Ice anglers look for every advantage they can get, but at the end of the day, what they’re really fishing for is fun.
Tip-ups have proven themselves effective for a very long time, but they’re not great for catch-and-release fishing, nor are they much help when you get a big fish on your line.
Enter the JawJacker, a simple device that uses your ice rod to create a perfect hookset, allowing you to fight your fish with a rod and reel.
If that sounds like a great idea to you, keep reading!
We’ll cover everything you need to know about JawJacker fishing, including some of the best tips to ensure your success.
Table of Contents (clickable)
Related: Best Ice Fishing Tip Ups
What is a JawJacker?
A JawJacker is a simple device that holds your rod butt securely while bending the tip. When a fish takes your bait, the jawjacker releases the tip, resulting in a shark hookset.
Essentially a rod-centric version of the tip-up, it’s a new ice fishing technique that’s picking up steam quickly. Icemen like it because it allows them to fight their fish with a reel rather than by hand, and that’s both more fun and a lot more effective with larger species like pike.
JawJackers have run afoul of legal restrictions in some states, so always be sure to check with your local department of natural resources to make sure they’re legal where you plan to fish.
It’s also important to note that a deployed JawJacker counts as a rod, and many states have restrictions on the number that can be fished simultaneously.
Three Important JawJacker Tips
Keep your JawJacker dry and cold
A wet JawJacker is going to freeze, and once the mechanism gets enough ice on it, it’ll stop working.
But that’s pretty easy to avoid.
The first thing you need to do to avoid getting your JawJacker wet is to move it out of the way once a fish in on your line.
Go ahead and slide that JawJacker well away from the hole; you don’t want a splashing, fighting fish to come up through the ice and wet its mechanism.
The second thing to look out for is more insidious. If your JawJacker rides in the interior of your vehicle, or if it’s been in an ice sled in a heated garage, it’ll be much warmer than the air temp.
As snow falls on it, it’ll melt, refreezing as your JawJacker cools.
The solution is to keep your JawJacker cold or remove all the ice build-up before you start using it.
Don’t set your JawJacker too tight
Remember, you control the pressure required to trigger the JawJacker, so don’t really clamp the mechanism down!
You want to adjust that pressure so that the minnow doesn’t trigger it by swimming, but so that even a light strike results in a release.
Cushion your hooksets
The only real complaint I’ve heard from other icemen is that JawJackers can rip free from the mouths of fish like crappie and perch.
There are easy ways to prevent this.
With crappie, be sure to use the right hook. A thin-wire Aberdeen in #1, #2, or even #4 will help prevent tear-outs on aptly-named papermouths.
The other things to look out for are using a good monofilament that provides some stretch to cushion your hookset, switching to a fiberglass rod for a little less oomph on the set, and turning your drag down a bit to provide some extra shock absorption.
These three adjustments can really reduce the shock of the hookset, keeping your hook where it needs to be.
Rethink how you rig minnows
Proper rigging techniques for minnows will go a long way to improving your hook up ratio, no question about it.
Keep in mind that because of the spiny fins on minnows, predators overwhelmingly try to take them head first, folding their spines down as they swallow them.
That should tell you a lot about where to place a hook for maximum effectiveness.
Let’s review the best ways to rig minnows, exploring their pros and cons:
Tail hooking – In this rigging technique, you run your hook through the meat forward of the tail, about ¼ inch from the fins. In one sense, this is a great way to rig a minnow, as it keeps it alive and swimming for quite a while.
The bad news is that it places the hook rearward, and unless a fish totally engulfs your minnow, it’ll trigger the JawJacker too soon.
I’d avoid tail hooking unless you’re fishing with a rod in your hand.
Dorsal hooking – Here, you pass your hook through the meat high on the minnow’s back, just below its dorsal fin. Proper hook placement means that its organs are spared, and the minnow should remain alive for a long while.
Hook placement is pretty good for triggering a JawJacker, especially on smaller minnows. But with the big boys, unless a walleye or pike really hits the minnow for all it’s worth, you may miss the hookset.
Lip hooking – If you pass your hook under the minnow’s chin and through both lips, you’re lip hooking. While the minnow will swim like mad at first, it’ll have a hard time breathing as you’ve nailed its mouth shut, stopping it from opening to allow oxygenated water to pass over its gills.
That will shorten the minnow’s life appreciably.
But when a fish does hit it, the hookup percentage is very, very high because the hook is placed just right.
Snout hooking – Essentially a modified lip hook, you pass your hook down through the front of the head, forward of the eyes and brain, and out through its mouth.
If you spare the organs by doing this properly, the minnow can swim and breathe normally, and the hook is placed perfectly to catch fish.
This is probably the best way to hook a minnow for JawJacker fishing.
Final Thoughts
JawJacker fishing is really catching on, and it’s easy to see why. Nothing’s more fun than fighting a fish with a rod in your hand, and for catch-and-release fishing, the Jawjacker just can’t be beat.
We hope you’ve learned something today from this article, and as always, we’re here to answer any questions you might have.
Please leave a comment below, and we’ll be in touch!
Source: usangler.com