# Why not jig?



## Tom84 (Feb 21, 2012)

There's been one thing that I always think of with kayak fishing why does no one seem to use jigs or at least not say they do? Would it be a problem if the fish took being straight down?


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

You'd probably find many of us jig in one way or another. I jig with soft plastics where there are deep holes. Sometimes I get a hit straight away and other times I'm disappointed.

I think some of the snapper fisherman jig also.

When does jigging become a slow troll or drift fishing? I often drop a soft plastic down and just jig it up and down while the current moves me along. I do this both in freshwater and in the salt.


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## Couta101 (May 22, 2009)

I think the biggest issue with jigging is the fact the the waters we fish off shore are not really deep enough to effectively work the jig. We usually only end up fishing 15-20 m 25m if we are lucky. You probably could do it at that depth but you would need to find a bommie or pinnicale and use a fairly small jig 60-80 g. Any bigger and I think you would be waiting your time.

I wish there was deeper water closer in, I would be jigging my heart out....the takes are awesome!


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## Artie (Dec 19, 2011)

80gram jig, cant see a problem myself....


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## MrX (Feb 7, 2008)

Plenty of success on the big jigs up here off Sydney in 10m to 20m targeting kings. SBD, Avayak etc have had plenty of success in the summer.

Here's one:
http://www.akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=34591&p=363050&hilit=jig#p363050


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## bunsen (Jan 2, 2009)

Yeah, you just can't fish your drag settings on sunset like you do in a boat. Unless you like doing Eskimo rolls that is.


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## bunsen (Jan 2, 2009)

Hi tom, just noticed you have almost exactly twice as many posts as me!


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## Couta101 (May 22, 2009)

Seems you lot down south have a better response to shallow water jigging which is great very jealous

For all the jigging I've done between gold coast and noosa it's been nada for me....... :? Either I'm doing it wrong or the fish up here don't like to play with others ;-)


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

I would say jigs account for more of our kings than anything else.
I use from 90 to 250g jigs. The kings do go hard on jigs.
I don't think I've caught anything else on them except samson.


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## bunsen (Jan 2, 2009)

The old sergeant baker doesn't mind a jig either unfortunately.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

keza said:


> I would say jigs account for more of our kings than anything else.
> I use from 90 to 250g jigs. The kings do go hard on jigs.
> I don't think I've caught anything else on them except samson.


Kerry
How does the jigging compare to the downrigging of live or dead baits?

I am assuming you are using octa jigs, not stick jigs??

trev


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

Leaf or spike jigs Trev, not octa jigs.
Jigs work great in conjunction with a sounder. If you think it's a school of kings underneath you, you'll find out pretty quickly with a jig.
Bonito also hit a jig but kings go pretty hard when you jam a hook into the roof of their mouth at speed.
Downrigging I feel is a bit more for prospecting.
The days when we have hook 30 to 50 kings in a session are on jigs, it's fast and efficient but like all things, they wont always hit them, I think they need to be in feeding mode, where as they would probably take a live squid hungry or not.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

keza said:


> Leaf or spike jigs Trev, not octa jigs.
> Jigs work great in conjunction with a sounder. If you think it's a school of kings underneath you, you'll find out pretty quickly with a jig.
> Bonito also hit a jig but kings go pretty hard when you jam a hook into the roof of their mouth at speed.
> Downrigging I feel is a bit more for prospecting.
> The days when we have hook 30 to 50 kings in a session are on jigs, it's fast and efficient but like all things, they wont always hit them, I think they need to be in feeding mode, where as they would probably take a live squid hungry or not.


Ah, I see now Kerry. Spike jigs (Bought some a while ago off Craig450 (cause they were cheap - I had no idea what they were good for). I guess you need deep water, a sounder, and a stiff rod??)...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/River2sea-12 ... 53ed6e87de

So this is the style...? Maybe something a bit smaller though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... kNrP4&NR=1

Not going to be any good for Scarby at 6 metres max. Have to get onto the AI and head for deep water methinks.

trev


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## Artie (Dec 19, 2011)

That looks like such hard work...Ill stick to the flattys and Snap.... :shock:


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## kpac (Sep 27, 2011)

Artie - how nice is that snapper!!! sweet fish.


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## avayak (May 23, 2007)

Why not jig?
I used to think that you needed to have a boat or book on a charter to go jigging but it is quite do-able on a kayak and heaps of fun.
You need a couple of essentials though and the first is a sounder. Jigging is hard work and you don't wan't to waste your energy hammering dead territory.
The second is jig rod and a sturdy reel. I have a 5'8" jig rod with a 4500 Catalina spin reel. This combo can be used for live baiting as well. 
The jigging action is hard on gear as well as the angler and then there's the fish. Hookups often feel like you have snagged the bottom, then the bottom tries to drag you in.
A GPS is also handy for holding over the mark or setting up another drift over the school.








Watching the jig on the sounder saves snagging the jig on the reef. Colour change braid helps gauge the depth too.
Around Long Reef we jig in depths from 10m up to 30m, however deeper than 16m is ideal.
I prefer jig weights from 80g to 120g.








Leaf jigs have a slow fluttering decent so are the pick for shallow water. Knife jigs shoot down and suit the deeper stuff.
If you can get past the S. Bakers then there are plenty of kings, sampsons, amberjack and bonito more than willing to crawl over each other to nail a jig.
















Trevor, livebaiting will probably still get the bigger fish but a word of advice...


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## MrX (Feb 7, 2008)

Too good a post to pass by without comment, Garry.


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