How To: Striper Jigging Techniques
Jigging is both more work and less work than casting. It’s less work in the sense that you tend to run and gun less and jigging can be less tiring than blind casting heavy plugs all day. THAT SAID, you often hook striped bass in very deep water, making for a very arduous fight, especially on spinning gear.
Fast Jigging
Fast jigging is associated mostly with metals but is suitable for weight soft plastics and Hogy Epoxy Jig® Lures, too. The bites tend to be more violent but you need to also pay careful attention to bites on the drop. Fast jigging is the best way to cover all levels of the water column and can often draw reaction strikes. It’s very hands on and interactive.
Steps:
- Drop to the bottom
- Engage and reel quickly while jerking the rod while cranking.
- Stop at the maximum depth where you expect to leave the fish one.
- Drop back to bottom and repeat.
- Once you have too much line out due to boat drift, reel all the way up and start over.
Benefits:
- Easily cover all levels of the water column. The speed is good in that you can cover all the levels frequently.
- The speed is also good for drawing a reaction strike.
- Speed jigging is a good way to cut down on dogfish bites.
- Heavy Jigs and frequent re-positioning ideal for heavy currents
Fish Jigging Imitates: Mackerel, Herring
Top Hogy Imitation for this Method: The Hogy Pro Tail Eel, The Hogy Sand Eel Jigs and The Hogy Peanut Bunker Jig (See chart below for reference)
Slow Jigging
This is my favorite jigging technique for fishing with soft baits and I think the most under utilized. It’s a great technique for fish you see on the fish finder that “won’t bite anything”. As compared to speed jigging, a slow-jigged lure is an easy target for lazy striper. Slow jigging works well with eel tails such as the Hogy Pro Tail Paddle and the Hogy Pro Tail Eel softbaits. You are relying mostly on boat drift and slow rod tip motions to work the bait. The natural softness of the plastic does the rest. It’s really a slow method. I jokingly teach people my method by instructing to fish like “you really don’t care about fishing.”
Steps:
- Drop to a specific depth that you are targeting
- Slowly Raise your rod tip and let it fall slowly.
- Every few moments, change the depth by 10’ slow cranks, then repeat slow jig
- Drop back to bottom and repeat
- Once you have too much line out, creating too great an angle between you and the lure, which is caused by the boat drifting, reel in and repeat.
Benefits:
- Stay in a key strike zone for a very long time
- Natural subtle movements to present a slow easy bait for a lazy stripers to eat. The subtle movements of a softbait tail are deadly.
- Easy technique for inexperienced guest on your boat.
Imitates: Sand Eels, Wounded Herring
Top Hogy Imitation for this Method: The Hogy Pro Tail Paddle, the Hogy Pro Tail Eel, the Hogy Sand Eel Jig, the Herring Jig, the Peanut Bunker Jig, the Slappy Jiggin’ Eel, the Hogy Dancing Diamond Jig and the Hogy Flouder/Lobster Softbait (See chart below for reference)
Twitch Jigging
Twitch jigging is a variation of the slow jig, the only difference being a series of sharp fast twitches in the rod. It’s almost like you are vibrating the lure with rapid rod tip twitches. This technique works particularly well with the Hogy Sand Eel Jig. It’s long, slender profile responds with a lot jerking rod tip motions. The huge benefit to this technique is that you can really dial in a certain depth. This is a useful method when “sniping” fish you have identified on the fish finder.
Steps:
- Drop to a specific depth that you are targeting
- Twitch your rod with fast short movements
- Every few moments, change the depth by 10’, repeat
- Once you have too much line out from boat drift, reel in and repeat
Benefits:
- Stay in a key strike zone for a very long time
- Faster motions might trigger reaction strike
- Allows metal lure depth, soft bait action.
Imitates: Sand Eels, Wounded Herring, Wounded Mackerel
Top Hogy Imitation for this Method: The Hogy Pro Tail Eel, the Hogy Sand Eel Jig, the Herring Jig, the Peanut Bunker Jig, the Hogy Dancing Diamond Jig and the Hogy Flounder/Lobster softbaits (See chart below for reference)
Dead Stick Jigging
If you are drifting for and extended period while blind casting, it’s often a good idea to drop a softbait down deep and park the rod in the holder. It’s truly embarrassing to think about how effective this technique is, compared to all the energy and efforts anglers put into fooling striped bass. While dead sticking, you are literally just putting the rod in the holder and letting the boat do just about everything. It’s basically another variation of the slow jig. This is 100 percent a soft bait method, as the plastic is moving with each rock of the boat.
Steps:
- Select heavy softbait that will stay with the boat, typically at least five-ounces.
- Drop to the specific depth that you are targeting.
- Set drag and enjoy your lunch 🙂
Benefits:
- You’re able to stay in a key strike zone for a very long time
- Slow, juicy lure dance
- You can eat lunch while fishing 🙂