Jigging Q & A - Lets get started

[Sea Draggin]

Ok, gas is 5.00/gal this weekend and you can only buy 10 gals at a time...........SO LETS DO THIS THING!!!!!

I would like to open the floor for questions. I don't pretend that I alone will know all the answers, but between Whitelakebuck, Kilsong(although I think he is fishing), Gman and many of the others with some days under their belts, we may be able to help you with a sticky point or three.

I'm not going anywhere until 8:00am Monday, so ask away.

Who wants to talk jigging?

[Caveman Sportfishing]

As the inshore bluefin season down our way off Cape May starts to wind down I wanted to thank those that contributed all the great information on this forum. I had the opportunity to see firsthand hundreds of bluefin caught or in most cases released on many various jigs and different rod and reels combinations. At least 90% of the tuna were in the 115-150 lb range this past summer and a few were up in 69-75 inches and close too or over 200 lbs. We had on board those that were dedicated jigging pros but most were just getting started jigging for tuna and many caught their first tuna on a jig this past summer. It really was an enjoyable experience for me as well as our customers to experience the raw power of a 125 lb bluefin eat a jig on the drop and sometimes only 30 feet below the surface. Recently I have been asked by quite by quite a few of our charter customer that are considering purchasing this winter their own jigging equipment that will handle tuna in the 125-200 lb range next summer. Some have their own private boats now but in past years they used to charter with us and we have continued to keep in contact with them and others are customers that really enjoyed the experience of fighting a big tuna on gear much lighter than 50-80 class stand-up gear or in a chair as this is how they did it in the past when trolling or chunking tuna over 100 lbs. For most that fish with us it really is new way to fish and jigging is quickly developing quite a following by our customer base and others. Many will never totally discard chunking or trolling overall as they do not want to jig for hours on end to waiting for a bite to happen but when things turn on they would like to have their own gear capable of handling the bigger tuna without long drawn out fights. The big advantage our customers found is they could get bites using jigs with 80 lb. leader but when chunking sardines and butterfish they often had to drop down to 30-50 lb leader once the sun came up or there were lots of boat traffic to get a bite which resulted with almost all the fish breaking off or long drawn out fights which probably was not good for the fish as most were released. The issue that really is talked frequently among my contacts is what is the best type of boat for jigging or chunking offshore. I personally think the center console style boats are superior as you can follow the fish around the anchor and boat compared to a big sport fisherman like we have. The big downside is when running to the a place like the Claw from Cape May the center console guys have had their butts kicked big time once a few miles offshore and more than once turned around while our passengers were sound asleep down in our bunks enjoying a nap at 3:00 am on the way to the tuna grounds. Once you arrive then I think the center consoles are the way to go but this falls into the each and their own category plus what your budget can afford. I do believe your chances are much better fishing from a center console to land a big tuna than in a traditional large sport fisherman like ours but not everyone wants to go 60 plus miles offshore in an open boat and a bean bag chair but that is the choices anglers have these days and that is good thing overall. Along with choosing the right rod and reel I would like to see more jigging seminars down in South Jersey, DE and MD and maybe even in the great Philly area during the winter or early spring. I also would like the manufactures from based in Japan or elsewhere to change the way they designate equipment to the English system of lbs rather than metric. I have had numerous customers tell me they do not understand what the rating are when in metric and it would be somewhat easier for them to pick out new equipment. An example would be a rod rated at 400g-450g might be the right choice larger canyon yellowfins and bluefins up to 80-100 lbs but might not for tuna over 125 lb. This is just an example but overall I feel there should be more information available to help anglers decide which jigs, poppers, line, reels and rods will fit the type of fishing they plan on doing. Most all of our customers are not familiar with the metric system and it causes some confusion. The bottom line in my opinion is that this site provides in depth information that cannot be found in too many places these days and thankful to all those that contribute.
Regards
Capt John Sowerby
Owner of the charter boat Hooked Up II out of Cape May, NJ

[paul708]

Capt John
great writeup
the boat is extremly comfortable
and the jigging was pretty good this year so far.

i hope we get to see more jigging seminars.

i did one for the penn-jersey guys earilier this year
and have had 2 other "get togethers" at my place
i plan to do more in the future..


penn-jersey
JIGGING SEMINAR

[Sea Draggin]

Dang John,
Thats a long paragraph


I know somebody has to have a basic question that they want answered.

[ty2philly]

Capt. John,

Excellent post.

I have really taken on to this new jigging style. I find it to be very exciting and it's systematic approach easier to follow when selecting gear.

Your point about the measurement system Metric vs. English is a good one. However, it would seem a unified system of measurement for gear would allow everyone to get the latest and greatest, instead of regions being a few generations behind in equipment because of the additional cost of marketing material.

Thankfully we have some US companies focusing on providing Jigging equipment (OTI, Eastern Tackle, Accurate, etc).

Ty

[fishduck]

Nice post Capt. John.

Another thing we can talk about is how some of these jigs cost $30 and some are $10. I have tried a few high end and a few low end jigs with good results from both. I plan to try alot more but will focus on less expensive jigs.
How do you all feel high or low dollar.

Michael

[Jiggin Junkie]

I found some on ebay that are around 5.50 rigged and they seem to work as well as the shimano at 29.00 rigged. To me it is a no brainer.

[paul708]

ya never know which one will work
but alot of the time the hammered diamond jigs and cheaper jigs work very well

[gman]

it depends on the fish and the feeding pattern at the time. If the fish are feeding aggressively on the jig they will bite anything. I feel the better jigs work better in times when the bite isn't that hot.

Its the same thing with color on our last trip anything orange got inhaled but greens got ignored.

[Sea Draggin]

Jig cost is determined by a few things and I will try to outline this for you:

Distribution: Any consumer product, doesn't matter if its Jigs or Jaguars or Tupperware, has a price structure that works like this.

Manufacturer pays $X landed cost for a product - that is the cost to manufacturer it and get it to its destination country.
Then the manufacturer adds their profit margin - which is normally small and based on doing a large volume.
Then there are distributors that add $X to the product and will sell to retailers.
Retail margins are normally 40-50%. They have to be to cover wages and overhead.

Design/Branding: A great design or having a design patent can add value to a product. A brand identity can also add a perceived value.

Materials: Jigs are metal and I have gotten a crash course in Metals since starting Eastern Tackle. Jigs can be solid soft lead (cheapest), solid hard lead (next step up), Bi-metal, Tri-metal.
Tri-metal is the highest quality. It is a blend of lead, silver for smoothness and antimony for hardness. A good jig will have 10% antimony. All the jigs I am ordering right now for release in December for '09 have 15%.

Weight The more material used to make a jig, the more it costs to make. A 200g jig will be less expensive than a 400g jig.


So in summary, there can be a difference in jig materials that will affect price. A tri-metal jig costs twice as much to make as a hard lead jig. Shipping is the same to the US. Then distribution channels can impact cost once landed. Then there is the old economics demand curve that can impact the retail price.

???? Is a $5 dollar jig the same as a $40 jig. Probably not. The finish is probably not as good. Probably the $5 jig is lead only and the better jig is tri-metal. However, I personally have never seen a jig that I felt was worth $40 and I have seen boxes full of samples from all over the world this year. I received samples from two different suppliers last week and I didn't feel like either one was better than what I was currently offering, although one was as hard as I have ever seen.

Most guys that are seasoned, jig because they love it. The want the best rods (which does make a big difference), they want the best reels ( which enhances the fisherman interaction with the rod ) its the point of contact. Along the same lines, they want good jigs. I myself could charge twice as much for my product when I move to 15% antimony, but it was not the position I chose to take in the market.