Jigging Seabass

[reason162]

With all the great sponsor reports, anyone getting results jigging for seabass as opposed to hi-lo/clam? Took a trip out of RI years ago and jigs were definitely culling out the larger humpbacks.

[beerbelly]

ijigged some seabass today at seagirt,with a 4oz diamond jig

[Reel Class]

My mate and I tried it Saturday for 10 or so minutes each respectively and we each had just 1 bite. With the seabass spitting up sandeels they should be hitting the jigs but that wasn't the case for us.

[crabby]

ours were spitting up crabs and lobsters

[Blackfish Doug]

A lot of it has to do with the size of the Jig & the type of teaser. I know you all may have heard this before match the hatch. A 4oz to 6oz jig may work sometimes but it's too big to match the size of the sandeels in the water. The size & colors of the teasers as well just talk to surf fisherman they will agree with me as well. I like using anything in the silver to light blue in the teaser dept & a a17 Jig or a light weighted stingo jig in the 1oz. to 2 oz. range.

[Capt. Lou]

its not always the metal jigs, sometimes buctails w/ strip of squid will produce better! last year up north off Nantucket all my big ones caught this method, metal jigs work but that day not as well!:cool:

[frugalfisherman]

If the fish are thick as they probably were in RI jigging can get the bigger fish but here lately it's a matter of the boat stops and you get most of what is
down there as soon as you drop down, so I wouldn't waste time jigging.

[howarda780]

I tried yesterday during a great clam bite hoping to get away from the smaller fish.

I used a 2oz T-Hex with a buck tail and after 10 mins switched back to the clam. Not a touch.

[Captain Ahab]

A lot of it has to do with the size of the Jig & the type of teaser. I know you all may have heard this before match the hatch. A 4oz to 6oz jig may work sometimes but it's too big to match the size of the sandeels in the water. The size & colors of the teasers as well just talk to surf fisherman they will agree with me as well. I like using anything in the silver to light blue in the teaser dept & a a17 Jig or a light weighted stingo jig in the 1oz. to 2 oz. range.


That is exactly correct - you may have to play around with different jigs and teasers

I have done really well culling smaller fish using a 6" gotcha curly tail on a few trips (same set up I use for cod btw) - other times a tint Clark spoon as a teaser killed 'em. All depends on conditions and scenario.


Try various jig styles and sizes - if deep and lots of current I will run the jig as a teaser off the required weight to get the correct presentation

[fishinanalyst]

on my saturday trip, i got tired of the clam snot and tried a 3 oz diamond jig with a gulp teaser. the set up worked well. most of the fish ate the teaser but couple came on the jig. wouldn't say that it outproduced clam but seemed to produce equally well and my hands werent clammy all the time.

[bunker dunker]

fished a ns out of point Saturday and never used a piece of bait all day.plain ava 27.took a little time to get it going but when it did it was good jigging.i had 13 big se bass and a bunch of shorts.all the ones I kept you didn't have to measure.fished sunday also and had only 4 keepers on the jig so I switched up to clam and boxed 6 more.jigged a blackfish around 6lbs on the jig also.

[reason162]

Thanks for the responses guys. Have a charter Friday with a sponsor boat and still deciding between fluke or seabass, if we go for seabass I'll just pretend I'm gulping/jigging for fluke. Will bring a few diamond jigs as well.

Chart, pink, white...any other colors I should be stocking?

[bunker dunker]

there were some peeps using the 4" fin-s bodies above the jig that was working too.

[MrAC1980]

Someone was using a green tailed A27 next to me and he got a couple of keepers with it yesterday out of Belmar. I never had much luck with the jig.

[jh2214]

Will be out bright and early Saturday AM. Packing various jigs to play around with. Never done it before for Seabass. Clams of course as backup

Friends have had their keepers and shorts alike spitting up tons of sand eels. Hope the drift isn't too fast since I hear it's better to keep the jigs as light as possible especially to match the 3-4" sandeels.

Lets see how things go.