Two Awesome Alternatives To The Good Ol’ Jig And Minnow

A real minnow rigged on a lead jig is one of the most reliable live-bait presentations for catching walleye, yellow perch and plenty of other fish — but it’s not the only option. Here are two other potent “jig and minnow” combinations worth trying this season.

Fishing a jig dressed with a soft bait instead of using a real minnow is a popular substitution. Yet, to fully maximize this swap’s advantages, it’s best to use cutting-edge artificial soft plastic minnows, like CrushCity’s The Jerk and The Suspect.

The Jerk and The Suspect are made of ultra-durable Super TPE (aka Thermoplastic elastomer), which helps keep them on the jig significantly longer than live minnows. With these CrushCity baits, you’ll spend more time fishing and catching, and not be stuck wasting time dealing with live-bait headaches. 

Tip: A quality jig keeper is critical for maximizing a soft bait’s lifespan and holding power. The Jerk and The Suspect pair perfectly with the Ned Rig Jig and Finesse Football Jig, which feature a beveled edge conical keeper, as well as the Swingin’ Ned Rig and its adjustable fluorocarbon keeper.

The Real McCoy gets a run for its money up against The Jerk and The Suspect. These soft baits’ finesse tails produce life-like movements and vibrations that attract fish interest and trigger strikes.

Rapala’s Smart Injection Technology also helps The Jerk and The Suspect look the part. This proprietary process ensures the precise placement of salt, scent, colour and other ingredients within each CrushCity bait. The outcome? Super-advanced soft plastics that easily dupe walleye, perch and other predators.

You can fish The Jerk or The Suspect anywhere you’d fish a real minnow on a jig, but here are a few scenarios where these plastics really shine.

Around vegetation — Super TPE’s durability enables these CrushCity baits to stay on a jig when pulled through sand grass, sparse cabbage and other weeds; the same cannot be said about real minnows.

Aggressive casting and jigging — The resiliency of The Jerk and The Suspect keep these baits on a jig for the long haul when using hard snaps and other aggressively jigging strokes. 

Shallow scenarios — Super TPE’s buoyancy, combined with the tail profiles of The Jerk and The Suspect, give these baits a slow fall rate when fish on 1/16 or 1/8 ounce jigs, and can trigger more bites from neutral and inactive fish up shallow.

Triggering down feeders — Each of these Super TPE baits maintain a tail-up position when paused or slowly shaken or dragged along bottom — a sight prowling predators can’t resist.

Live bait restrictions — Using a plastic minnow on a jig is an obvious choice when fishing regulations prohibit using live bait — but if doing this, you might as well fish the best and use CrushCity’s The Jerk and The Suspect.

Clear to muddy water — A bright bait can trigger more bites in stained to muddy water; same deal in clear water during low light conditions. Hot pink pearl, Neon pearl, Budgie, Bombshell and Whitebait are just some of CrushCity’s vivid colours perfect for these scenarios. 

Not ready to give up using live bait just yet? We understand. There’s no denying its potency — and the Neon Moon Moon Eye or Hot Skirt Glow jigs are certainly excellent delivery tools for serving up a lively minnow.

Nevertheless, there’s a benefit to broadening live-bait tactics beyond lead jigs, and for this an angler needs to look no further than the Hover Jig, a precision balanced, premium floating jig.

The Hover Jig’s primary purpose to be used with a fixed or sliding sinker live-bait rig. Unlike a plain hook, the Hover Jig’s main virtue is it floats and, in turn, constantly keeps a minnow up off bottom and more visible. 

The last place a minnow wants to find itself is hovering off bottom and easily eaten. As a result, a lively minnow continually swims on a Hover Jig. Unfortunately for the baitfish, though, this activity only makes it get noticed faster.

The Hover Jig is made to take the abuse of being crushed by aggressive walleye and other predators. Its battle-ready durability is a far cry from cheap floating jigs, which crumble like over-baked, dry cookies after a few bites. 

The Hover Jig’s lower line tie and upward facing hook provide superior hook-up ratios, and better landing rates than an old-school floater with its hook point aligned downward. 

Tip: The Switch-It Slip Sinker features an easy-to-open snap connector that eliminates the need to cut and/or re-tie your rig. It also has a curved design and bottom wire that enables it to slide over bottom hazards. It’s the ultimate sinker for Hover Jig rigging.

Ledges and edges — A minnow on a Hover Jig pulled behind a Switch-It Slip Sinker is deadly for working the tops and bottom pivot points of drop-offs, as well as working down ledges.

Sand and mud flats — A walking sinker dragging across a soft bottom sends debris flying. This disturbance attracts fish, which are then easily duped by the minnow floating 16+ inches off bottom on a glow, UV or other brightly painted Hover Jig irresistible. 

Rocky bottom areas — A Hover Jig’s ability to  stay off bottom dramatically reduces snags in rocky terrain.

Trigger up-high fish — Pausing a retrieve and feeding out line when drifting a minnow on a Hover Jig bait rig are simple ways to soak a bait off bottom and in one spot with little to no forward movement. This is an effective strategy when fish are inactive, the water is cold, in bright sun and other scenarios when fish need convincing. 

In rivers — A minnow on a Hover Jig rig pulled behind a Switch-It Slip Sinker is a potent fish-catcher in rivers, particularly for working spillways, current seams, sand bars, channel ledges and more. Even better is current gives the Hover Jig an enticing bobbing, weaving and wiggling action. 

Whether to use a real or artificial minnow, and choosing between a sinking or floating jig when fishing with minnows are common decisions for anglers targeting walleye, perch and other fish. Each option has its strengths, and as such, it’s best to be prepared to use all of these presentations, and let the fish tell you what they like best.