Tilefish

[seaphase]

Anybody have any tips on jigging for tilefish?

[Sea Draggin]

I have done some over the past few months. Slow crawl your jig across the bottom. Sometimes a small cast away from the boat helps pull it from a different angle than the drift and that helps. Work your jigs like a jig and pig for bassing. And don't be afraid to tip it.

[paul708]

locate the fish.
we just droped to the bottom slight jigging action,
not really much movement.
lift a little drop back down.
maybe use a little piece of bait,

this worked great with these fish last year. even got a nice grouper.

i was using my tog rod 7'9" and a 7' tuna rod.
300-450g jigs

[seaphase]

were yall jigging for tilefish when yall caught that grouper?

[kilsong]

Golden tile can take jigs, but rarely. It is better to stay with baits if you want to catch them.

Blueline tiles are different. They are eager to hit jigs. You can catch them with jigs with bare hooks, but your catches are increased dramatically when you tip your hooks with strip of squid or Berkley Gulp.

Always bounce the bottom. if you don't feel the bottom on down swing of your rod, you are not in the zone.

[IN$UFI$HENT FUND$]

Kil i disagree we caught just as many fish on jigs as we did on bait last year just as long as you tip it with squid....... and we made over five trips to the edge just targeting goldens......

[kilsong]

Kil i disagree we caught just as many fish on jigs as we did on bait last year just as long as you tip it with squid....... and we made over five trips to the edge just targeting goldens......

Thanks. It really encourages me.
I have a golden tile trip as soon as we have good weather and I am going to try jigs again.

Here is my golden tile bait fishing tackle:

Tackles for golden tilefish

-reel
You don't need fancy reels for tilefish, but make sure you have enough line capacity on your reels. We fish from 400' to 800' and I suggest to have a least 350 yard line on your reel. Don't bring any reel with gear ratio under 4:1. It will kill you to crank from 600 plus ft whether you have a fish or not.

-rod
While you need a rod with enough backbone to fish deep with heavy sinker, you also need a sensitive rod to detect bites. If rods are too stout, they are no good. There is no problem to detect golden tile bites as the bites are not delicate, but you need to distinguish bites between golden tile and other small fishes like ling, rose, etc.
Rods rated to 40 - 80 lbs are recommended.


-line
You need braided line to get enough line on your reel as well as to detect bites easily in deep water. 50 lb braided line should work. However, I recommend to use 80 lbs or even 100 lbs leader line. Tilefish is not known as line shy and initial big head shake can break 50 lbs line.


-hooks
I suggest to use big circle hooks or semi circle hooks for them as golden tile can take big hooks while big hooks discourage smaller fish to take hooks. Wait until tile pool your rod hard and gently lift your rod or reel steadily to set the hook. Don't jerk your rod to set the hook when using circle hooks.

[DEEP DEFIANCE]

Kil i disagree we caught just as many fish on jigs as we did on bait last year just as long as you tip it with squid....... and we made over five trips to the edge just targeting goldens......

With A little more experience you can be A jigger one day!

[IN$UFI$HENT FUND$]

just because you had kil on your boat one day doesn't make you a pro either bud!

[DEEP DEFIANCE]

just because you had kil on your boat one day doesn't make you a pro either bud!

Whats your problem? the joke was issued toward Kil not toward you we have A standing relationship and joke around with each other quite often!
I have had the opportunity to have Kil on my boat dozens of times and I am by far no expert on jigging but will outfish and outcatch you anytime.We arent fishing for stripers now! Bud!

Mike Spinelli