# bottom jigging



## fishinfool

There is some threads about jigging for tuna, i have no problem with that, but what i would like to get some thoughts on is jigging on bottom for whatever. i have been semi seccesful at catching a few snapper and a couple amberjack on jigs, but never can catch anything jigging on the bottom. what are some good tips or tacktics to jigging on bottom say 200-600 ft. motion of the jig, up/down, bounce along the bottom, fast action/slow action. any tips or tricks that work would be great. Thanks. MIKE


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## BretABaker

mike - ive had the best luck for grouper and snapper with a slow motion bouncing jigs on the bottom. just up/down making contact with the bottom each time. if you speed up your jigging, you will get amberjack. amberjack love fast jigging. they will hit slow jigs as well, but with slower jigging you have a better chance at other fish.

some say speed jigging for 20' or so, then dropping back to the bottom and repeating this process works well for grouper, but ive had more luck with the slower method.

personally i think long rods are superior for bottom jigging as you can easily cover more of the water column with a sweep of a 7 or 8 foot rod than you can with a short rod. lots of times ive had grouper hit at the top of the motion, and having the long rod allowed me to quickly flick the rod to get a hookset. with a shorter rod, you are required to move the rod much more to get the same movement at the tip and therefore at the jig if you're using this slow style.

if you like to speed jig then a shorter rod will be easier.


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## fishinfool

Thanks, thats what i was looking for. any body else ?????


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## Swells

What I have heard if that live bottom, also called hard spots, are really great so target and sometimes they hold grouper if there are some hidey-holes around. The bummer about bottom bumping is getting snagged on rocks, wrecks, coral, and such. 

Fishing ledges is more like mid-water jigging. I am no expert but in the Bahamas they fish "the wall" where bottom can go from 200 to 1,200 fast. Most of these folks fish to 600 feet with no electric reel ... Nassau grouper is the bestus target. 

X2 on the slow motion for a grouper jig. If you speed jig you'll probably just run them off. You want a jig a little lighter and with more flutter, as opposed to a 250 or 300 gram speed jig that does down like a rocket. Back in the 80's we used to fish much lighter jigs off Florida, only a few ounces.


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## BretABaker

one way to decrease getting snagged is by using assist hooks. fixed hooks on the bottom will tend to get snagged more.


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## fishinfool

i suppose the size of the jig depends on the current, 8-10 oz i what i normally use, but i do carry a couple heavy 14oz ones and of course some smaller, but they never seem to get to the bottom so i use them around weed lines and such.

by slow, you mean just slow movement up and down across the bottom. ill give that a try.
Thanks.


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## ksong

Bottomfishing jigging is very similar to cod jigging in New England.
They use 7' - 8' long rod and pound the bottom with jigs. When down swing of the rods, you have to feel your jigs hit the bottom and adjust your line accordingly.
You usually fish hard bottom or sticky bottom, you have to lift your rod as soon as you feel the bottom. Otherwise you lose lots of jigs.

Once you get a hit, the first thing you have to do is to lift your rod as high as possible and crank fast. Once you feel the fish are secured, then lower your rod slowly while cranking to make sure there is no slack line.

Grouper is my favorite fish to catch on jigs and it is alway challenging to catch big grouper on jigs.


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## Swells

My West Coast friends do a lot of "bounce-ball" jigging for halibut and yellowtail, something I might try here in the Gulf. It consists of a mainline to a three-way swivel. One line is tied to the sinker, which is bounced off the bottom. The other line is connected to a "hootchie" which is usually a plastic squid jig, although about anything would work. 

Curiously, these folks use a shiny flat piece of metal called a "dodger" in from of the jig. I have no idea why, but most all West Coasters use 'em. I don't see why they wouldn't work for something on the Gulf or Atlantic.

The method is to slow-troll about 1-2 knots into or against the current and bounce the weight off the bottom every 15-20 seconds, which makes the fish curious because of the noise and the puff of sand/mud. 

Anyone heard of such insanity?


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## mjz

I was actually thinking about a setup like that a couple weeks ago, but using a big-*** curly tailed grub on maybe a 3oz jighead.


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## BretABaker

Swells said:


> My West Coast friends do a lot of "bounce-ball" jigging for halibut and yellowtail, something I might try here in the Gulf. It consists of a mainline to a three-way swivel. One line is tied to the sinker, which is bounced off the bottom. The other line is connected to a "hootchie" which is usually a plastic squid jig, although about anything would work.
> 
> Curiously, these folks use a shiny flat piece of metal called a "dodger" in from of the jig. I have no idea why, but most all West Coasters use 'em. I don't see why they wouldn't work for something on the Gulf or Atlantic.
> 
> The method is to slow-troll about 1-2 knots into or against the current and bounce the weight off the bottom every 15-20 seconds, which makes the fish curious because of the noise and the puff of sand/mud.
> 
> Anyone heard of such insanity?


i remember using lead heads and grubs when i was a very little kid in california for halibut, lingcod, rock cod, sculpin, etc. they should work in the gulf as well . whether you troll or not is one thing. you can also just drift across the patch of bottom you're working.


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## Bill Fisher

put something with scent on the jig...... even if it's nothing more'n a gulp squid or minner


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## ksong

Bill Fisher said:


> put something with scent on the jig...... even if it's nothing more'n a gulp squid or minner


It depends on targeted fish. 
Strip of squid or Gulp strip works great for flounder, red snapper or seabass, but I don't see much differnece for grouper.


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## Boboe

Swells said:


> My West Coast friends do a lot of "bounce-ball" jigging for halibut and yellowtail, something I might try here in the Gulf. It consists of a mainline to a three-way swivel. One line is tied to the sinker, which is bounced off the bottom. The other line is connected to a "hootchie" which is usually a plastic squid jig, although about anything would work.


You're right. Pretty much anything will work for halibut. They're the dumpsters-of-the-north-Pacific. They take up a lot of the niche that sharks fill in the Gulf. Halibut eat loads of dead and rotting salmon that flush out of rivers in the fall. They will eat almost anything. In July in Seward, AK, they are known to feed on huge schools of herring, and come way off the bottom to do so.

Scent is good in getting a halibut's attention and getting him to bite. As important--if not more--is showing him something big and gaudy. I was fishing with a 24oz curly tail jig last June in Seward. The curly-tail body was a solid 10" long and 3" in diameter. My buddy was fishing with an entire sockeye salmon carcass that was over 2' long. Both got eaten. His was eaten by a 40# halibut, if you can believe that. The bait would not fit into its mouth.


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## Boboe

mjz said:


> I was actually thinking about a setup like that a couple weeks ago, but using a big-*** curly tailed grub on maybe a 3oz jighead.


That'll be great, provided 2 things:
1. You can get it to the bottom. It's going to sink SLOOOOOWLY, and with much current it won't get down.
2. You can find a jig with a big enough, strong enough hook to keep the fish on the line.

It should be deadly if you can control those two things.


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## ksong

Halibut jigging is my favorite.  I jigged halibut in many different areas in British Columbia and Alaska. My favorite place for halibut jigging is Kodiak Island. 
We must caught at least 40 - 50 halibut a day each on jigs off Kodiak Island when I fished with Dave Erving two years ago. 

I tested many different jigs for halibut, but the round lead head with curly tails which is called Scampi jigs worked best. 
Halibut jigging as same as we do for cod or grouper jigging. Slowly up and down by constanly feeling the bottom. 

Three way jigging technique is utilized for halibut by trolling. Some use the same technique for flounder in Virginia.


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## Swells

My take is that you need a little drift to cover some ground, and to bump the bottom as Kil says. This is very similar for us red snapper fishermen who fish deep reefs and can't or won't anchor. 

What us snapper fishermen don't do is to lightly bump the bottom all the time, since we know the larger snappers and AJ will be on top, and we like to use a fast fall or ripping upward motion to entice the fish. Or, like the bait fishers, stay at least 5 to 10 cranks above the bottom. 

Many expert grouper fishers have noted that well, there just aren't very many grouper in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, and they seem fewer these days as the big sows are caught. So maybe all this talk is for naught. It's not like the good days off the Florida Gold Coast when one could bang some nice plus-30 inch red grouper with a big white grub on a lead-head jig, and limit out just like we do with snapper now - less than 30 minutes. Instead, we have a few humongous Warsaw that should probably stay there to help revive the species.


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## mjz

Boboe said:


> That'll be great, provided 2 things:
> 1. You can get it to the bottom. It's going to sink SLOOOOOWLY, and with much current it won't get down.


We were talking about using a bottom-bumping rig; three way swivel with a 6 or 8oz weight on one end, and a jig/lure on the other.



> 2. You can find a jig with a big enough, strong enough hook to keep the fish on the line.
> 
> It should be deadly if you can control those two things.


I've been looking at some stuff they use for catching big stripers on the east coast which may work. If not, I've got a guy who could probably get some custom stuff made.


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## venturarodandlure

Out here we jig with a giant curly tailed softbait on a 16oz leadhead with an 8/0 hook for lingcod and rockfish. I don't see why it won't work in the Gulf. I usually drop it 300-350ft.


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## Boboe

mjz: If you have an 8oz at the bottom and a 3oz jig head, when you drop your rod tip, it's going to go down the same as if you had an 11 oz jig head initially. It'll flutter down slower after the 8oz is on the bottom, and the jig has time to decelerate. The longer your dropper, the more of the "slow fall" you'll get. Unfortunately, the longer your dropper with this kind of rig, the more liable it is to get twisted.

It might work great, but I don't know.


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## safisher

We do well for Snapper here with jig heads and curly tails. Bigger Snapper are usually suspended.


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## barefootin

I like to drop butterfly style jigs on a spot to see if I can hook any suspended lg Snapper. When working the bottom I switch to lead head jigs or bait.
My favorite bottom thumper is a squid skirt over egg. I fish them naked with a J hook and rig with a circle if adding bait. Work them slow with the circle.
Here is my 7 oz. (3 oz in the head followed by a 4 oz egg)
Simple, effective and cheap.
I hate losing expensive jigs to bottom or toothies.


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## Barnacle Bill

Good lookin' set up bearfootin!


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## hog

barefootin said:


> I like to drop butterfly style jigs on a spot to see if I can hook any suspended lg Snapper. When working the bottom I switch to lead head jigs or bait.
> My favorite bottom thumper is a squid skirt over egg. I fish them naked with a J hook and rig with a circle if adding bait. Work them slow with the circle.
> Here is my 7 oz. (3 oz in the head followed by a 4 oz egg)
> Simple, effective and cheap.
> I hate losing expensive jigs to bottom or toothies.


 like its looks 2

Hog


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## Swells

X3

Interesting stoppers you got there - how do they work?


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## barefootin

Sammie,
They are not stoppers, just cheap craft beads called tri beads used commonly as spacers on offshore trolling lures. I put the soft bead against the knot for protection although I usually snell.
The beads provide a bit of the ole clackity - clack; and you can add more to set the hook back futher or use glass or brass beads to amplify.


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## Swells

Hey that makes it even simpler from dumb ole mullets like me! 

Thought about using a circle hook so you could tip the hook with some bait? Seems like that might turn them on if they didn't like plastic for lunch, mebbe.
-sammie


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