joebaggs99
10-22-2015, 01:56 PM
Jigging An Eel
By Joe D’Agostino
Getting your eel deep can be the key to success.
I can still remember the first time I rigged up an eel jig. I was fishing in one of the Thames River estuaries. We had just gotten two inches of rain so the river was high and running hard; the perfect situation for finding tight schools of bass concentrated around current breaks like drop-offs, humps, or large rocks. My plan was working perfectly; as I moved around the river system, I was finding numbers of bass in the 28- to 35-inch class on bucktails and soft plastics by targeting current breaks. But in each location the fish would get wise to my offerings after a while and the bite would shut down. Even after running through several different looks, colors and presentations they would just stop eating. I even tried resting each spot for 15 minutes—a method I often use to keep the bite alive—but they weren’t buying it!
I knew that I was going to have to improvise to turn them back on; I tried a live eel, but the current was moving too fast. I wanted a natural look and bigger offering, and then it hit me! I grabbed a 3/4-ounce jighead, pulled a few feet of braid off my reel and got to work rigging it…
That 15-inch eel looked pretty good for being field dressed, on the fly, with limited supplies and now I would see how well it held up to being heaved 75 yards and fished in heavy current. It didn’t take long—maybe three bounces—before I felt a solid hit. I set the hook and the fish just sat there. I knew it was a decent fish. I immediately thought about the weak, black nickel hook, and I knew I would have to play ‘cat and mouse’ with this fish or risk bending out the hook. After a couple decent runs and some tense moments in the stones I was able to get her off the bottom. The fish measured 45 inches and I estimate that she was in the low-30 pound class. As you can probably imagine, I was sold on the jigged eel.
Jig Theory
When fishing current, it’s important to consider the fact that fish will relate to cover or an area of slower moving water. The fish will lie in wait, charged with energy, prepared to react to and strike anything that is swept by in the current. As mentioned in the opening example, these areas can be loosely defined as current breaks. Anything that redirects or blocks the movement of the water should be explored; things like rocks, sandbars and dam bases are excellent places to target; but don’t overlook rip lines, upwelling water or whitewater either; these things are the signature of structure below the surface.
Getting down to the structure itself is tough unless you use some kind of leadhead—a bucktail, a swim shad, an eel jig—because these allow you to dial in the proper weight and then target different levels of the water column to find where the fish are holding. Thinking like a fish will always help with learning how to catch them. When I approach a new spot I always look at it as if I were under water with the fish; where would I set up if I wanted to conserve energy and ambush prey? Thinking this way has really helped me up my game.
Jigging The Eel
There are many advantages to fishing an eel rigged on a jighead. First, it’s the most natural presentation you can make with a leadhead—it used to be alive! It presents a big target that the bass are used to eating and it can be cast further and sunk deeper than live or traditional rigged eels. In most locations that feature a strong current, you can only fish live eels during the slow and slack periods—with the jigged eel you can fish them any time.
Think about the rivers in the spring and fall, inlets, canals and breachways—these are all prime locations to fish these eels. There is a bit of subtlety to the presentation though, and it takes some finesse and experience to get it right. The goal of this presentation is to float the jigged eel between one and three feet off the bottom. Begin by casting up-current and reeling fast enough to keep contact with the jig. You have to feel the first bump of bottom; this is the most important part of learning to jig. That first “bump” lets you know that the jig has touched down and that your line is not just dragging along the bottom while the jig rolls through the rocks. When you feel the bump, quickly pop the rod tip three times in one- foot intervals while reeling to keep up with the current. If a fish is nearby the hit will most likely occur on the pause right after the third pop. Do this repeatedly until you’re no longer bumping bottom, retrieve, and start over. The weight of the jighead will vary greatly depending on where you are fishing and the stage of the tide; in the Rhode Island breachways weights between 3/4 and 1-1/2 ounces work best; in the Cape Cod Canal 3, 4 and 5 ounce jigs are required depending on moon phase and current strength.
The next jigged eel presentation is for deep water like the Canal and large inlets. In the Canal the heavy jigs are required to penetrate depths of 25 to 60 feet quickly enough to cut through the fast current. The one reason I prefer an eel jig over live eel and rubber core sinker combo is that the eel on the jig stays in its natural position with the belly facing down. With a rubber core sinker, the eel tends to spin, tumble, and roll in the current. The eel jig works so well because of its versatility and the fact that you can fish it at any depth.
When you’re working the jigged eel it helps to think like an eel. I have had the privilege of witnessing eels working current and rocks at low tide in the breachways. They don’t swim too far off the bottom, and they try to find cover while staying low. Sticking to the bottom means that they always have a place to hide if they sense danger, but the uneven nature of the bottom means that they can never see more than a few feet in front of them. This is how they make their fatal mistake; as they navigate the holes, humps and rocks they can never be sure what might be waiting around the next boulder—the bass are counting on this. Thus, when jigging the Canal I like to keep the eel either on bottom or just a foot off, popping the eel 6 to 12 inches every time bottom is felt. (Hint: If you don’t feel bottom, you’re over a hole so drop the rod tip in 12 inch intervals until rod is almost parallel to the water. This mimics a vulnerable eel trying to get to bottom to find cover.) Because the banks of the Canal are made up of stepped ledges, your jigged eel will sometimes get crushed as you retrieve it for another cast, you really need to be ready for anything when you fish there.
Jigged eels also have a place in the Canal when the fish are feeding near the surface. I classify the upper column as water within 10 feet of the surface, typically this means that the fish are feeding on the first ledge (closest to shore). On some nights the fish will be holding and actively feeding in these areas and a 1/2- to 1-1/2 ounce head will be most effective. If you hear fish popping on the surface try this out and reel at a medium pace to see what happens. Hold tight.
In The Surf
These eels also have a place in the surf. Here lighter heads are the norm, usually up to 1-1/2 ounces. In addition to depth control the rugged rigging of these eels means you can throw them with authority reaching water you just cannot access with a live eel. Because of the added weight, the speed of the retrieve will have to be increased to avoid running into the bottom. Don’t let the faster retrieve turn you off; the fish will have no trouble hunting it down.
If fishing high surf use the same weights but use the waves to keep the eel off the bottom and just below the white water. Fish are feeding just below the foam and will strike out of reaction. The whitewater is caused by air being folded into the wave as it crests, the explosion of bubbles rarely goes deeper than 3 feet down from the surface and dissipates within seconds. A good trick is to allow the undertow from the receding wave to hold the jig in the strike zone longer. Think about what’s happening under the water: the fish are waiting for the whitewater to diminish and then they are charging into that zone looking for anything that has been dislodged, injured or confused by the crash of the wave. When you feel the pull of the receding wave, drop the rod tip back in three 6-inch intervals, this will show the bass an eel dropping out of the whitewater—most of the hits come after the third drop as you begin to retrieve the eel. If you’re fishing a sandy beach, you can drag and pop the eel along the bottom without worry about snags. This will also ensure that your jig swims through all of the holes and over all of the humps that might be hidden beneath the waves in front of you.
The jigged eel is a deadly weapon that most shore fishermen are not employing. We all know that bass love eels and we go to great lengths to learn to fish them in a variety of situations. We all also know that bass tend to relate to the bottom, especially in current, but so few of us put these two pieces together! Having these eels in a few different weights means that you can present the eel at any level of the water column and that you can reach depths and distances that no other method of fishing eels can access. I hope I’ve opened a few eyes here because I know that if you use them, you will catch fish.
By Joe D’Agostino
Getting your eel deep can be the key to success.
I can still remember the first time I rigged up an eel jig. I was fishing in one of the Thames River estuaries. We had just gotten two inches of rain so the river was high and running hard; the perfect situation for finding tight schools of bass concentrated around current breaks like drop-offs, humps, or large rocks. My plan was working perfectly; as I moved around the river system, I was finding numbers of bass in the 28- to 35-inch class on bucktails and soft plastics by targeting current breaks. But in each location the fish would get wise to my offerings after a while and the bite would shut down. Even after running through several different looks, colors and presentations they would just stop eating. I even tried resting each spot for 15 minutes—a method I often use to keep the bite alive—but they weren’t buying it!
I knew that I was going to have to improvise to turn them back on; I tried a live eel, but the current was moving too fast. I wanted a natural look and bigger offering, and then it hit me! I grabbed a 3/4-ounce jighead, pulled a few feet of braid off my reel and got to work rigging it…
That 15-inch eel looked pretty good for being field dressed, on the fly, with limited supplies and now I would see how well it held up to being heaved 75 yards and fished in heavy current. It didn’t take long—maybe three bounces—before I felt a solid hit. I set the hook and the fish just sat there. I knew it was a decent fish. I immediately thought about the weak, black nickel hook, and I knew I would have to play ‘cat and mouse’ with this fish or risk bending out the hook. After a couple decent runs and some tense moments in the stones I was able to get her off the bottom. The fish measured 45 inches and I estimate that she was in the low-30 pound class. As you can probably imagine, I was sold on the jigged eel.
Jig Theory
When fishing current, it’s important to consider the fact that fish will relate to cover or an area of slower moving water. The fish will lie in wait, charged with energy, prepared to react to and strike anything that is swept by in the current. As mentioned in the opening example, these areas can be loosely defined as current breaks. Anything that redirects or blocks the movement of the water should be explored; things like rocks, sandbars and dam bases are excellent places to target; but don’t overlook rip lines, upwelling water or whitewater either; these things are the signature of structure below the surface.
Getting down to the structure itself is tough unless you use some kind of leadhead—a bucktail, a swim shad, an eel jig—because these allow you to dial in the proper weight and then target different levels of the water column to find where the fish are holding. Thinking like a fish will always help with learning how to catch them. When I approach a new spot I always look at it as if I were under water with the fish; where would I set up if I wanted to conserve energy and ambush prey? Thinking this way has really helped me up my game.
Jigging The Eel
There are many advantages to fishing an eel rigged on a jighead. First, it’s the most natural presentation you can make with a leadhead—it used to be alive! It presents a big target that the bass are used to eating and it can be cast further and sunk deeper than live or traditional rigged eels. In most locations that feature a strong current, you can only fish live eels during the slow and slack periods—with the jigged eel you can fish them any time.
Think about the rivers in the spring and fall, inlets, canals and breachways—these are all prime locations to fish these eels. There is a bit of subtlety to the presentation though, and it takes some finesse and experience to get it right. The goal of this presentation is to float the jigged eel between one and three feet off the bottom. Begin by casting up-current and reeling fast enough to keep contact with the jig. You have to feel the first bump of bottom; this is the most important part of learning to jig. That first “bump” lets you know that the jig has touched down and that your line is not just dragging along the bottom while the jig rolls through the rocks. When you feel the bump, quickly pop the rod tip three times in one- foot intervals while reeling to keep up with the current. If a fish is nearby the hit will most likely occur on the pause right after the third pop. Do this repeatedly until you’re no longer bumping bottom, retrieve, and start over. The weight of the jighead will vary greatly depending on where you are fishing and the stage of the tide; in the Rhode Island breachways weights between 3/4 and 1-1/2 ounces work best; in the Cape Cod Canal 3, 4 and 5 ounce jigs are required depending on moon phase and current strength.
The next jigged eel presentation is for deep water like the Canal and large inlets. In the Canal the heavy jigs are required to penetrate depths of 25 to 60 feet quickly enough to cut through the fast current. The one reason I prefer an eel jig over live eel and rubber core sinker combo is that the eel on the jig stays in its natural position with the belly facing down. With a rubber core sinker, the eel tends to spin, tumble, and roll in the current. The eel jig works so well because of its versatility and the fact that you can fish it at any depth.
When you’re working the jigged eel it helps to think like an eel. I have had the privilege of witnessing eels working current and rocks at low tide in the breachways. They don’t swim too far off the bottom, and they try to find cover while staying low. Sticking to the bottom means that they always have a place to hide if they sense danger, but the uneven nature of the bottom means that they can never see more than a few feet in front of them. This is how they make their fatal mistake; as they navigate the holes, humps and rocks they can never be sure what might be waiting around the next boulder—the bass are counting on this. Thus, when jigging the Canal I like to keep the eel either on bottom or just a foot off, popping the eel 6 to 12 inches every time bottom is felt. (Hint: If you don’t feel bottom, you’re over a hole so drop the rod tip in 12 inch intervals until rod is almost parallel to the water. This mimics a vulnerable eel trying to get to bottom to find cover.) Because the banks of the Canal are made up of stepped ledges, your jigged eel will sometimes get crushed as you retrieve it for another cast, you really need to be ready for anything when you fish there.
Jigged eels also have a place in the Canal when the fish are feeding near the surface. I classify the upper column as water within 10 feet of the surface, typically this means that the fish are feeding on the first ledge (closest to shore). On some nights the fish will be holding and actively feeding in these areas and a 1/2- to 1-1/2 ounce head will be most effective. If you hear fish popping on the surface try this out and reel at a medium pace to see what happens. Hold tight.
In The Surf
These eels also have a place in the surf. Here lighter heads are the norm, usually up to 1-1/2 ounces. In addition to depth control the rugged rigging of these eels means you can throw them with authority reaching water you just cannot access with a live eel. Because of the added weight, the speed of the retrieve will have to be increased to avoid running into the bottom. Don’t let the faster retrieve turn you off; the fish will have no trouble hunting it down.
If fishing high surf use the same weights but use the waves to keep the eel off the bottom and just below the white water. Fish are feeding just below the foam and will strike out of reaction. The whitewater is caused by air being folded into the wave as it crests, the explosion of bubbles rarely goes deeper than 3 feet down from the surface and dissipates within seconds. A good trick is to allow the undertow from the receding wave to hold the jig in the strike zone longer. Think about what’s happening under the water: the fish are waiting for the whitewater to diminish and then they are charging into that zone looking for anything that has been dislodged, injured or confused by the crash of the wave. When you feel the pull of the receding wave, drop the rod tip back in three 6-inch intervals, this will show the bass an eel dropping out of the whitewater—most of the hits come after the third drop as you begin to retrieve the eel. If you’re fishing a sandy beach, you can drag and pop the eel along the bottom without worry about snags. This will also ensure that your jig swims through all of the holes and over all of the humps that might be hidden beneath the waves in front of you.
The jigged eel is a deadly weapon that most shore fishermen are not employing. We all know that bass love eels and we go to great lengths to learn to fish them in a variety of situations. We all also know that bass tend to relate to the bottom, especially in current, but so few of us put these two pieces together! Having these eels in a few different weights means that you can present the eel at any level of the water column and that you can reach depths and distances that no other method of fishing eels can access. I hope I’ve opened a few eyes here because I know that if you use them, you will catch fish.