# butterfly jigs



## odie5962 (Aug 28, 2011)

I am interested to know more about using these butterfly jigs. I see that shimano has a shallow water series. I boat out of Freeport and go no more than 10-15 miles off in my 25' bay boat. My questions are:

1. What water depth does this type of fishing occur?
2. What species of fish do you fish for with this equipment?

I want to see if this type of fishing is something I can do, I would hate to waste money if I will not be targeting the right environment for this type of equipment.


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## mad marlin (Jan 17, 2008)

snapper when in season , occasional Aj & maybe grouper on that water depth, Depending on current you might need 100g to 200g jigs. I dont know exactly how deep is 10-15 miles out of Freeport but lest say 60-80' you should be able to use nicely a 100g.
regarding what water depth you are likely to drop to the bottom and work your way up.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

odie5962 said:


> I am interested to know more about using these butterfly jigs. I see that shimano has a shallow water series. I boat out of Freeport and go no more than 10-15 miles off in my 25' bay boat. My questions are:
> 
> 1. What water depth does this type of fishing occur?
> 2. What species of fish do you fish for with this equipment?
> ...


How deep do you fish and what kind of fish do you target on jigs ?


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## odie5962 (Aug 28, 2011)

ess I did not make my question clear, but I want to know what water depths these should be fished in to be effective and what kind of fish can I expect to see if doin ghtis technique.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

You can target any fish which eat live bait fish from snapper to tuna.
You jig not to catch more fish, but to catch on jigs as jigging is fun and challenging.
You can not describe the feeling when big tuna takes your jig and run. 
There are two distinctive jigging techniques.
One is to move jig up and down 
The other is to crank fast while jerking. 
Both works. 
Be careful. Jigging can be addictive.


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## mad marlin (Jan 17, 2008)

Kil sum it pretty much !
From Freeport 10-15 miles out you're still on the shallow shelf which I believe it goes from 60' deep to 90'. Im not a 100% sure on this but i think that what its.
There is a "rule of thumb" for jigs its that every gram = one meter , so 100g = 100mtrs. Personally i think that rule its a bit bold , however for what you're going to catch 100g are perfect .
dont get yourself hung on just shimano butterfly jigs there are a lot of more jigs with better action & price that the shimano.

Yes its very addictive


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## Brian10 (Sep 6, 2007)

I fish offshore in a 22' bay boat, so I fish in the same range as you. As Kil says, jigging is fun! I've basically caught most of the fish that we would target in our range. I use mostly 3-5 oz jigs with light rods and jig using the yo-yo style (using long strokes that target a particular water column depth).

Snapper, ling, spanish mackeral, kings, ladyfish, you name it. I even caught some sand trout the last trip out on the jig.


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## odie5962 (Aug 28, 2011)

Thanks for the information. I was just wondering what water depth you are fishing in.


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## lite-liner (Mar 15, 2005)

odie, you can jig vertically in any water depth. I see your point in that you probably
dont see 70' in your travels. the typical drift/yo-yo still works great, just like slabbing whites in freshwater. vertical speed jigging might work if the target fish is thick &/or on the bite. @ average 3 feet per crank, 70 feet is pretty shallow to develop any kind of rhythm before you're back @ the surface, but like Kilsong said, there are many kinds of jigging that will work, just let the bite dictate the presentation, or what you're most confident doing.


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## mad marlin (Jan 17, 2008)

hahaha , The PRO JIGGER have spoken


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## Brian10 (Sep 6, 2007)

We'll fish from 60' to 80', but it is basically any water depth as lite-liner says. The kayakers jig at the first rig, which is only a couple of miles out and less than 60' deep.


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## odie5962 (Aug 28, 2011)

What size jigs, 55, 75 or 90 grams or even bigger?


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

Do not post much on this board because almost all of my jigging is done in 20-100' of water out of Sabine and Galveston. Most here seem to be more about tuna and deeper water fish. I jig a lot, one of my favorite ways to catch fish.

Tend to fish from the bottom to the top when jigging. As often ling will follow a jig to the boat. You can speed jig, jig hard, reel hard, jig hard, etc.... in shallow water, but have to be set up for it. If not you will yank the jig out of the water with a good chance you or your fishing buddy will take a direct hit from a jig. On my boat when you sky a jig, got to down a beer. Best way to keep your jig in the water when speed jigging is to use a 10-20' windon leader, when the leader hits the rods eyes need to stop jigging. You can also jig fast up 20-30' then freespool back to bottom and repeat. I will often jig hard and fast from bottom to 30' over and over again. Then drop back down and bounce the jig stationary about 10' off of bottom. The fast, erratic action of the jig will get a lings attention, then when the jig is sitting in one spot bouncing they will hit it.

Also can catch trout until your arms fall off by jigging with small bounces right on bottom with 2-4oz knife or flutter with some green or pink in them. Sheepshead will move nearshore thick in the next month until spring. You can catch 100s of them a day jigging. But going to miss a bunch of them as they are hard to hook. Might drop down and get hit 10-20times before sticking a hook into one. They fight great on light tackle and are a blast for the kids and newbies. They seems to like darker colors and will be thickest about half way up the water column.

Snapper will be located at all water depths and they will hit most any color and most any method. YoYo tends to get the largest ones, but some days they want it faster some days they want it slower.

Slot reds and bull reds can be caught by the 100s as well. They like knife jigs in gold/silver or gold/green jigged hard on bottom.

Cooler water is best to shallow water jig on the upper coast. The kings and Spanish macs should be moved out. Spanish macs and kings are truly a pain when jigging. They steal 1000's of dollars of jigs from me each year. I fish with very few butterfly jigs, as they are expensive. I like knife,darter,flutter, diamond, and cheap ole silver ones from academy. We will use jigs that range in size from 1oz to 8oz. Like to have everyone in the boat with different sizes and colors at first then narrow down what color and size are working best.

here is my last report from state water out of Sabine. You can see some of the style and size of jigs we used I see a bone darter in one of the pics, tied on backwards. 
http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=445241&highlight=slot+reds


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## DRILHER (Apr 4, 2010)

Jolly Roger said:


> Do not post much on this board because almost all of my jigging is done in 20-100' of water out of Sabine and Galveston. Most here seem to be more about tuna and deeper water fish. I jig a lot, one of my favorite ways to catch fish.
> 
> Tend to fish from the bottom to the top when jigging. As often ling will follow a jig to the boat. You can speed jig, jig hard, reel hard, jig hard, etc.... in shallow water, but have to be set up for it. If not you will yank the jig out of the water with a good chance you or your fishing buddy will take a direct hit from a jig. On my boat when you sky a jig, got to down a beer. Best way to keep your jig in the water when speed jigging is to use a 10-20' windon leader, when the leader hits the rods eyes need to stop jigging. You can also jig fast up 20-30' then freespool back to bottom and repeat. I will often jig hard and fast from bottom to 30' over and over again. Then drop back down and bounce the jig stationary about 10' off of bottom. The fast, erratic action of the jig will get a lings attention, then when the jig is sitting in one spot bouncing they will hit it.
> 
> ...


 Looks like you use a lot of Snapper Slappers Too.


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

DRILHER said:


> Looks like you use a lot of Snapper Slappers Too.


yep, we buy them in bulk

vertical jigs, snapperslappers, and large curly tails are my go to baits. They catch most anything that swims in the nearshore waters


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## surfcowboy (Jun 29, 2005)

I've fished the areas all the time the biggest jig weight wise that you will use will be 200 grams. 

I sell jigs that have work well for me and others. Goober 100g, Mungus 150g, Jiao-long 150g.

JR is right about a lot of the fish he listed. As for snapper i've caught 10-15lb RS and you can find Mangroves in the ranges your looking to fish. There are some very big ling in those areas.


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