The jig should dance, do the shimmy, glide, twitch, thump bounce and the twist and shout to attract walleye. The jig is the most used lure from any tackle box. Yes, you can simply tie a jig on and throw it over the edge of the boat and you probably will catch fish.  Good job, you caught some, now if you only put that jig to it’s best use you can catch more and bigger fish.  In order to use the jig learn to make the jig dance. If done right and you are concentrating and have the touch you can expect to feel anything from a solid tug, sharp tap to the faintest of line movement. Active walleye will inhale the jig non agressive and non feeding walleye may just mouth the jig and quickly spit it back out. Walleye are notorius for laying just behind your jig and if it turns or twitches just a little they will hit it, mouth it, perhaps more than once giving you a second chance to hook one, or ignore it. Put on your Glades Explorer Hat, Bucket Hat, or Omni-Shade Cachalot Hat, and lets learn to dance.

How To Do The 5 Step Jig Dance:
Step 1: Cast (Down or Out)
Vertical fishing a jig or jigging spoon does not require a cast or throw of the hook. You simply place the rod tip and lure over the side of the boat, open the bail or press the thumb and let the line spool out and your lure sink to the bottom.  TIP: let the lure fall a few feet and stop descent put a little tighten in the line, feel if any weight, then let lure fall some more, repeating the stop until lure hits bottom. Your line will go completely slack and no more will come off your reel. Walleye will take the hook as it falls so if you never stop the hook as it goes down how do you know if you did or did not have a bite already.  Simply reel line in until lure is 2 – 6 inches off bottom and when you drop the rod tip towards the water surface, the lure will rest on bottom. 

Horizontal fishing a jig does require casting or throwing your hook away from you.  Casting is used when you want to cover more water to find fish or to get your lure to a place into or past where the fish are and retrieve your lure through the school of fish.  This can be done by anchoring upwind from where you want to fish and letting the boat float back until it reaches the end of the anchor rope or letting the boat drift and you either fish vertical or cast as the boat floats over the underwater structure. Still when casting again don’t just let the lure sink without any control, you will miss fish strikes.  When you do cast, be safety aware careful of other people in the boat. NEVER make big sweeping casts where the lure swings throught the boat area. Hooks are sharp and hurt when you are caught on one.

Step 2: The Shimmy
You casted and started the dance, controlled the descent, now you need a few moves to attract the prey.  The first is the shimmy, using your rod tip, give 4 or 5 quick little 1 - 2 inch jerks of the line.  This will cause the curly tail or the bristles to move or shimmy, a subtle little move that fools fish into thinking the lure is moving it’s tail or fins and is about to dart away.  Bait fish and smaller fish will either remain motionless, hide or dart away so they do not become lunch, you are imitating this behavior.   

Step 3: The Sweep 
As you jig the lure or retreive your lure you need to move it throught the water. Same as when your dancing you need to glide to areas on the floor and keep moving, so does your lure.Think of the bottom of the lake as the dance floor when casting and the water between you and bottom as the floor when vertical jigging.  If vertical lift the rod two or three feet and let the lure flutter back down, check for weight then let it sit do the shimmy a few times then try another sweep.  Horizontal with the lure on bottom sweep rod forward a foot or two move rod tip back towards hook and wind in line as moving rod, give a shimmy and sweep again. If at any time you feel any resistance set the hook with a quick flick of the wrist, you just caught a walleye. 

Step 4: The Twitch
Almost the same as the shimmy except you are moving the lure 4 – 6 inches at a time. This is for two things to make the lure look like a bait fish that is darting away or a wounded baitfish.  As your doing the sweep you can do the twitch about 6 times then wind in line the same by keeping tension on line as you swing rod back towards lure. Make sure to do a shimmy or short twitch to check for resistance before doing sweep or twitch again.

Step 5: The Thump
You want to do the shout to the twist a few times during the retrieve.  This makes your lure look like a dying baitfish or a baitfish feeding on something on the bottom, plankten, insect or smaller fish.  When vertical jigging simply lift rod tip 4 inches from bottom and drop the rod tip quickly so the lure thumps off the bottom. Raise 4 – 6 inches and drop thump off the bottom. When horizontal you want to move rod tip more than a shimmy but less then the twitch. It is two or three, 2 – 4 inch quick jerks of the rod tip to move the lure about the same distance in quick jumps.

So lets do the dance. Everyone grab your partner and cast the dosey doe. Bow to your partner with a shimmy shake. Now lets move across the floor with a sweep and a twitch or two. Stand in place and thump the floor throw in a shimmy then change your partner with another sweep and a twitch. Repeat the process with the bow.  When you get directly below the boat DO NOT reel your line in quickly do a shimmy a twitch and a thump.  The walleye may have followed your lure all the way but hasn’t made up it’s mind to bite or not give the fish a second or two.   

Tips:
Do not just let the lure fall control the drop
Walleye bite on the fall or stop, not upward or forward
Reel in line as you move the rod back towards the lure
Concentrate on small line movements and slight line tightens
Set the hook if you feel anything different weight, tug or tick
If in doubt set the hook with a flick of the wrist, quicker jerk 

Other Articles:
What are Stinger Hooks
What are Jigs
Walleye Size Chart
Know the Walleye
Know the Sauger
How To Fillet Walleye
Putting On The Ritz Recipe

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