Mark Kitteridge finds plenty to enthuse about while learning the slow-pitch jigging ropes…

I love how fishing never stays still – especially in the world of lures. Just when it seems you’ve ‘seen it all’, something new comes along and blows you away.

This has certainly been the case for me with slow-pitch jigging, a technique that has evolved in an effort to get enticing movements from lures within very limited sections of the water column.

My first expedition out slow-pitch jigging was spent with John Elliot and Scott Malcon from Brittain and Wynyard Ltd, the Daiwa wholesale agents, while testing their very effective range of Daiwa Slow Knuckle jigs.

However, I had no appreciation of these lures’ full potential at the time. Instead, despite Scott, in particular, demonstrating a whole new range of rod and reel movements to flip the lure around in very different ways, I blithely carried on with my tried and true slow-jig methods. It’s therefore testament to the Slow Knuckle’s effectiveness and versatility that I still caught plenty of fish that day. (While almost every species of predatory fish falls for these lures and their assorted techniques, snapper appear especially susceptible to their attractions.)

It was only recently, a few months later, that the realisation came I should have done much better. This time I was out on the Blue Water Charters’ Rayglass with my buddy Paul Senior, who wanted his latest slow-pitching gear ‘tested’ by super keen slow-pitch-jigging friends Roy ‘Pulie’ Pulvers and Top Catch’s Paul Chen. Better still, Jordan Cortz was there to record some of the tips offered by ‘the experts’, along with the action that took place.

Upon boarding and having a chat, it didn’t take long for me – and Paul S to a lesser degree – to realise we’d better shut up and listen to what Pulie and Paul C had to say. These guys have been slow-pitching for years and doing very well, to the point Pulie is currently being used by the Japanese to help assess various slow-pitch lures and designs. On the downside, I made the mistake of asking too many questions and soon my brain was swimming with an overload of information.

By day’s end, though, following two or three hours of action-packed fishing using Paul’s new slow-pitch tackle, I’ve seen how the various components work together and can offer some worthwhile tips for other aspiring slow-pitch jiggers. After all, I might be very new to the game, but my rough tactics still brought a bunch of snapper to around 7.5kg to the boat’s side.

The gear

The slow-pitch tackle used on board varied quite a bit, even between the two very experienced slow-pitching exponents on board, but some basic characteristics were obviously shared.

Rods

In all cases, a slow-pitch jig rod’s primary role is to flip the lure around, done via a flexible tip with a relatively fast recovery rate (i.e. the speed at which the rod returns to its straight form after bending). This means very light graphite blanks are used, and all components incorporated are minimalist.

The type of slow-pitching method and braid’s strength determine the rod length. ‘Jerking’ rods are typically around 1.9-2.0m (more on this later), while those designed for ‘long falling’ techniques (more on this later, too) can reach 2.33m.

While I have no doubt spinning outfits can be used reasonably effectively, the guys on board preferred overhead rods and reels. (Pulie explained why to me, but my eyes eventually glazed over; I’ll understand better next time.)

The lighter (and, some would say, ‘purest’) specialist slow-pitch rods from Asia are not designed to fight fish, or even be firmly struck, possibly breaking if used this way.

Some NZ-available options: Unfortunately, it seems the keenest slow-pitch fishers have had to buy their gear from overseas till very recently. Now things are changing in response to increasing demand.

I’ve been told Synit leads the charge locally, offering two-metre (6’5”) Bay Action SP rods in: light, 35-150g, PE0.5-PE1 (Japanese rating #2); medium 80-200g; PE1-PE3 (Japanese rating #4); heavy 110-300g, PE1-PE3 (Japanese rating #6); and extra-heavy, 150-350g (max 400g), PE2-PE4. I’m sure we’ll also be seeing plenty of worthwhile offerings from Shimano and Daiwa in the near future; at the moment, Daiwa offers the Saltist 66 BJB slow-pitch rod.

Reels

Suitable reels tend to be relatively small – the spool should accommodate around 200-300m of PE 1.5-2 braid.

Slow-pitch reels need a fast line-retrieval rate (around a metre per handle revolution) and a large, sturdy cranking handle, as the lure’s action is largely determined by the way the rod bends in response to the angler’s reel-cranking action. A fast retrieval rate also helps anglers to quickly wind and set the lure’s small, sharp hooks, so the potentially disastrous striking motion is avoided.

Some available options: The guys on board had beautiful Shimano Trinidad 12 and Talica 8 reels, while Paul and I used two of his latest Ocean Angler slow-pitch prototypes, which look extremely promising (Paul hopes to have this reel in stock by November). John Elliot believes Lexor 300 is Daiwa’s best candidate – it performed well on our trip – although some slow-pitchers prefer a completely open top (i.e. no level-wind) on their reels.

Lures and attachments

Currently only a few brands are available, but they still come in many different shapes, sizes and colours, and all seem to catch fish.
Slow-pitch lures typically conform to two basic styles: one is centre-weighted and designed to slip sideways and flutter, while the other is more active, sliding, weaving and flashing on the down-drop.
The size of slow-pitch lures that snapper will happily munch on was an eye-opener. Paul S recommended I try one of his ‘Flip Its’ in 240g, far bigger than anything I’ve used to target snapper before, and it really did the business. What I especially liked was the fact the bigger lure naturally selected the larger fish present – and we didn’t necessarily need active work-ups to get bites from them, either.

The Daiwa ‘Slow Knuckle’ and Ocean Angler ‘Flip It’ jigs all have dual assist-hook rigs attached from the top, but many overseas slow-pitch practitioners also attach dual hooks from the rear. Four sets of hooks flailing around sounded a bit dangerous to me, so I stuck to having just two at the top.
Some assist rigs are bound on, rather than knotted; our test day revealed they all need to be knotted, as bindings got crunched up by powerful snapper teeth, leading to missing hooks!

Some available options: In addition to the Daiwa Slow Knuckles and Ocean Angler’s Flip Its, we’re currently testing BlueBlue SeaRide lures, and it sounds as if these will be joined by plenty more in the near future. Specialist fishing shops such as Go Fish and Rod & Reel will likely have some good options.

The trace and clip

Many of the experts prefer up to five metres of 30-40lb (13-18kg) fluoro trace, as they find the trace gets quite a hammering, especially around the knot section. However, I tried using just three metres of relatively thick and tough 20lb Stren fluoro trace and it was great – although I think much of the improved performance (I definitely got the most bites on the day) was due to the compact but strong Mustad Fastach clip I used to attach the jig. This little clip allowed lures to be changed quickly and for the lure to flutter freely, and because there was no knot loop to become damaged over time, it also meant everything stayed nice and strong despite the lighter trace material used. As a result, I saw plenty of interest in the clip by anglers afterwards…

Lure actions

Obviously I’m still learning, but in all instances slow-pitch jigging works best when performed vertically, so use a drogue to slow drifts (and/or a heavy lure), and re-present the lure when the line starts angling away too much. The two main slow-pitching methods are as follows…

Jerking: The angler uses a relatively short (1.9-2m) rod to repeatedly make short, sharp half winds with the reel handle, causing the rod to quickly load then return to its original position, before loading up again as the falling lure pulls up. Deeper down, at the lure end, this action lifts and flips the lure sideways, enabling it to flutter a short way down until the rod’s light tip loads right up and pulls it up again. This basic action is repeated as quickly or slowly as proves effective on the day. Also, don’t be afraid to wind a reasonable way up off the bottom, as fish will not only chase the lure for some distance, others will be feeding higher up in the water column, especially if there’s some work-up action going on.

Subtle changes of hand positioning around the reel enable slightly different lifting movements, while changing the angle of the rod (i.e. above or below the horizontal plane out from the angler) sees the lure lifting and falling differently. In other words, it pays to experiment; I found it worthwhile to move the lures around where I could see them near the surface, enabling me to see how they reacted to various rod and reel-winding movements.

Long falling: This slow-pitch method is based on the premise that many worthwhile fish take a lure on the drop – or are at least attracted/excited by the fluttering movement produced by jigs during their descent. Consequently, the rod is longer – around 2.33m/7’8” – to make the most of this aspect. Interestingly, Scott Malcon started with his rod tip pointed down near the surface, then lifted the Slow Knuckle jigs right up to the fullest extent with his arm and rod, before ‘following them down’ afterwards, staying alert for line jerks or slackenings that indicated bites. He did well. However, other exponents of long-falling tactics advocate quickly dropping the rod to allow total freefall.

As already admitted, I’m a total newbie to all this, but found mixing up the slow-pitch actions described above worked particularly well when interspersed with v-e-e-r-y s-l-o-o-w mechanical jigging motions until I was up about 10-15 metres from the bottom. Then I’d drop down and mix things up again. That’s the beauty of slow-pitching: lots of different motions can prove effective.

The hook-up and fight

Bites varied from tiny nibbles, barely felt, to sudden slackening during the lure‘s descent and hard smashes on the uplift. The ‘correct response’ to such occurrences involves quickly turning the reel’s handle to hook-up, then either pointing the rod down the line and winding, or, if the fish is big and powerful, waiting till the fish stops running before pulling the rod directly backwards and then winding back into position (bizarre!). Personally, I found it hard not to strike in response (so don’t give me an expensive specialist slow-pitch rod till I manage to upskill!), but as I was using the recently released Ocean Angler Gravity slow-pitch rod, which allows this, it didn’t matter. (Paul understandably believes that the ‘not striking’ and minimal rod-bending concepts might prove ‘bridges too far’ for some Kiwi anglers, so his ‘Gravity’ slow-pitch rod is something of a compromise. This rod seems to manipulate the heavier lures nicely (it was great with the 240g ‘Flip It’ jig I was using), and also allowed me to strike and fight fish at times, despite advice to the contrary by those on board who should know.

Having said that, despite hooking more fish, I also dropped more than the others. This may have been due to my inability to stop striking (rather than hooking up with a few quick winds) or because my lure only had two hooks rather than four. Maybe it was a combination of both – or some other concept I have yet to understand and appreciate. Probably the latter, as I’m still very green.

But that’s the beauty of new techniques: so many exciting discoveries lie ahead waiting to be realised, as Pulie and Paul Chen demonstrated while generously sharing their wealth of slow-pitching knowledge. However, don’t blame them for any inaccuracies in this feature, as it’s just my take on the technique. I’m hoping this will stir them into providing us with their own points of view!