Jig Heads – The Alternative to a hook and a ball sinker. Part 1

Try using a peeled prawn on a lighted weighted jig head underneath a pier Gary Brown

Australian salmon sometimes can’t resist the Shaking technique using a small white bait1 © Gary Brown

Australian Salmon.

Techniques.

Lift and twitch: After you have cast out the bait rigged on a jig head you could allowed it to sink to near the bottom, you will need to only slightly twitch the rod tip, so as to only move the jig head and bait about 10 to 15 cm at a time. The bite may be just the tensioning of the line or a hard take. What ever way it happens you will need to be ready to strike to set the hook. This technique can also be carried out as the jig head weighted bait falling through the water column.

Shaking: You will need to cast out pass where you can see or think the fish are holding up and then start a very slow retrieve, while at the same time moving the rod tip so that the jig head and bait will dart through the water column. If you get a follow and the fish doesn’t take it, you could try stopping the retrieve and allow it to sink slightly and then start again.

Suggested Jig Head sizes to bait types.

Pilchards 5/0 to 7/0 in 1/8th oz to ¾ oz
8/0 in ½ to 1 oz
6/0H in 1/8th to 1/6th oz

Garfish 7/0 to 8/0 in 1/8th oz to 1 oz
6/0H in 1/8th to 1/6th oz

NOTE: I have found that you will need to insert the hook directly into the mouth of the bait so that the mouth goes over the actual jig head. You will then need to tie some cotton around the head to help secure it to the jig head. With the garfish you will need to trim off the beak.

Bream.

For anyone to successfully target bream in the estuaries, he or she needs to be able to recognise and distinguish what are the physical features that are found in the estuary systems and how they will influence the behaviour of bream. So what I am going to do is give you a brief outline of what I feel you need to look out for in the estuary system when chasing bream and what type of jig heads I prefer to use when chasing bream with baits.

Sand flats can be one of the most productive types of fishing grounds in an estuary system, and if you are prepared to put in the hard yards you will reap the benefits that they have on offer. When chasing bream over sand flats I will tend to use either a stick bait or worm type soft plastic, but if I was using a bait I would use either a strip of mullet, squid, whole whitebait or prawn or a piece of striped tuna or slimy mackerel. The type of head will either be a 1/40 or 1/28 hidden weighted jig head or a 1/20 or 1/16 once, 1/0 jig head.

If using the hidden weighted jig head I will have my rod (Pflueger Trion PTSP AB 4770 1LFT rod, mounted with a Pflueger Medalist 6030 spinning reel that is spooled with 3 GSP line) tip well above my head and shake the tip of the rod while at the same time turning the handle slowly of the reel. If a fish takes the bait I will gentle load up the rod, allowing the fish to take it away while still under pressure. On the other hand when I am fishing with the 1/20 or 1/16 once, 1/0 Tournament Series jig head I will use a flicking motion of rod tip to skip or hop the bait over the sandy bottom.

Weed and seagrass beds are also found in every one of the estuary systems that I have fished in throughout Australia. You can find these weed and seagrass beds on the top or at edges of sand flats, drop offs, holes and at the edges of some mangrove systems. Bream will forage for food over and around the edges of these weed and sea grass beds.

The Port Hacking, which is situated on the southern side of Sydney, has an area that at low tide the top of the seagrass beds are floating on the top of the water, and as the tide rises these seagrass beds will become covered with water once again. It is during this time that the bream will move out of the deeper water on the fringes of this mass of seagrass beds and starts to forage for food. This is the time when you start to work your soft plastics either across the top of the water or just above to tops of the weed bed. This is where a strip of the under belly of a slimy mackerel or squid that has been fitted onto a 1/40 or 1/28 hidden weighted jig head comes into their own.

Suggested Jig Head sizes to bait types.

Prawns No 2, 1, 1/0 1/20, 1/16 & 1/12 oz

No 1 & 1/0 1/60, 1/40 & 1/28 oz


Half Pilchard 1/0, 2/0, 3/0 & 4/0 in 1/20, 1/16 & 1/12 oz

Strip baits 1/0, 2/0, 3/0 & 4/0 in 1/20, 1/16, 1/12, 1/8, 1/6 & 1/4oz

Dusky Flathead.

When I have been fishing from breakwalls I have noticed that many anglers tend to try and cast out as far as they can and then either put their rod into a hole or a crevice or just sit there and hold on to it while waiting for a fish to jump on the end of the line. Okay this style of fishing will catch fish. But, what you will find is that the current will eventually bring the bait back to the edge of the breakwall. Which in-turn could result in the rig getting snagged on the rocks.

To help the bait to get down where the flathead are, I too will cast it out as far as I can get it. But I make sure that I cast it up current, as this will give it enough time to hit the bottom. You will know when the bait has hit the bottom by watching the GSP line go limp. When this happens all you need to do is wind in the slack line and lift the rod tip up to about 60 degrees off the waters surface. This will cause the bait to rise slowly off the bottom. Then lower the rod tip back down and wind up the slack line. Keep on repeating this process over and over again until it reaches the area where the sandy bottom meets the bottom of the breakwall.

Suggested Jig Head sizes to bait types.

Prawns Peeled No 2, 1, 1/0 in 1/20, 1/16 & 1/12 oz
or Whole
No 1 & 1/0 in 1/60, 1/40 & 1/28 oz

Half Pilchard 1/0, 2/0, 3/0 & 4/0 in 1/20, 1/16 & 1/12 oz

Strip baits 1/0, 2/0, 3/0 & 4/0 in 1/20, 1/16, 1/12, 1/8, 1/6 & 1/4oz

Okay, there you have it. A few simple ways for you to try out those new jig heads combined with a variety of baits. Hopefully, what I have done is give you a few techniques that you may not have used before or created a burning desire to get out there are target Australian salmon, bream and dusky flathead while using jig heads with bait. In Part 2 JIG HEADS – The Alternative to a hook and a ball sinker. I will show you in detail of how to rig them onto the jig head.

For an alternative try replacing a 4 inch soft plastics with a strip of mullet when targeting flathead. You may be surprised what you catch1 © Gary Brown