jigging sea bass

[Uncle Nicky]

I always fished with clams/squid, because that is what I was taught.

I fished on a small PB yesterday, all but a couple of us were jigging. Those jigging outfished us for sure, boat was drifting all day, it only got difficult once the wind picked up. Most were putting a small piece of squid or clam on the jig. Time to up the game for me I think and get a handle on jigging.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Uncle Nicky

I always fished with clams/squid, because that is what I was taught.

I fished on a small PB yesterday, all but a couple of us were jigging. Those jigging outfished us for sure, boat was drifting all day, it only got difficult once the wind picked up. Most were putting a small piece of squid or clam on the jig. Time to up the game for me I think and get a handle on jigging.

Jigs with Squid/Clams??..Thats bait fishing...
The jig was just a sinker in that case, if they were baiting the hooks.. The reason those guys were outfishing you was most likely because the schools of sea bass were suspended and not relating to bottom structure.. It happens a LOT.. They suspend and relate to moving shoals of baitfish, typically sand eels in our area, and are often only 20 feet below the boat even in say 60 FOW...In that type of scenario, bottom bouncing is often not the most productive option. The guys with jigs on were probably in the zone where the most fish were located,, OFF the sea floor.... bob

[Chrisper4694]

lures almost always out fish plain bait rigs in most situations that i've seen, fresh and salt.... especially if you're tipping your jig with bait or using a teaser with plain bait (which you should usually anyway imo).

I tie a dropper loop above my jig for seabass and if they aren't aggressive on the jig i'll just let it sit on the bottom and basically turn it into a bait rig for a few seconds. see what they prefer any given day... this way the jig rig can double as a bait rig if needed. you can't attract fish in with a bait rig like that

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Jigs with Squid/Clams??..Thats bait fishing...
The jig was just a sinker in that case, if they were baiting the hooks.. The reason those guys were outfishing you was most likely because the schools of sea bass were suspended and not relating to bottom structure.. It happens a LOT.. They suspend and relate to moving shoals of baitfish, typically sand eels in our area, and are often only 20 feet below the boat even in say 60 FOW...In that type of scenario, bottom bouncing is often not the most productive option. The guys with jigs on were probably in the zone where the most fish were located,, OFF the sea floor.... bob

well the point is, you can use a jig rig as a bait rig if the fish are not aggressive by just holding it or pausing it...you can't use a bait rig as a jig rig and attract fish the same way.

If the goal is to catch as many keepers and big fish as possible, i'm only going with a straight bait rig if the current won't allow me to feel bottom with my jigs, but that's never as much fun either haha

[Uncle Nicky]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Jigs with Squid/Clams??..Thats bait fishing...
The jig was just a sinker in that case, if they were baiting the hooks.. The reason those guys were outfishing you was most likely because the schools of sea bass were suspended and not relating to bottom structure.. It happens a LOT.. They suspend and relate to moving shoals of baitfish, typically sand eels in our area, and are often only 20 feet below the boat even in say 60 FOW...In that type of scenario, bottom bouncing is often not the most productive option. The guys with jigs on were probably in the zone where the most fish were located,, OFF the sea floor.... bob

Maybe, I usually try fishing a few or even numerous feet off the bottom when things are slow to see if that makes a difference...wasn't helping yesterday. I guess I'm more interested in how to hook bigger and more fish than the semantics of the whole thing.

[Capt. Lou]

It’s not always a typical jig movement that is successful , sometimes long sweeps n drops work other times squidding is king ! Other time casting out and letting it sink slowly they take on drop !
Experiment method wise one style generally will work !

[bunker dunker]

every year is different.when we have sand eels,like this year and last.the jigs will out fish bait.i have been out 12 times since the sea bass season opened and every time the jigs out fished the bait.

[Harpoon]

Yesterday on the mohawk, the guys jigging very small sand eel teasers (zman plastic black/grey) on a 2 hook limited well before the clammers. I had a larger sand eel teaser that wasn't getting that much love....changed it up and game on keepers immediately on a very slow (almost falling asleep) retrieve along the bottom. If the retrieve was too fast they didn't seem to whack it. I believe its up to the angler to look around and pay attention to whats going on and adjust if something is working better than what they are doing....specially on a head boat.


The clammers still put a lot of meat on deck though.

[tropics]

We used buck tails on Sat. didn't keep anything under 18"
Limited the boat
Richie

[Ismellfishy]

If the fish are feeding on sand eels then hands down there is no need to even think about bait. Last year was out on a trip after a few prior great trips jigging, we stopped I dropped down the jigs a d got NOTHING while others were catching one after another on bait, so I made the switch. Shortly thereafter we moved. Got to next drop, send down my bait and reel up a fish that pukes up sand eels. Immediately dropped down jig and GAME ON. earlier this year had a good trip on the OE but all fish were on bait, not a touch on a jig. Last stop my buddy reels one up and it throws up sandeels, drops down jig and GAME ON. if they're not feeding on sandeels, might as well drop down bare hooks. This past Saturday the jigs were non stop on fire, so good a teaser would get torn up and just drop down with a bare hook and even that caught fish.