Jigging or Drift Fishing for Salmon

spring fever said:
Give me a few days here and I will line them up and shoot a few. I have learned so much since I have been snowed in and the wife has Covid. I am spending a lot of time looking for pencil jigs and various flat fall jigs that have various degrees of flatness. The shimano jigs are great-I use them a lot but the hump currant is sometimes too fast to make them the ideal jig--you can pitch them into the currant and work the boat all you like but because they have such a large surface area they are very difficult to get vertical with-the pencil jigs and of course weight is supposed to help-these jigs are designed to get to the bottom quicker. Right now I am re-tying all my jigging rods with 40lb fluoro to 50 lb braid using an Alberta knot. Why they call it that since it comes from the South Florida saltwater jigger is beyond me. Why 40 to 50-lots of guys use much heavier flouro or mono but I fish by myself a lot-if I hang up in heavy currant I want to be able to break off and not lose my very expensive braid. Thats the simple explanation-I had considered 30 for the same reason and still may do it. I'm sure there are lots of arguments for much heavier fluoro or mono and some of the vids I watched explained it-but in the end it's personal and you do what works for you.
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The Jigs on Aliexpress are no longer cheap-pretty sad -used to love looking for bargains but sadly the real thing is the same price here. The tackle store at Pacific plaground in Black Creek has the best selection and prices in this neck of the woods
 
acrowe said:
I wondered if anyone is interested in a discussion thread on jigging or drift fishing for salmon?
I know its a real minority but the "High Tech Jigging" thread got a lot of interest in the past and still draws some occasional replies.

I thought there might be a few good topics that could be discussed here:

Gear - Rods, reels, lines but also what lures people like and how they rig them
Boats and electronics - what do we use and what would we choose if we could?
Techniques - from how we actually fish the various jigs used to how position the boat and determine what depths to fish

I'll start
I mostly fish our of Campbell River. Switched over from trolling a couple years ago. I was away from the Island for a long time. When I started fishing here again it seemed to be that the common wisdom is that the 70s and 80s were a sort of glory days when there were more fish and even jigging could catch salmon, now you need to troll if you want to catch fish. I trolled and caught fish, more than I remember catching out of Sooke and Saanich inlet when I was a kid in the late 70s and 80s. I did quite a bit of jigging with my Dad as a kid and in the 80s it was also seen as not a very serious way to catch salmon by many people.

I started trying it again, occasionally with moching rods, monofilament etc, and it did not produce for me. One day trolling off Wilby shoals it totally clicked for me, tons of bait, feeding fish - jigging should work. I read through the High Tech Jigging thread. The next year in may and june I set up to do it more seriously, and it was clear, that jigging would be really productive when you find fish.
Last year I mostly left the downriggers in the garage. I probably caught a similar amount of fish. I generally find it probably worlks out similar to trolling, when you are on the fish it is super productive. Yesterday I found feeding fish immediately and had 6-8 fish on in 10 minutes, released 2, kept one that was bleeding a bunch and went home (which is the unfortunate part about 1 fish limit fishing alone). If the bite is not really on trollers still pick up fish here and there but you have to be pretty lucky to get random fish if they are dispersed jigging.

This year I have had the most success using 4oz Point Wilson Darts in white - I pull off the treble and tie my own assist hooks using gamagatsu 4/0 (or 2/0) and downrigger braid. I honestly think the assist style hooks, hook more fish and get more fish to the boat then single siwash. Sometimes they seem to cause damage when the 2nd hook hooks into something but because they are generally smaller than single siwash hooks that come on stuff they tend not to be quite as damaging that way so I am unsure which is better for releasing fish, which is a big concern these days.
I have tried Shimano butterfly jigs, and I like them. Availability of the size and colours I want when I go to buy them and price affect how much I use them.

I use a variety of rods - this fish which I think was likely around 22lbs I caught last summer on a rig I use in shallower water (under 100") with light lures. Its a baitcasting rod and reel. It seems light but you can actually put a lot of pressure on a fish with it and I felt ok about how quickly I managed this fish (since it had to be released).
View attachment 84180

I hope there might be an interest in sharing what those of us jigging for salmon are doing
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I did a decent amount of jigging this summer. Started early in the spring offshore in Bamfield with some success for salmon, continued to jigg occasionally throughout the summer - august in parksville off a kayak, also out around nanosecond bay off a friends sailboat. Jigging from the kayak I was using navionics, mainly targeting lungs and bottom fish but did end up with a nice chinook. On the sailboat we had electronics so we were targeting fish in bait balls and had a blast hooking up with some chinook. My go to is a chartreuse buzzbomb, my buddy with the sailboat likes anchovy pattern drop Jiggs and that day he was definitely hooking up with more salmon. Late summer back in Vancouver I would troll till we got some fish, once we had some action from downrigging we’d spend the rest of the time jigging and it paid off. I use an Okuma cold water series level wind reel on an Okuma 5’6” Hali rod. 50lbs braid and always use a mono leader. It’s a hell of a lot of fun.

Side question. Does anyone ever jigg for winters?

Cheers
 
Keepinitreel said:
I did a decent amount of jigging this summer. Started early in the spring offshore in Bamfield with some success for salmon, continued to jigg occasionally throughout the summer - august in parksville off a kayak, also out around nanosecond bay off a friends sailboat. Jigging from the kayak I was using navionics, mainly targeting lungs and bottom fish but did end up with a nice chinook. On the sailboat we had electronics so we were targeting fish in bait balls and had a blast hooking up with some chinook. My go to is a chartreuse buzzbomb, my buddy with the sailboat likes anchovy pattern drop Jiggs and that day he was definitely hooking up with more salmon. Late summer back in Vancouver I would troll till we got some fish, once we had some action from downrigging we’d spend the rest of the time jigging and it paid off. I use an Okuma cold water series level wind reel on an Okuma 5’6” Hali rod. 50lbs braid and always use a mono leader. It’s a hell of a lot of fun.

Side question. Does anyone ever jigg for winters?

Cheers
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I was out jigging for winters yesterday and brought up quite a few. All fairly small, but it was still a riot. Where I fish, it's sandy bottoms, 100-160'. If the drift is slow, I'll use as small as 2.5 oz, otherwise it's 3-5 oz. If the wind is moving us a fair bit, we'll switch to mooching herring or anchovies. There's nothing like drifting with the engine off!
 
Deepaaaar said:
I was out jigging for winters yesterday and brought up quite a few. All fairly small, but it was still a riot. Where I fish, it's sandy bottoms, 100-160'. If the drift is slow, I'll use as small as 2.5 oz, otherwise it's 3-5 oz. If the wind is moving us a fair bit, we'll switch to mooching herring or anchovies. There's nothing like drifting with the engine off!
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Where are you hanging your hat??
 
spring fever said:
Where are you hanging your hat??
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I'm on the south island, so mostly fishing Victoria, Sooke, and Renfrew, and I make a few trips up island every year. Yesterday was out of Sooke. It seems the smaller feeders (year 3 fish) have moved in to take advantage of the HUGE amount of bait this year. So many whales, too.
 
spring fever said:
Where are you hanging your hat??
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Ok good to hear. Might try a bit myself tomorrow. Haven’t jigged for winters, didn’t know if it was a productive way of targeting them this time of year but this gives me hope. Love the feeling when a salmon smacks a jig!
 
spring fever said:
The Jigs on Aliexpress are no longer cheap-pretty sad -used to love looking for bargains but sadly the real thing is the same price here. The tackle store at Pacific plaground in Black Creek has the best selection and prices in this neck of the woods
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i concur. the prices weren’t blowing my hairs back. i called PPlayground and the Tackle Shack is closed till spring.
 
West coast tackle has some that look like knock offs of the shimano's for $12
westcoastfishingtackle.ca

Saltwater Jigging Lures

Saltwater jigging is exciting and fun! Whether it be for smaller rockfish, lingcod or halibut, we have a large selection of custom handmade jigs to choose from. Baby Rockfish Lures - Lingcod, Halibut Octopus Lures - Lingcod, Halibut, Rockfish Flat Fall Lures - Salmon, Rockfish Candle Fish Lures...
westcoastfishingtackle.ca
 
Deepaaaar said:
I'm on the south island, so mostly fishing Victoria, Sooke, and Renfrew, and I make a few trips up island every year. Yesterday was out of Sooke. It seems the smaller feeders (year 3 fish) have moved in to take advantage of the HUGE amount of bait this year. So many whales, too.
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Keepinitreel said:
Ok good to hear. Might try a bit myself tomorrow. Haven’t jigged for winters, didn’t know if it was a productive way of targeting them this time of year but this gives me hope. Love the feeling when a salmon smacks a jig!
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Vancouver area for myself. Ya it’s been a great year for whales. Had orcas go under my boat off Bowen in late September, then humpies everywhere last month
 
Keepinitreel said:
Vancouver area for myself. Ya it’s been a great year for whales. Had orcas go under my boat off Bowen in late September, then humpies everywhere last month
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Yeah, this year was awesome for whales for me, too! We ended up close to the northern resident orcas in the Johnstone strait in July in our kayaks. Pretty amazing creatures. And the humpbacks were swimming within 50' of Cheanuh marina yesterday. Nuts.

I think Island Fisherman had a piece about jigging for winters last year - or maybe it was a video. I've heard it's a bit easier over here (south island) as there's quite a bit of structure that makes it easier to find the fish. For example, one of the places I like to go is a bit of a channel that brings fish in to nab the bait as it flushes out on the ebb. Other people would know more about your area, though.
 

i found this tutorial excellent; particularly the action the slack line gives on the various types of jig.
 
I have been incredibly busy ordering rods, reels and jigging parts 'hooks, tackle and hot stamping foil direct from China' Amazing what you can get and what you can learn. Post takes about 4-6 weeks-haven't had anything go astray. Interesting enough most of the stuff I have is also found on Amazon for a much higher price. Not knock offs-I never order name brands such as Shimano or Penn but if you notice second party or 3rd party sellers on Amazon are actually the same companies out of China or Taiwan . Kept me busy all winter. Gathering up all my old Jigs ready to re-hook and put hot stamp foil on them. Just putting the finishing touches on a hot foil press-waiting for the silicon pad-should be here next week. Just like Xmas all winter!! LOL
 
spring fever said:
I have been incredibly busy ordering rods, reels and jigging parts 'hooks, tackle and hot stamping foil direct from China' Amazing what you can get and what you can learn. Post takes about 4-6 weeks-haven't had anything go astray. Interesting enough most of the stuff I have is also found on Amazon for a much higher price. Not knock offs-I never order name brands such as Shimano or Penn but if you notice second party or 3rd party sellers on Amazon are actually the same companies out of China or Taiwan . Kept me busy all winter. Gathering up all my old Jigs ready to re-hook and put hot stamp foil on them. Just putting the finishing touches on a hot foil press-waiting for the silicon pad-should be here next week. Just like Xmas all winter!! LOL
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Pictures !
 
Oh hey, I've been jigging up quite a few fish so far this winter, including a 15 lb spring mid-Dec. Still the best way to catch 'em! I've been using a white needlefish (deep stinger) pretty much exclusively.
 
spring fever said:
I have been incredibly busy ordering rods, reels and jigging parts 'hooks, tackle and hot stamping foil direct from China' Amazing what you can get and what you can learn. Post takes about 4-6 weeks-haven't had anything go astray. Interesting enough most of the stuff I have is also found on Amazon for a much higher price. Not knock offs-I never order name brands such as Shimano or Penn but if you notice second party or 3rd party sellers on Amazon are actually the same companies out of China or Taiwan . Kept me busy all winter. Gathering up all my old Jigs ready to re-hook and put hot stamp foil on them. Just putting the finishing touches on a hot foil press-waiting for the silicon pad-should be here next week. Just like Xmas all winter!! LOL
Click to expand...
Ok. What is hot stamp foil?
 
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