High Tech Jigging

[Salty338]

Most of the archs on that shot are dogfish IMO. They tend to show up in a sine wave pattern.

I can 100% tell you they are not. I can’t tell you how many doubles we had in that. Dogfish are usually flatter lines on my screen anyways. When i see that on mine I can almost guarantee I hit a fish as soon as I drop. We fished right beside eachother that night at Wilby when we were hammering them a few weeks back for about an hour. I know what I’m looking at and I know you know what you’re looking at. Could vary on the units. Or we have settings different. If you do it enough you know when you’ll hit fish based on what you see on your particular sonar and when it’s marginal or just a possibility. The pic from this day was an unbelievable day.

 

[spring fever]

I can 100% tell you they are not. I can’t tell you how many doubles we had in that. Dogfish are usually flatter lines on my screen anyways. When i see that on mine I can almost guarantee I hit a fish as soon as I drop. We fished right beside eachother that night at Wilby when we were hammering them a few weeks back for about an hour. I know what I’m looking at and I know you know what you’re looking at. Could vary on the units. Or we have settings different. If you do it enough you know when you’ll hit fish based on what you see on your particular sonar and when it’s marginal or just a possibility. The pic from this day was an unbelievable day.

Nuff said gentlemen-every sonar is different and that looks good to me!! Glad you had a great day-that's proof enough-you don't get double Springs out of a Dogpatch!! LOL. Lets not troll each other and learn and respect each others point of view.

 

[Salty338]

Nuff said gentlemen-every sonar is different and that looks good to me!! Glad you had a great day-that's proof enough-you don't get double Springs out of a Dogpatch!! LOL. Lets not troll each other and learn and respect each others point of view.

Not trolling at all. That guy knows his stuff! Just also know what I know and maybe didn’t provide the best feedback for what I see. Cheers. It’s fun out there that jig life!

 

[the force]

My first spring on the sloman flat fall from earlier this week… boxed out, had lunch then gave a quick jig. Hooked up right away, so much fun. Second this as a dog fish and then I called it a day.

 

[Pewpster]

My first spring on the sloman flat fall from earlier this week… boxed out, had lunch then gave a quick jig. Hooked up right away, so much fun. Second this as a dog fish and then I called it a day.

Nice bright fish. Is that jig tied on backwards?

 

[Bowbreaker]

Nuff said gentlemen-every sonar is different and that looks good to me!! Glad you had a great day-that's proof enough-you don't get double Springs out of a Dogpatch!! LOL. Lets not troll each other and learn and respect each others point of view.

Right!! Yes, I know who you are now. Yeah, you know your stuff.

No trolling here! Don’t even own down riggers If Salty says they are Chinook, then they are. He was there. I wasn’t. I haven’t seen Chinook don’t show up on my sonar so dense/tight, so if those arch’s were Chinook. Damn. That’s some crazy number of Chinook! Wish I was there too!

 

[RiverBoy]

I have fished bait balls with no marks and had non stop chinook action, and i have fished blank screens with heaps of action. i have also had screens full of marks with no action.

I dunno. i think sonar hits bait funny and doesn’t always read the fish. that’s why i don’t get excited with big, solid steady clouds of bait. i get excited when i see bait that’s all busted up, and suspended. that tells me chinook are running amok and feeding. but this pic below? twas a good day

 

[Deepaaaar]

I have fished bait balls with no marks and had non stop chinook action, and i have fished blank screens with heaps of action. i have also had screens full of marks with no action.

I dunno. i think sonar hits bait funny and doesn’t always read the fish. that’s why i don’t get excited with big, solid steady clouds of bait. i get excited when i see bait that’s all busted up, and suspended. that tells me chinook are running amok and feeding. but this pic below? twas a good day

Yowza, that's some bait!

I had a killer day on Friday and sonar was definitely helpful. The slugs would appear, I'd reel up or drop down to 'em and a moment later I'd get hit. Honestly, though, I probably would've done fine without it as there were a LOT of fish around. Took home an 80cm and a 72cm. They're in the freezer now, sashimi-ifying. Released a 23-24 lb beast of a buck that dragged me about a half km in my kayak. Biggest one to date! Man, I love jigging up these monsters.

 

[Salty338]

I have fished bait balls with no marks and had non stop chinook action, and i have fished blank screens with heaps of action. i have also had screens full of marks with no action.

I dunno. i think sonar hits bait funny and doesn’t always read the fish. that’s why i don’t get excited with big, solid steady clouds of bait. i get excited when i see bait that’s all busted up, and suspended. that tells me chinook are running amok and feeding. but this pic below? twas a good day

Agreed. I don’t even usually drop if I don’t see the bait disturbed. Lots of times there’s a ton of bait with no fish in it.
One day this year at Wilby there was a ton of bait up shallower with few fish in it but I found fish sitting in 180’-220’ with no bait. It was funny cause we were catching a bunch of fish and other jiggers would roll up and wouldn’t stop I’m guessing because they saw no bait. Fine by me, we had a hay day with nobody around us.

 

[spring fever]

Agreed. I don’t even usually drop if I don’t see the bait disturbed. Lots of times there’s a ton of bait with no fish in it.
One day this year at Wilby there was a ton of bait up shallower with few fish in it but I found fish sitting in 180’-220’ with no bait. It was funny cause we were catching a bunch of fish and other jiggers would roll up and wouldn’t stop I’m guessing because they saw no bait. Fine by me, we had a hay day with nobody around us.

Love when you read it right! Think thats the attraction of jigging and why it can be so successful. Don't get me wrong-I do troll-always when I have somebody on board-but when I'm by myself -I'm Jigging

 

[spring fever]

JIGGERS Reward!!
Guess we have to be PC and call it candied salmon--doesn't have the same Cache-but oh well

 

[acrowe]

Not trolling at all. That guy knows his stuff! Just also know what I know and maybe didn’t provide the best feedback for what I see. Cheers. It’s fun out there that jig life!

Most of us are doing a lot less trolling!
Although I have been flyfishing lately and have picked up the odd fish dragging my fly while looking for fish

 

[acrowe]

I don't have the latest sonar but I think I am getting better at using what I have. I have to admit I have no idea what type of fish are showing on my sonar by what they look like on the screen. Hopefully Ill get better at that. So far I have never seen what I thought was salmon feeding on herring and just hit dogfish... so far. I usually don't get too many unless I try bait or jig really slow in one place.
I haven't been trying too hard for chinook lately as I want to be able to have the option to keep one if I find time for winter fishing. And the last couple times I have been out and hit the morning surface feed, I have been able to get some coho casting flies. In the 40 minutes or so that the intense surface feed lasts I have got 3-4 good size coho (6-8lbs) and a half dozen or so grilse between 10-16". I assume I probably would have got 3x as many mature coho jigging, but its pretty exciting to get them on a cast fly. even a 14" grilse is pretty decent on a 8wt fly rod, and they are usually an easy unharmed release on the fly.

 

[the force]

Nice bright fish. Is that jig tied on backwards?

lol yeah it is…didn’t realize until I went to take it off at the end of the day and was like wtf. Still worked.

 

[RiverBoy]

lol yeah it is…didn’t realize until I went to take it off at the end of the day and was like wtf. Still worked.

did it come with the assist hooks top rigged? if so it’s not on backwards. i have a couple jigs like that. tie to the solid ring ( thanks @spring fever for showing me)

 

[the force]

did it come with the assist hooks top rigged? if so it’s not on backwards. i have a couple jigs like that. tie to the solid ring ( thanks @spring fever for showing me)

This one came w/o hooks, though they do go on the top and that is where I installed them… I use it for bottom fish as well and top rigging is supposed to help reduce snags. I just clipped it on upside down in the heat of the moment.

 

[Salty338]

Wondering if anyone running the shimano flat fall jigs are ditching the assist hooks they come with for a single hook instead? If you are what hooks and size have you been using that seem to hold fish on the best and are you running it on a cord or swivel to split ring?
Trying to find potentially a better way than using the double assists.
Thanks

 

[RiverBoy]

it depends on the size of the flat falls as far as hook size is concerned. i had a big spring chew off one of my hooks so i bought new shimano flatfall hooks in the wrong size and it didn’t fish as well. The 160 gram flat falls come rigged with twin 5/0 hooks. The 200 gram hooks come rigged with 7/0 hooks. i put 7/0 on my 160 gram jig and was not fluttering the same. but i digress.

As you already know, they fall butt first so the hooks flutter up and over the back where they get bit. i just don’t see them working as effectively with a split ring and a single hook, but to be fair i also haven’t tried it.

Are you wanting to do this to minimize facial damage to shakers and whatnot? because i hear you there. the doubles are mean.

and by the way, since i’ve started slow pitch, i have never snagged myself, my boat, my clothes, as much. i have to be so much more careful than i used to

 

[Salty338]

Have a few goals with this and I've had some decent success with a few different variations.
1) Reduce possible damage to the fish of the second hook
2) Making fish easier to release given there is only one hook and minimize that second hook flopping around and getting me. lol

I don't go directly to a split ring. The two ways I have done this is by:
- Siwash open eye big river bait hook to a barrel swivel then to a split ring and to the jig. Allows the hook to rotate and flop around. 3/0 and 5/0 is what I've used here since they are not a short shank hook. This has been my most successful way.
- have also tried single 5/0 and 6/0 owners tied on a short assist cord to a steel ring and then split ring to jig. This also works but i didn't stay buttoned up as often.

I spent 4 weeks out there trying different things and the siwash is the best so far. The factory hooks that come are good but the assist cord to the hook is garbage and had numerous come apart on fish so I started rapping them tight with big fly thread and gluing them right out of the package before they ever touch the water. This got rid of the hooks coming off problem.

Still think the best option will be a good single that holds fish.

 

[acrowe]

I do think dual ends up with less fish getting off barbless hooks near the boat, but the dual assist hooks often end up causing much more injury to pretty much any fish you want to release. I have been going single hook on a similar cord, Ill try the single siwash and barrel swivel, to compare how well it stays hooked up.