Harbour Jigging

Depends on the circumstances! One thing I know for sure is, summer and autumn have been fantastic for these cheap little lures. The week before last they saved the day for me. Launched early – but not too early - at Roseville ramp. The cool air temperatures meant mist was rising from the salt water:

All through autumn Middle - and Sydney - Harbour have been full of kings and frigates, chasing bait and jelly prawns. Here’s a video showing both jig and topwater action:

Two things to mention? Our 10 gram jig is tiny, and light. Has to be, to match the tiny bait the kings are chasing:

But as you saw in the video, they bust up here then, a minute later, it's happening thirty metres away. You need a rod and reel combo matched to the casting weight to cover that distance fast:

Our 602 combo is perfectly matched for the job - and only costs $120:

LIGHT CASTING COMBO

Should mention it’s not all kings, all the time. The week before this day I headed out with old friend John Verano. Passing under the spit bridge we spotted a small bust up and John cast in a 10 gram jig:

This mini mack tuna was the result:

Back to the day we were talking about. I went all the way to North Head, catching live bait on the way. Then downrigged from Old Man’s Hat, to Bluefish Point. Nothing:

Pulled the gear in and headed to a favourite spot at South Head, which has produced hundreds of kings off the downrigger over the years. Nothing. Disappointed, and the clock heading for midday, I decided to head back to the ramp. Just 200 metres short of the pontoon, when I saw splashes and kingie swirls. But what really activated my almonds were the quality fish feeding on scraps, which had sunk to the bottom:

First cast produced a nice 30cm bream. I just bounced the jig along the bottom, the same way you do with a soft plastic:

They just kept coming. It was easy fishing, because the targets were expecting injured bait - which was exactly the same size as the jig I was using - to be sinking to the bottom, and struggling to swim back up. This one went 36cm:

Should mention that, every couple of shipments, we mix up the jig shape:

Because sometimes they want the slim profile whitebait shape, and sometimes they want the rounder regular fish shape. At $44 for 10 jigs *including delivery *, who wouldn’t want a few in the tackle box? They work so well. Check them out here:

10 x 10 GRAM JIGS $44 INC DELIVERY

Thanks for asking your question, which I’m going to share with our readers. Tight lines
Andrew Hestelow

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