9/18 Casting/Jig Bite

[fisherman21]

Turns out the stagers still like the jig too!

 

Edited September 18 by fisherman21

[Smat64]

What the hell!  That is next level. 

[180ccf]

Do you share your jigging techniques. I have seen a few guys on YouTube and the bait end is never discussed. Do you locate fish, then start jigging or do you have "your spot". Yhanks

[fisherman21]

17 minutes ago, 180ccf said:

Do you share your jigging techniques. I have seen a few guys on YouTube and the bait end is never discussed. Do you locate fish, then start jigging or do you have "your spot". Yhanks

It good to have a general idea where the thermocline is in the summer and just drift and jig to marks on the screen. In the fall you can find the stagers stacked up and jig to them. I like setting to cover water 

[180ccf]

I took today off, I will be out for the next 3 days Ibay to Braddocks. The thermocline was not set up for the past week or more. Marking a few fish the other day in 70 feet to 125 off Braddocks. I have been trying the jigging "thing" for about 3 years now (ever since I watched some older guy on YouTube jigging off of Sodus for lakers)  and I may just need bigger jigs. I have some saltwater 1.75oz with white tails and the current really takes them East when you drop them down. I'll be out burning fuel for the next 3 days. Good luck to everyone heading out.

[ShawnJ]

Nice job Manny!!!

[chowder]

For what it’s worth; in my experience with jigging during daylight hours ( I have never nor will I ever fish at night) it’s essential to find numerous bottom oriented salmonids for jigging to catch fish with any repeatability. The 2 scenarios that work for me are 1. The Niagara Bar, drifting from the channel up onto  the alluvial fan,going from approximately 70 to 30 fow. Any number of species can be caught in this environment because the density of salmonids is predictably high though it does fluctuate considerably throughout the seasons. An easier way to learn this technique, which definitely requires an understanding of how potentially subtle a ‘strike’ can be is with lake trout in an environment where they are densely congregated in approximately 60 fow or less and the boat is stationary. Jigging exclusively for suspended kings in open water is a low probability scenario although I have managed a few using the Northwest technique called mooching with cutbait moving slowly to cover water .It’s my perception that mature staging salmon at least in Lake Ontario are not predictably active and actually feeding much if at all at this point in their life cycle making them a poor target . The fact that they are increasingly poor table fare makes them even less desirable IMHO. 

[dockdoctor]

On 9/20/2024 at 10:34 AM, 180ccf said:

I took today off, I will be out for the next 3 days Ibay to Braddocks. The thermocline was not set up for the past week or more. Marking a few fish the other day in 70 feet to 125 off Braddocks. I have been trying the jigging "thing" for about 3 years now (ever since I watched some older guy on YouTube jigging off of Sodus for lakers)  and I may just need bigger jigs. I have some saltwater 1.75oz with white tails and the current really takes them East when you drop them down. I'll be out burning fuel for the next 3 days. Good luck to everyone heading out.

How did you do?

 

[180ccf]

On 10/2/2024 at 12:05 PM, dockdoctor said:

How did you do?

 

I struck out, marked a few fish. I went west to Braddocks fished 70 to 140. Found decent marks down between 60 and 90 . Fished it for several hours with spoons. No takers on two seperate days. I really néed a Fishhawk. Going east and west was a huge difference (550rpm going east gets 1mph, the same RPM going west I got 3.2mph). No idea what was happening down 80 feet at the lure. On a north south troll my starboard rigger cable was sucked right under the boat. That down current had to be pretty strong. 

[muskiedreams]

It has to be tough to get to the right depth. Especially in the lake when the current down below is likely different than it is above and you are working more than 30 or 40 ft down. In smaller lakes,bays and in a river it is easier to determine how deep your bait/jig is. When working that deep in the lake, you may also have to deal with wind drift along with top and deep currents which may all be different directions and speeds. Normally in a river your line has a belly which dampens the feel of the bite but in this scenario you could have multiple bellies making it that much more difficult to feel a fish. Self hooking hooks would be helpful. But as far as I know they don't exist. So heavy jigs or maybe an extra weight above (maybe a sliding weight) and using a low diameter line would help.

 

I was typing as 182ccf replied. To you I would like to ask if it is sometimes difficult at those depths in LO to keep the jig within the cone of the fishfinder? Especially with wind direction going cross current.

Edited October 10 by muskiedreams

[fisherman21]

1 minute ago, muskiedreams said:

It has to be tough to get to the right depth. Especially in the lake when the current down below is likely different than it is above and you are working more than 30 or 40 ft down. In smaller lakes,bays and in a river it is easier to determine how deep your bait/jig is. When working that deep in the lake, you may also have to deal with wind drift along with top and deep currents which may all be different directions and speeds. Normally in a river your line has a belly which dampens the feel of the bite but in this scenario you could have multiple bellies. Self hooking hooks would be helpful. But as far as I know they don't exist.

We did a lot of jigging this year on the lake this year and took fish over 100ft deep. Heavy jigs and a good graph, you can watch your jig drop right on them