jigs is to keep things light and small. I’ve found the best jigs are a 1/4 oz or lighter this time of year. Use a spinning rod set up to get some distance out of your casts with those light jigs. A light 1/8 oz hair jig is really hard to cast unless you have a smooth spinning rod set up. One thing to help you get more distance out of your casts for these light baits is to spool your rod with 15 pound braided line, and then use about 15 feet of 6 pound fluorocarbon leader. This will do a few things. The light line leader will help you get more bites, and the braided line will cast further and give you extra sensitivity to detect the subtle bites.

Another cool trick that seems to help when fishing hair jigs for bass, is to tip the jig with a small soft plastic. The tail of a grub, fluke, or straight tail worm can catch a few bass by giving  your bait just a little more bulk. Most small hair jigs don’t have very big hooks, so you only need about an inch or less to add to your jig. You want everything compact and tight together, so the hair of your jig can flow around your soft plastic tail to keep things looking natural.

What Type of Hair Jigs are Best

There are so many types of hair jigs on the market, it’s hard to discern what works best. Several different types of hairs are commonly used for jigs such as buck-tail, feathers, rabbit fur, and marabou. A general rule of thumb is the lighter the hair the more subtle and better action you get from your jig in colder water. I’ve found the best all around hair to be the marabou jigs, they seem to get me more bites than some of the others I’ve experimented with.

The cool thing about using marabou hair jigs, is they are reasonable priced and come in a variety of colors. Some of my favorite colors for hair jigs are straight black, olive, green pumpkin, purple, and brown. When fishing deep water of 20 feet or more I go with a 1/4 oz marabou jig, but fishing anything shallower I like the slow fall of an 1/8 oz hair jig. Going with the lightest bait you can get away with helps get bites. Especially in the cold  where extremely slow subtle movements mimics what is going on underwater in the bass world.

How to Fish a Hair Jig

Fishing a hair jig isn’t any different than fishing other types of jigs. Bomb your hair jig out there, and let it fall down to the bottom. Then slowly hop, or crawl the jig along the bottom. Occasionally, I’ll give it a good high hop off the bottom, and let it set for a little longer. Sometimes the high hop will trigger a reaction bite, and the extremely long pauses can help give the cold moving bass time to swim over to eat your bait. The colder the water, the slower you want the movement of your hair jig.

Typically, the best time to fish the hair jigs is any time the water falls below the 50 degree mark. This is when those subtle movements can help trigger bites when nothing else can. Still though, hair jigs can catch bass all year round. They are a great addition to any tackle box to give you the ammo you need to catch more bass.

Please leave a comment below of any other tricks or things you’ve found help when fishing hair jigs for bass. I’m slowly falling more and more in love with these baits, and I’m anxious to learn different ways to fish them this year. Hopefully, this will help you find success with them as well. Don’t let the cold scare you off from getting out and “Kraken” them bass on hair jigs!

As Always,

Stay Stoked!

Gear Used

The links above and below in this post are affiliate links were you can pick up baits, rod’s, reels, line, and anything else I use to “Krak” some bass with hair jigs. Krakenbass receives a small percentage of the sales through these links. I only use links to baits, and gear I personally trust and know work. I put these links to make them helpful for you, and not for the small amount I make for the sale of the products. I hope these products can help you “krak” some bass! Thank you for your support.