A few years ago, I heard about micro jigs for bass. I thought there could be good potential but did not know where to start. Enter Mike Iaconelli. He and I have been friends for a long time and we talk a lot about fishing and new techniques. He is as big of a jig nut as any angler I have ever met. He was all in on the micro jig as soon as he saw it. In the summer of 2017, Mike came to me and said we need to do the micro jig for our next project in the Missile Jigs line.
Ike’s Micro Jig was born. He had researched and fished a number of niche micro jigs out there. Most of them were from Japan. Some had hooks that were not good. Some micro jigs had weed guards and some did not. He fished most of them. I even got in the testing and picked up a few micro jigs. I recognized real fast that the micro jigs out there had flaws. Mike and I were on the same page as to what we needed to design into the Ike’s Micro Jig.
We started out with a great hook. We are using a Gamakatsu 604 jig hook in a #1 size. That hook is strong, thin wire, and is very, very sharp. The 90-degree hook allows for the hook to kick out and bite with minimal pressure on light line. The head was also key in order to stay balanced. We did not want a stand-up head so we have it weight forward but used the lead along the shank to hold the skirt and for the bait keeper. We wanted the jig to scoot along the bottom when dragged to mimic a craw fish and that is exactly what it does.
The weed guard situation for Ike’s Micro Jig is one that we contemplated. About 50% of the micro jigs in Japan do not have weed guards and about 50% of them did have a weed guard. We knew that we needed to have the ability to have one but you really could not remove it once it was installed. We decided to put the weed guard hole in the jig head and just include them in the package. With only a drop of super glue on the base of the weed guard, you can install the micro jig weed guard in seconds. Customers have the best of both worlds- options!
Once you get to fishing the Ike’s Micro Jig, you will see why we designed it the way we did. It comes in 3 sizes and each one will dictate the speed of fall and how deep you can keep bottom contact. The sizes are 1/16 ounce, 1/8 ounce, and 3/16 ounce. The 1/16 is what you want for the less that 5’ depths and that slow fall. Most of the time, I do not use a weed guard with the 1/16 ounce micro jig. The 1/8 is the best all around size. You can keep bottom contact down to about 8-10’ and it has a moderate fall. It will snag a little more than the 1/16 but that is because it stays on the bottom more. I let the amount of cover dictate whether I install the weed guard, use half of it, or leave it out. The 3/16 is the better deep water option. I use a weed guard almost exclusively with this size. It keeps great bottom contact. The 3/16 micro jig is my choice for the 8-20’ depths.
The Ike’s Micro Jig was designed to be fished on a spinning rod with light line. Let’s get that straight. I use an 8 pound fluorocarbon leader with 12 braid on the main line with a 7-7’3” spinning rod. I actually designed a rod for Cashion that we call the Micro Jig Rod that I think is the perfect action for using a micro jig. You may lighten your line up to 7 or even 6 pound test, especially with the 1/16 ounce jig in clear, shallow water. I think it would be perfectly fine to bump up to a 10 pound leader for a micro jig but you lose a little feel when you upsize your line. Just get comfortable with knowing what that micro jig is doing and you should be fine with anywhere up to 10 pound line with it.
Micro jigs do not mean micro fish. The smaller jig profile is a great option for lots of situations because craw fish in many places are small. The small craw fish do not have big pinchers and can be preferred by all bass since they have little defense against a gulp of a hungry bass. The micro jig is a prefect imitation for those small craw fish. We all know smallmouth bass can prefer smaller lures at times and they gorge on craw fish so the micro jig is an easy connection to see. The spotted bass have those similar small mouth and prefer clear water so compact baits can be the ticket there. Now, if you didn’t know, largemouth have an odd fetish with these compact micro jigs. Many close friends and I have caught some surprising quality bucket mouths on these jigs in a short period of time. During and right after the spawn, the micro jigs can certainly catch some really big largemouth. I know of a number of 5 and 6 pounders that have been caught on the micro jig already.
The Ike’s Micro Jig is not the only micro jig out there but it is one of the first easily available to all bass anglers in the United States. We believe that we built a durable, snag resistant, micro jig that has a superior hook, perfect size skirt, and optional weed guard. As this technique of micro jig fishing gets more and more popular, we know that the Missile Jigs Ike’s Micro Jig will be in the forefront of anglers looking for the standard to which all will be compared.