Salmon Marabou Jigs in Tidewater

[First Bite]

I recently spent some time in tidewater field testing some Owner 5/0 salt water jig hooks. On of my favorite color patterns for fall chinook is a mix of different shades of pink marabou palmered together to create a ball of color in the water.

The jig is called "The Quad".






So I'm armed with several of my salmon marabou jigs tied on beefy 5/0 salt water hooks. My leader is 40-pound maxima and I'm ready to rock and roll. The weather is perfect and the fish are rolling.







Patience is a virtue as it took many hours on the water before I hooked and landed my first chinook. It was a chrome buck mid 20's that tested my gear pulling me off anchor at one point as I was trying to stop him from wrapping himself around some pilings. After two more hard runs I finally brought him to the net. The buck was just absolutely mint bright and carrying lots of sea lice. He took the jig tipped with a sand shrimp tail.





The next day I was in the same spot when I had just tied on a fresh jig. The marabou feathers take a while to absorb water completely so I let this jig soak in the water for a minute before giving it a few squeezes making sure the feathers were immersed. No wonder fish take these jigs...in the water the palmered marabou jig looks like it's alive and moves with the slightest current. Not even five minutes after I tied on the jig I had a bobber down. The float twitched and slowly slipped under. I reeled down...felt the weight...and set the hook. Holy **** did this fish come to life. She was peeling off line like crazy. I had over 150 yards of main line and needed every bit of it. This fish was on fire and made me glad I was using 40# leader. Several minutes later I landed the fresh from the salt hen. She was around 20-pounds and the toughest fish I've landed that size.

Field testing will continue...