Slow jigging for general drift fishing

[Andy135]

So I know that slow jigging is supposed to be done vertically, which means in practice at or either side of slack water. But what about jigging on the drift?

I'm wondering if it could be a worthwhile technique to use while covering lots of ground looking for new productive marks, given the wide range of species that take jigs. The challenge would be staying in touch with the jig and being able to work it properly if it drifts at a different speed to that of the boat.

Thoughts? Would it be better to use a regular shad lure instead?

[GPSguru]

Slow jigging is done on a drift, wrecks, reefs, rough ground and sand bars. The secret is to select a jig weight that just prevents streaming.

[Andy135]

Ok, maybe I'm getting hung up on the need for absolute vertical fishing then. This is my frame of reference: https://www.anglers-secrets.com/faq-why-does-it-have-to-be-so-vertical-for-slow-pitch-jigging/ and as much as I like the name, I'm definitely not fitting a Spanker to my tub. 😉

[GPSguru]

I fish vertical and allow streaming of up to 30 degrees or so. Even at 30 degrees you can still impart excellent jig movement

Our waters rarely exceed 200ft, and often on the wrecks we are fishing in 100 - 150ft, so selecting the correct jig weight for the tidal stream is usually possible.

As recreational anglers we rarely go out in wind speeds that would cause an issue,

On the sandbanks and the estuary bar, my jig sizes will vary between 40 to 150g depending on springs / neaps and the time of the tide that I am fishing.

Rough ground  I use jig of 120 - 180g

On the wrecks I generally stick with 180 -250g jigs and work all through the tide.

I have found that slow jigs always take the better stamp of  fish when compared to shad and  eels

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by GPSguru

[JDP]

There are jiggers and there are jiggers. My daughters ex was the under 18 champion lure fisher, having him onboard jigging any kind of lure was a little hard to believe on just how successful his style was. I could pretty much give up if he was jigging, even with the same jigs and trying to copy his style. Now my daughter does the same to me but at least I get the odd fish while with her. When you watch some of these world champions on YouTube they seem to be able to jig almost any fish from any water where the rest of us would give up and say there was nothing there. I feel sure this would be the same around the UK  where these expert jiggers would out fish anything us general anglers could catch. 

It always seems to be the most expensive jigs and micro jigs that are most productive!!!

Before buying any jig styles, check out to see if there are any YouTube videos showing how to work them and if people are actually have success on them. Each have different styles of action, so an angler working every jig the same might be missing his chances of attracting fish. Its not just the jigs either, many rods are built for certain styles of jig to get the best action from them. Some jigs and rods are designed to simply work from a rod holder as the boat rocks about form wave action, these rods are often soft slow action.

Edited February 4, 2021 by JDP