Techniques -- Jigging deep water, or Deep Inlets with fast current

[bunkerjoe4]

Several of our newest members have mentioned that they appreciate coming here, but feel somewhat intimidated by our members who have years of experience, and know how to modify their fishing for different situations.

That's a good point. If you are inexperienced, you can be nearby an angler who is using the same setup as you, and outfishing you 5 to 1. I decided to set up a series of threads to help our newest members learn "How" and "Why". The "where" will be your responsibility. :learn: ;)

If we can teach you how and why, then we have accomplished our goal of helping people to become better anglers. Anyone is welcome to join in, and give their feedback on what works for them in different conditions. :thumbsup:

[CharlieTuna]

Up here in Mass, if you are on a boat, we generally drift channels and rips with bucktails. Depending on the current and moon stage, you want anywhere from 1 - 5 oz, but I mostly use 1-2, white or chartreuse bucktails. Gets you fluke and bass, bucktails are a standard long-time fish catcher, should be on every boat or in every surf bag.

[VSdreams]

Deep Jigging - Saltwater Fishing with a jig
By: Ron Brooks

Somewhere along the way one of the most versatile fishing lures ever devised received the name "jig". Probably either because the molds they are made from or the mechanism used to hold them while they are being tied, are called jigs. Either way the term has come to mean a particular style of fishing with a particular type of lure - fishing with a jig.

Types of Jigs

Bucktail jigs, nylon jigs, mylar jigs, feathered jigs - they come in all sizes and shapes, and each is designed to imitate a baitfish of some sort. And for fish catching ability, these lures, cast for cast, out fish all other lures. If I had to choose only one lure to fish with, it would be a bucktail jig.

Depth

Jigs work in any depth of water, but generally, the deeper you fish, the heavier the jig. In water up to 180 feet deep it takes a good 8 ounces of weight to reach the bottom if there is any current at all. These means a jig with a 7/0 or 8/0 hook, and the probability of BIG fish.

Deep Jigging

Any time the water is deeper than 100 feet, the jig fishing I do is called deep jigging. It requires some stamina and a strong back, because it takes a lot of upward motion from your rod to move the jig effectively on the bottom. This is not a place for subtle twitches and jig movements. In water this deep, the line stretch factor removes any possibility for subtleness. What we are looking for here are fast upwards jerks of the rod to get the lure to move up and down in some type of pattern.

Bait Strips

I like to use a strip bait on a deep jig - usually a mullet filet cut thin, pointed on the hook end with a split tail at the end. Too much meat left on the strip restricts the movement of the strip and presents an unnatural looking bait. If we are lucky, we will have caught some small bonito or false albacore, the belly meat of which we always keep. The skin on these bellies is thin and white with a silvery or pearly sheen. This is in sharp contrast to the dark red meat attached to the skin and this contrast works extremely well. Again, the meat side is trimmed very thin to allow that important flexibility.

Fishing Method

The fishing method here is rather simple. First, find a ledge, a hump, a wreck, or some natural bottom that is holding fish. Good GPS or LORAN numbers are available in most tackle shops. They are perfectly willing to give out the "community" numbers, but will reserve their own private honey holes for themselves. Over time, I have acquired a good inventory of numbers for live bottom and ledges that produce fish for me. On a no wind and no current day, the fishing will be tough. The jig has to move across an area to be effective. Moving up and down in one place is not natural and only draws the smaller fish to attack your strip bait.

Wind and Current

Of course, there are days when the wind and current are too strong, particularly if the wind is in one direction and the current is in another. On these days, it seems that even 5 pounds of weight won't get you to the bottom! But on those perfect days, when the wind is enough for seas to run over two feet and under five feet, and the current is in the same direction, you can load the boat on a good location.

The technique

The idea is to drift over bottom, across the wreck, or parallel along the ledge and give the jig some good up and down motion. Sharp upward jerks produce a less erratic movement of the bait because of line stretch, so jerk as hard as you can. Allow the jig to drop back, but keep in touch with it - "feel" the jig going back down. If you loose the feel of the jig on the drop back, it is likely to be a fish. If you allow the jig to drop back with slack line, the leader will often wrap around and foul the jig. Trust me, very many times of cranking an 8 ounce jig 180 feet to the surface will cure you of slack lining in a hurry!

Tackle

I like to jig with tackle big enough for a big fish, but light enough that I don't wear myself out. My personal preference is a Penn Super 4/0 (113H) or a Penn 500L Jigmaster. Both have a 4 to 1 gear ratio which gives me some fast retrieve but still has a lot of winding power. Faster retrieves than this often prevent you from "winching" a big fish. My rods are also Penn (I simply favor Penn because I have fished with them over the years - there are many other fine rod makers!), seven feet long with a medium heavy action designed for 30 pound line.

Keep Moving

When you drift over and beyond the area, reel up and move back up current. Drop down to the bottom, crank up about three or four turns, and drift it again. Unless you have dropped a good marker over the spot or have a good GPS mapping unit, it is virtually impossible to take the same drift every time. Every drift will cover a different part of the structure, so don't be alarmed if you don't pick a fish up on every drift.

Sensing a Bite

"And how do you know when you have a bite", someone just asked. Well, let me just say this. Make sure you are holding that rod with a good grip! These bottom fish don't mess around nibbling. Strikes are strong, sudden and vicious. You may be on the upswing of your "jig" and find your rod suddenly pinned to the rail of the boat. I have actually had a partner loose his footing and almost go overboard (the rod DID go overboard!).

Tighten that Drag

And because you are over structure, these fish head right for the nearest hole or ledge when they strike. For that reason, we fish with drags almost completely shut down and it becomes a matter of who is stronger - you or the fish! Once we have "winched" the fish away from the structure, we can carefully adjust the drag and fight him to the surface. About half way up, the fight is over, though, because from that depth, the fish's air bladder can not compensate fast enough and it's expansion pops the fish to the surface like a balloon.

Bottom Line

Deep jigging is an art, the biggest part of which is locating the right bottom, and then jigging it the right way. It is also "meat" fishing. This is not catch and release territory, and on a 8/0 jig hook, you won't catch any little fish. So my advice is to practice some conservation. Fish the day inshore or offshore trolling and catch and release all you want. Then come back to the ledge or good bottom and catch one or two for dinner. Leave the rest for later trips!

[pinhead44]

Whenn I fish inlets, I try to get to know the area at low tide, if possible. That way I can see if there are any rock outcroppings I need to be aware of. If it is an extreme low tide during a full moon cycle, all the better. There is a definite learning curve to fishing inlets. Unless you are fishing deep, you will not catch as many fish.

[voyager35]

The sweet spot for many deeper water jigging situations is 2-3 oz. Extreme current and depth will cause you to use heavier jigs, but infrequently.

Your prime goal is to keep that jig just off the bottom, as others have said. Ideally, you want to bounce it, and give it some sort of erratic action. Many times you will get the hit not on the upswing, but on the drop after, so be prepared for any change in pressure in the line, strike hard.

[dogfish]

Anytime you jig bucktails in deep water, if you don't lose or snag a few, you're not fishing deep enough. Sometimes the fish are sitting right on structure near the bottom.

That's why its a good idea to make a couple hundred in the winter. Split the costs with your buds.

[pinhead44]

Anytime you jig bucktails in deep water, if you don't lose or snag a few, you're not fishing deep enough. Sometimes the fish are sitting right on structure near the bottom.

That's why its a good idea to make a couple hundred in the winter. Split the costs with your buds.

Words of wisdom.:clapping:

[nitestrikes]

Great article by Russ Bassdozer. :clapping:



Bucktail Hair & Feather Jigs

By Russ Bassdozer (http://www.bassdozer.com/about_us.shtml)

In the beginning. I look back at the origins of my bass fishing life, and I see myself as a young boy not even a teenager, but filled with the same drive to excel at fishing which still permeates my being to this very day. I remember reading many monthly outdoor magazine subscriptions that my parents signed me up for as birthday and holiday gifts. The magazines dazzled me with fantastic-looking (realistic for their day) lures - fat, brightly-painted wooden crankbaits and poppers, flashy metal spoons, skinny balsa minnow plugs, and in-line spinners. I remember spending long hours in local tackle shops deciding which glamorous-looking lure I would spend my carefully saved and counted coins on this time.

Then it happened. By a stroke of luck. I stumbled across the secret fishing grounds of a loosely knit, tight-lipped crew of commercial fishermen. At first, they callously disregarded the young boy who couldn't cast and who tangled them as they drifted their jig-laden lines out into the never-ending flow. But I returned time and again as young boys are sometimes destined to be part of a secret of fish and men that few others would ever know. I took my place with them and drifted my jig-laden line out besides theirs into the never-ending flow...in time becoming one of them.

I looked upon my discovered mentors as the epic "old timers", even though they were no doubt younger in age than I am today. There were no sleek and flashy metal lures that they used, no brightly-painted crankbaits, no poppers or minnow plugs like I had studied in the magazines and plunked down my coins to buy in the stores. Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, weedless rubber-skirted jigs, and soft plastics had yet to be invented.

The old timers simply had a baby food jar full of freshly-scraped and salted pork rind strips plus a dozen newly-wrapped bucktail jigs pressed into a chunk block of styrofoam in the bottom of their fishing bags. The styrofoam block was to keep their handicrafts in perfect shape so as not to flatten out the fluffy hair dressings.

I credit the old timers for shaping my fishing life and for pinning my lifelong success very much solely on the single upright hook of a leadhead bucktail jig and pork rind strip. Since those early days, I have caught more saltwater stripers and freshwater smallies and largemouth on hair jigs and pork rind strips than any other lure I have ever fished in my life.

http://www.bassdozer.com/images/solidimpact2.jpg

Fast forward to today. Unfortunately the correct size strips for bass jigs are not available commercially. What you can do is buy a jar of Uncle Josh Big Boys, which are large pork rind pennants you troll for marlin and tuna. Obviously, you must cut the Big Boys into smaller strips for hair jigs. Three Big Boys come in a jar, and that's enough to cut 30 plus pork strips for freshwater hair jigs.
It really is best if you can see the strips in the jar before you buy them!

Why? Because some Big Boys are thicker-skinned than others. Basically, if you want to use pork, you've got to avoid the jars that have thick, stiff skins. When they are stiff like that, they do not produce the desired fluid action. Obviously you are looking for a jar that has wafer thin skins.

Of course, if you are "land-locked", then your local tackle shop probably doesn't carry Offshore Big Boys. You can also trim down the Uncle Josh Bass Strip. However, you will not get as many pieces...so it's less economical. You can save a little money with the Big Boys.

The very best, thinnest pork has a supple movement and exudes a concentrated scent and saltiness fresh out of the jar. This life-like movement and scent is no illusion to the fish - pork was alive at one time! Plastic can only imitate these life-like properties of pork.

On a final note, some pork can regrettably be too stiff right out of the jar. To soften them, you can put a few drops of glycerin into the jar a few days prior to use. But you must then use them soon, because this softening process also shortens the storage life of the pork.

Pennant shapes. Either with Big Boys or Bass Strips, you are going to cut them into wafer thin, narrow pennant shapes. For bass fishing, it's typically 2 to 4 inches long and 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide at the head, tapering to a thin pointy tail. Just remember, for whatever length and width strips match up to the size of your hair jig, you always want that highly-desirable pennant shape. The head should not be cut squared-off but be tapered in at the head. Trim the front edges like an "opened diamond" cut at the head.

If you envision that you are fashioning a pennant-shaped strip that looks exactly like a skinny minnow silhouette - tapering widely at the head and tapering thinly at the tail...that's the ticket!

Exercise caution while cutting. As you know, pork rind is stubborn stuff...and slippery! Not the best thing for scissors and fingers to be struggling over in close proximity to each other. Be careful!

http://www.bassdozer.com/images/solidimpact3.jpgAdvantages. On the back of a leadhead jig with a bucktail body, the thin pork rind pennant creates an undulating tail action that is mesmerizing and sinuous! Advantages are porks durability and a fluid, rippling motion and vibration (especially in current flows) that can't be duplicated with soft plastics. In rivers, tidal waters, streams, and areas of current flow, pork strips produce a heavy rippling vibration that attracts gamefish in flowing water.

Pork is more fluid and "acts" more nimble than plastic. Most of the delicate, thin-tailed curly worms and grubs on the market today just cannot produce the strong vibrations that stimulate fish to strike like the pork does in current flows.

Pork also is tougher than plastic, which means it will stay on the hook longer - all day or all week - plus the longer you use it, the more fluid and supple it becomes! Another plus is that you won't lose your tail to short-striking fish or to grabby snags that tear the tails off soft plastics.

Disadvantages. Pork occasionally folds over the hook point when a bass inhales it - it is impossible to drive a hook through the folded pork and you lose the bass. However, in recalling many tens of thousands of ocean striped bass, largemouth and smallmouth I have landed on open hook jigs and pork rind strips, I cannot think of more than a handful that I lost in this way. It is far more common to lose them in this way with the bulkier pork frogs.
Fishing tactics. I tend to use hair jigs as lures that imitate preyfish - any kind of preyfish. I fish them horizontally, often casting far and swimming them back steadily like I have some kind of live baitfish out there on the end of my line. The tapered shape of the hair body flows into the tapered shape of the pork pennant. It's got the silhouette of a baitfish, and simply by drifting it along the bottom with a strong flow or reeling it in steadily through quieter water, it's got the glide-along motion of a smoothly swimming baitfish in addition to the shape. That's often all the recognition a bass neeeds to trip the alarm that it's a live preyfish. Most preyfish are only a few inches long, skinny, and essentially "do nothing" most of the day but float and slowly move along rather uneventfully. They just glide along on hardly-noticeable flicks of their tails that propel them forward in a rather straight direction. Those "hardly noticable tail flicks" are exactly what the pork strip sends out visibly and audibly to the bass.
Drifting. Deadstick it without any rod motion. Just cast upcurrent, let it hit bottom, and take in a turn or two so it sweeps downstream barely above bottom. Expect to get hit as it passes 12 o'clock - the lure will do an about face in the current. If you know what you are feeling for, you will feel a tick in the line as the lure does a 180 and starts to stem against the flow. It begins to rise off bottom and sway in the bottom-swirling current - it acts kind of like a cranky kite that doesn't really want to get airborne, but does a lot of side-to-side shearing and waffling before it gets up there. Just hold it there for a while motionless in the current. At times, you will be surprised how long you can just wait for a bite. After that, if you can keep it down near the bottom, then retrieve it against the flow all the way back in. If it's too difficult to keep it near bottom, just reel in, make another cast, and let it swing down, turn and rise up again.
Use the correct weight jigheads to float properly in the flow at hand. Once you feel you have the correct weight, then micro-tune your presentation by trying different head shapes until you find one that let's the lure rise, fall, swirl, and veer off erratically as it swings down and is buffeted by the bottom-bouncing currents.
Keep in mind that a hair jig has less body size, less water displacement, and less buoyancy than a jig with a soft plastic body. The hair jig sinks faster, tends to stay deeper, and gets pushed around a little more sharply by a current.
Swimming. You still need to drift your bait down when faced with lazier currents, but you sometimes cannot deadstick effectively without getting hung up or dragging the bottom - so you need to retrieve line that keeps the bait barely sweeping and waffling up off bottom at the correct slow retrieve speed that matches the lazy current sweep. It's still a lot like the deadstick method described above, with emphasis on getting hit as the jig does the about face at 12 o'clock.
Jigging. A jigging motion can be an effective trigger in areas that have no current to give life to the lure. Keep the rod tip at ten o'clock and reel in slow and straight. Just swim the jig straight back in. Flick the wrist to produce an alluring dart and hesitation every so often. The upstroke of the flick is to lift the lure into position for the downstroke. As you drop the rod tip on the downstroke, it mends the slightest slack into the line so the jig hesitates and flutters downward for just an instant. This is when to expect to get bit!
Colors. Pork rind comes in a few colors - bright green, chartreuse, red, black strips on the top side - all white on the underside. As for jigs, I just stick to white thread, white hair and white pork rind most of the time. A second pattern is to use chartreuse thread to wrap some natural brown hair above the white as if it's a darker dorsal color on a minnow's back. A third pattern (smallies often have a sweet tooth for this) is red thread, chartreuse back/white belly, with a chartreuse/white pork pennant. I don't use dark-colored hair jigs. With dark colored jigs, I believe I am imitating crayfish or bottom-skulking baitfish and I will use black/brown/green soft plastic bodies, not hair jigs.
Jigheads. There are two parts to any jig - a solid head and a flexible tail. It's a yin/yang relationship where the head imparts action and the limber hair and fluid pork receive that action.
As far as the color of a jighead, it's really not too important. I fish all jigheads unpainted. THE FISH THAT I CATCH COULD CARE LESS. If you make them yourself, as I do, then you know the painting process is the most laborious step in making jigs. Just skip it. It took me years of inhaling paint fumes to learn this one simple truth: jigheads are just molded hunks of metal. Believe me, I used to make some real art museum pieces with up to 7 colors and eleven coats of paint, eyes, sparkles in the clear coat - the works. Unfortunatley, the jighead is not the attraction, the jighead is merely the tool that delivers the skirt/trailer (bucktail hair with porkrind).It is the skirt/trailer that provides the allure, the attraction, the seductive come-hither.
The jighead shape and weight are far more important than its color. The shape of the jighead must be properly designed in order to present your skirt/trailer to fish at the most receptive angle, depth, fall rate, and ANGLER-IMPARTED SPEED & MOTION. This shape needs to react to currents, snake through weeds, bang through rocks, bounce through brush and wood, stay upright off the bottom, and through it all, AVOID SNAGGING OR FOULING WITH DEBRIS. Additionally, the jighead solidly positions how a hook is presented to the fish, and determines how the hook bites and holds a fish. So those are the desirable qualities to look for in a jighead - bait and hook presentation.
The tying collar. An important criteria for selecting the right kinds of jig heads is selecting those that have the right style of lead collar for tying. Overall, there are three styles of lead collars: for using soft plastics, for using rubber or silicone skirts, and for tying hair and other materials. Click here to read more about How to Find the Right Jig Collar (http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/jig_collar.shtml) for each of these three different purposes.
The hook itself. The most desirable hook style for the lure we are talking about is an O'Shaughnessy hook. Because many people use pork frogs or plastic chunks, most jig manufacturers today use a wide-gap, round bend hook . The wide, round bend seats the frogs and chunks better than any other hook style. But the round bend is not good for a hair jig and rind. Why? The round bend seats the head of the pork strip down into the fibers of the hair. To the contrary, the O'Shaughnessy hook flies the pork pennant like a flag ABOVE the hairs where the pork will never interfere with the hairs. This allows the hairs themselves to exhibit their full natural movement caused by an unimpeded flow of water around the hairs. It also allows the pork rind itself to develop its full movement due to the independent flow of water rushing over and past it. So the O'Shaughnessy hook separates each component of the lure, and allows each to develop its own unobstructed action and water flow.
This concept of water flow bringing out action from the hair fibers is significant. Proper water flow holds each fiber separate so they do not touch each other. The result is that each hollow hair vibrates and develops resonance when it is held in a flow apart from the other hairs. This "separateness" also allows for a certain degree of see-through or translucence. As each fiber is held apart, you can see between the hairs. This imitates the translucent nature of many preyfish. It also allows for the jig to blend in better with its surroundings, making it appear more natural.
Soft plastics. For the reasons in the above paragraphs, I would never thread a soft plastic trailer up the shank of the hook underneath the fibers or in any other way allow any soft plastic to impede the natural flow of water over the fibers.
Trimming hair. Because of the concepts of flow and vibration within the hollow hairs, I would never trim excess hair off a bushy hair jig by cutting the fibers in half. To do so is to lose the flexible tapered tips of the fibers where most of the action and attraction comes from. You ruin the quivering, breathing action that the hollow hair fiber develops on the retrieve, especially in flowing water! If you must trim an overly brushy jig, it is best to cut the UNDER hairs by snipping them where they are tied on underneath closest to the hook.
To trim an overly long jig, grab the very longest hairs by their tips. Then you pull and separate them all the way out to the sides. While still holding the long tips, you ferret out where they are wrapped, and snip them right where they come out from under the threads. This is very tedious to do, you have to use a very finepoint scissirs, and you almost have to thin the long hairs out one-by-one.
Skirt dressing. Primarily I use bucktail (deer) hair jigs. Either tied on straight or with "spun" collars. You do not want the hair to extend much farther than the bend of the hook. You want a very short, very sparse, and slightly flared bucktail.
Be selective when buying bucktails. The flag, or tail, of deer are of two basic types. One type of flag has coarse, straight, bright white hairs that crush and kink easily. The second type of flag is silkier, more limber and resilient. It has a natural crinkled appearance along the length of the fibers instead of being straight and straw-like. It is not a bright white, but has a milky white lustrous sheen to it. Look for a flag with the needle tips of the fibers ending at varying lengths. In order to build the best bait possible, you do not want fibers that are all an equal length. Finally, even on the desirable second type of flags, there will be some coarse hair near the base of the tail that we do not want to use because it will flare too far under pressure, forming an overall umbrella pattern on the jig. Hair cut from the tip of the tail is the correct choice. It will only flare moderately at the mid-section and then come back together to form a natural streamlined tip - just like the tip on an artist's paintbrush.
So, use the soft, supple, thin hairs with natural glisten and "crinkles" throughout their length. Avoid the straight, straw-like, bright white hollow hairs that bend in half when you flex them in your fingers.
The concept I strive for in the hair is an abstract one. I look for only enough hair to barely cover the hook, and to imitate a baitfish head, a bait's gills breathing, a bloated swaybelly, and to give the illusion of a semi-translucent underbody mid-section - but not the baitfish's entire body. It is the very last few longer tapering tips of the hairs plus the rippling pork pennant that I use to complete the illusion of the upper rear half of the baitfish's body and its tail section.
The jig can be tied sparse, and it's always surprising as to how few hair fibers make the most effective lures. Better too sparse than too thick. Look for hair fibers that are thin and silky as opposed to the coarse, hollow hairs. Look for the needle tips of the fibers to end at varying lenghts - not all the hairs tapering to points at exactly the same spot.
In wrapping the hairs down, you do not want the thread wrapped with a lot of tension, but you do want the fibers to flare out a bit...to greate a bulge right behind where they are wrapped...but you only want the "shoulder" to flare out. You do not want the entire length of the fibers to flare out widely...especially not the tips. You want the very tips to naturally come to a point like an artist's paint brush. The overall effect of the hair tips and body shape is that the fibers should have a nicely puffed out appearance right behind where they are wrapped, and it should bulge out to its widest point about mid-way down the overall length of the dressing, Beyond mid-way, you should notice that many of the needle tips of the hairs should be sticking out from the body section...that is, many of the needle tips were too short to make it all the way to the end, and some of them start fading out of the picture even before reaching the hook bend...THAT IS JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED! In fact, not a whole lot of the tips should have made it too far. If only less than half of the fibers are long enough for their tips to extend about 1/2 to 1 inch past the hook (this distance varies in proper proportion to the hook size and total body length). The overall effect forms what I will refer to as a "thin, elongated football" shape. You will be able to see through this shape, as will a fish. This gives the hair body a certain measure of living translucence.
Thread wraps. It is important to only use the very thinnest, strongest diameter of thread possible. Wrap only enough of a thread layer to cover the cut ends of the fibers. Now use a thin covering solution to seal the threads and to wick into the cut ends of each and every hollow fiber. It is very important to seal the cut fiber ends, thereby making them waterproof and trapping the air filled inside them. It is this air filling that allows the fibers to develop breathing action on the retrieve. Just use the slighest amount of sealant to do the job. Do not build up a bulky thread head, Do not use a glob of epoxy to build a "head n' shoulders". The only thing a big head does is obstruct the direct water flow and dampen out the desirable movement that water flow gives as it hits the hair body the way I recommend you tie it. Remember, a sparse hair body and less thread is often better than overdoing it.
That's fowl. Many people are familiar with marabou (turkey) feather jigs, but few jig fishermen have ever seen a saddle hackle (chicken) jig. These are the same long thin delicate feathers that are all the rage for everyone to use on the back of their topwater poppers nowadays.
The very best feathers are "strung saddle hackles" of the highest QUALITY grade (so important!). What that means is that the feather merchant sets aside the softest, longest, supplest feathers, which are then strung onto a long line by a laborer using needle and thread. You want the grade of strung hackles which are 5 to 6 inches long. You really only will be able to make jigs that max out with about 3 to 4 inches of dressing. This is because you will clip off and discard the fuzzy part, called the "hurl," which covers about one-third the length down near the butt end of the "quill." You will be tying only the neat, gauze-like webby filaments that cover two-thirds the length of the feathers towards the tip.
Only problem is that high quality "strung" feathers this long are darn hard to find. You will probably have to buy bulk if you can even find it - and it is expensive. You will probably want to go down and hand-pick the strings (which are rolled up into coils) that you will buy. But if you are a jig fishin' nut, it's definitely worth your while to find these good "strung" hackles. These high quality feathers plump up in the water like ballpark franks on a grill! The lure flattens into a streamlined shape as it shoots forward , then swells up as though breathing when stopped. They exhibit what I can only describe as a living, supple, fleshy kind of appearance and action when wet.
If you decide to take the easy way out and settle for the "loose" stuff that you usually see jumbled into plastic bags at flyfishing stores, you will still be able to wrap and catch fish with this stuff, but the "loose" feathers get rough, dull and brittle, and tend to lose desirable qualities (suppleness, fleshiness, sheen, glossy webbing, etc.).
To wrap, snip the center stem of about 6 to 8 hackles with a very pointy scissors. Snip right where the fuzzy marabou-like part of the feather gives way to the webbed filaments. You do not want to tie using any of the fuzzy, frizzy part at all...so use your fingers to strip any last fuzzy piece and/or strip a few webbed filaments off the stem, just enough to give you a bare stub of stem to wrap under the thread, okay? Now, start wrapping the longest feathers first. Right side, left side, right, left, right, left... for 6 to 8 feathers...wrap the longest ones first and the shortest ones last. Never wrap on the top or bottom of the hook..only the left and right sides. It is perfect if there a gap from top to bottom between the two halves - it creates water flow, enhanced movement and vibration. Overall, you are looking to wrap a pennant-shaped dressing.
What more do you need to know? Well, it would have been pretty sneaky of me not to say that the "inside" of the feather MUST BE WRAPPED FACING THE INSIDE of the jig. The final effect is called the "praying hands" method of feather-tying.
Colors are basically white. As far as the color of a feather jig, it�s really not too important relative to the other desirable qualities - action, shape, movement, water displacement, breathing. Usually, the color is neither the attraction nor the trigger, It is the material and tying technique that provides the allure, the attraction, the seductive come-hither.
At times I will wrap 2 or 3 pink or chartreuse feathers onto the jig first, then wrap over them with 4 or 5 longer white hackles. Just put the pink or chartreuse on first so that the whites kind of overshadow it. As with bucktail tying, a sparse dressing and less thread is always better than overdoing it with too many fathers.
Finished wrapping all the feathers? Now just put the slighest amount of sealant solution on the thread wraps closest to the hook eye. The sealant will wick back into the rear-most threads just fine. But be very careful it doesn't wick up into the feathers. That's all there is to tying a feather teaser. Use an O'Shaughnessy hook in the jig. Use a thin lace of pork strip flying above the feathers.
Well, there's even more to it, but that's all that I have time for now. Thank you if you have read this far! I did not mean to imply that hair and feather jigs are any better - or worse - than the soft plastic and silicone creations of today.

All jigs, and the memories that they make for us, are only as good as the hands that drift their jig-laden lines out into the never-ending flow.

www.bassdozer.com

[Pebbles]

I realize that jigging is an important part of fishing. I must say though that it is my least favorite way to fish. I have trouble with my shoulder and it causes flair ups.

It was a great read. Thanks for putting it up.

[dogfish]

Great article by Russ Bassdozer. :clapping:



I credit the old timers for shaping my fishing life and for pinning my lifelong success very much solely on the single upright hook of a leadhead bucktail jig and pork rind strip. Since those early days, I have caught more saltwater stripers and freshwater smallies and largemouth on hair jigs and pork rind strips than any other lure I have ever fished in my life.


The very best, thinnest pork has a supple movement and exudes a concentrated scent and saltiness fresh out of the jar. This life-like movement and scent is no illusion to the fish - pork was alive at one time! Plastic can only imitate these life-like properties of pork...

Pork is more fluid and "acts" more nimble than plastic. Most of the delicate, thin-tailed curly worms and grubs on the market today just cannot produce the strong vibrations that stimulate fish to strike like the pork does in current flows.

Pork also is tougher than plastic, which means it will stay on the hook longer - all day or all week - plus the longer you use it, the more fluid and supple it becomes! Another plus is that you won't lose your tail to short-striking fish or to grabby snags that tear the tails off soft plastics.

... Most preyfish are only a few inches long, skinny, and essentially "do nothing" most of the day but float and slowly move along rather uneventfully. They just glide along on hardly-noticeable flicks of their tails that propel them forward in a rather straight direction. Those "hardly noticable tail flicks" are exactly what the pork strip sends out visibly and audibly to the bass.
www.bassdozer.com (http://www.bassdozer.com)

Always enjoy a bassdozer article. There is nothing more simple than pork rind, but so deadly.:thumbsup:

[DarkSkies]

Flood tide...
I generally like to be near the back of the inlet. If the inlet has a bridge or some kind of structure, I'll fish against the current and fish from whatever side allows me to do that. I don't want to confuse you by bringing bridges into the equation, but often there are car or train bridges near the back of inlets.

Big predators hang around structure in wait to ambush smaller fish. Since I generally fish at night, I look for the shadow lines made by the lights, and try to throw out so my offering ends up in the darkness of the shadow line.

Again, I'll try just to stay on the inlet topic here. All inlets are basic in their design. As Surfstix said, they are a highway for a water and the fish. There are many subtle differences for each inlet. That's why you should pick one inlet and learn those differences at different stages of the tide.

The first thing I would do if I didn't know an inlet was to go there at extreme low tide, right before slack. Pay attention to the rocks on the sides and the variations. All sorts of little fish, and also seabass, tog, crabs, etc will be hiding in those rocks as the tide fills. It's also a good time to check any nuances in structure you can see near bottom. If you're bait fishin it will save you many lost rigs.

As the tide fills in, you may have eddies, pockets, or areas in back of the inlet where the current is less. I think Surfstix, despite his modesty, did a fantastic job of explaining the difference between tide and current above. :thumbsup:

The current will become stronger or weaker at different stages of the tide. A lot of guys like to fish the middle areas of inlets. Fine, but know when to move from them. IMO the middle areas are best at the beginning and end of the tidal flow when current is weaker. That's a great time to toss out plugs because you can retreive across the current and still have your plug at a slow enough retrieval speed.

Retrieving plugs when the current is too fast, like in the middle of a tide when current is at its strongest, can be a waste of time if you're targeting bass. What I usually dto is hit an inlet up to 2 hours before and 2 hours after high tide, as many have advised. That seems to be the best window.

Ebb tide:
Everybody's different. I like to be at the front of an inlet for the ebb. I try to figure out where the sweep is. The sweep is the direction the water is moving in the ocean. This depends on the moon stage, wind, offshore weather patterns which sometimes give rise to a swell, among other factors. Also the structure at the outer area of the inlet.

Based on that sweep I'll decide whether I want to fish the N or S side of the inlet. I'll note here that right before a storm, I might concentrate on the front of the inlet for he ebb, depending on the wind and sweep. If fish are pulled out of the inlet by the tide, and there is a swell pushing the water in at the same time, there can be some big predators right in front, or to the sides of the rocks in front. This gets a little dicey, safety gear is an absolute must. More on that in a bit.

When I work the front rocks of an inlet, I will take the bucktail and bounce it on the bottom as close as I can to the rocks without getting hung up. This is where you will lose the most jigs until you get the hang of it. Even after you get better, you'll still lose some jigs if you're fishin it right. I generally like to bounce the bucktail around the frong of the inlet, gradually working it around the structure WITH the tide.

If you were a scuba diver, you would be amazed at all the bass that sit at the bottom near the safety of the rocks. The strong current just 20 feet above them is less intense as the current action is broken up by that bottom structure.


Full/New moon tides:
However my fishin rules are not set in stone. If there's a full or new moon tide, the current will be extremely strong. It's a waste to fish the fastest running water during the mid-tide.

Does that mean ya go home? Nope, that's why ya need plan B, and C sometimes. I will bounce around an area and may come back to an inlet area 2 or 3 times in a night, fishing other spots until I feel the tide is optimal. urrent just 20 feet above them is less intense as the current action is broken up by that bottom structure.

[DarkSkies]

Should I stay or should I go?
Also, if you're not doing anything at an inlet, how do you know if the fish are there? My guage is the bait. If there is a lot of bait around and popping, I know fish will usually be on them. That's not the whole picture. Many times you will see bait running in and out on the sides because the current is usually a little less intense there. You won't see anyting popping or on the surface at all. You have to train your eyes to look for them. Sometimes that's difficult in fast moving water. It's something I don't believe you can teach to someone. You have to learn to recognize it at your own pace to get good at it.

My intensity and focus on fishing a place becomes more directed when I see lots of bait. However, there are times when you will see no bait and fish will still be holding.

Jigging and bucktailing:
That's where the bucktailing comes in, or throwing rubber jigs. A lot of guys will make a few casts at an inlet, move around once or twice, convince themselves because there are no fish busting on the surface that it ain't happenin that night. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/smilies/don't%20know%20why.gif Sometimes they're right, but I always remember a simple rule an old-timer taught me years ago:

"The fish are on the bottom" http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon3.gif :learn:
If you don't probe the bottom as part of your fishin that night, you will never know if you missed the fish by not being deep enough.

As the current strengthens through the tide, it's an effort for a fish to not get swept in or out. So many bait fish will hold to the sides, and bigger fish hold on the bottom, away from the stronger current.

Another reality is that the bigger fish move with the current. Striped bass love current. You have a higher chance at catching a big bass in strong current than you do on the flats somewhere.

The key is realizing that a bass will move during the tide stages up or down an inlet area to find the combination of water they can comfortably swim in, ambush food, and not get swept away.

Current is less strong on the bottom, so that's where the big predators will sit during strong parts of the tide. Or they'll find a ledge, a seam, or crease in the bottom to sit and pop up once in awhile to nab a juicy enough baitfish.

Bucktailing/fishing rubber:
Your job bucktailing or throwing rubber is to find where those fish are sitting. Learning creases, ledges or seams is good if you have a boat with a depth finder. From shore you have to do your own prospecting.

If you're jigging, you'll lose bucktails and jigs. Never buy expensive bucktails or rubber when starting out. Buy stuff in multi-packs, or at flea markets. If you have a friend who makes bucktails and likes to trade, that's golden. :dribble:

The functionality of a bucktail doesn't depend on how much you paid for it or how artistic it looks. :kooky: It's all about how you work it in the water. I have seen old timers fishing next to other guys outfish them 3:1 with the same bucktail. At times I've been the one outfished 3:1 as well. When that happens to you, you will quickly try to learn the subtle differences. ;)

The best advice I can give you about beginning bucktailing or jigging is to:
1. Read a good book on bucktailing (Skinner's comes to mind)
2. Buy a lot of cheap or used bucktails at shows
3. Learn to bounce the bottom.

As you become more proficient and get into bigger fish, the quality of the bucktail hook becomes more important. You will tend to learn which ones to stay away from if you lose a big fish when a hook pulls. :burn: Big fish don't just break your line, they break your heart! :( You don't need to worry about that much in the beginning, just work on your technique.


Fish with mono in the inlets first when learning. As you lose jigs it's not cool to put a lot of braid out there on the bottom. I can recommend sufix tritanium 17 or 20lbs for inlets. We have gotten jigs stuck on the bottom and been able to retrieve them with that line.

[jigfreak]

Every time I read a Bassdozer article again I learn something that I missed the first time. He's one of the greatest. Thanks for your take as well. The only thing I would add is you should keep a supply of different size bucktails with you as the current gets stronger or weaker.
You and others nailed it Dark. You really need to be on or near the bottom. If you can only get 5 feet down you might as well stay home. The weight needed to maintain that changes with the stage of tide.

[voyager35]

This a good video showing how to tie jigs if you want to try it yourself.

F8MURUwDWsY

[DarkSkies]

Should I stay or should I go?
"The fish are on the bottom" http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon3.gif :learn:
If you don't probe the bottom as part of your fishin that night, you will never know if you missed the fish by not being deep enough.

As the current strengthens through the tide, it's an effort for a fish to not get swept in or out. So many bait fish will hold to the sides, and bigger fish hold on the bottom, away from the stronger current.

Another reality is that the bigger fish move with the current. Striped bass love current. You have a higher chance at catching a big bass in strong current than you do on the flats somewhere.

The key is realizing that a bass will move during the tide stages up or down an inlet area to find the combination of water they can comfortably swim in, ambush food, and not get swept away.

Current is less strong on the bottom, so that's where the big predators will sit during strong parts of the tide. Or they'll find a ledge, a seam, or crease in the bottom to sit and pop up once in awhile to nab a juicy enough baitfish.







As we move from summer to fall, there are times when the fish are still near the bottom, inlets, rips, harbors, rivers, feeding on the small bait that may be there, or the squid that come in in the Spring, and late Summer......

(Yes folks we have squid in Jersey, though many are not aware of nor do they seek them out....)

I have spent many a night in the late fall, watching the commercial squid boats, fishing inshore, only about a mile beyond the surfline....and thinking to myself, how lucky we are, to even have fish come in to our shorelines, when there can be such an abundance of bait, at the right time of the year, in zones we would never consider, because we are not looking for it....


Thought this would be a good time to bring this thread up, and see if any of ya's want to talk about your jigging techniques for this late summer transition period......

[baitstealer]

Wow lots of good info thanks for sharing it. I read somewhere out in Long Island they use a 3 way bucktail or jig with extra weight on the 3 way when jigging in fast current. I was wondering if anyone here has used a 3 way when fishing the front of an inlet or something like when you are on a bridge and the current is strong. Would it work or is there a better way to deal with it when that tide is ripping? thanks