More Japanese jigging pearls of wisdom from Coach Haru!
Coach Haru: There are 3 type of signs of bait fish in fish finder. The elongated shape on the left shows bait isn’t being threatened. Maybe no predators around. Drop a jig on it but you might not get a bite at all.
Center one is looks very balled up. They got security alert, must stay closer together. Often predators you’ll see predators on the fish finder. Best time to drop a jig. Jig moves different from other real bait. Jig is falling through bait, fall out of the group, predator’s instinct kicks in.
And last one on the right, they got attacked. Bait are spreading all over mix with bigger fish in. It’s harder to get attention from predators because they are very busy chasing real bait. Artificial bait can not win against real ones. So see this round ball, drop jig now.
Assist hook rigging depends on type of jig. For example, center weighted jig’s purpose is to fall longer, sideways. Chance of fish biting the head or tail is 50 – 50. Ideal to put on both sides. But line attached to the head so eventually line gets tension head lift up so no need equal size hook on the end. Bigger on head, smaller on tail. Long center weight jig, I put 2 hooks on each. Make sure both hooks don’t hook each other. Tail weighted jig like early Shimano butterfly jig should not put on tail. They are not good swimming jig, so no need.
Tail weighted jig made for swimming, fast retrieve jig can have treble hook on tail because head and rear balance don’t matter. Slow pitch jig like flat jig needs to have both on both ends. And must have light cord on assist hooks. They must not obstruct action of the flat jig. Also light hooks like titanium.
I used to catch Ono with assist hook made with thin wire leader with treble hook tied with metal crimp. It worked good. Toothy fish like Ono, ahi, mahi, kaku, they bite bait not suck to swallow like Ulua or kahala. Need shorter assist hooks. Best is 1/3 the length of the jig. Ulua, kahala, others like Moana, weke, those are suck the bait in to mouth, need longer assist hook to make sure hooks go into their mouth deeper. Most of fish attack head of bait because chasing from behind bait is much difficult for them. Their target is the eyes. That’s why all those lures have eyes and very realistic eyes.
Rear weighted jig:
For shore jigging, casting distance is the most important. Long cast has more chance of a bite. Especially, when there is a bait boil, you want to reach to the boil.
Rear weight jig stays in water longer, showing jig to fish longer. Can search wider area. When cast it, heavy tail goes first, stays good form to fly. For off shore jigging, it can reach deeper water fast. When you see bait ball in the fish finder, rear weight jig can reach the bait ball fast and it falls almost straight that aiming at the target accurately. Also rear weight jig shakes tail like swimming but depend on shape (cut to make edges). Rear weight jig is not good for long jerk or slow jerk. It doesn’t stay in the water flat or side stance, it falls straight. Fast jerk or retrieve is better. I use a rear weight jig with spinning reel, stiffer rod(tip) to control the jig. On medium current, off shore, I use 60g for 100ft. 150g for 200ft, 200G for 300ft.
Good advice on the baitball formation theory… I notice the same thing in the inshore halalu and sardine piles. With lures the inshore fish also appear to bite the lures when the ball is up tight together. Although the dunkers dunking at the pile seem to hook up at any time, probably since they have bait.
Great tips Haru!
Interesting theories. Not sure I’ve taken notice of this before. I’ll be certain to now. Mahalo for sharing Haru
in Japan at restaurants, many of them have display cases in front of restaurants have wax dinners. It looks very realistic dish that can not identify real or not by just looking at. Most of us get excited by looks but really get us hungry by smell.