CHOICE OF JIGS

 

ALL RIGHT, YOU GUYS. Call off the dogs - I'll go quietly.

There's no other option these days. When I first tried deep jigs, about five years back, I lost so many lures so fast I backed off. But there I was, this last Sunday morning, squatting on the living room floor and spending a few hours to knock up a rod which, while it might cast in some fashion, is aimed straight at heavy-duty work with jigs — but on 30 lb line. There are people about who are said to use less than half that size line on their deep jigging, but I suspect most of this type of publicity is still put out by people who make or sell jigs.

 

The definition of a jig, and even of jigging as a technique, is getting pretty fuzzy round the edges. Lures which lend themselves to straight up and down fishing are the classical type, but you find in practice a lot of others can be improvised. Not a few of the crop can be used for casting, trolling or even enlivened with bait, and jigging needn't be purely vertical — though it's cheaper that way.

 

It's open to doubt whether the famous workhorse "Smith jigs" would even qualify with the present generation of purists, though to date nobody has queried Mr. Smith on the reason for so calling his troll lures.

Most of what is new with jigs is only icing on the cake — mere froth and bubble. There is nothing new in the idea. Like most ideas in fishing, jigging has a very long history. And a long reach.

 

Victorians have been jigging for redfin with their fabled "redfin bobber" for years, and that same inexpensive lure has proved to have wider applications in salt water. The twin-hooked bobber is a bullet-like casting lure which sinks fast, charging at the bottom like a desperate little fish. It has enough action to work on tailor and salmon with an average retrieve, but for some reason doesn't get used much outside fresh water. Call it a redfin bobber and the public won't use it for anything else.

 

The earliest jigs I used were a mixed bunch, but included some of Wal Hardy's designs, the ABU Robot, Prisma and Egon, and chromed block tin jigs integral on single hooks — which I mainly cast and retrieved when mackerel were feeding deep. The ABU Krill and Shiner both work on the same hydro-dynamic theory where water-pressure on the flanks of the lure cause it to veer and flutter through the water.

 

On appearance, most true jigs could be expected to have little action, yet go wild in practice. About the maximum action seems to come from one flat surface and curved planes, as found in the Irons and the Smith jigs.

 

To tell a tale out of school — Joe Gospel admitted to me he had intended the Irons for use as jigs, and was mildly astonished at the way they were rushed both as troll and casting lures. So I guess I have company.

But why not? If the jigs work also as troll and casting lures, the versatility is a definite bonus to fishermen. Jigging gets fish, but in the more active forms is darned hard work. And even more so when something down yonder ties on and heads for the rocks, nearly snatching you overboard in the process.

 

Jigging has had its greatest recent boost with the deep style of saltwater jigging. It ranges from the Barrier Reef style favored at Cairns — where crops of fish are found by echo sounder in deep water (in this instance, from 10 to 30 fathoms) usually over bottom reefs and gutters — through to the same kind of thing in the south, where kingfish were a prime target, but other species also are taken.

 

The choice for this kind of thing is still not wide. Most of the jigs are simple lures such as the WK types, the new Speed Kings or others designed and made in Cairns.

 

So long as they work — that is, move through the water in fluttering patterns either sinking or rising — they'll all catch fish. Down in the deeps, any behavior that seems wrong to watching fish gets hit hard. A groper or a shark will zero in on a hooked fish simply because its behavior indicates it's in trouble, and I believe jigs work the same way. A great many kinds of fish will have a bash at anything abnormal.

 

The question the sportsman has to decide is whether there's any sense using a lure when he could work a strip bait the same way. Most reef fishermen simply lower a bait down there, and either rely on wave action at the surface to lift the boat (and bait) up and down, or do some relatively feeble jigging with it. They rely on the fish eating the natural food.

Now, if fish are present but are quiescent, not turned on, they may ignore a flesh bait — or prefer one of a different or fresher kind. But on a typical jigging trip there are three or four weaving, fluttering, diving chips of fluorescent-tailed hardware either

 

Several things make the business intriguingly specialised. With a light line, you get down faster and more vertically, with any current having reduced effect on the line. A heavier line means a heavier rod and a heavier jig, and if you're really working the thing as it needs to be, heavy gear will exhaust the angler long before he runs out of fish.

 

On lines between 15 and 20 lb test in fairly calm water, the 2 to 3 oz lead-head jigs are about in balance in say 20 fathoms — which is a good depth when you look up at a sky-scraper from the depths of Martin Place or Queen Street.

 

Depending where and how you find your fish, hookups occur any place between the ocean floor and the surface. Reef fish may follow you up as you retrieve, or a pelagic fish may hit at any point. But because it's a rigorous routine and the fish are often fast and heavy, good gear is essential.

 

Starting with the reel, a tough drag system which will hold smoothly is far better than trying to thumb-lock or palm a reel. Retrieve speed is an asset, and with something like 6 to 1 gearing on a Seascape may even reduce the need to work the rod during retrieve. Working the rod is necessary with slower reels, and the hard-working action of jig men madly lifting rods up and down, and winding like fury, must make some of the old-timers smile.

Among my own reels (22 of the things, and something will have to be done about it) I have about half a dozen which lend themselves to jigging. Among the spinning reels I favor the big Penns, and anything meant for the job should be robust, fast, and fitted with big drag discs.

 

One favorite is the manual rather than the automatic bail spinning reels.

 

I'd distrust anything unable to hold 200 metres of 20 lb test line. And before turning to other reels, for this style of fishing I usually carry about 500 metres of spare line in case an entire line must be replaced. Twice so far I've had to use it.

 

With geared reels I prefer the same setup, high speed lift with good drags. And here the reels can get expensive, from the ABU 7000, 9000 and 10,000 to the Policansky — and in my case, back to the Seascape 621, with which I can work a jig without wearing a hole in the rod bucket waving the rod around.

 

One objection some anglers have to jigging is cost, but it would apply only if you were coming in cold. Most of us just use ordinary surf reels, and even re-organised old rods, which we have already on hand. One beauty of the system is that old geared reels which don't cast well, including trolling reels, can be used to lower the jig and then bounce it back. Casting ability is a distinct asset, but you can get away without it from a boat in deep water. The larger reels are necessary to balance the lines and the stiffer rods.

 

Rod choice is much more wide open. There has apparently been one trend, based on US jigging experience, to develop specialised jig sticks virtually custom-built for the job. This has been especially so at Cairns, where rod-builders Erskine and Fitch have led the way. So far as I can tell, the trend there has been to a steadily stiffer jig stick.

 

One has only to look back at developments in rod choice over the years to become very un-dogmatic about it. If a certain action rod was the ultimate in 1966, and a vastly different rod is the ultimate in 1974, it is evident fishermen can be completely happy with both. More important still, they'll catch fish on both.

 

I know one jig-fisherman who fishes very successfully and happily with a cut-down rangoon pole, and I've used light game rods to work the technique. The main problem is weight and balance, as it's an energetic form of fishing. One of the present breed of jig rods is actually pretty versatile and can be used also for casting and trolling, with the rod hand-held. I have spin rods which are close enough (for me!) to jig rods, but prefer a different style and can see the swing to stiff rods continuing.

 

Hence my own experimental model, which to date has cost a grand total of $9.30 to build. I had on hand an old ABU offset butt, which I hacksawed to length, after which I fitted an RT 666 Butterworth game blank, unsanded. Guides were half a dozen cheap color-guides, at 10 cents each, with a heavy duty Varmac tip. With my existing reels I can't quite reach the breaking point of 30 lb test line, and the blank develops a nice working curve which is all the drags can hold.

 

An obvious option for such a stiff rod is a roller tip, which I'll add if it becomes necessary in practice. One fact of life in small boats is that rods cop rough treatment, and this one can be stood on with less risk than most. Should one of the guides pack up, it can be replaced at about the cost of a postage stamp.

There's a natural risk the offset butt will prove to be a handicap. If it does, it can be removed and replaced with a tubular fibreglass stiffener and a plastic winch mount which costs less than a dollar — the plastic winch mount will crack if left on its own, but after overbinding with dacron and a smudge of epoxy, it'll last for years. The rod's an arm-breaker for casting, but can cast a 2 ounce lure with 30 lb line. With smaller reels and lighter line, you can come on down the scale. I'm not proud of the rod, except that it's a definite thunder stick which will take "no" for an answer in fewer instances than average.

 

It's not heavy, and feels delightful for hand-held trolling. But for jigging it's heavy enough to deter the purists — and here my reel comes into play, using high gearing to reduce the rod-waving normally necessary for maximum lure action. The 621 narrow spool Seascape runs out of line pretty fast, hence the effect of the drag increases automatically as the lure goes down.

 

It's hairy old territory, with the permanent risk of being spooled off line, but even should that happen (and it hasn't to date) there won't be a great length of line lost. But the benefit of extra drag power close to the bottom is a very real factor with the kind of brawl you have with reef fish. And the stiff rod is a delight when pumping line back and lifting fish.

 

One essential component is a rod bucket. Without one you'll end up with a bruised belly. Choice again is optional, but some nice ideas are coming from the jigging business, with designs for rod buckets which cover more than a few inches of your intestines becoming popular.

 

But again, if cost is a factor, bush fishermen will find their local saddler can whip one up from butt leather quite cheaply.

 

Plastic rod buckets at relatively low cost are also advertised, though I haven't seen one in action. A rod-bucket is the kind of thing a home handyman can improvise pretty easily, and they're handy for surf fishing or trolling as much as for jigging. They're important in this kind of fishing.

 

Mostly you're standing up in the boat, trying to hold a heavy fish on a strong outfit — with the rod butt against your innards. If there's much of a sea and your boat is rocking around, it's painful country for anyone already suffering a hernia — and the fish are tough enough to bring one on even when you're still intact.

 

It's this factor which has influenced the limitations in line size. It's one thing to bust a 30 lb test line from the advantage of a game chair and a big boat. It's another to do it from a 14-foot aluminum outboard craft on a rough day. So, anyone wanting to go higher than 30 should, in my experience, stick to handlines. Or else take on a body-building course!

 

Some jig-fishermen have adopted the Cairns technique of never using an achor. They way it works is for a really good skipper to manoeuvre gently so the boat stays in place, against both ocean breeze and current. The problem with this approach is that it calls for a good skipper with nothing else to do but run the boat — and in our smaller outfits, the "skipper" usually wants to get in on the act.

 

So a light reef grapnel with a fathom of chain and a stout rope may fit you better than the other approach. I like to come up current past the actual spot I wish to fish, drop the anchor, and then feed out extra line if necessary to position the boat above the fish.

 

It can be done "blind", but the old system of taking bearings from shore to find your reef is not in the hunt with the fellow with a good echo sounder, who can tell you if fish are around without even dropping a line.

But be warned. The method works, catching big fish consistently. But in the words of an overseas authority, "in jigging, attrition of lures is high". That's a tactful way to say you'll lose a lot, and to be fair, the losses are more than worth it. Jigs are relatively inexpensive lures, and there is a strong swing to home-made lures of this kind.

Tackle firms market the basics — fluorescent nylon skirt material which shines in the water, hefty hooks and even lead heads. One of the cheapest in use is the heavier lead-head "red-eye" normally used with feathers, but you can cast your own in lead if you like. A flatfish, bean-shaped jig head helps it to sheer and shimmy as you work it.

 

The most practical designs I've seen include those made in Cairns, the Irons in their various weights, and the Speed King jigs made in Sydney. All have been built by people who know the score in this form of fishing.

And last but not least — if the new system doesn't swing for you, the same lures can be cast or trolled as effectively for pelagics. No matter how you use them, remember not to go out without that essential jigging accessory — a big, strong, sharp gaff!