Blackfish Jigging

[reason162]

Let me try to explain the difference between rig fishing and jig fishing, from a blackfish's perspective

First, understand how a blackfish feeds (there are plenty of youtube videos showing both captive and wild blackfish attacking crabs): they will grab the crab in their grasping teeth (those are the teeth you can see), hang onto a claw/leg/half the crab and shake it like a dog's chew toy. Often they will spit it out, then pick it up again, breaking off a claw or leg in the process. Eventually they suck it down to their pharyngeal crushing teeth (located in the throat!) and then either swallow, or if the crab is large, spit out a cloud of crabby bits and then proceed to actually eat the crushed crab piece by piece.

The "right bite" is when a big tog sucks your crab into their crushing teeth...that's when you're supposed to swing for the fences, NOT when they are doing the tentative pecking with their grasping teeth.

(The above is paraphrased from another forum's excellent post on the subject)

So what's the difference between a rig and a jig as far as a feeding blackfish is concerned? We've discussed how much food manipulation a blackfish goes through before finally inhaling your crab. A sinker rig has 2 components --- a weight, and a hooked crab --- that is SEPARATED by a length of leader. When a blackfish picks up a crab that is tied to a rig, he will initially only experience the weight of the crab and hook, NOT the sinker. Only when he starts to shake/peck/wrestle with the crab, will he detect the weight of the sinker as a secondary (and inexplicable, to the tog's brain) tug.

A jig, on the other hand, is a weight and hook that is DIRECTLY CONNECTED. When a blackfish picks up a crab pinned to a jig, he is experiencing the entire mass of your offering from the initial contact. When he starts to shake and peck and suck in/spit out your crab, the weight of the jig and crab remains constant; there is no secondary tug of a disconnected sinker.

For a blackfish, especially one that is big and old and wary, these are two very different dining experiences! One crabby meal goes as expected...the other contains an element of surprise in the form of an unseen, unfelt weight, somehow tied to the crab he's munching on.

Does this always make a difference? No! But I am convinced that the weight dynamic outlined is THE reason sometimes, not always, light jigs will outfish rigs by wide margins, especially shallow, especially in fisheries where small asian crabs are the primary forage. It's not that a blackfish will ignore a crab on a rig vs. a crab on a jig: it's that under certain conditions a blackfish will be spooked by the disconnected weight of a sinker rig and never commit to eating a crab presented that way, he'll peck at your crab and drop it once he feels the sinker.

I hope that makes sense. It's a question I've mulled on for some time, and I believe that is the essential difference between rig and jig for tog. But...I could be wrong!

Originally Posted by O'Connor

I'm still confused as to the jigging part. It's nothing more than putting bait on a lead head. Correct? If you put bait on it your simply bait fishing. Just s different way of presenting a crab.