Gerry Zagorski
10-12-2023, 09:49 AM
It was a good day to be a Sebass yesterday since they avoided our hooks. Not however a good day to be a Blackfish :D
My boat neighbor Bill on the Destiny II finally got his boat back up and running. Every time he thought it was fixed we'd attempt to head out and got turned back because of the one engine giving him fits. Frikin boats! Well yesterday all the stars finally aligned and he's back up and running again!
Headed own the beach in search of Seabass fishing hi low rigs with crabs since that seemed to be working good for us these past few weeks. Not a touch on the hi lows so after a half hour I decided to throw a jig. First jig down and WHAM, I get crushed by a Blackfish instantly! After about a half hour of non stop Blackfish on my part, Bill and Rich came over to the dark side too and here is where it gets interesting...
I've always said that with jig fishing a lot of times it's the arrow not the Indian and our experiment this day would prove it out.
When they first decided to switch over to the jigs, they were using the same rods they normally use for Fluking, light rods with slow action whippy tips. I continued to bail the fish and both of them were still struggling.
OK lets do a little experiment so I gave my pole to Bill and wham, he starts bailing fish... I set Rich up with my other rod and he's now in on the action too. I try to use Bill and Rich's pole and I'm not catching squat. So it's not the Indian, it's the arrow.
We talked about it a lot on here and it proves the point that Blackfish jigging requires a specific set up. It's definitely not like other types of fishing where you can get away with whatever... Whatever does not work here.
A good jigging set up needs to be light in weight both the reel and the rod. If you're fishing something heavy, your're simply not going to feel the slight ticks and bites. Yes you might get lucky once and a while where a suicidal fish picks up your jig and runs with it but bites like that are far a few between..They are usually a lot more subtle and feel more like ticks instead of tugs. This is especially true on those days the fish don't seem to want to commit to the bait.
For the same reason, you need to be using braided line and the rod needs to be some sort of composite with good sensitivity. The braid transfers any slight ticks up the line and to the rod where you can now feel it. Now that you can feel the bite, you have to have a fast tip in order to set the hook quickly, sink the hook into the fish and get him up out of the rocks.
We actually got tired of catching Blackfish so we moved to another spot to see if we could muster up some Seabass. No such luck. Every place we stopped we'd immediately get covered up by those pesky Blackfish..
Been quite a few years since I've seen that sort of crazy Blackfish bite. I was beginning to think those days were gone and you can bet when the season opens up later next month they will be :cool:
My boat neighbor Bill on the Destiny II finally got his boat back up and running. Every time he thought it was fixed we'd attempt to head out and got turned back because of the one engine giving him fits. Frikin boats! Well yesterday all the stars finally aligned and he's back up and running again!
Headed own the beach in search of Seabass fishing hi low rigs with crabs since that seemed to be working good for us these past few weeks. Not a touch on the hi lows so after a half hour I decided to throw a jig. First jig down and WHAM, I get crushed by a Blackfish instantly! After about a half hour of non stop Blackfish on my part, Bill and Rich came over to the dark side too and here is where it gets interesting...
I've always said that with jig fishing a lot of times it's the arrow not the Indian and our experiment this day would prove it out.
When they first decided to switch over to the jigs, they were using the same rods they normally use for Fluking, light rods with slow action whippy tips. I continued to bail the fish and both of them were still struggling.
OK lets do a little experiment so I gave my pole to Bill and wham, he starts bailing fish... I set Rich up with my other rod and he's now in on the action too. I try to use Bill and Rich's pole and I'm not catching squat. So it's not the Indian, it's the arrow.
We talked about it a lot on here and it proves the point that Blackfish jigging requires a specific set up. It's definitely not like other types of fishing where you can get away with whatever... Whatever does not work here.
A good jigging set up needs to be light in weight both the reel and the rod. If you're fishing something heavy, your're simply not going to feel the slight ticks and bites. Yes you might get lucky once and a while where a suicidal fish picks up your jig and runs with it but bites like that are far a few between..They are usually a lot more subtle and feel more like ticks instead of tugs. This is especially true on those days the fish don't seem to want to commit to the bait.
For the same reason, you need to be using braided line and the rod needs to be some sort of composite with good sensitivity. The braid transfers any slight ticks up the line and to the rod where you can now feel it. Now that you can feel the bite, you have to have a fast tip in order to set the hook quickly, sink the hook into the fish and get him up out of the rocks.
We actually got tired of catching Blackfish so we moved to another spot to see if we could muster up some Seabass. No such luck. Every place we stopped we'd immediately get covered up by those pesky Blackfish..
Been quite a few years since I've seen that sort of crazy Blackfish bite. I was beginning to think those days were gone and you can bet when the season opens up later next month they will be :cool: