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Jigs , the weapon of choice at the canal.
We are finally getting our act together and getting ready to fish the canal in 2 or 3 fridays from now.
We poured about 450 3 OZ jigs. For these we carved out a do=it mold to accept some Mustad 8/0 34184 hooks. The mold calls for 7/0 but the 8/0 is miles bigger and stronger so we prefer them. i also think the gap between the point and the shaft is bigger on the 8/0 and that leads to better sticks. A typical do-it ball jig mold for 3 OZ won't completely close on an 8/0 hook so we use a dremel and a burr to open up the shank slot and the eye hole.
3 OZ balls are my bread and butter at the canal when I'm casting way up current and bouncing them down. If you control the angle and work the line slack from the cast well , you can get a 3 OZ down in most currents.
We also cast about 100 4 OZ balls. Same hook but that mold accepts the 8/0 no problem. I'm not sure what my new super casting rod will like so I want to be sure to have the heavier 4 OZ balls on hand. The 4 OZ balls I like to cast up just mayne 30 degrees to the current. Then I start feeding ouit line by freespooling (just a little thumb to sytay out of trouble) until they touch down. Yopu got to keep in touch with it while free spooling or you'll snag the bottom because of a slack loop in your line. once that jig gets below a snag do to a loop in the line , its almost impossible to get the jig back. For thsi same technique , i also like 4 OZ smilin Bills.
I find it interestinmg that I love 3 OZ balls but use almost exclusively 4 OZ when they smilin bills are fully dressed with bucktail. They behave very differntly than a bare jig . i almost never do anything but drift them and free spool line like I described above. These I try to cast way out and work a long time trying to drift down the center of the canal , rather than working rips or seams like I do with the 3 OZ balls.
I also carry some 2 OZ balls and 2 OZ bucktails for when its near or during slack. When its totally dead out there , I might do some plugging but dead slack lasts so short a time and with any current at all , I like being on the bottom with a jig.
I also carry some golfball sized 5 OZ jigs for when its realyy cranking. I just don't cast 5 OZ as well as 3 and 4OZ. . Maybe I'm just getting wimpy and don't have the sterngth but I honestly think i don't like the 5's cause the reel spool is hard to hang on to with your thumb when you really lean into a five.
On al the bare jigs I use a rubber tail. my favorite all around is 8 inch curltails. If you got some black and some white 8 inch curltails , I think fish will take them 90% of the time. In the early spring I like fin S fish and in the fall I sometimes like shad bodies but the rest of the season I prefer curltails over everything.
I also always put a curltaail or GS sluggo type jerk on al the fully tied bucktails.
I think on of the biggest reasons some guys don't hook up more at the canal is cause they are over cautious about hooking the bottom and losing the jigs. To do it right , you can't worry about that. get that jig down and stay supper alert. If you lose it , you lose it. Part of the trick is economy on your offering. If you buy 4 OZ jigs at the store with a good hook , they run you about $4.50. Add to that a curltail at about 80 cents and you got $5 on the end of your line with a great chance of losing it to a bottom snag. You really got to tie your own IMO or the economics will force you to be overly causious. I can mold a jig and tie on the bucktail for about a dollar. We buy the curltails about 500 a pop so they run us 25 cents. You can be very brave with only a dollar on the end of your line instead of $5. We also tie our own to get the good hooks.
I use exclusively 34184's. Those are the long shank style jig hook. I think they are better for hook ups than the 34185's because the distance from the point to the jig body is bigger and lets the fish get part of the bony part of his mouth in there. its pretty important to hook a big one in the canal somehwre solid because you'll just lose him if its just flesh do to the extreme pressure a big fish can exert with that current helping him.
Anyway , there's still lots to do. We have no skin jigs yet. those are slow going because of the way you have to mold them but we plan on doing some next week and maybe the week after.
In a given year , I'd say me and Smokie and his brothers and our friends go through about 800 jigs. Its hard to believe so many get used up but that's canall jigging for you.
Next time I get a chance I'll try to write about the differnt rods I build for myself and others for use at the canal. Theres a lot of differnt prefernces in rods between differnt people for doing essentially the same jigging techniques. Its all what people prefer for the vision they have of whats going on out there and how they think about working the water they envision.
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