By Capt. Ken Roy
In south Florida, deep jigging is practiced more
than elsewhere in the state. Lots of those guys use a rod about seven
feet long with a very short butt. Darned if I understand the short
butt. My jigging rod is six and a half feet long with a 14" butt and
is very stiff. I jig with the rod butt under my arm because it works
for me. It is much less tiring this way. I move the rod butt to my gut
when fighting a fish.
I use the smallest Penn Jig Master with a Newell
kit. This is a high speed reel, something I never use for other forms
of bottom fishing. I have recently switched to 50# super braid rather
than 30# mono.
I have a theory about Jigs and jigging. (ya'll all
know about theories) I use the lightest Jig that will work with
current speed, wind, and drift. That eliminates all jigs that flutter
on the way down and those dressed with plastic tails, chunks of cut
bait, or those baited with Ballyhoo, Cigar Minnows or Bonita Strip.
Lighter jigs require less jigging effort.
A sparsely dressed jig of the same weight as others
gets down faster every time. A perfectly streamlined head drops
fastest. Visualize a falling water droplet. As it falls, it achieves
perfect aerodynamic properties. The jig I use is tear drop shaped in
profile. This particular jig is easier to fish than others because the
slim upper surface of the head and fine skirt presents little drag
while jigging or retrieving. It has a very sparse, fine cut Mylar
skirt with lots of flash. White, yellow, chartreuse and hot orange are
favorite colors. All of my jigs have eyes. Jigs dressed with nylon,
hair, or feathers work well too.
I don't add bait because it slows sink and causes
drag. Possibly a small chunk of Fishbites would add further enticement
but it might also encourage Triggerfish to eat the skirt off faster.
How? For Grouper, I let my jig hit bottom, bounce it
2 or 3 times then raise the rod sharply, stop as I take up slack then
come on up about 3 more strokes then allow it to fall back to the
bottom and repeat. As the jig falls, I keep a tiny amount of thumb
pressure that slows the descent a little but also allows me to feel
bites that come on the drop. The jig needs to be as close to straight
down as possible or you will loose lots of fish that you cannot turn
or move fast enough to prevent them from rocking up. The streamlined
lure and the high speed reel makes re positioning your jig a heck of a
lot easier and faster too.
