Last fishing trip in Guam with a decent doggy and a Monchong hooked at 1000ish feet. Caught the doggy on an acid wrapped oti rod 400g rated with ocea jigger 3000 reel pe3 braid! Can’t wait to start slow pitch jigging in San Diego and I’ll be there mid December!! Just stalked up on the cheaper Japanese jigs available here to try out over there.
SPJ and other Japanese style jigging techniques in SoCal
- Thread starter Heartoak
- Start date
Yeah we fish out here for certain species at 1000-1500’ utilizing a sea anchor but there is another guy who has a minn Kota and easily drops to over 2000’ with pe2 line! Weird stuff down that deep but they love the slow pitch jigs. We also fish 600’ to the surface for yellowfin tuna and have hooked them with no surface signs. I’m stoked to start figuring out the SoCal species.
All of my gear is on the very light side. I guess because of that I have trouble wrapping my head around fishing that deep. I suppose if you have the correct gear for this you should give it a shot. Who knows ? You may just be the guy who kills it here.
Jeff
Jeff
Anybody here doing any inchiku jigging? If you what rod and reel are you using? I am thinking about putting together a spinning set up with a fairly long parabolic rod. But before I do I would like to hear what has worked for you.
Thanks, Jeff
Thanks, Jeff
So what is your opinion on spiral wrapped rods for SPJ,etc?
Of the 3 rods I have I have one that is spiral wrapped and it definitely seems to get little or no fouling of the line at the tip.
I have another rod and I really like the blank but it has a conventional guide arrangement and I do get line fouling at the tip sometimes. I am sure part of the problem I have had with it is due to my style of jigging. I like to mix it up a lot....
I am considering having it re wrapped during the coming off season as I really like the feel this blank has.
What do you think? Am I asking for trouble? Will doing this change the overall feel very much?
Thanks, Jeff
Of the 3 rods I have I have one that is spiral wrapped and it definitely seems to get little or no fouling of the line at the tip.
I have another rod and I really like the blank but it has a conventional guide arrangement and I do get line fouling at the tip sometimes. I am sure part of the problem I have had with it is due to my style of jigging. I like to mix it up a lot....
I am considering having it re wrapped during the coming off season as I really like the feel this blank has.
What do you think? Am I asking for trouble? Will doing this change the overall feel very much?
Thanks, Jeff
I have used the Daiwa Inchiku “system” this season with mixed results here on San Diego reefs.
Best action occurred when using curly tail trailers on skirted hooks.
Do love the rod, 7’10” mh that has a really soft tip and good backbone. I’ve used it for calicos with light swim baits and hard baits also. Will keep working at it this winter...
Attachments
Interesting...but curly tail trailers make sense I suppose.
Are you using a Daiwa rod? If so where did you get it and what reel do you have on it? I am looking towards putting together a dedicated inchiku rig for inshore fishing.
Thanks, Jeff
Jeff,
I have the Daiwa Elev8 mh rod I purchased at the Fred Hall Show last year. I believe the booth was Anglers Choice from pt Loma.
I talked to a Daiwa pro who help test and developed the rod at a seminar. He paired his set up with a Lexa 300 with 30 lb braid.
I did the same and got close to 300 yards packed on the spool.
Have worked jig up to about 230 foot depth with no problem. I do have high speed version of Lexa so not to bad on retrieving. I’ve marked line every 20 feet. Want to replace line sometime with power pro depth hunter. Like the fact I can quickly switch to top water kelp with this set up.
Has any one been successful jigging either SPJ or SJ for any pelagic . Have had good success with the rockies but minimal for those Yellow Tail and Tuna as they are very elusive. What cannot be explained is that the YT in the Sea of Cortes hit the jig like crazy but their Ca. Cousins have lock jaw. Myself and a boat load of others would greatly appreciate any possible input any one may offer.
Walt
Walt
Walt;
FWIW I think it is probably has a lot to do with boat positioning and presentation. Here we position a boat for what is typically a live bait bite. This is after all what we are used to. The boat is generally positioned up current from a spot and then out goes the chum. And then it is typically followed by casting a distance out and back into the sweet spot. Often the best bite is a long cast back into the current flow. This is true for lure fisherman as well as the live bait crowd. In this scenario sometimes some of the fish will move in directly under the boat.........but most often they stay out a distance. We have all witnessed this many times.
I think we are conditioned to expect and work with this. It is also one of the reasons I think there has not been a lot of YT caught here using SPJ. I believe in this set of conditions the YT that are likely to bite are out quite a distance from the boat and are keyed in on live bait in the upper 10% of the water column. This puts us at a distinct disadvantage when trying to get them interested in an slow pitch presentation. Certainly some may be hooked using this technique but I don't think this is the optimum situation.
One of the methods I want to try out this spring is going to involve a form of chunking with cut and dead or dying sardines and mackerel. I am going to try this vertical chumming method out when I meter fish around bait balls or rockpiles. I think it might be the key to getting fish like YT to bite. We shall see.
Jeff
Thanks for that Jeff. Away from the boat certainly apples to the Tuna never considered that for the YT as have had good results in Mexico directly under the boat. You reasoning makes sense as the fishing pressure is much greater here. The YT are probably conditioned the same as the Tuna. Will have to try casting away like you suggested and jigging back to the boat.
Walt
Walt;
I know the fishery in Baja pretty darn well and it is a very different animal than what we have here. Combine that with the way the sport fleet fishes here and it is really no wonder SPJ has not taken off. I honestly can't remember the last time I hooked a YT directly beneath a sport boat. I think tuna are actually much more likely to bite under the boat......just down aways.
None of my SPJ rods are really suited to casting out a good distance from the boat. Not sure what you are using but if you can get a good distance out then it is probably worth a try.
I have a few spots not too far away that I will begin experimenting with. On a good day when there is not much wind or drift I think chunking might get the pelagics in the mood....and more or less directly under the boat. We will have to see.
Jeff
I know the fishery in Baja pretty darn well and it is a very different animal than what we have here. Combine that with the way the sport fleet fishes here and it is really no wonder SPJ has not taken off. I honestly can't remember the last time I hooked a YT directly beneath a sport boat. I think tuna are actually much more likely to bite under the boat......just down aways.
None of my SPJ rods are really suited to casting out a good distance from the boat. Not sure what you are using but if you can get a good distance out then it is probably worth a try.
I have a few spots not too far away that I will begin experimenting with. On a good day when there is not much wind or drift I think chunking might get the pelagics in the mood....and more or less directly under the boat. We will have to see.
Jeff
I stopped casting years ago after I had my reel go into gear, mid cast with the jig about 15ft out. Jig shot back and I had to put up my hand to avoid a jig in the face. Catastrophe averted, until I turned my hand around and had my jig hanging from a 5/0 assist hook imbeded in my palm up to the bend ! Fun times sitting in the galley and pushing down on the hook while the captain yanked it out after a few attempts.
Wish I could say there was a definitive technique that worked everytime but I'm not that good. I've caught them from the bottom of the column to the top. Bit on the drop, mid retrieve, and on the pause. Some slow retrieve and some faster. For me it has always boiled down to plain old "fishing". Trying to figure out what they want. Taking all the input around you (captain, other anglers, visual conditions), making a best guess on presentation and changing it up until you figure out what works (or not).
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YT will absolutely hit a slow pitch jig beneath the LR boat - if they're biting the yo-yo, they will bite a slow (or fast!) pitch jig...
And, I've seen MANY times during a plunker tuna bite where somebody opts to drop a flatfall off of the side of the boat and gets picked up...
West coast pelagics can absolutely be targeted with jigs on LR boats. You just have to be a little careful how you go about it. Sliding in to a foamer with 30 others scrambling at the bait tank to all get their lines in the water at the same time is NOT the time to pitch out a jig. But when things settle in...
Keeping out of tangles AND keeping your thin braided line from rubbing ANYTHING are very important to success. A short, soft action rod makes this more challenging - but it can be done. You just have to be a bit more selective about when you employ the technique!
And, I've seen MANY times during a plunker tuna bite where somebody opts to drop a flatfall off of the side of the boat and gets picked up...
West coast pelagics can absolutely be targeted with jigs on LR boats. You just have to be a little careful how you go about it. Sliding in to a foamer with 30 others scrambling at the bait tank to all get their lines in the water at the same time is NOT the time to pitch out a jig. But when things settle in...
Keeping out of tangles AND keeping your thin braided line from rubbing ANYTHING are very important to success. A short, soft action rod makes this more challenging - but it can be done. You just have to be a bit more selective about when you employ the technique!
Thanks for the 3 replies above. Will just have to put more positive effort into the task... ! The statement that if they hit the Yo Yo they will hit the jig makes sense, it becomes a matter of correct presentation. Which apparently in my case needs "adjustment".
Danny N. above emphasizes the need to keep spectra away from anything but water and a fish. Have done some abrasion testing with spectra and his statement could not be more true. Regardless of all the Madison Ave blabber you read,,,,For all practical purposes spectra has absolutely "NO" abrasion resistance. Using the device below 20 lb fluoro will last 8 turns of the 220 grit sand paper but 60 lb spectra will last 3/4 of a single turn.
Rotation speed of dowel is 9 RPM.
The end of the spectra line draped over the dowel is attached to a
3 lb wt.
Danny N. above emphasizes the need to keep spectra away from anything but water and a fish. Have done some abrasion testing with spectra and his statement could not be more true. Regardless of all the Madison Ave blabber you read,,,,For all practical purposes spectra has absolutely "NO" abrasion resistance. Using the device below 20 lb fluoro will last 8 turns of the 220 grit sand paper but 60 lb spectra will last 3/4 of a single turn.
Rotation speed of dowel is 9 RPM.
The end of the spectra line draped over the dowel is attached to a
3 lb wt.
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Hey jiggers, I got these slow fall jigs and assists 
hooks on alliexpress.
They worked for me last year in june when the bluefin were under the boat and schooled up. I got 4 in a row when flylined sardines weren't working. The yellowtail eat them also on deep drops. There fun to select and rig up. I prefer some glow on them for low light conditions. Jackpotjoe a link to look at some.
www.aliexpress.com
hooks on alliexpress.They worked for me last year in june when the bluefin were under the boat and schooled up. I got 4 in a row when flylined sardines weren't working. The yellowtail eat them also on deep drops. There fun to select and rig up. I prefer some glow on them for low light conditions. Jackpotjoe a link to look at some.
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Had a good day on my buddy's boat today fishing 400' north of Oxnard. Before you roast me, we snapped the pic while my buddy was putting the descender device together. Took 10# to get it to go down, and we dropped it down about 200' and jerked it free of the descender device, waited around for five minutes, and it did not come back up, so hoping it made it back down to the bottom safely. Felt it starting to kick while descending, so we think it did survive. Caught on my Xesta Slow Emotion 684 with an Ocea Conquest 300hg limited, 30# braid to a 40# fluoro leader, 200 gram pink and silver jig. Estimated 18-20#.
Nice catch!!!!!! That musta given you quite a tussle. Too bad we can't keep em. 
A couple of years ago I fished with an old time commercial rockcod fisherman who had some tales of bringing up gangions of them like that with 40 to 50 of them at a time. He said hauling them in was quite difficult but the real work was cleaning and getting them iced down to the buyers satisfaction. He told me sometimes he and another deckie cleaned fish for 10 to 16 hours straight on their way back in. The poor guy was a physical wreck so I know he paid a price getting those fish.
Jeff
A couple of years ago I fished with an old time commercial rockcod fisherman who had some tales of bringing up gangions of them like that with 40 to 50 of them at a time. He said hauling them in was quite difficult but the real work was cleaning and getting them iced down to the buyers satisfaction. He told me sometimes he and another deckie cleaned fish for 10 to 16 hours straight on their way back in. The poor guy was a physical wreck so I know he paid a price getting those fish.
Jeff
I just came across what looks to be a pretty good US (Pa.) importer/on line store called Tackle Now. They appear to have quite a variety of SPJ gear from many well known suppliers. Anybody here bought from them yet?
They have some stuff that sure as hell interests me. I may just give them a shot next week.
Jeff
They have some stuff that sure as hell interests me. I may just give them a shot next week.
Jeff
I have a couple of their Palmarius rods being shipped here right now.
The guy used to be the importer of Temple Reef rods. Now he's got his own brand. Toray carbon blanks, Fuji hardware.
We'll find out shortly if they're any good.
On the yellowtail question, in most [but not all] conditions where they will bite yo-yo iron, they will bite SPJ.
In some cases its actually better if you can dial in the exact depth the yellows are holding. If its 10 cranks off the bottom for the yo-yo'ers, figure that's the 30-40 foot zone. Work that depth methodically.
In some cases its actually better if you can dial in the exact depth the yellows are holding. If its 10 cranks off the bottom for the yo-yo'ers, figure that's the 30-40 foot zone. Work that depth methodically.
