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So, to make the next BASS Master’s Classic a little more interesting, maybe they should make all the guys fish with hookless lures — then we’d see who really knows how to catch ‘em! This is a striper we caught a couple days ago that was hooked…er…make that “wedged” on a jigging spoon! And it actually happened twice that day. Go figure…
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Northern California’s Lake Berryessa is a well-known producer of king and kokanee salmon, three varieties of bass, catfish, crappie and rainbow trout throughout the year…but something special happens here in the fall and early winter: You can catch pretty much all species in the same day, in the same areas on the same gear. Sounds like fun, eh? [click to continue…]
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Wireline trolling with heavy tackle has long been the staple for mackinaw anglers in deep water lakes like Tahoe, and while it’s extremely effective, the technique isn’t always the most exciting way to catch fish. I much prefer jigging on light bass gear.
Not only do you get to feel the grab, but you also get a lot more spot out of the fish.
Another cool thing about jigging is you don’t need a lot of sophisticated gear (besides good electronics). I like to fish with 6 1/2- to 7-foot rods rated for 10- to 17-pound line. You need enough backbone to be able to set the hook in deep water, but a sensitive tip so you can feel the bite — which, by the way, often come as the lure is falling. My favorite sticks are GLoomis’ MBR 843 or MBR 783, paired up with a Shimano Curado 200 DHSV reel, which has a 7:1 retrieve rate, which makes cranking up from 100+ feet all the faster.
I run 20-pound Power Pro on my reels — braid is a must when fishing deep because of its sensitivity and lack of stretch. Of course, you need a leader between the braided line and the lure like a 4-foot section of 14-pound Gamma Edge Fluorocarbon.
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Rockfishing doesn’t have to be just about the meat. Instead of dragging bloated, bug-eyed bottomfish up from 50 fathoms, try busting out some bass gear and hitting the shallows…it’s a blast!
And it’s not just fun…shallow water rockcoddin’ is also very productive. In fact, some of the best fishing you’ll find these days for lings and assorted other rockfish takes place near the beach, away from where the commercial draggers and big party boats fish.
How Shallow? If you’ve got nice weather (fall’s a great time for it!), you can catch rockfish all the way into 10 feet of water, but I do most of mine in 20 to 60 feet.
As with fishing deep, you want to target structure when working close to shore. Look for rock piles, reefs, pinnacles, the outside edges of kelp lines and rocky ledges. Since you may often be working close to rocks, you’re going to want to pick a day with very little swell and wind. Even when you’re working away from hazards, ground swell days suck because the wave action is much more pronounced in shallow water and the fish have a tendency to hunker down.
A 6 to 7 ½ – foot trigger handle rod with a moderately fast action works well for shallow water rockfishing (think bass rods, here). The stick I most often use is the GLoomis MBR844, which is nice and light but has enough backbone to yank a 20-pound ling out of his house.
In the reel department, pick something that’s got a durable thumb bar (which allows you to quickly play out more line if the water gets deeper), good cranking power and a tough drag. Spool up with braided line in the 20- to 60-pound range and run a 3- to 6-foot section of 15- to 30-pound fluorocarbon or mono between your jig and the braid.
You don’t have to get too technical when it comes to bottomfish lures. I like to run two basic types of jig — rubber swimbaits with 1- to 4-ounce lead heads:
iron like Hopkins, Crippled Herring, Buzz Bombs, Revenge and Bomber Slab spoons (to name a few) also work well in the same size range:
I keep my jigs in the 1- to 4-ounce range because heavier lures simply end up being too much work on light gear. Plus, light lures are easier to impart action into and don’t get snagged as much. A simple rule of thumb is pick a lure that’s just heavy enough to keep down in the strike zone but doesn’t pound the bottom.
To get started with light tackle rockfishing, simply freespool the jig to the bottom, reel up a couple cranks and then use a sharp upstroke of the rod tip to get the lure to hop. The upswing doesn’t need to be super aggressive – a quick 1- to 2-foot snap of the rod is all you need. Next, drop the tip back towards the water so that the lure will fall back to the seabed.
When the lure’s dropping back towards the bottom, it’s important to keep some contact with it. Let it fall as quickly as possible without having slack in the line. Most bites occur as the lure is fluttering back towards earth and you’ll miss a lot of them if you don’t maintain some tension between the jig and the rod tip.
While I’m happy to throw some tasty rockfish in the cooler, I also release a ton of them. Fishing for them with light tackle is so fun and productive that you’ll catch far more fish than you can possibly eat.
Most rockfish hooked in shallow water on light gear can be released without any problems. However, there are times when a fish comes up with pressure damage — a distended belly is the most common sign, though fish from deeper water may also have bulging eyes and part of their stomach coming out of their mouth. The old school way to release these fish was to poke a hole with a needle at an angle behind the pectoral fin to relieve the pressure. That can more harm than good, though, if you don’t know how to properly do it. Luckily, there are easier and safer methods…
For years, we’ve kept a milk crate on board for releasing rockfish. The crate has a 60-foot line tied to it and some lead sinkers to weigh it down. We flip it upside down, put a fish in it and start lowering slowly. The fish will stay in the crate until the pressure has equalized – at that point, it swims off on its own. Usually, about 30 feet is all it takes.
If you search around online, you’ll also find that here are also some products on the market designed for releasing fish from deep water. One that looks interesting and very simple is the one made by Shelton Products.
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Late in summer, kokanee salmon start to get edgy. With spawning season not too far off, the fish get all bunched up into tightly-packed schools, and in those close quarters, the salmon become aggressive. And, that, my friends makes them particularly susceptible to one of my favorite kokanee techniques: jigging.
While trolling is, bar-none, the most popular way to catch kokanee, there are times when jigging is the way to go – especially in late summer.
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