Having trouble holding and bouncing bottom with a three (3) ounce BUCKTAIL - do they come any heavier or should I use something else.

Most go with a 4oz. size

I use 4-6oz most of the time......

It depends on the speed of the current. Lets say its slack. You can use 2 OZ. As it gets going , three will work well for maybe an hour. Then you need to keep going up. Bucktails also have a lot more drag than a bare ball with a curltail. If 3 is maxing out your equipment , you can get it down by casting further up current and letting it sink before taking up the slack. For drifting down current for long drifts , you need to use a heavy jig and let line out to get down.

Bucktailing in the Canal is a little different, and really takes a lot of time to get every nuance. I know guys that throw nothing heavier than 3-1/2 oz and guys who throw 5 or 6. Depends on your approach and where you are fishing.

The Canal has holes and drop-off as bottom structure, and it also has rips, eddies and seams between the main current and a back-wash. The holes and drop-offs can be close, or right at the end of your cast. Generally speaking, the farther from the bank the hole you're working, the heavier a jig you will need. Some guys just work a specific hole---they cast a bit upcurrent of the hole, which experience has taught them is the right place to land their cast to walk it down the slope of the drop-off. Experienced jiggers count the jig down, and if they feel a tap before the mental clock says they should, they set. Once they work the jig thru the bottom of that hole, they crank back in. Couple more casts, they'll move on. Maybe come back later, as fish move with the tide. They have done the game long enough to know which holes are the best bet at various stages of the tide, and they have east tide holes, and west tide holes.

Some guys will work a rip or a seam. Usually, they'll cast upcurrent far enough to have the jig bottom out in front of them, and then work it into the part of the rip, or all along the seam. Where you have a seam and a change in the bottom, that's an especially good spot. Here, you'll use a weight that allows the jig to just tap along the bottom---not to float above it, because you'll never know whether its 5' or 20' above the bottom if you don't feel it touch down. Also, not to just drag along the bottom--you sort of want it yo-yoing just off the bottom and tapping it occasionally. In most places, after you feel leave the seam and get into the backwash, you'll feel the jig come to rest on the botttom. Before you crank it it, just let it sit there for a minute. Then, giveit a couple of pops with the rod, let it sit between, then start cranking on a moderate retireve for a few turns of the reel. Often, you'll get whacked before the third crank. Don't do this too long or you'll hang up in either a kelp bed or the face of the ledge where the bank drops off into to main channel.

You should carry jigs from about 1-1/2 oz to as heavy as your rod will throw. Different places, and different techniques, will run this entire range. Rods that will throw 1-1/2 and 6 aren't common, especially in graphite. Many of the old time jiggers still use 10' Lami 3M glass rods, and a few still throw the old Harnells. In the graphites, of the rods I've used so far, the 10-1/2' Lami "Ron Arra" XRA 126 1MH is the most versatile among that weight range.

Another reason to carry a wide assortment of jigs is that, even on the same set of tides (and twice a month for about 4 days, the Canal tides run about a knot faster than normally), the current might vary in speed in different places along the Canal. Between the bridges, it's serpentine in shape, and the shoreline is very irregular. There are reefs and ledges that affect the current flow downcurrent of them.

Hope I didn't discourage you. Jigging in the Canal isn't a quick-success ticket, unless like Cowhunter, you have tons of experience from other inlets and places with current. There's nothing unique about the Canal, every inlet basically has the same current and tidal factors. Theroblem at the Canal is one of scale. Eight miles to learn rather than 800 yards.

Mike, Thanks again for an extremely informative answer. Now to just "be the jig" as Saltheart teaches.

Mike,
Very good info. on how to work different structure! I've yet to fish the canal, but I now have a folder about an 1.5" thick of CCC how/where to posts. I figure once the folder gets to about 3", I'll be able to give it a whirl.
Another 236 hrs. & I'll be fishin' at Race Pt. with dad, my uncle & three of the cousins! We'll fish the Race during the days & work Nauset inlet & the Backside @ night :)