As I’ve mentioned in previous articles and reviews, I’ve enjoyed playing around with bait finesse system gear and fishing finesse baits in situations to try to catch large fish on light gear. I started with catching crappie over 2 1/2 pounds. Then I got into bass with my largest on BFS being a 7 1/2 pounder. And I’ve lost a couple that were bigger but that’s the fun in the pursuit. And I’ve also caught my personal best bluegill and shellcracker on BFS. And now I’m sharing a couple of my go-to micro jigs in the Keitech Mono Spin Jig and the Keitech Guard Spin Jig.
TINY PACKAGE WITH QUALITY BUILD
The Keitech Mono Spin Jig and Keitech Guard Spin Jig both come with incredibly sharp but small hooks, a wire keeper to hold your trailer on, a hand tied skirt that is very lively in the water and then the weed guard which is a single strand of fiber on the Mono Spin Jig and multiple smaller strands of fiber on the Guard Spin Jig. So you can pick your preference on guards but both work well to keep the jigs snag free coupled with their small size and light weight.
The hooks in these jigs are fine wire and sharp. They are stronger than they appear so they can handle a lot of pressure before flexing but the light wire penetrates well even on light lines like 4 to 8-pound monofilament. You can pretty much reel set with these jigs, so you don’t run as much risk breaking off on the hookset with light line thanks to the sharpness and wire diameter of the hook.
The Mono Spin comes in 1/16 and 3/32 ounce weights so these are very tiny jigs, even smaller than what most guys would call finesse jigs. The Guard Spin comes in 1/8 and 5/32 ounce so slightly closer to what most anglers consider finesse jigs. These are tungsten heads so they are a lot smaller than most lead jigs given their smaller weight. But their denseness makes them very sensitive. But these are Micro jigs. Meant to be fished with small plastics on light line. But that doesn’t mean you are chasing little fish. These are ultra finesse presentations that can be fished where big, smart, pressured fish live.
GOOD KEEPER ON KEITECH MONO SPIN JIG
The keeper on the Mono Spin and Guard Spin jig is a single angled wire along the shank of the hook that will hold a small plastic in place well. I usually thread my plastic on and then press it down around the keeper so it will sort of “lock” on to the keeper. That keeps the trailer from being pulled down too much. But it also keeps the profile streamlined so as not to tear up your plastics too much when threading on.
THE PERFECT PROFILE ON KEITECH SPIN JIGS
When you match the jigs with a small 2 to 3-inch plastic, you have the most realistic jig profile you can make. Most freshwater fish are feeding on crawfish that are 2-3 inches in length. Go flip over rocks on lakes with lots of crawfish and you are going to encounter hundreds of these small crawfish around. So you are getting an ultra realistic look and acting jig with the Keitech Mono Spin and Guard Spin Jigs. The light weight makes them fall more like a real crawfish in the water. They move more lively thanks to the breathing skirt and small weight.
KEITECH SPIN JIGS CATCH GIANTS OF ALL SPECIES
The most important thing I will say about these jigs is they are flat fish catchers. And it doesn’t matter the fish. I’ve caught, bass, both smallmouth and largemouth here on Kentucky Lake and spotted bass on lakes like Table Rock. I’ve caught giant red ear and bluegill on these jigs, like my 4 biggest bluegills have come on these jigs as well as my two biggest shellcrackers. I’ve caught trout on these jigs. I’ve caught crappie, drum, sauger, and more on these jigs. They just catch whatever is nearby because they are so lifelike in the water on the right gear.
FLIPPING WITH MICRO JIGS
I’ve really enjoyed testing my mettle flipping these jigs in cover. It’s not for the faint of heart and I’ve had my heart broken a time or two. But I like that challenge. I actually discovered their power while flipping. I was flipping conventional tackle and after hitting a bunch of good shallow cover in the spring, I was stumped as to why I couldn’t get bites. So I pulled out a BFS rods with 8-pound mono on it and a Keitech Guard Spin jig. The next flooded piece of brush, I pitched the jig on the edge and when I picked up it was swimming off. I hit that fish and caught it and it was a 5 1/4 pounder.
Thinking it might have been a fluke, I released it and made my way to the next brushpile. I pitched deeper into the brush this time and when I picked up it was all pressure so I set and had a real tussle on my hands. I was watching the fish boil and flash in the cover but I couldn’t get it free. I was being really ginger with 8-pound mono and just was very calm and patient. I was able to get the fish up to the top of the cover and hold him there and then went fishing with my hand. I was able to land the 4 1/2 pounder and knew I was on to something. Since then I almost always have one on a BFS jig rod on my deck now. I’ve since caught some big smallmouth this spring on these jigs and I really think that slow light fall is why I get so many bites on them watching them on stumps on livescope.
ONLY COLORS YOU NEED
The Mono Spin Jig comes in 4 colors as does the Guard Spin Jig. Both come in Green Pumpkin, Dark Green Pumpkin (which is more like a brown to me) and Brown and Purple. The Mono Spin also comes in Bluegill which is a cross between bluegill and shad to me. And the Guard Spin comes in the tried and true black and blue. I have since started tying some of my own skirts on to these jigs as well as the Keitech Mono Guard Tungsten Jigheads.
To me though, and most good jig fishermen will agree, as long as you have a brown, black and blue and green pumpkin jig option, you are good to go jig fishing. You can add accent with your trailers or just adding a couple strands of flash color to the skirts yourself.
The Keitech Mono Spin Jig and the Keitech Guard Spin Jig are some of the best micro jigs you can find on the market, that flat out catch fish. I fish these jigs all the time, everywhere I go and have a ball experimenting with stick situations and light gear to try to pluck off big fish that other anglers aren’t able to get to bite.
You can find all of these jigs at FishUSA.com.
