Nearshore Jigging 101 - What, When, Where, and How?

[WhiteLakeBuc]

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The following write up is based off Onslow Bay in North Carolina. Things will vary from time to time and place to place. I hope this info will be useful to those small boaters, like me, out there.





Offshore jigging is fun. It is addictive and everyone knows the sick results that it can produce. But what about nearshore jigging? Nearshore jigging can produce some oustanding catches as well. So let's go over a few things.

Nearshore - Although the definition of "nearshore" may vary from person to person for the purposes of this thread, I am going to define nearshore as less than 20 miles and less than 90 feet of water. This range is where alot of people fish that don't have the boats or opportunity to run out to the stream.

Tackle - I generally use 2 different setups for nearshore jigging:

SETUP 1 - 7 ft medium or heavy, fast action, line rating from 8 to 15 lb rod, with a Daiwa Tierra spinner 2500 or 3000 size loaded with 15 lb powerpro with 30lb flourocarbon leader. This is the same setup many people use to drum/trout fish with inshore. This setup is used for flounder, grey trout, red drum, spanish mackerel, small kings, bonito, false albacore, black sea bass, bluefish, etc.

SETUP 2- I use my 220 gram riley rod and a daiwa saltiga 4500 spinner with PE4 and 80lb leader. I use this setup for grouper, AJ, larger kings, mahi, cobia, etc.

Lures - My absolute favorite nearshore jig is a 2 oz crippled herring. Along with a 1.5 oz diamond jig, maria jigs, and hopkins. Dependent upon the situation I usually use silver but you do need to have gold and I use gold alot as well. Bucktails in 2 oz usually all white or a combination of white and chartruese, white and pink, etc. I use these lures with SETUP 1 and use them for the species listed there. With SETUP 2 is use 160 gram Eastern Tackle katana in potroast and pigroast, along with theBluewater Candy Roscoe or Smith Dunkshot, and Hot's driftune in 100 and 160 gram in sardine color. I also use stingsilvers, 5 oz crippled herrings, and larger diamond jigs as well. These lures I target the species associated with SETUP 2 above.

* - I USE TAIL HOOKS FOR EVERYTHING EXCEPT AJ. NO ASSIST HOOK.

Electronics - Above all, good electronics are the most important thing to nearshore jigging. You will need to learn what different bottom compositions look like on the screen. The different live bottom types, reef balls on the AR's, etc. I use a Raymarine with DSM and have the screen split with one half on bottom zoom. Other good finders are the Furuno series with digital processing and some of the Lowrance units. Make sure your transducer is tuned correctly and will read running at high speeds.

What-Where-When and How - Now that we have briefly covered some of the basic stuff. Let's get into some specifics about the different species and how to get' em.

FLOUNDER - SETUP 1 - Flounder can be caught jigging every month of the year off NC. Flounder spawning and migration patterns are very predictable. In the winter, flounder go offshore and spawn in warmer and deeper waters. Many of the places people fish for gag grouper on will hold flounder in the winter. During the spring, flounder will move back to the beach as the water warms and when June arrives, your best flounder spots will be from 30 to 50 feet of water 1 to 5 miles out. These fish will stay here until the nearshore waters cool in the fall and they move back offshore to spawn. The technique for jigging flounder is simple. Use a bucktail and put a small piece of gulp on the hook. Snatch the bucktail off the bottom about 1 to 2 feet and let is fall back to the bottom on a slack line. Smaller ledges, live bottoms, and AR's are GREAT places to fish. Bounce around to different areas until you find the flounder because once you find them they will be stacked up.

Flounder caught in the winter in 90 feet of water in the winter:





Flounder caught in the summer in summer 30 to 50 feet of water:




GREY TROUT - SETUP 1 - Late August, grey trout move into the live bottoms and AR's off Onslow Bay.These fish are not finicky and will usually let you know very quick if they are there or not. These fish love to school so if you catch one be sure and pound that area because there will be more around. It is not uncommmon to catch have 100 fish days for grey trout in September and October. I like to use the crippled herring and diamond jigs in 1 to 2 oz. Along live bottom and AR's in 30 to 45 feet of water from mid August to late November. Some will be around during the winter and early spring as well. Check your spots a little deeper. The technique for grey trout is hopping jigs off the bottom.

Grey Trout:







GAG GROUPER - SETUP 2 - Gag grouper can be caught jigging in Onslow Bay 12 months a year with peak season late summer to the first of January. I have caught keeper gags jigging as close as 3 miles but if I am targeting gags I will concentrate in the 55 to 90 foot depth range. Gags will hold on any structure that will hold bait. Live bottoms, ledges, etc. I don't like fishing wrecks that much because I don't like loosing tackle or having to anchor but gags will be on the AR's and wrecks also. Jig Bluewater Candy Roscoe, 100 and 160 drift tune, small diamond jigs and crippled herrings will all work. My favorite is the Maria Lures Viva Parade in CR color. Small jigs are key to nearshore grouper. The technique is simple. Keep your jig vertical and snatch it off the bottom letting it fall on a slack line. 99% of the bites come when the jig is falling. You will see that most of the grouper you will catch will be in the first 3 drops you make. Don't be scared to try a bunch of different places until you find the action.

Gag Grouper jigging results:

Notice the beach in the background on this one








ATLANTIC BONITO (Sarda sarda) - SETUP 1 - The bones show up along the nearshore structure late March/early April to spawn and will stay around until the water temp gets to 70 degrees then they leave usually by the first of May. Going out in the early morning and late afternoon you can cast to fish busting chasing bait. During the day, you can jig and it will produce AWESOME results. The technique here is quite unique. Most of your bonito bites will occur as the jig is falling. Therefore, make a long cast over structure or bait and let the jig free fall down 20 feet then rip it back to the surface and let it fall again. This technique is super deadly for bonito but also works well on spanish mackerel, king mackerel and false albacore. Because the bonito are here to spawn, they will usually show up at the same places year after year. Diver's rock is a good spot to try.

Bonito jigging results:















SPANISH MACKEREL - SETUP 1 - Spanish Mackerel can be caught nearshore in Onslow Bay from late April to the first of November. Casting to fish busting is fun, but jigging over the live bottom areas and AR's will fill your box up in a hurry and jigging usually produces larger fish than trolling or sight casting. To jig spanish I use two different methods. 1st method is the one mentioned above in the write up on bonito. The 2nd method is to make a long cast with a diamond jig or crippled herring (gotcha plug too). Let the jig free fall to the bottom on a slack line then rip the jig back to the boat just like you would doing the Japanese crank jerk style. In the summer, you will want to downsize your jigs because the larger spanish will get finicky. Another awesome method is to use a gold hook rig. Have 6 single gold hooks fashioned on you line like a "mackerel tree" with a single diamond jig at the bottom. Drift over your live bottoms and AR's jigging within a few feet of the bottom and hold on!

Spanish Mackerel jigging results:





KING MACKEREL - SETUP 1 small - SETUP 2 for big. Nothing new here. Follow the same outline laid out about for spanish mackerel. Use larger jigs with a single tail hook and concentrate around live bottoms holding cigar minnows and spanish sardines. Kings can be caught nearshore in Onslow Bay from late April through the first of December.


King Mackerel jigging results:











COBIA - SETUP 2 - Most of my nearshore cobia have been caught while I was flounder jigging on the bottom with a bucktail. Another deadly method for jigging cobia is to jig just under the massive schools of cigar minnows and spanish sardines. Ever been out to the AR and see the massive schools of bait hovering around the buoy? Drop down a katana just below the bait ball, mid water column, and see what happens. Cobia love shadows, you see them around buoys, turtles, skates, etc. but they will STACK UP under those large bait balls.

Cobia jigging results:









BLACK SEA BASS - SETUP 1 - No brainer here. Take some smaller jigs and bucktails along any AR or live bottom area and jig on the bottom. Black sea bass can be caught nearshore in Onslow bay 12 months a year with the peak being late winter to late spring.

BLUEFISH - SETUP 1 - No brainer again. Take some smaller jigs along any AR or live bottom area and jig on the bottom or mid water. Where ever you mark fish. Bluefish can be caught nearshore in Onslow bay from March through mid December.

FALSE ALBACORE - (Euthynnus alletteratus) - SETUP 1 - False Albacore can be caught almost every month nearshore within Onslow Bay. Peak season is late August through December. These fish are after one thing and that is glass minnows. Most of the time they will be up on top chasing bait but during mid day hours or times that no surface activity is present, apply the same technique written above in the bonito write up.

False Albacore:







RED DRUM - SETUP 1 small - SETUP 2 for big - Red drum will stack up along nearshore live bottom areas and AR's beginning in late August through mid-November. Then they will stack up in the surf zone or the big ones will migrate offshore to winter. Red drum are a bit harder to locate and you will have to cover lots of ground and area to get them, BUT once you do, most of the time, they will eagerly bite your offering and put up one hell of a fight on light tackle. Many times they mix in with the grey trout. Red drum will take bucktails or metal jigs. They don't seem particular or hard to catch when you find 'em.

Red Drum:





AMBERJACK - SETUP 2 - No need in getting into detail here. I do have one tip for nearshore guys looking to get into some jacks. If you are on an area thick in jacks and they don't want to bite. Go extreme in your jig size. REAL BIG or real small and fish just as fast as you can. My largest nearshore AJ was only 3 miles out and was 70 lbs during August. AJ will come close to shore without a doubt.


NEARSHORE WILDCARDS







NEARSHORE JIGGING MIXED BAGS:









*TIPS*

* - Stay on the move until you find the fish then pound them
* - If you don't have spots marked, do your research and go find stuff. Take a whole day and go mark new spots, it will PAY HUGE DIVIDENDS later to explore.
* - Don't be afraid to try the smallest little scratch of bait that you mark
* - Research, Research, and then do a little more research.

Hope this helps out some of the guys with smaller boats like myself. There is ALOT of jigging opportunity right outside the inlet!

Good Luck!

[SeaBiscuit]

What a wonderful tutorial! Thanks Pete.
There is no magazine published info that even comes close to being as thorough as this workshop folks. Study up and you will, no doubt, improve your nearshore game.
SeaBiscuit

[NoExcuses]

Glad to see your down time from the perpetual wind we have had this year has been productive. Outstanding write-up, chock full of good info. It is good for anglers to know about all the opportunities our NC Coast offers and that you do not have to be running to the Stream every time to drop a jig.

Nice work!

[TBaker]

Thanks for the great info, Pete! Good stuff. Truly an amazing fishery you guys have down there, nearshore and offshore!

BTW, couldn't agree more on the crippled herrings. Up here off NJ use the 1 - 2 oz. Inshore they catch EVERYTHING! In fact, in late fall when the false albacore are feeding on tiny rainfish, we drop down to the 1/2 oz. Absolutely deadly!

[paul708]

nice writeup.
good pics.
this should help some guys out.

[gman]

excellent write up my friend, obviously written from a huge amount of knowledge and fish killing expertise. Thanks for taking the time to post and share your knowledge

[DEEP DEFIANCE]

Really enjoyed it!

[masonboro]

Pete, Thank's for the very informative post!I have read the post twice now and am soaking it all up.
Thank's again for the info and I know you have spent a lot of time and effort into jigging and are excellent jig fisherman!!
Does Steve "Di-Hrd" still fish,or does he work all the time
David

[RWW]

great post thanks for putting it up

[slip slidin]

Great write up and pics Capt Pete. Great info from someone with plenty of local knowledge. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.