Hogy Harness Jig
It’s hard to beat this lure for vertical jigging when tuna are keyed in on sand eels. Although olive is the logical first choice, my two favorite “confidence” colors are bone and silver. Similar to all of our tuna grade soft baits, the Hogy Harness Eels are UV infused which makes them far more visible in deep water. The Hogy Harness Jigs have a custom paint job to match the eel tails. Bulk packs of replacement tails are available.
- Method: Slow Jigging, Twitch Jigging
- Best Size: 6oz
- Imitates: Sand Eels, Herring, Bottom Fish
- Hogy Shop Link: 6oz Harness Jigs
Hogy Pro Tail Paddle Series
To be honest, we designed the original Hogy Pro Tail for very large striped bass and tarpon but designed the lures to spec out for large Bluefins once we saw the lure’s action in the water. Like everything we do at Hogy, we over build our products and the Hogy Pro Tail series was the first lure in our universal design series where we found the sweet spot in terms of brawn, size and presentation to be effective on any large sized fish, inshore and offshore. Our universal lure program has a target to max out at a 200lb fish class with 20lb of drag.
Even though it has a paddle tail, it’s hard to beat this Hogy Pro Tail Paddle when for vertical jigging tuna are keyed in on sand eels. It’s a relatively small profile and the olive colors give it the right appearance. The vibration and UV reflectors help draw in fish in dark deep water. Although olive is the logical choice for sand eels, other hot colors are bone and silver which put you in the right space for imitating herring, a Bluefin favorite.
- Method: Slow Jigging, Fast Jigging
- Best Size: 6oz
- Imitates: Sand Eels, Herring, Bottom Fish
- Hogy Shop Link: 6.5″ Pro Tail Paddles
Hogy Tuna-Rigged Epoxy Jig
The EPOXY JIG™ Lure features a vivid scale finish core surrounded by a double thick translucent coat for excellent durability and natural refraction of light. The EPOXY JIG™ lure’s light weight to length ratio produce the perfect balance of size, weight and casting distance, making them a perfect option for surface blitzes. The Tuna Epoxy Jig excels at imitating a variety of oceanic batifish like large sand eels, half beaks, butterfish and herring.
- Method: Slow Jigging, Fast Jigging
- Best Size: 4oz
- Imitates: Sand Eels, Herring, Half Beaks, Butterfish
- Hogy Shop Link 4oz Tuna-Rigged Epoxy Jig
Hogy Harness Pro Tail
The Hogy Harness Pro Tail series was designed specifically to imitate large baits such as herring, bottom dwellers and mackerel. The 9” versions have the same basic shape of the first generation Pro Tails but have the Hogy Harness Jig rigging system molded inside the jig, connected to an oversized hook. The 9”, 6oz versions are ideal for jigging. I favor the 6oz if I am slow jigging, fast jigging or Troll Searching. (See hybrid techniques).
- Method: Slow Jigging, Fast Jigging
- Best Size: 9” 6oz
- Imitates: Mackerel, Herring, Small Bluefish, Bottom Fish
- Hogy Shop Link: 9″ Harness Pro Tails
Hogy Sand Eel Jigs
This lure is an all-star when tuna a keyed in on massive amounts of sand eels on the lower third of the water column in relatively shallow water. The problem arises when there are so many sand eels that the tuna are bucket feeding through the schools. This long, narrow, metal jig is easily manipulated with rod tip action and holds its depth really well. The smaller size is good for finicky fish in shallow water and the larger sizes, which are new for the 2019 season, are better suited for deeper water.
- Method: Slow Jigging, Fast Jigging
- Best Size: 6.5oz
- Imitates: Mackerel, Herring, Small Bluefish, Bottom Fish
- Hogy Shop Link: Hogy Sand Eel Jigs