Slow Pitch Jigging off a kayak

[JohnMckroidJr]

Has the fever hit the West Coast? It's been going for a few years off Florida. It is most popular for large vessels targeting less fished areas for Snapper and Grouper. For kayakers in my area, works on pelagics as there are not many snapper and grouper around. So far, I have refused to spring for a $1000 slow pitch jigging outfit, but with 30lb braid and some discounted jigs, I have been able to fake it.

This was a trip earlier this month when I was lucky enough to find a good weather day. Normally I don't catch larger Blackfin during February, so this feels like it's going to become even more productive.

[erinoo]

Solid....

[FISH11]

Awesome catches, especially from a Kayak. Is it normal to have a trailing hook also dig in on the side of the body, three of the pictures have it and at first I thought the first picture was a foul hook up. Congrats and thanks for sharing, that just gives us more inspiration. Tight Lines!

[SoCalEDC]

Originally Posted by FISH11

Awesome catches, especially from a Kayak. Is it normal to have a trailing hook also dig in on the side of the body, three of the pictures have it and at first I thought the first picture was a foul hook up. Congrats and thanks for sharing, that just gives us more inspiration. Tight Lines!

Yea this is normal. the assist hooks are pretty light and "foul" hooking is part of the game. Not the best tactic for catch and release but fi your intent is to take fish the hooks dig in and spread the force of the fight out, less pulled hooked.

RE: Original Post

Its still pretty fresh out here, I havent met many others outside of my circle of buds who are getting into it. I picked up the technique last year after watching Capt Mike from Florida Sport Fishing and Benny Ortiz talk about its success in your waters. It absolutely kills everything we fish for on the bottom out here but good lord it gets expensive having to replace snagged jigs. I haven't sprung for one of the higher end ($400+) rods yet, but I am using dedicated slow pitch gear, (I have a pe2-4 and a pe3-6 combo). And they have done fine. Albeit we don't fish as deep as the Florida guys do, so if I want to move into the real deep water I will probably need something ith better recoil.

The only pelagic fish I have landed on SPJ thus far has been barracuda and of course mackerel (couldn't even get my jig through the bait ball and i was getting them 2 at a time on both ends of the jig), no yt, no tuna, no bonito, etc. YET.

Bottom fish are a different story, I have nailed halibut, sculpin, sand bass, etc. and a bunch of different rockfish species as would be expected with such gear in anywhere from 180-450', although due to CA regs on ground fish I just run 2 assist hooks on the front of the jig, and leave the opposite end hook-less (this also helps me not to lose jigs so its not all bad). Does a good job of weeding out small fish, sand dabs, etc. and other by catch typically encountered when using bait on the bottom.

[FISH11]

Thanks for the reply. I only have used Shimano Flat Fall jigs with the assist hook and they are awesome, but I only have the assist hooks on the trailing end, not on both ends of the jig.

[FullFlavorPike]

some first rate fish in the original post -- last fish is an almaco jack, right? You guys never eat the AJs in florida because they're full of parasites (or so I hear), but the almacos are good eats, I'd imagine.

I catch a lot of calico when I send a flatfall down here in SD, but I've never caught a real gamefish on it.

[katchfish]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XYM4lM8kIA

[DanaPT]

Cool video and instructional.

Nice east coast flavors!

[JohnMckroidJr]

Originally Posted by FISH11

Awesome catches, especially from a Kayak. Is it normal to have a trailing hook also dig in on the side of the body, three of the pictures have it and at first I thought the first picture was a foul hook up. Congrats and thanks for sharing, that just gives us more inspiration. Tight Lines!

Thanks, Yes Like SoCalEDC said, it's part of the slow pitch technique. Great for catching, not the best for CPR -- all the Tuna I landed were partially bleed out on the reel up. The multi-hooking dampens the fight, which is less fun.
Instead of line ripping runs the fish eventually become more stationary. Soon it's like a tractor beam on the fish as one cranks it up. It is especially deadly on king mackerel that like to roll when first hooked. Once they roll, the other hooks dig in and it's game over. Some of the hooks invariably puncture areas that the sharp teeth cannot bite through. It's only a matter of time before a kayaker takes a Wahoo on a slow pitch.

Re:SoCalEDC
Thanks for the info. Which SPJ reels did you select? and are you happy with them?

Originally Posted by FullFlavorPike

some first rate fish in the original post -- last fish is an almaco jack, right? You guys never eat the AJs in florida because they're full of parasites (or so I hear), but the almacos are good eats, I'd imagine.

I catch a lot of calico when I send a flatfall down here in SD, but I've never caught a real gamefish on it.

Thanks. You are correct, The last one is an Almaco, and they are good eating, but I usually release them unless the frig. is empty. Thankfully the AJ's do harbor worms, and because of that, many are released, instead of being fished out like grouper. They are the hardest fighters that I tangle with. Last month one of the AJ's swallowed the jig and was not going to survive the release, so I took it home. There were some worms in the tail section, but most of it was good. They have a nice white fillet and are good eating. When fishing near wrecks, it's a battle to keep from getting cut off. They vicariously remind me of my youth targeting YT in SoCal. I would rather release them to fight again another day and have released dozens including two that were previously tagged.

[SoCalEDC]

Originally Posted by JohnMckroidJr

Re:SoCalEDC
Thanks for the info. Which SPJ reels did you select? and are you happy with them?

On the PE 2-4 set up I use an Accurate Tern 300x (Star drag, the x denotes the 6.1:1 Gears as opposed to the 4.8 in the non x model. The model I have is rated at a little over 38" of line per crank, and holds a claimed 330yds of 30# braid, although in reality it holds a bit more). I like this reel (initially I did not but after a service its great) but the knob sucks, I don't like Accurate's ball knobs because they get slippery. They recently announced some SPJ handles but they don't offer them for the 300 size reels yet. If you have cranked a big Tranx (400 or 500) or a Talica, they feel similar to how this reel cranks, almost feels hollow when you are cranking it. Fit and finish is a 9.5/10 there is one tiny imperfection in one of the chamfers on the case from machining, but its hardly noticeable and I may have only noticed it because I work in the fabrication/machining industry so I tend to be hyper critical of stuff like that.

On the PE 3-6 set up I use a Seigler SGN (Lever drag, 6:1 ratio on these guys and I have the long crank arm on it. Rated for 38"/crank It'll take about 400yds of 30.) I just got this in December and haven't had it out yet so I will have to report back, although, I have played with it quite a bit and I can say that I like the reel quite a bit in hand, its pretty smooth, but does not have the "hollow" feeling I mentioned above, I actually like the feel of cranking this reel better than those mentioned above because it feels like I am using a beefy piece of machinery if that makes sense. fit and finish is really like a 8/10 though. Everything is smooth, the tolerances are great, and the reel functions flawlessly from what I can tell, but there are tooling marks all over the thing. No burrs or sharp edges or anything but rather than finishing the frame and handle with some kind of polishing/buffing procedure or tumbling I think they go straight from finish machining to anodizing. Its not rough on the hands or anything like that but if you are expecting it to be as pretty as a Talica or a Saltiga don't get your hopes up. Then again its a 300 dollar reel not a 600 dollar reel and its 100% made in America so I don't know that its fair to expect that level of cosmetic refinement. Seigler is a pretty small company who machines everything in house, QC varies. I have another Seigler (SG), and it is nearly flawless, I think that kind of variance comes with the territory.

[Oolie]

The slow pitch game is very different from a boat versus a kayak, but it will catch on when it gets some development time.


It's more nuanced than "use this jig, catch more fish" in fact it's a pretty involved dance which becomes much more difficult to establish when kayaks are thrown into the mix.


It hasn't stopped me from aiming to make it happen.

[Caden]

Nice, that what I catch my YT on the slow pitch jig

[FullFlavorPike]

Do the guys on the longrange boats dropping 500g flatfalls on cow tuna count as slow pitch jigging?

Seems like they're using Penn internationals and rail rods, but still, flatfalls are flatfalls right?

[SoCalEDC]

Originally Posted by FullFlavorPike

Do the guys on the longrange boats dropping 500g flatfalls on cow tuna count as slow pitch jigging?

Seems like they're using Penn internationals and rail rods, but still, flatfalls are flatfalls right?

No, that isn't slow pitch jigging. Slow pitch jigging refers to the combination of the technique (the actual slow pitch jigging) and the gear that has been developed for use with said technique. Slow pitch jigging doesnt equate to the use of a flat fall. Additionally slow pitch jigging is not limited to leaf shaped jigs like a flat fall, but rather the spectrum ranges from long narrow jigs similar to what we would typically refer to as a knife jig, to "stepped" jigs with sharp angles, etc.

[JohnMckroidJr]

Originally Posted by SoCalEDC

On the PE 2-4 set up I use an Accurate Tern 300x (Star drag, the x denotes the 6.1:1 Gears as opposed to the 4.8 in the non x model. The model I have is rated at a little over 38" of line per crank, and holds a claimed 330yds of 30# braid, although in reality it holds a bit more). I like this reel (initially I did not but after a service its great) but the knob sucks, I don't like Accurate's ball knobs because they get slippery. They recently announced some SPJ handles but they don't offer them for the 300 size reels yet. If you have cranked a big Tranx (400 or 500) or a Talica, they feel similar to how this reel cranks, almost feels hollow when you are cranking it. Fit and finish is a 9.5/10 there is one tiny imperfection in one of the chamfers on the case from machining, but its hardly noticeable and I may have only noticed it because I work in the fabrication/machining industry so I tend to be hyper critical of stuff like that.

On the PE 3-6 set up I use a Seigler SGN (Lever drag, 6:1 ratio on these guys and I have the long crank arm on it. Rated for 38"/crank It'll take about 400yds of 30.) I just got this in December and haven't had it out yet so I will have to report back, although, I have played with it quite a bit and I can say that I like the reel quite a bit in hand, its pretty smooth, but does not have the "hollow" feeling I mentioned above, I actually like the feel of cranking this reel better than those mentioned above because it feels like I am using a beefy piece of machinery if that makes sense. fit and finish is really like a 8/10 though. Everything is smooth, the tolerances are great, and the reel functions flawlessly from what I can tell, but there are tooling marks all over the thing. No burrs or sharp edges or anything but rather than finishing the frame and handle with some kind of polishing/buffing procedure or tumbling I think they go straight from finish machining to anodizing. Its not rough on the hands or anything like that but if you are expecting it to be as pretty as a Talica or a Saltiga don't get your hopes up. Then again its a 300 dollar reel not a 600 dollar reel and its 100% made in America so I don't know that its fair to expect that level of cosmetic refinement. Seigler is a pretty small company who machines everything in house, QC varies. I have another Seigler (SG), and it is nearly flawless, I think that kind of variance comes with the territory.

Thanks for the reviews. I am not fond of the metal reel knobs either. I love the feel of an Avet's handle. I have heard good things about both of those reels. In my area, I prefer faster line retrieval. Like over 44" per crank. Sometimes I will mix it up with a little speed jigging. I would like to spring for an Ocea Jigger F 2001NRHG, but would have a hard time using it on a kayak. I wish some of the US companies would produce something like that at an affordable price.

[JohnMckroidJr]

Originally Posted by FullFlavorPike

Do the guys on the longrange boats dropping 500g flatfalls on cow tuna count as slow pitch jigging?

Seems like they're using Penn internationals and rail rods, but still, flatfalls are flatfalls right?

Kind of a long Slow Pitch Jigging Seminar, but you can 2x the video speed to make it go by faster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDA-94qRBGA

[SoCalEDC]

Originally Posted by JohnMckroidJr

Thanks for the reviews. I am not fond of the metal reel knobs either. I love the feel of an Avet's handle. I have heard good things about both of those reels. In my area, I prefer faster line retrieval. Like over 44" per crank. Sometimes I will mix it up with a little speed jigging. I would like to spring for an Ocea Jigger F 2001NRHG, but would have a hard time using it on a kayak. I wish some of the US companies would produce something like that at an affordable price.

Yea, I those are nice but man they are expensive, I know capt. Mike from the video you linked above uses the saltiga line of star drag reels. Those seem to be pretty damn fine reels as well. The shimano you mentioned i think the f series has that free spool lever brake or what ever they call it. its a wierd gadget but some guys love it.

The seigler LGN (large game narrow) retrievs 52" per crank if im not mistaken and the accurate valiant 500N pulls in 46" per crank if i remember correctly. might be worth looking into. the SGN is about 150 bucks less than the valiant, but I think you would probably prefer the handle on the valiant if you went that direction. Then again you are in OJ territory price wise for the the valiant.

[JohnMckroidJr]

Originally Posted by SoCalEDC

Yea, I those are nice but man they are expensive, I know capt. Mike from the video you linked above uses the saltiga line of star drag reels. Those seem to be pretty damn fine reels as well. The shimano you mentioned i think the f series has that free spool lever brake or what ever they call it. its a wierd gadget but some guys love it.

The seigler LGN (large game narrow) retrievs 52" per crank if im not mistaken and the accurate valiant 500N pulls in 46" per crank if i remember correctly. might be worth looking into. the SGN is about 150 bucks less than the valiant, but I think you would probably prefer the handle on the valiant if you went that direction. Then again you are in OJ territory price wise for the the valiant.

Ocea Jigger J is out of my budget, but I will keep an APB for a used deal. Getting the jig to sink fast is critical in my fishery as it is a race against the current to make it to the bottom in a vertical presentation. A minimal resistance free spool would be a definite advantage. Siegler LGN would make a good candidate for me -- thanks. For a better grip on a metal handle, I am trying Plasti Dip on my latest used aquisition.

[Oolie]

For the reel, consider the depth at which you will be fishing. Most Ocea Jigger users are targeting fish at depths far beneath where our target species live. As such, we can get away with much smaller spooled reels. Unfortunately, those are also some of the more sought after sizes of reel in our market to begin with, but the prices are much lower.

[vincentek9]

I don't think SPJ fishing has caught on too well here. I personally have a few SPJ outfits primarily used to target rockfish. I cant use it for yellowtail here as I need rod backbone to turn the fish ASAP.

as for tuna... bait and shimano flatfalls are king. fishing flatfall is 95% on the drop or stop. has nothing to do with the action of SPJ rod so why not use a broom stick on the cows.

another thing is that I think california law states 2 hooks max. for flatfalls and SPJ, i always set both hooks on the top. It's personal preference and I don't think putting them on the bottom would make much of a difference.