Doug Pavick caught and released this Allegheny River muskie last winter.

Early winter is a time when muskies stack up in the slow- water pools in streams and rivers. Various jigging tactics are among the most effective ways of catching these fish.

Here are three of the best:

Swimming jigs

The past few years have witnessed the creation of medium to heavyweight skirted jigs designed for muskie fishing. I've found them to have a definite place in winter river muskie fishing.

Jigs such as these are available from a half-ounce to 1Z\x ounces. Basically, they resemble a flippin' jig used for bass.

Besides the rubber skirt, a plastic dressing of either a twister-tail or boot-tail grub is added to the bait. Dressings run from 5 to 6 inches in length.

Not every catchable muskie is going to be in shallow water. I like to use a swimming jig when covering depths from 5 to 15 feet or so, working from shallow to deep (when fishing from a boat).

Cast up to the shallow side of the pool and begin swimming the jig back. Bottom contact isn't necessary or even preferred most of the time. A stop-n-go retrieve allows the bait to dip and rise on the way in.

On occasion, allow the lure to settle on the bottom, then drag it a ways. Swimming jigs fall into that can't-work-them- wrong category, so you can feel confident experimenting with various retrieves.

Bucktail jigs

Few jigs are as versatile as bucktail jigs. They work in most freshwater situations for most species of fish.

Bucktail jigs in the quarter- to half-ounce range, when coupled with the same heavy spinning equipment and leader previously mentioned, can be used for jigging along the bottom in a horizontal fashion.

Cast the bucktail up in a creek mouth and jig/drag it back to shore or the boat. One can do the same when working the perimeter of slow-current wintering pools, especially those that bottom out at 10 to 12 feet of water. In depths greater than that, it becomes more difficult to work the bottom with a jig.

For boat anglers, a bucktail also can be worked vertically. Lower the bait to the bottom, crank in just enough line to lift the bait a few inches above the bottom and begin a cadence of lift-drop that allows the bucktail to "breathe" as it rises and falls. This method is good for working the deeper zones of a hole.

Blade baits

Most anglers, especially the ones who brave the winter conditions, know the effectiveness of blade baits on gamefish like walleyes and bass. Blades also work on muskies, particularly those lurking in the depths of a hole.

Like the vertical jigging of bucktails, blade baits are fished vertically in much the same manner. It takes a sharp upward snap of the rod to lift a blade bait, though, due to the natural resistance the shape of the bait delivers. Keep in touch with the lowering of the bait for signs of a strike and to prevent the lure from fouling the line.

Of the mainstream blade baits available, choose the heavier ones, as in three-quarters of an ounce or more, for targeting muskies. The Fuzzy Duzzit is the only blade bait I know of that's specially designed for muskie fishing and is made in two larger sizes.

Blade baits can put a muskie in the boat on days when the fish aren't active enough to respond to other jigging options.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.