Jig fishing is popular not just because it’s effective, but because jigs will last as long as you do, unlike plastics, which can get ripped to shreds after just one hard fight.
All the same, saltwater jig fishing, especially around reefs and wrecks, still entails a high risk of lost tackle on snags and break-offs. Follow some of these tricks to lose less tackle.
Fish Smarter
You need to get your jigs in the strike zone to dredge up fish, that much is not up for debate. But just how close is close enough is contestable.
You don’t have to let your jig hit the bottom near wrecks. Sometimes it’s better to stop the drop just above structure and avoid contacting it. Yes, letting a jig bang into structure will send out vibrations that can attract your quarry, but doing so also exponentially increases your chance of a hangup and a lost jig.
Up Your Braid
That is, increase the pound test of your braid. Braid is strong and low-stretch, and the fish won’t care if you’re fishing with 15 pound or 65 pound line.
If you’re fishing around structure or over a wreck or a reef, use heavier braid. That way, you have a better chance of ripping your jig free if it gets snagged. However, if you do up your braid, you might need to up the weight of your jig in order to keep the presentation vertical.
Don’t worry about this detracting from your hookup rate. You’re using a clear leader, aren’t you? Just make the leader longer if you’re scared of braid-shy fish. One more thing: up the leader weight, too. Switch to fluoro if you’re concerned that fish are leader shy; it’s basically invisible in water.
Replace Your Hooks
There are two effective ways to replace your hooks to make your jigs more recoverable if you’re fishing in snag territory.
One is to replace them with lighter wire hooks. If the hook is lighter in fatigue strength than your line, you can just yank on it till the hook straightens out and you get the jig back. The tradeoff is you will have to be a lot more conscientious about setting your drag and playing the fish, as you won’t be able to horse them in.
The other – and we might catch serious flak from some fishermen for saying this – is to replace your jig’s hooks with assist hooks.
Assist hooks, which have a tip that’s curved slightly inward, are harder to set, but that feature also makes them harder to snag. You can snag and lose a jig outfitted with assist hooks, but it’s a bit harder.
The Leader
If you’re losing jigs primarily to fish and not snags, as a result of breakoffs, rethink your leader. There are two things to consider here.
One is simply to increase the weight of your leader. A heavier leader is stronger. That’s self explanatory.
The other is to use a wire leader. This is advisable if you’re jigging for toothy fish with strong jaws, like barracuda. A wire leader will cost you some strikes among the leader-shy, but if you’re going for very aggressive fish, you won’t notice it that much. The flash of the jig often counteracts their leader-shyness.
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