slow pitch jigging

We definitely were past the “nearshore” boundaries on this outing. I wanted to test some heavy jigs with the Shimano Tranx 400, and Capt. Darren and Rey were kind enough to let me join them. I was wearing a GoPro Session on my cap for the first time, hoping to get decent footage of how the Tranx performed, and of our catches since it would be easier to point the GoPro than to take my phone for a still photo.

Darren fished the traditional methods of damashi with lures, and deploying a bonus line with cut bait. He caught more fish than we did jigging but Rey was a close second with an amazing variety of species caught with his customized vertical jig spinning outfit. I just landed a few fish on my slow pitch jigs, jigged slow and also fast, but the catches were memorable. Out of respect for their privacy I’ll just be talking about my meager catches.

I started with an “inchiku” type jig that had an octopus hanging off a chunk of lead. A small yellow spot papio hit that but the action slowed so I moved on to the new Live Deception jig with UV paint and a stout assist hook off the front eye. The original Live Deception had always caught fish so I was surprised with nothing hit the new one. I switched to the original and didn’t get bit either. I tried other jigs that had worked in the past and still came up empty. An oddball looking white jig with pink stripes got hit as I lifted off the bottom and a hage made it to the surface. That gave me some hope. On the next drop a yellow spot papio hit it on the first lift.

We drifted past 220ft so I went with an 80 gm tungsten jig that was very dense and fell quickly. That got slammed by something bigger as I lifted it off the bottom also. Still, it didn’t feel too big because the Tranx’s smooth drag and big gears. We didn’t measure the white papio but it looked bigger than 7lbs.

Rey was doing really well fast pumping through the water column so I tried a medium – fast pumping retrieve. The slow pitch jigs wouldn’t swim well at this pace so I had switched to a swimming/casting jig from Japan. It was easy to to tell if the jig got bumped as it fell to the bottom, and a turn of the handle engaged the Tranx’s gears. In the video below I’m clumsily lifting and cranking to make the jig shoot up and then slide a bit before shooting up again. A smoother retrieve would have been to life and crank in an exaggerated circular motion.

About 2/3 of the way up I got hit by something with head shakes and frenetic tail kicks. It felt like a small kawakawa but then headed for the bottom with authority. I thought a shark or ulua got it as you can hear on the video. Turns out this same jig had caught a smaller kawakawa on a previous trip.

The 14lb kawakawa was a fun fight but the Tranx 400 had things under control the whole time. The Game Type J rod and Tranx reel were so light and comfortable to fish the whole day. I also had the Tranx 500 on a Shimano Trevala TFC medium action jig rod, but that felt a little bulky for the size fish I was catching. If something big showed up, I was ready to grab it though.

Rey’s unique vertical jigs and refined technique outfished me 3 to 1. My gear and lures were really meant for slow pitching but the fish didn’t want to eat slow pitched jigs that day. The Tranx 400 was plenty fast with 41 inches per crank but the Game Type J rod didn’t spring back fast enough for a heavy, fast jigged lure. In hindsight, maybe I should have used the heavier Trevala jig rod, but the fights wouldn’t have been as fun.

The GoPro head cam wasn’t always pointed where I wanted, and I found out it takes a long time to go through and process the worthwhile clips, but all in all it was a successful equipment testing trip. Much Mahalo to Capt Darren for being so tolerant as I bumbled around the boat, and for Rey to fill in for me when I should have been helping more. I started the day off getting seasick (first time ever) and my back tightened up fighting the kawakawa. That made me even more impressed with how the guys could power through with little sleep on a constantly rocking boat.

Erik invited me out on his small aluminum boat again since the conditions were too good to pass up. Sheet glass, no wind for a few hours, and small surf. The water couldn’t be any flatter than this. Only concern was the big moon the night before.

The plan was to fish upwind of the normal wind pattern and work our way back. On the way out Erik saw aha attacking bait and threw his sinking JDM swimmer. An aha went airborne with it and shed the hook. The heavy, calm air transmitted sounds for miles, it seemed. Whales were breaching and expelling air, turtles were startling us with their snorkly exhales and big 10″ to 12″ malolo were being chased around. We even saw a dolphin school playing a few hundred yds off. All that life got us pumped up.

We kept motoring upwind but the deep reefs were just too tempting. Erik hooked up his portable Huminbird PiranhaMax fish finder and we trolled around until we found the edge of the 100 ft drop off. Down went our small jigs but nothing was interested in them. We kept heading upwind while watching the fish finder. Fish were stacked up so we dropped the jigs again. Erik jigged his lure erratically after reaching the bottom, then let it hit bottom again. His lure looked lively on 10lb braid and he felt something heavy. Hage! But at least we found fish.

When the fish finder found clumps of fish we fished harder. I tried my 20 gm jigs, 30 gms jigs and 60 gm jigs until I finally got a hage too. By then Erik had let go a few.

Then we stumbled on a spot where Erik hooked something 1/3 of the way off the bottom. It felt small but had a consistent tail beat. Baby weke ula!

I was able to get one also, then Erik hooked a stronger fish with his erratic jigging motion. It tried its best to stay on its deep, home reef but Erik coaxed it up. Omilu! It taped out at 11 inches, head to fork of tail, and was tagged and set free.

We drifted off that productive spot and Erik had a hunch the deeper drop off would be even better. At 140 ft the finder was marking fish a little suspended off the bottom. I ended a dry spell with the lowly trumpetfish so we moved a bit and Erik hooked two more juvenile weke ula, and I brought up the ubiquitous hage.

Erik quickly dropped his jig back down on this productive spot and something strong ripped line for about 5 seconds but the hook pulled. Arrggh. We’re thinking it must’ve been a big papio or ulua.

He even caught a medium-sized moana on a deep reef with his active jigging action. My slow pitch on 17lb mono wasn’t even attracting the hage anymore.

We had an hr left of fishing time so we tried throwing poppers and swimmers on the shallow reefs but there were no takers this time.

I think the bite was slow in the shallow water because the water was so clear and the moon was so big the night before. The big predators had been chasing bait the night before and the smaller fish were running from the predators. They all must’ve been resting in their hidey holes until the big moon evening activity started again.

But wow, what a beautiful day to be on the water. All the fish caught were released.

Here’s how we did last week on a flatter tide but smaller moon.

Product testing in 180 to 500 ft of water

Sheet glass conditions on a big moon day