Tuna jigging?

[SilverFly]

I'm going on an albacore fly-fishing charter in August and I'm bringing my Penn 320GTI/Tiger stik combo as a backup. So when I break my fly rod I was wondering if vertical jigging iron right below the boat would work if the boat is stationary (& would be a good way to stay clear of guys flycasting). If so, what are some good jigs and roughly how deep do you fish em? Any input is appreciated since this will be my first tuna trip and I dont want to come home empty handed.

Thanks.

[Mark Mc]

Megabait live jig.... 2.5 or 3.5 ounce.

Or Pt Wilson Dart.

Or blue / chrome sumo jig.

Typically 15 - 60 feet down.


They hit on the drop. When you notice the slightest pause on the drop, put in gear, wind like heck, and set the hook.

Gentle up/down fluttering motion; not a wild sword-fighting yank.

[Smoked Salmon]

Word of advice - Level wind reels have a wicked hard time dealing with the quick runs taken by tuna. You would do well to remove those couple of pieces before the trip, saving them aside to reinstall after.

[jigmaster]

What Mark said (Good plug for Rocky)...plus Dungeness Stingers or any flutter lure that imitates the bait the fish are feeding on..Slow rod swing up ...quick drop down..
For a reel...A good old fashioned Jigmaster 500 fills the bill...as long as you can use your thumb to guide the line on the reel
Works for almost all other fish too..especially feeding Salmon.

[wdlfbio]

You'll want something that can drop pretty fast, flutter, and have heavy enough hooks not to bend out. I'll often cast out, let it ountil I reach the end of my topshot (100 or so yards), then start jigging.

[skein]

Take a look at this video of a tuna boil, shot by our own Sublime. That's what you're looking for. Now all you have to do is slide the boat in nice and quiet, and throw your fly at 'em.

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthrea...96#post2078196

Also note the little splash of a lure just shy of a couple of those boils. Those are swimbaits being cast. Very, very effective -- and doable while the flyrodding is going on.

We would let the flyrods throw first, then cast the swimbaits at the boil, but out of the way of the flylines. Many multiple hookups resulted, with surprisingly few crossed lines, etc.

Oh, by the way, those are 20-25lb fish.

Skein

[cosmo]

If the fish aren't on the surface, your captain should be able to give their depth on the meter. Cast down drift and let the boat drift over the jig as it sinks to the desired depth, just a touch more than the captain says the fish are at. Rip/Crank, Rip/Crank, Rip/Crank the jig to the boat...short rip/one crank....move it fast...it'll take some time but you'll get smooth and efficient. Fish it all the way to the surface as the fish will chase it. You'll go to rip at some point and you'll meet a dead stop...fish on.

A big spinning reel is much easier to use than a casting reel.

Check out a European forum, caranx.net, there's an English speaking board dedicated to jigging.

[Coot22]

Butterfly Jigging...all the way to the bottom (or just below the fish) and start ripping it back up. Very effective!

[Mark Mc]

You guys are confusing the poor fellow.

Some jigs are more effective on the retrieve, vs the drop. And of course, it is a totally different technique.

The yo-yo jigs / technique works by letting the jig drop a long ways, and retrieving very fast. And you have mentioned the "rip / crank."

We have tried most methods while chasing tuna up here. What has worked more often than any other method, at least for us in our situations, has been to work the jig as you drop it. Note though that this has mostly been: (1) while chasing jumpers, or (2) there was a jumper but they are no longer visible on the surface, or, (3) we just stopped after a troll hookup.

Whether the jig is cast a short distence, lobbed out 10 feet, or just let straight down, it something like this:

freespool down 15 - 20 feet, but keep the belly out of the line - that way you can tell if there is a pause (jig was stopped). Keep in freespool, but just stop the spool with thumb, and make 1 - 3 gentle pumps of the rod (raising it 2 - 3 feet, maybe a little twitch at the top) so you let the jig flutter in the same zone. No bite? Let if freespool down another 10 feet; repeat. You might only feel the bite / take when lifting the rod. But with jigs like the Dart or the Megabait, they usually take it while it is fluttering down....and this is where you "see" the take, because your line went slack.

Some guys do very well hooking fish on the retrieve, with the other jigs & techniques. Whatever a guy is confident with.

I'm just pointing out that.....in the last few years, we've seen over & over again this situation where the fish WERE on the surface, but they went down, but they were still there just 20 - 40 feet down feeding. When they are in that zone, it seems this flutter drop has been deadly.

I'd like to spend more time targeting / experimenting with the deeper (100 - 200 foot) zone. I tried a few times with much larger (10 - 14 ounce) knife jigs down deep, but nothing yet.

I'd like to hear more specific ideas about working the knife jigs down deep.\

Good thread!

[Booja 1]

Head to the bow and stay there as you'll probably have it all to yourself. You'll be outta the other 5 guys' way as well.....Like what was said cast downhill either to the right or left of the pointy part of the boat depending on the drift, leave in freespool, hold your rod low maybe even resting it on the rail with the tip pointed to the water. If you feel anything unusual, be it a "tick", slack line or sometimes the line will start smoking off the reel, DO NOT SWING as you're outta gear (and bad things will happen) throw the reel into gear and crank until you can't crank anymore as quickly as you can, then swing when you come up tight. You're basically setting the hook with the reel when you are grinding all the slack out.

Heck if they have live bait onboard, forget this jig stuff, go straight to bait. Heck even put a bait on your broken fly rod.

go get em...............

[SilverFly]

Wow, ask and you shall recieve!

OK then, I won't be wasting my time dropping a jig over the side. One reason, besides having a backup plan, is I want to try out a homemade jig I was messing around with a few years ago for salmon. It flutters nicely on the fall and wobbles (violently) on the retrieve. I've had some nooks follow it (including a 40ish fish right to the driftboat!) and few silvers smack it, but they've thrown it as soon as they went airborne (not sure why they didn't stick).

Anyway thanks for the great feedback.

BTW, that video was torture to watch!!!

[jacksalmon]

My experience is with the Megabait Live Jig in the 2.5 and 3.5 oz. As Mark says, we have sometimes simply lobbed the jig 10 to 20 feet away from the boat and let it sink for another 10 to 20 feet and then stop it with the thumb on the spool. Jig up a few times while maintaining the thumb on the spool. If no action, then release the spool and let the jig fall another 10 to 20 feet and repeat. Sometimes, you have to let it fall several times until you reach their depth. This has been very effective when jumpers go down and then you can hook up immediately. Sometimes, we have just sat around for 10 minutes or so after the jumpers went down and hoped that they would reappear, which several times they did, just like trout which have been put down and then reappear. After 10 minutes, we just started lobbing the jigs as described above and caught fish. Other times after waiting, they did not reappear on the surface but could still be caught near the boat by jigging as described above.



Other times, fish were caught by letting the jigs simply free spool for as long as you want and then jig them up by picking up the rod so they move 2 to 3 feet upward a few times and then reel a few cranks until you have reached the surface. Try to figure out how far down you were when you hooked up, since the fish might be feeding at a certain depth, which allows you to probe that area again.

Of course, there is always the method of sneaking up on some jumpers and casting the jig as far as you can and then some and reel it back. It always seems to be more fun to hook up at long distance, at least for me.

[Reel Obsession]

Thanks for the clarification Mark.

[wdlfbio]

I threw a blue/white Salas 6X on the slide several times last year and did very well. But, there were times it didn't get hit, so I freespooled it back down until I hit my backing (about 100 yard topshot), as Mark Mc described. Gotta be very careful jigging in freespoll soas not to set the hook before putting it gear. But, the couple of times the jig made the 300' journey, I nailed fish with the jig and crank method, or once it made it about 1/2 back up, I'd drop it back down and got hit twice during those times. I wasn't paying any attention to the sonar, just killing time while the trolled fish were being landed. Can't say I recall a fish hitting it when in freespool though. Most the time, I felt the hit just as I went to jig it again. Kinda a very nice surprise

[fishwhenican]

Originally Posted by Mark Mc

You guys are confusing the poor fellow.

Some jigs are more effective on the retrieve, vs the drop. And of course, it is a totally different technique.

The yo-yo jigs / technique works by letting the jig drop a long ways, and retrieving very fast. And you have mentioned the "rip / crank."

We have tried most methods while chasing tuna up here. What has worked more often than any other method, at least for us in our situations, has been to work the jig as you drop it. Note though that this has mostly been: (1) while chasing jumpers, or (2) there was a jumper but they are no longer visible on the surface, or, (3) we just stopped after a troll hookup.

Whether the jig is cast a short distence, lobbed out 10 feet, or just let straight down, it something like this:

freespool down 15 - 20 feet, but keep the belly out of the line - that way you can tell if there is a pause (jig was stopped). Keep in freespool, but just stop the spool with thumb, and make 1 - 3 gentle pumps of the rod (raising it 2 - 3 feet, maybe a little twitch at the top) so you let the jig flutter in the same zone. No bite? Let if freespool down another 10 feet; repeat. You might only feel the bite / take when lifting the rod. But with jigs like the Dart or the Megabait, they usually take it while it is fluttering down....and this is where you "see" the take, because your line went slack.

Some guys do very well hooking fish on the retrieve, with the other jigs & techniques. Whatever a guy is confident with.

I'm just pointing out that.....in the last few years, we've seen over & over again this situation where the fish WERE on the surface, but they went down, but they were still there just 20 - 40 feet down feeding. When they are in that zone, it seems this flutter drop has been deadly.

I'd like to spend more time targeting / experimenting with the deeper (100 - 200 foot) zone. I tried a few times with much larger (10 - 14 ounce) knife jigs down deep, but nothing yet.

I'd like to hear more specific ideas about working the knife jigs down deep.\

Good thread!

I really like the Salas TLC chrome and blue. It is a smaller, short and fat jig. I hook about 50% on the drop and 50% on the retreive. I hook far more fish on a moderate retrieve that gives the jig a good "kick" vs a rip and crank retrieve (yo-yo) that works well for yellowtail.

[Zodiac-Fisherman]

The Sumo might be a heavier jig than the Salas..

The Salas is used in socal as a jig and a surface popper. Which is why its a lighter jig, almost feels like there is a hollow core in the middle.

Ive had good luck with the sumo in blue/chrome with glow n the dark tape on the backside.. Just remember to hold it up to the sun after each jig drop.
I like to keep my reel in freespool, drop the jig 20' at a time and jerk it a few times, repeat down to 200+' Same deal on the ascent..

Swimbaiting is more fun..

Livebait is funner.

I think spearfishing would be the ultimate experience... Provided that you had a bunch of bait onboard, jumpers are thick. circle a school, throw baits, spearo's in the middle of the chaos..

[Tuna Chaser]

I have had very good success throwing various types of jigs for Yellowfin and Albacore using the Salas 6X Jr. They are a little shorter and a bit heavier too. All the casting jigs names above will work as well. Just use what feels good to you. The usual colors of Blue/white, green/white, green/yellow or the same with chrome all work well. What I learned down south and in Mexico was to cast the jig at the fish if they were boiling, or as far as you can, let it sink for about 30 to 45 seconds, then point your rod at the point your line enters the water and crank as fast as you can. Keep this up until you're about half way back to the boat, then let it sink again for about 30 to 45 seconds again and start reeling as fast as you can. There is really no reason for the jigging motion on a fish that can swim at 50 miles an hour. It's my experence that the fast you can reel, the more strikes you will get. It's almost like trolling without the motor. This has worked for me on everything from Albacore to Wahoo. When you get a strike on a fast retreve like that, it almost jerks your arms out of socket, but it is fun.

[Mark Mc]

Bump, for the question asked on another post

[Tuna Dog]

Originally Posted by SilverFly

I'm going on an albacore fly-fishing charter in August and I'm bringing my Penn 320GTI/Tiger stik combo as a backup. So when I break my fly rod I was wondering if vertical jigging iron right below the boat would work if the boat is stationary (& would be a good way to stay clear of guys flycasting). If so, what are some good jigs and roughly how deep do you fish em? Any input is appreciated since this will be my first tuna trip and I dont want to come home empty handed.

Thanks.

Who are you going with...I have a fly fishing charter trip with some guys from Vanc. area.

Del

[SilverFly]

Originally Posted by Tuna Dog

Who are you going with...I have a fly fishing charter trip with some guys from Vanc. area.

Del

Red Sky Charter out of Hammond.