Advice on jug lines

[tj-atwood]

I am a veteren trotliner but new to jug fishing. If some would be so kind to answer a few questions that I have. I have heard that the value of advice is that you don't live long enough to make all the misteaks.

1. How heavy should the weight be?
2. How much slack if any between weight and jug?
3. Number of hooks and spacing between hooks?
4. Best hooks circle, J, Kahle?

Would appreciate any advice

[brazman]

1. 1-2 lbs (quikrete half filling a water bottle with a metal eye on the end works good)
2. 1 ft of slack
3. up to 5 hooks, spaced two or three to five feet apart, depending on depth fished
4. circle hooks help with hookup. I use really big circles (11/0) to keep smaller fish off and bigger fish on.
my $.2
Brazman

[tj-atwood]

Thanks for the post. I live on Lake Corpus Christi. Brushy like Choke. I was using heavy (30#) weights for fear that bigger fish would carry it off and wrap it up in the brush. Any problem with that with the one pound weights?

[brazman]

edited:
1. 1-2 lbs (I filled 20oz water bottles half full of quickcrete, poured in some water, and about 3 inches of chain with a little sticking out the top to tie to, weigh about 2 lbs each, carry in a milk crate, works well!))
2. 1 ft of slack or so, with remainder of line rubber banded to jug in case really big fish takes it, then will just pull the slack line out instead of pulling your jug under and hanging up.
3. up to 5 hooks, spaced two or three to five feet apart, depending on depth fished (no more than 100 hooks in the water)
4. circle hooks help with hookup. I use really big circles (11/0) to keep smaller fish off and bigger fish on.
my $.2
Brazman

[brazman]

I've never caught anything more than, say, 8lbs on a jug so far, but they really can't pull the water bottle weight too very far. When in doubt, put on more weight, especially if you're fishing a brushy lake. Maybe fill the water bottles all the way up with the quickcrete and hang your chain in the top. They shouldn't be able to pull it very far. Too sturdy a weight and you run the risk of them pulling the hook.

[Magnolia]

It normally takes a 12 lb and up cat to pull a jug any distance with my 1 lb weights. I've caught several 12-15 that pulled my jugs 30 yards but yep, they do love to wrap them around something. I have hooks on my jugs split 50-50 for size. I use 11-0 for bigger cats but I also want some in the 3-5 lb range so I use a smaller hook for those. All my big cats are CPR'd after reading how many years it takes a cat to get to 25 lbs and up.
Good luck!!

[cookie]

1# dumbell weights at academy work well and a railroad spike with a nut tack welded on makes a cheap weight. have caught ops and blues in 40# range and they don't drag them far. i use a 5/0 circle hook have used them all for 5 years and they preform the best.

personal note i release anything 10# and up don't like the taste and i do believe we can over harvest a lake.
a would leave about a foot slack any more and you may not get it to flag. my first 33# was on a non flag jug what a surprise when i was taking them up.
when i make my jugs i put swivels as far apart as i can reach then i can add 2 hooks or up to 5 depending (state law 5 max) the water im fishing.
hope this helps

[bueyescowboy]

geez ole cheapie here....most of my jugs i float and float with them....2 liter plastic jug painted white (any old soda jug works well), 3-4 foot of string, weights come from old cast net that got mangled last year (i am good for 1 or 2 cast nets a year), and hook (I do like the circle hooks best...but that isn't always on hand). Put all finished jugs in a trash bag, then when your ready throw trash bag in boat. general cost under .50 cents
But these do float and weather conditions, and fish will pull them off quickly.

[tj-atwood]

Thanks to all your good advice on jugging I now have 20 juglines out on lake Corpus Christi. Last night caught 22 fish using soap for bait. All the oldtimers here use soap. Shad are hard to catch this time of year. Fish ranged in size from 2 to 8 pounds. Would rather use shad but don't know how to find them this time of year. I guess they school up deep.

[OxbowOutfitters]

Ive seen the jugs dissapear never to be seen again..heres 1 reason why

[shadslinger]

I have also had jugs go into the deep never to be seen again, so I try to set up where the water is a pretty uniform depth all around the area so if they do drag them it doesn't get drug into deeper water than my lines are set for. I used to set them with just a few inches of slack and they worked good, but I have learned from dbullard and others to give it more like a foot.

[CatfishRuss]

It normally takes a 12 lb and up cat to pull a jug any distance with my 1 lb weights. I've caught several 12-15 that pulled my jugs 30 yards but yep, they do love to wrap them around something. I have hooks on my jugs split 50-50 for size. I use 11-0 for bigger cats but I also want some in the 3-5 lb range so I use a smaller hook for those. All my big cats are CPR'd after reading how many years it takes a cat to get to 25 lbs and up.
Good luck!!

5 years as far as in san diego to get that weight. they grow an avg of 5 pounds per year out here. What is it there? Also what is the difference between a trot line and a jug line?

[Gator gar]

personal note i release anything 10# and up don't like the taste and i do believe we can over harvest a lake.
a would leave about a foot slack any more and you may not get it to flag.

A foot of slack???? That must be in ideal, perfect conditions, when you aren't having one of your mad spells. I have observed a little more slack in some of your jug sets.

On the other hand, you do know how to catch a fish. Must have learned from your buddy up there in Bedias Texas.

[TROUT & RED ASSASSIN]

THATS A BIG FISH... NICE

[tj-atwood]

Thanks again for the jugline help. Here are some pics that are the result of the good advice you gave me. Caught on soap last Fri night......TJ
PS the big blue weighed 10#

[Swells]

Hey good job my man, nice haul. Jugging does work!

I don't know if you have the yellow or Op cat in your area, but we were using live bait for them and the big blues, such as perch. This is a slightly different style, like only using two hooks on a line. We were in an area with lots of turtles so most other kinds of baits didn't last very long ... seemed to work. The ole boy who showed me that ran Hog's Bait Stand on Lake Long, east of Austin. Happened to be there for beer-thirty one day and he had a couple of 60s in his tank! He keeps them alive until Friday fish fry, when he feels like it.

[ebarrera77]

what kind of soap are you using?

[atcfisherman]

:biggrin: So, did the catfish have potty mouths and you had to wash their mouths out with soap??? LOL

Nice catch and dem sum good eatin fish dare.