THE Ultimate Jig

[SeaBiscuit]

As most of you know, jigging is spreading through the fishing world like wildfire. Nothing can match the feeling of a big fish eating your metal while you are holding the rod. Folks have been catching fish jigging for as long as there has been fishing. The earliest lures where jigs and feathers.
Jigging has saved many a charter fishing trip when the fish were marking deep but not rising to the trolled baits. Captain Jay has already proven that theory several times this spring.

This wonderful and exciting method of fishing was almost extinct, until Shimano decided to "create" a market a few years ago with the butterfly jigging concept. Special jigs, rods & reels have been developing at a crazy pace lately and at profit margins never before thought possible in this industry. The market power of novelty at full bloom!

Being that I find money on the streets all the time, I have done my share to perpetuate this market boom. Hell I even fed some of them $ 20 work of art butterfly jigs to lizzardfish, jacks, groupers, snappers, mackerels and even sharks! Oh how it hurt every time a gag got to a rock before I could turn him with my "buggy whip" jigging rod! Toothy bastards slicing through my leader and stealing my shiny lures only to later suffer heavy metal poisoning, never made me happy.

Here's the scoop: lures catch people, PEOPLE!
Over the years before the jigging revolution, my partner Slip Sliding and have caught thousands of fish on jigs. We mostly used heavy plugging tackle and good ole 2 dollar stingsilvers from NC's own Haw River tackle company. Every fish imaginable ate them things and when one was lost, we just tied on another one. No big deal!

Just like the ole reliable car we all trade in for the latest lemon, or that sweet girlfriend we dawged for the "sexy" girl, so did the old stingsilvers get banished to the bottom of the tackle box when the new beauties came out. Thankfully, sometimes in life we get the chance to come full circle. And so we have.

A couple of weeks ago Slip and I snuck out on a less than ideal evening to catch some dinner. Seeing that the sharks were thick everywhere, the old stingsilver jiggs got the call. And they delivered:





That is a WALMART special 2 dollar, 2 oz stinsilver hanging from our dinner's mouths.

Lesson of the day: Old reliable is often underrated.

Cheers,
SeaBiscuit

[Bite Me]

Well said Nick.
As you know the staple of the NC charter spread for tuna are Seawitches, generaly hand tied at about 70 cents each. For Whites and sails NAKED hoos. immagine that, naked.
Nothing against the lure guys cause anyone that has ever fished my boat knows how embarassing it is to see the thousands of dollars worth of the pretty stuff that's stored in my lockers. It's nice to break it out once in a while caiuse it sure looks nice but.......
Anyway, anyone that knows you two also knows you two can catch Grouper using some old flip tops from a beer can and a string.

[paul708]

great post, the art of jigging has been around forever, jigging cod and bucktail jigging freshwater fish has always worked well
the hammered diamond jig is a very popular jig up here, they work very well

i still jig (the action) with just a weight and bait when fishing, works great
the equiptment has improved , which makes it a little easier or more fun
i dont think it matters if you use the latest and greatest stuff, or if you use the 20 year old gear

just that guys use jigging as another way to have fun while fishing

[slip slidin]

Nothing wrong with a good ole stingsilver. As mentioned, we have caught quite a few critters on them. No disrespect to the folks who are coming up with new and creative jigs. They are great too and serve their purpose. It is a fun way to catch em. I know the captains in Florida have been jigging for a long time with some impressive results. There are many jigs on the market and ,if you are where the fish are, I don't think that too many critters would pass them up when dangled in front of their face. The stingsilvers, in many different shapes and sizes, have helped us put a fish or two on the deck. You can always replace the split ring and hooks if necessary. It doesn't hurt the pocket too bad when one is lost. No affiliation with Stingsilver. Just like to use em to catch an occasional fish.

[mikelpl]

So many times in life when we find something that works we quit using it......for the latest and greatest....To later find out that it is no better than what we were already using.

[Squidnation]

Great stuff nick. I think I told you about my trip two china to years ago. There were probably 400 booths at the show 300 of them were selling their jig version.

I have saved the day a few times striper fishing with jigs. And its incredible how productive they are at the CBBT.

Judging by what I saw at the show and the words I heard about this years show just wait until you see what's coming. But is hard to beat a diamond jig, bucktail and a bass assassin.

I also think the biggest aid to jigging is the new light weight rods and high retrieve reels that have come out recently.

Spencer here on the board had us jigging on overnighters as long ass 12 years ago but it was hell doing it with 50w internationals.

[gottaflylee]

I would love to have a dollar for every fish I have taken on a "Sting Silver"...
Yep, the ole Sting silver and the Hoppkins have been staples for me for a lot of years...back when rods were all fiberglass and mono was all new and we were debating mono and Dacron, now it's braid.
Believe it or not I have even taken Sails on a "Hoppkins...

For all you trapped by cold folks...Here is a 18 pound Warsaw taken on 12 pound test back in 01 when we were jigging for Black Sea Bass with a "Sting Silver"




Here are some of my staples before the Shimano butterfly craze started.

[gottaflylee]

Just remembered one more thing...knife handles have also taken many of fish for me back in the day...they make a great jig...

[SeaPro238]

This "new" jigging craze has got me thinking. 30 yrs ago growing up in Miami, I jigged up loads of AJs, grouper, snapper, bf tuna and wahoo using big bucktails and spoons. I still use the old cheap standbys, ungrade the hooks on em and let em drop. Deep jigging has always been a go to method on wrecks, ledges, etc in South Fl.

[shoefish]

Very cool thread Biscoto, and I agree that there are few better feelings then when your jig gets slammed by a pig. Jigging has always been a staple for the bottom fishing up here in NE, and many countless fish have fallen to diamond and norwegian jigs over the years.

So basic are the requirements for jigging, that on many of my "off the beaten path" trips on pangas and such, I seem to always find myself fishing with a local who has nothing more than a simple metal jig and a hand line...drop it over the side and jig it with your hand...it doesn't get any easier than that. Well I'll start out with butterflies, knife jigs, throw pretty much everything at the fish, but usually end up finally catching them on the simplest metals there are.

I love the new lightweight rods and reels, spectra, and expensive jigs...but are they a necessity? Nope. Sometimes I forget that. Thanks for the reminder not to overlook the things that have stood the test of time.

By the way Lee, I love those Maria jigs