Jigging Fishing Technique

Jigging as a sport has exploded in recent years and it has proven to be a successful technique for targeting both reef and pelagic species especially around schooling bait and bottom structure such as ledges, bombies, rubble and wrecks.

The lures used are commonly referred to as deep water jigs, jigs or knife jigs and they range in size and weight from 60g lightweights, for shallow work, right through to half kilo monsters for fishing strong currents and searching the depths in hundreds of metres of water. The most popular sizes range from about 60 – 100g inshore and 150 – 300g for up to 120m of water as they are more comfortable weights to fish with without burning yourself out too quickly.

The knife jig has an interesting design whereby an assist hook is attached to a solid ring via a cord loop, commonly Kevlar, and the solid ring is then attached to the jig via a split ring. The hook then swings freely on the loop. This assist hook design has several benefits over simply attaching a hook to the bottom as we do with a metal lure or slug. Firstly it is less likely to snag in bottom structure, secondly it is less likely to foul if the jig is designed to flutter on the drop and thirdly when you do hook up you are fighting the fish through the line and not through the weight of the jig which results in less pulled hooks and more control.

These jigs are fished quite aggressive and the retrieve generally consists of one of, or a combination of, 3 main retrieve techniques.

Jigging – This consists of a long and rapid upward sweep of the rod followed by a rapid winding up of the slack as you drop the rod tip back for the next lift and then this lift, drop and wind is repeated.

Jig & Wind – This consists of repetitive shorter sharp lifts of the rod tip while rapidly winding.

Fast Wind – This consists of a flat out retrieve of the jig without the jigging motion.

Varying the retrieve until you find what the fish want is best and if you find after a few fish are landed the fish shut down a change of retrieve or lure colour can switch them back on again.

Knife jigs are available in a range of colours from natural through to fluoro and most feature some degree of luminescence be it eyes, dots or whole sections of the jig.

 Jigging is an effective technique when targeting reef species, with many snapper, pearl perch and other reefies falling to a deepwater jig. It is also extremely effective when targeting pelagic species such as kingfish, amberjack and samson fish.

In some regions jigging is an option in harbours, bays and around wrecks and shallow reefs which makes it accessible to those fishing from a tinny with reasonably light tackle such as 20 – 30lb braid and 40 – 60lb leader. In other regions however you may need to travel further offshore armed with heavy tackle as landing larger model pelagic fish can be a brutal experience. These fish fight hard, fight dirty and somehow still manage to strip line off a drag even when you think is locked up solid.

As the popularity of jigging has grown the availability of gear designed specifically for the sport has also increased. Specific jigging rods are available that have a softer action to take some of the hurt out of the fight and bring the fight closer to the angler so the leverage against the angler is decreased, as is the impact of the power of the fish. Higher speed spinning reels, 6:1 and above make the rapid retrieval easier and quality components, especially the drag are essential if the reel is to survive a hot jigging session. Many anglers fish heavy lines and leaders, using 50 – 80lb braid, or even heavier, connected to 100 - 120lb leader with quality knots. A quality black rolling swivel allows you to quickly and easily switch size, colour and weight jigs, by using split ring pliers, meaning you are not continually cutting into your leader and having to re-rig. Remember swivels are weight rated also.

Jigging is an effective and exciting way to catch a wide variety of species and one of the most effective ways to target some of Australia’s hardest pulling fish including samson fish, amberjack and kingfish.