NE Canyon Tuna Jigging weights??

[John from Madison CT]

When we jig in the NEast Canyons at night, it almost always means we have 3 chunk rods out and probably one Sword rod down deep. As a result, there isn't much free "water" to jig around the boat. The only way it really works is to have the jig as vertical as possible. Too much scoping and I'm into one of the 4-5 other lines.

IMO, it depends on current, wind, are we tied to a ball, etc etc....but we usally don't go lighter than 10oz..

[kilsong]

Tuna rods are like car. You can drive home on a truck or on a benz or BMW. but driving condition on trcuk and on a BMW can not be the same.
I used to use cheap Ugly Stik for fluking and I used to outfish with it most guys who use fancy, expensive rods.
My suggestion is to start tuna jigging with what you have before you spend lots of money. For beginners, I don't recommend JM Power Spell and ask them to start with rods with reasonable prices. Like a golfer, once they get the feeling, they eventually appreciate high quality golf club and don't mind spending for them.

Nowadays, there are good quality rods coming from China with good prices. You see there are several models by different companies, but they usually come from the same manufacturer in China with some modifications.
I tested some of them and I feel they can do the job.

Some models are more expensive as they use SIC guides. SIC guides are not mandatory, but is preferred as we use mostly braided lines for jigging.

I think the turning point of East Coast tuna jigging was when we had great bluefin run around Bacardi wreck about 20 years ago. We used jigs for tuna before, but tuna jigging became popularized after the great run of bluefin that year.
At that time most guys used bigger jigs like Viking jigs or diamond jigs in 12 - 16 oz believing they needed bigger jigs as many bluefin were over 200 bls.
Since then tuna jig fishermen started to discover smaller jigs in 6 - 10 oz got more hit. Nowadays most serious tuna jig fishermen on the East Coast don't use jig over 10 oz as striper101 stated. Capt Timmy and Capt Paul of the Clean Sweep is not new to tuna fishing.

I was very curious as we use bigger bait for bigger fish.
My theory is it is harder to fool tuna with bigger jigs.
When I fished cow on a long rage boat out of San Diego, I found they use heavy, big 16 oz jigs with 50W believing big jig for big tuna. I think that will be changed in the near future.

Tuna jigging is so simple and easy, any biginners can outfish seasoned tuna jig fishermen anytime, any place.
Don't get intimitated when you started tuna jigging. However, if you want to be a successful tuna jig fisherman on a consistant basis, you got to be determind to jig no matter what. Once bait bites are going strong, most guys give up jigging. Sometimes tuna just ignore jigs, but they can not ignore jigs forever. Eventually they turn on on jigs. You got to jig non-stop as you never know when they turn on and the turn-on period usually don't last long.

[Taz575]

Well, I got some more work done on the rod that started this topic! Some may remember it was an OOPS from Fed Ex; 10" of the rear got crushed during shipping, so I got to keep this blank and got a free replacement! It started as a Calstar Grafighter 800H, now it's 6'6", trimmed from the butt.

First pic gives idea of size overall, 6'6" long. 14" rear grip, gimbal not attached, Fuji PSS reel seat, 10" foregrip, tapered. With the reel on and the guides taped on, but no aluminum Gimbal, it balances at the reel seat nut with the Saltist 40 on it, all spooled up!


I've had some good luck using a SiN2 of SiC of this style as a stripper right at the end of the foregrip to keep the line off of the foregrip to give the hand clearance. I hope to get out fishing and see how the setup works! On my other Vertical Jigging rods I made, I had issues with the line clearing the foregrips. This will hopefully solve them!


I taped on the guides and was pulling around 20-22# of drag with my Saltist before the scale broke I will get a new scale and try some more pics soon! I went downstairs and then snapped my mono pulling on a dumbell that was on the floor. I think it was 50# mono, not sure though. The reel was on a loander Cod Rod and someone put a mono top shot on since it was a party boat.

It will cast a 1oz OK, I haven't had a chance to test out other weights and see how the blank flexes with other weights yet, I'm hoping this weekend or next week!