jigging sea bass

[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.

[Solemate]

Like most fisheries it is dependant on what they are feeding on that day. Last week we only jigged no bait all day and had a boat limit. Near the end of the day I stopped using the jig and went with a high low rig with red gulp and caught just as many with that as I was catching in the jug. Go figure

[chuckieb]

A significant upside of jigging is not having to mess with clams.

[bunker dunker]

i hate the clum!!!!!!

[AndyS]

Sea bass will eat anything, just like largemouth bass. Love watching guys getting snagged on the bottom with jigs.

[kurtisb]

I watch the fish finder. If the fish are tight to the bottom, bait works best. If the fish are off the bottom, jigs work best. IMHO