Blackfish Jigging

[Gerry Zagorski]

Over the years I’ve seen it all…. Rigs out fishing jigs and jigs out fishing rigs. “Riggers” offended by “Jiggers” and “Jiggers” offended by “Riggers”. While I’m no expert on either subject, my philosophy on this is you can’t argue with success. I’m always up for trying new things and if “Jigging” or “Rigging” is working on any given day, that’s what I’m going with. That and it’s fun to mix things up every once and a while too…..

All that being said, I’m going to focus on Jigging here with 2 big caveats
- Your actual mileage might vary.. Conditions, how the fish are biting, time of year, skills, methods etc will all play in your success or failure.
- With rig fishing as we all know, it’s more about the Indian then the arrow. I’ve seen people fishing old Penn Squider reels and broomstick poles out fish guys with the latest and greatest outfits. With jig fishing it’s about both. The Indian and his skills make a difference but the gear or arrow he uses plays an equally important role… Unless you have the right gear, I don’t care how good a Blackfishermen you are, using the wrong gear is a big handicap.

So, let’s start out with the gear you’ll need…. This is a finesse type of fishing so think light and sensitive…. You need to be able to feel the jig make contact with the bottom and the tick bites. If not, you’ll be reeling up empty hooks all day long…
- First of all you need to fish braid in order to feel the subtle bites… Braid is followed by a minimum of a 30 pound top shot of leader….
- The pole and reel also make a difference in the feel… A light weight pole with a sensitive tip and a strong backbone paired with a light weight reel with at least 15 pounds of drag is a must…. You are not going to have any success jigging with a broom stick and a heavy bulky reel PERIOD……
- You also need jigs with just enough weight to hold bottom in the conditions you’re fishing. Sizes from 1 ounce up to 4 usually covers it and IMHO, if you need more than 4 ounce jigs, you should be rig fishing.
- While some people do fish with light weight conventional poles and reels most “Jiggers” are using spinning set ups. I’ve fished both and I prefer spinning gear….

Now that you got the right gear, let’s talk methods:
- Cut your crab of choice in half and remove the legs…. Don’t cut the legs too close since the leg sockets help keep the crab on the hook better and that’s important… Run the hook through one leg socket and out another.
- You can cast around to find some structure but your best feel is going to be straight up and down… In heavier seas casting out is preferred since the scope and angle of the line will help absorb the seas and keep your jig still and on the bottom.
- You want just enough tension on your line to feel your jig hit bottom and detect strikes when you get one.
- If you don’t get a bite. Every few minutes, lift your rod tip and let the jig settle on the bottom…. I’m talking small moves here not like you’re jigging for Fluke and constantly jigging….
- The bite is different every day…. Occasionally you’ll have a suicide bite where they pick it up the jig and run with it but most days all you’ll feel is a slight tap.
- Setting the hook by fast whip high sticking or just lifting your rod tip to set the hook is up for debate…. See what works for you and others on that day but don’t get married to it, every day is different.

Warning…. If you are new to jigging there’s a pretty steep learning curve. Stick with it, watch others and once you get good at it you’ll have another trick in your bag and another thing to try when rigs aren’t working as effectively….

OK “Jiggers” and “Riggers” feel free to pile on here