Go Jig Fishing – No Bait Required!

Traditionally, jig fishing (or jigging), is a method used when fishing from an anchored or drifting boat. As a vertical, up-and-down, style of angling it will catch fish wherever they are in the water plane from just off the bottom to midwater and above.

Once the fish have been found, then you can count off the seconds on the drop, returning your lure to the same depth each time. Broken ground, reefs and wrecks often hold a resident fish population - and jig fishing is one way to get at them.

But how do you know where to look for these places?

OK then, take a quick look, but don't forget to return here.

Ah good, you're back, so getting on with jig fishing ...

Deep Water Jigging

So the eletronic fishfinder tells you you’ve found a deep water wreck, and you can see it’s loaded with fish, and jig fishing is your chosen technique. How to get at them?

Either drifting over it or anchored above it, you could use a pirk. A heavy, chrome plated jig like a Dexter Wedge on the right would be fine. These can be fished alone, or used at the end of a multi-lured rig.

If you choose the latter option, try the pirk in conjunction with a couple of plastic muppets (or shads) on short snoods above the pirk.

Plastic muppets are one-piece moulded soft-plastic lures designed to imitate squid, while shads look like a small fish.

Rigging them is a straightforward affair, but there are specific, individual methods for both plastic muppets and shads.

As an alternative to the pirk - providing the speed of the drift allowed it - a relatively slow-sinking swimbait could be used. A Bass Assassin would be a good choice.

When jig fishing close to the seabed, the technique is to lower the jig until you feel it touch bottom, then take a couple of quick turns on the reel to avoid snagging.

Sweep the rod upwards, then lower it allowing the lure to flutter back down again. Repeat the process until you hook a fish or your arms drop off. But if it's a wreck you’re over, you can expect to get caught up now and again whatever you do. I'd imagine jig lure manufacturers and tackle dealers love wreck fishermen.

Flying Collar Rig

When fishing on the drift, many anglers favour a flying-collar rig used with either an artificial sandeel, a shad, leadhead or jelly worm.

With a weight rather than a pirk at the lowest point there is much less chance of snagging on the seabed or the wreck. The technique is different too. Lower the weight until you feel it touch, then reel up slowly about twenty turns or so.

No takers? Then stop, drop it down again and repeat the process. When you get a take, don’t strike, just carry on winding.

The fish, if it had just grabbed the tail of the lure, will take another gulp – and you’ve got him!

Open water, deep drop jig fishing

Perhaps you’re on your way to your fishing grounds, the sea bed below you is featureless sand or mud, and you’re too far off soundings for it to matter what it is anyway. If you’re lucky, a glance at the fishfinder will reveal that you're over a shoal of fish, but a long way down.

Alternatively, there’s no such giveaway sign – it just feels ‘fishy’ and you fancy your chances. Without any clue as to where the fish might be, you’ll need to experiment.

A high-speed, deep-drop jig - such as an Abyss or Benthos Speed-Jig by Williamson Lures would be ideal. Lower the jig to a good depth and commence jig fishing, but wind in a few turns every so often, working the whole water column until you find the depth at which the fish are feeding.

An alternative approach is to drop the lures down deep, then quickly wind in the rig back up to the surface, rather like vertical spinning. This doesn’t give the fish any time to inspect the lures, and he just may throw caution to the wind and go for it before his chance is lost.

Jig Fishing for Baitfish

If it’s small fish like mackerel, sprats or baitfish you’re after, you’ll need to scale down the pirk rig with a more appropriately sized set of lures.

Replace the pirk with a small metal jig, as a large pirk will scare off the very fish that you’re trying to catch. A small Yo-Zuri ‘Hydro Metal’ or ‘Lil Jack’ jig is ideal for this.

Tie it to the end of a string of small feather lures, or hokkai lures (or similar by Fladen or Power Storm), which resemble tiny fish or shrimp. The very smallest of these are said to catch sandeels (aka launce), which when freelined live on light tackle are pretty much irresistible to seabass.

Casting a jig

We’ve so far looked at using jigs fished vertically from a boat, but specialised jig fishing lures like bucktails can be used in the up-and-down fashion, and also cast from the shore and twitched along the bottom.

This method is a kind of halfway house between spinning and fly-fishing. A light casting rod is used together with a fixed spool reel, and the lure fished in a twitching sing-and-draw style.

American anglers will be very familiar with the original bucktail jigs, made with hair from the tail of a buck (male deer) – and traditional bucktail lures still have many devotees. Modern versions use synthetic fibres and soft plastic ‘jellyworm’ tails.

Jigolling?

One of my favourite methods of lure fishing with bucktails (and swimbaits) is to fish them on the drift from Alacazam’s inflatable dinghy. On a calm-ish day, I cast the lure upwind allowing it to be dragged along the seabed as the dinghy drifts downwind, occasionally raising and lowering the rod with a twitching action.

Part jig fishing, part trolling – ‘jigolling’ maybe? The hook is built into the top of these types of lure, reducing the tendency to catch in weed.

However, if you do keep getting weeded-up or snagging the bottom, try connecting a 3-way swivel about 1.5m ahead of the lure and suspending a lead weight on a weaker line (a rotten bottom) about 600mm below the swivel.

The weight should be no heavier than required to keep just in touch with the seabed. If there’s sufficient wind or current to move you slowly along, that’s perfect as you will be able to hold the rod. Otherwise, leave the rod in the rod holder and give pull on the oars every so often.

Another successful way of fishing from the dinghy in clear shallow water is to use Tubeflies. So-called as the body of the fly is tied around a plastic tube, which is free to slide on the line. They're intended to resemble small fish, not flies of course - perhaps they should be called tubefry. I fish them on very light tackle, using a couple of size AAA split-shot to provide weight about 10 feet (3m) ahead of tubefly. It's a simple affair to make some of these yourself - and they work.

Remember that sharp gaffs and inflatable dinghies are not natural allies, so don’t forget the landing net! An evening or early morning session spent so in a tranquil Caribbean anchorage is paradise itself, and has brought many tasty fish to Alacazam’s galley.

Jig Fishing for Cephalopods

So what the heck’s a cephalopod? Relax, it’s just a fancy name for that group of strange creatures like squid, cuttlefish and octopus, or as they’re called in most Latin languages – calamari, sepia and pulpo.

These characters all share at least two attributes – tentacles and ink, both of which they’ll use to the disadvantage of those who catch them. When caught, they’re best left in a keepnet over the side for a while where they can discharge their tanks at will. Even so a well-aimed jet will get you sooner or later, so leave the nice white sweater your auntie gave you for your birthday at home.

Squid eat small fish and shrimp, and hunt for these around seaweed and kelp mainly during the hours of darkness. Somewhat perversely, they prefer some light amongst their darkness. But they seem to be completely put off feeding if there’s anything more than a gentle breeze ruffling the surface. So choose a calm night for squid jigging, find a weedy bottom close to a well-lit jetty and you’re likely to be squids in.

Squid jigs are almost exclusively imitation shrimps and are produced in a variety of colours. I’ve had best success with a pink squid lure, which may lead you to conclude that squid prefer their shrimp cooked. Luminous squid jigs are worth a try too.

Some have weighted 'keels' which allows them to sink slowly when used with a casting outfit. Others are unweighted and are best used with the combined cuttlefish/octopus rig as shown below

Fish the jig close to the weedy bottom and giving it an occasional twitch of the rod tip as you slowly retrieve it. Don’t expect a reel-screaming run and an arm-wrenching fight. A hooked squid feels like a marginally energetic paper bag. Treat it like one, and continue to reel in gently or it’ll fall off. Don’t try to lift it out of the water, expecting it to hang on gamely to the jig - it won't. Sink your landing net under the surface and draw your squid into it before lifting inboard.

Squid are easy to prepare and cook and are quite delicious. They also make fine bait, either whole for larger fish or cut in strips for smaller ones.

Jig fishing for cuttlefish and octopus can be a combined affair, as octopi skulk around on the seabed and cuttlefish conveniently operate a few inches above. The lures are quite different though. Octopus lures are a weighted grapnel-like affair. Cuttlefish lures are the non-keeled versions of squid lures which neither sink nor float. They have neutral buoyancy (or the same specific gravity as seawater).

Rig the octopus lure at the end of your line and your cuttlefish lure about 18 inches (500mm) above on a short snood.

If you wish to catch cuttlefish but not octopus, replace the octopus lure with a pear lead.

Unlike squid, cuttlefish and octopus feed in broad daylight. They’re easy to catch and delicious to eat.