Run and Gun Jigging

[Pete Collin]

Hello All,

It was Sunday, the marine forecast was ideal, and I had no further family obligations.  No way was I going to do anything but fish Ontario!

My buddy Steve joined me for some laker jigging.  It feels like now is the time to really put in an efffort, because I feel comfortable and familiar with my boat's electronic equipment.  We head straight to the hot waypoint, then had to search a little for the correct depth.  Saw some blips, and away we go.

You try to keep things simple if you can.  I have a spot lock trolling motor, but in the early morning the wind was at a rare, ideal speed and direction.  One drift bag sent us along the right contour for a good hour, so no fussing with the electric motor, and we could conserve battery power for later.  We got several right away, first average sized ones, then a real dandy that I guessed at 33 inches.  They were biting, but not hitting solid.  Many bumps and seconds-ons.  I'm used to that.  Lakers spend a lot of time being only half-hearted about biting jigs.  So we used a little strategy.

Having a spot-lock trolling motor is great for virtually anchoring you in place.  But the trade off is that you don't cover water.  So we figured we could begin a drift at the top of the run, without a drift bag, and have my finger on the spot-lock button.  As soon as a blip appears on the graph, lock us in position, and begin jigging.  Listless fish are hard to catch when you are wind drifting, because you may only be showing them your lure for a few seconds. Tease it in their face forever, they will either bite or swim away.  We caught a number of lakers this way that I'm sure we wouldn't have caught without the technology, including a nice 30 incher.  I figured out that if the wind blew us deep or shallow, I could use the main motor to nudge us to the corrrect depth, leaving the electric motor in the water.  That saved both battery and my back from lifting and dropping the Minn Kota.  It worked pretty well up until 1:00 or so when they stopped biting to the point where they swam away from our jigs and spoons.

A couple of the day's highlights were that, close to the boat, we got to watch a salmon jump again and again, trying to dislodge a lamprey.  I also, for maybe the 4th time in my life, hooked a salmon on a jig!  It was a deliberate thing - we saw blips up high that clearly weren't lake trout.  I saw both the fish and my jigging spoon on the screen, so could stop it at the fish's level and jiggle it.  He bit, and gave me the signature quick-figure-eights that let you know you are latched on to an angry slab of silver.  Those first few seconds are hard to keep tight, and alas, several seconds of fight was all I got!  I just read about Isaac's success jigging salmon,  so I will have to give them more effort from now on.

So jigging is a finesse thing, which is part off what makes it fun.  Steve has had luck with me before, but Sunday he only landed 2 fish to my 8.  It's hard to judge how much coaching a seasoned fisherman will welcome, but I tried to watch him and offer advice that would help him score.  But overall, they were a bit listless.  Our catches were lightly hooked and our shakeoffs were too frequent.  But 10 fish with 2 over 30 inches, plus a bite from a salmon should be a great day in anybody's book!

[Gator]

Nicely done! I think you set up near us at one point; we were actually wondering whether you were a DEC boat checking rods until we saw the drift sock come out. 

[GAMBLER]

Great job Pete!