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Sux when that happens. But it does happen so often that it has become a philosophical thing for me. If its meant to be, its meant to be. The problem is that there's no way of knowing exactly how well hooked a jigged fish actually is. Or if its even hooked fair, in the mouth. Meh, that's what keeps us coming back, I guess. In any case, I'm nearly as happy when one of my crew gets a big one as I am when I box it. Never though that would be the case, but it is. . .
 
I went through three packs of grubs in less than four hours,,not to many with the tails bitten off but gone...you know the fish are big when they bite the fluke belly in half ,.most of the time they just chew it up,,,

till next time..I also had a friend fish inshore reef ..two man limit but nothing BIG!!!!
 
Capt Richie said:
I had one yesterday I couldn't get off the bottom..felt the head shakes pull down's and just for a second lifted it ..and GONE !!!!

fish 1 me 0
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I've lost a few like that. At first not sure its bottom and then you get that thump and before you know it, is over. Switching from 20 ft deep fluke fishing to deep water fishing gives the fish a lot longer to shake off. And a lot longer to get net!
 
When you are jigging, how light / heavy is your jighead? In a 1mph drift in 60 feet of water, i've gone as light as 2 oz. It helps with the sensitivity of feeling the bottom vs a real thud. I scope out a bit, but if I control how fast I'm lowering the the jighead down it helps keep it under the boat, to an extent. This is my way of fishing at least... which means its probably the wrong way :)
 
I like to use no more lead than it takes to keep the rig as close to vertical as possible. Its great when we can use 2oz in 60-80', but "those" days are not really all that common. Try throwing your rig up ahead of your drift, which along with a properly-sized drift sock will really help on less than ideal days.
 
I agree with Lep here. As light as possible to hold and feel bottom. The drift sock is a must have, but we have seen many boaters using a sock when it's not needed. The rule of thumb is 1-1.5 knots on the drift. But there are times they will bite a faster moving bait.
 
I greatly prefer 0.7-1knot. Faster than that in deeper water and the weight requirement climbs. Regarding the use of a drift sock - useless if the fast drift is tidal - its only for those times the breeze is pushing.
 
At the risk of upsetting folks here, this where a trolling motor really shines. Yes, it makes tog fishing so much easier but I can deploy mine in almost any drift condition and change an 8 or 10 ounce chicken rig set up into a 2 ounce bucktail set up.

The opening comment about upsetting folks is slightly in jest. A ton of commercial guys (typically the larger charters and party boats) look at TMs with disgust. It’s saved many a trip for me….
 
Leprechaun said:
If I could figure out how to mount one on my boat, I’d strongly consider one.
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Yeah….much easier on a Center Console than a Shamrock. A good friend mounted one on his 27 Judge Pilothouse. It’s ok for tog but a pain to constantly walk up to deck to continuously deploy and stow for fluke drifts….
 
There’s a new-ish Steiger 28 running around my area that seems to never pull up his big, long trolling motor, while on the grounds. I would have thought this would eventually bend the body tube. But what do I know, never having been on a boat that utilizes one.
 
I talked to a guy in MTK had one on a 31 steiger new boat said it works well..But again about half the weight & not as deep as my boat..so Im SOL ..
 
NoFlukenName said:
At the risk of upsetting folks here, this where a trolling motor really shines. Yes, it makes tog fishing so much easier but I can deploy mine in almost any drift condition and change an 8 or 10 ounce chicken rig set up into a 2 ounce bucktail set up.

The opening comment about upsetting folks is slightly in jest. A ton of commercial guys (typically the larger charters and party boats) look at TMs with disgust. It’s saved many a trip for me….
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Personally, I am not upset at all that some rigs gain a huge benefit from using a TM. If it was practical for my boat you can bet it would be installed, but I have just a bit too much windage and weight,
Obviously your results speak for themselves, John. Way to go using the latest technology to your advantage!!
 
Prior to the late-morning elevated breeze against tide situation effectively ending what was a very successful early morning bite, Chef Ken, George and I had real nice fishing on the deep bottom. First drift at least 8 shorties and two for the box, including my season-best 7lb specimen. And so it went thru the morning, with us putting a total of 7 fish in the Coleman - only one of which needed measuring. A 5+, a couple of 4's and the rest in the 20-22" range. As always we all dropped some nice fish, especially later on, when the conditions went to hell. There certainly are some nice ones swimming around our waters right now.


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