Slow Jigs - adding extra spice

A couple of years ago I was out on board the Gulf Harbour-based charter boat Diversity helping the punters learn the basics of slow-jigging. What a shame the fishing was proving very challenging!

We could see plenty of snapper sign on the sounder, but despite changing the lure colours and models, as well as the techniques, and smothering them in various fishy potions, it just wasn’t happening.

Then the suggestion came to try adding squid tentacles to the hooks (technically called ‘tipping’ the lure), and although the purist in me bristled at the idea, the practical side said: “Good idea!”

So some frozen squid quickly lost their ‘legs’ to arm the slow-jigs’ assist hooks, secured just once at the thicker end of the tentacle.

The transformation was incredible, with hook-ups galore and fish coming on board thick and fast! Even more interestingly, the fish seemed to get so stirred up that after half an hour of drifting along and continually pulling fish on board, the lures stopped needing the added bait, allowing them to be used as they should be.

Fast forward to the Boat Show New Zealand Fishing News subscription winners trip on board the beautiful Geoff Lamond-skippered Arenui. Again, my primary role involved helping the three winners to catch fish – snapper in this case. However, despite deploying an array of well proven slow-jigs in various colours, we were struggling to get fish on board – even though the fish-finder and nearby feeding gannets and dolphins suggested we should have been.

Then I remembered the squid tentacle trick, so got the boys on board to try it. Sure enough, rods soon started regularly bending, and bemusement turned to whoops and smiles as gleaming fish after gleaming fish came on board to fill the icebox.

Also, same as the previous experience, we found that after a period of time (a bit longer – about an hour this time), the lures began producing without the need for added bait.

There will be those who say: “Why bother with the lures at all – just chuck some baited rigs down, mate!”

Well, yes, you could do, but I think the success of this strategy is due to the combination of lure and bait, with the various lures’ colours and seductive actions bringing the snapper in to investigate, whereupon the smell of the squid encourages them to bite. That’s why I recommend attaching just a single tentacle or a very slim, tapering strip of squid body to the assist hook(s) just once, enabling the lure to keep moving as it is designed to do.

So while some anglers won’t try this because it involves ‘smelly bait’, personally I just want the rods on board bending over, the reels unloading, and fresh fish for dinner…