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Halibut
Fishing Techniques
West Coast Vancouver Island
Drift jigging in open water is a fishing
technique being used by an ever increasing number of anglers as they discover
its effectiveness and ease of application.
It's a technique tailor-made for open
water, fresh or salt, where fish are oriented either to bottom structure or temperature
layers. With the aid of a depth sounder, drift jigging allows pinpoint presentation
of a spoon or jig within inches of a fish, providing you with a distinct advantage
not easily obtainable with other fishing methods.
By using wind or current to
change your boat position, in open water drift jigging you will be prospecting
different areas until a concentration of fish is located. Then, either by using
a motor or oars to hold your position, or by motoring back and repeating the
drift, you will be able to stay over them.
Once fish are located, free-spool the jig or spoon to the desired depth and
then begin a series of varied jigging motions which impart erratic actions to
the lure.
The jigging technique consists of raising your rod anywhere from six
inches to six feet, throwing some slack in the line as the rod tip is lowered
toward the water, pausing and then raising the rod upward again. A two second
pause is recommended after the lure has been allowed to fall. It's best to vary
the distance of the upward rod motion with each sweep so the spoon or jig produces
the most erratic and varied actions possible.
Strikes which come when working
a jig or jigging spoon almost always occur as the lure is falling. Hesitation
in the descent of a lure, a twitch of the line, a "tap" or any other
unusual motion or happening as the lure is falling should be immediate reason
for setting the hook.
Many times you will not be able to detect the "strike" but will feel
resistance as you begin to raise the rod. This too signals "set the hook".
An aid in detecting strikes when a lure is falling is the use of a premium-quality
high-visibility line such as Berkley Trilene XT, which also has high knot strength
and thin diameter in relation to pound test. By carefully watching the line as
the jig or spoon is falling, you will be able to detect slight twitches in the
line as the strike occurs.
If you have developed any strikes in a particular column of water, change the
location of your boat slightly, either by drifting or motoring so you will constantly
be covering new water. It is important to keep moving until fish are located.
Depth Sounders
There is no substitute for
a good quality depth sounder, such as those made by Lowrance. In drift jigging
open water where fish can be just about anywhere . . . it will take the guesswork
out of otherwise countless hours of blindly prospecting for them. A flasher unit
will pinpoint the depth at which fish are suspended and, to the knowledgeable
eye, reveal structure and fish close to structure. A flasher unit also will enable
you to spot underwater contour changes such as ledges, dropoffs and islands that
otherwise can't be located or fished over with any degree of consistency.
A paper
chart recorder such as Lowrance's X-15 will provide you with all of the above
advantages plus give you a permanent record that you can refer back to. You will
be able to chart specific areas, bottom contours and the like, and actually see
your lure and fish that are closeby. Schools of baitfish (and sometimes the thermocline
layer of water) which are only momentary blips on a flasher unit can be charted.
The
beauty of a depth sounder in drift jigging lies in its ability to tell you exactly
at what depth the fish are, how many of them there are, whether they are near
structure on the bottom or suspended and, above all, it allows you to move with
them once they're found and keep your lures within inches of them.
Jigging Lures
Regardless of whether you're fishing salt or fresh water, you should
try to match the size of the jig or jigging spoon as closely as you can to the
prevalent baitfish in the area as well as to your tackle. If using lightweight
lures, you'll need lighter tackle -- heavier tackle for jigs and spoons from
three to seven ounces. The desired depth also has a great deal to do with your
selection of a spoon or jig. For example, you will need a heavier lure for fishing
in 100 feet of water than needed for fishing 20-foot depths.
The Importance of Color
A wide variety of painted finishes and color combinations are available on Luhr
Jensen jigging spoons and jigs. Color becomes very important related to the depth
you'll be fishing, with colors changing depending upon how deep they go. Red
filters out of the color spectrum first at about 30 feet and yellow and chartreuse
at about 60 feet with blues, greens and darker colors the last ones to turn gray.
White and/or pearl turn gray at about 60 feet and black is always black, regardless
of depth. This means a fish in deep water will see blacks, grays, blues and greens
in terms of day-to-day food while a shallow water fish would be tuned in to all
colors.
The special glow finishes are designed specifically for deep water jigging. They
contain phosphor pigments that absorb light on the surface and then give it off
down deep. Note: Phosphorescent finishes contain light-sensitive pigments which
can be burned and turn gray if exposed to strong, direct sunlight.
Prospecting Open Water
Fresh and salt water game fish all relate, in one form or another, to either
structure (bottom contours) currents or temperature zones. Here are some tips
to make your search pay off in the shortest amount of time when coupled with
the use of a depth sounder.
Temperature/Oxygen (Fresh Water)
In large fresh water lakes and reservoirs, the critical factor in finding fish
is the location of the preferred temperature level, as it relates to different
species, and the thermo line. With the onset of warm spring weather, lakes stratify
into three distinct layers and remain that way until fall. The middle layer of
water, where there is a large concentration of dissolved oxygen, baitfish and
therefore predator fish is called the thermo line and can generally be found
from 10 to 80 feet down. This not only is an oxygen-rich layer but also a temperature
layer as well and fish relate to it, both as a comfort zone and an area where
their body metabolism functions efficiently.
The peak feeding and optimum temperature
for Coho and Chinook salmon is 55° with an active range from 44° to 58°. For
lake trout, peak feeding and optimum temperature is 50° with activity from 43°
to 53°. For steelhead, optimum temperature is between 50° and 55° with activity
from 40° to 75°. Brown and rainbow trout, as well as bass, have an optimum temperature
preference between 55° and 60° with activity from 44° to 75°.
Fish rarely venture
out of these preferred temperature zones, except to catch a meal, and then will
return quickly. One thing to remember when fishing temperature layers such as
the thermo line is that they can change from day to day because of wind and/or
wave action and you'll have to relocate them each time out.
Tide /Currents (Salt Water)
Just as knowledge of temperature layers is critical for fresh water fishing,
a knowledge of tides and currents is essential for salt water drift jigging success.
Feeding activity of salmon and other salt water gamefish is at its maximum during
the period from one hour before, through and one hour after a tide change. A
tide cycle has two highs and two lows so there are at least two daylight tide
change periods to fish each day which provide optimum conditions. Charting one
tide period, we would have low slack (the time of change), ebb (run out) and
back to low slack. If the tide fluctuation is minimal between high and low, say
3 to 8 feet, fish will be active throughout the tide cycle along rips, in eddies
and many times in open water. But the period before slack tide, during the slack
and just after will still provide you with top angling as salmon and bottom fish
will feed most actively when they don't have to battle currents. You'll have
about three hours of prime fishing time around each tide change and it's extremely
important to fish these periods intensely. Purchase a tide book for your area
and become familiar with it and schedule your trips, if possible, to coincide
with the change periods.
If the tides are moving fast, salt water species such
as salmon, which are ordinarily open-water feeders, will seek shelter around
structure such as points of land, underwater islands and other areas where they
won't have to battle current. These will be the places to seek them out with
your jigging lures. Bottom fish, on the other hand aren't influenced by the tides
and always are close to rocks, pinnacles and drop offs so your search for these
should be concentrated near structure.
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