Shimano Butterfly Question

[azipod]

Hi All, I'm in the process of setting up a jigging outfit and I've talked to a number of people who have raved about the Butterfly jigs. But, I have a question. Most of the literature and magazine articles I've read seem to talk about the jig in a drifting situation. Now, the Shimano brochure says that it can be used for straight up and down vertical jigging but again, most of the literature about using them talks about drifts. However, I'll be doing most of my fishing from an anchored party boat in 100-200 ft. of water. So my question is, does anybody know if these jigs are as effective (or in the neighborhood) when anchored compared to drifting? Anyone have experience using them with a little insight to share? I've heard some pretty remarkable things about them and would love to try them but don't want to be using them in a situation where they might not be as effective. Thanks.

[mahifisherman]

Hi, the butterfly jig is incredible, it works in every situation but remember you need ectructure on the button, so a drift, or anchor the same amazing, trust me, lats week i coght a sail fish on it, an 10 black fin tunas about 5 t0 10 pounds each, the butter fly jig is my favorete bait, just rig it right, or you will loose a lot of them and they are very price, try the williamson jigs they are basically the same for a fraction of the cost. good luck

[Seth]

The short answer is that these jigs were designed specifically for vertical jigging. The Japanese perfected this style and designed the "butterfly" just for that purpose. The intended target species for the Japanese is and was bluefin tuna. Drop the jig to the bottom, or desired depth, and crank it up just a little. Let the jig settle at this point. The idea is to hold the rod under your arm and lift the rod tip up and down. As you lift the tip crank the reel handle. You should only crank the reel on the upward motion of the rod. You can lift and crank as quickly of slowly as you like. The species you are targeting will determine how fast you retrieve the jig. You can also use a circular motion with your rod as you lift and drop.

[Oliver]

As you lift the tip crank the reel handle. You should only crank the reel on the upward motion of the rod. You can lift and crank as quickly of slowly as you like. The species you are targeting will determine how fast you retrieve the jig. You can also use a circular motion with your rod as you lift and drop.

This is great advice.

I was fishing with Peter Bristow in madeira last fall for Wahoo. The wahoo fishing was slow, so we made part of the day up by jigging. the first couple of days ws a little hit and miss, but by the third day we had it well nailed.

We found that a fast lift and wind worked best on the Pargo (madeirian red snapper) with no more than 10 lifts before dropping back down to the bottom. We were counting the lifts and were getting hit on number 6 so many times. The fishing was really fast - as fast as you could cope with, and if we felt a fish hit but not hook up, keep going was the rule, as more often than not he would hit you again.

We ended the day with a dozen good pargo an amberjack and a small shark.

Try different speeds and methods until something works for you. We even noticed that the depth of water was also important. Pete had caught fish in 135mtr of water the week before, but try as we did, we could not get them to bite, and we could see them on the sounder. In the end it was 150 mtrs that worked best for us.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Ollie

[azipod]

Thanks for the replies. I've got my whole jigging setup and will be heading out this weekend to give it a shot. I'll keep you posted.

[redneck_billcollector]

How did you do? I recently got a stella 10000 and a trevali xxh and fished the gulf of mexico on memorial day weekend. When it came to ajs I know I was catching 4 to every 1 caught on live hardtails. Went 4 for 5 on my first 5 drops, loosing one at the boat keeping me from going 5 for 5, before the first one was caught on live bait. I had to take a break for a second, ajs on heavy drag on that outfit really wears you out.

[Seth]

good question, how did things go for you? did your outfit meet your expectattions??
Hey redneck, big aj's are a killer, what color jigs do you like for ajs

[redneck_billcollector]

I was mainly using the 120 pink, but the ajs seemed to hit durn near anything as long as you were smoking it.....I mean as fast as you could go, thank goodness for the high ratio on my stella.

[Capt Rick]

Hey guys,,,have you ever seen anybody tip the hooks with some Gulp curly tails?
I have never done it myself,,but I think it would help.

[redneck_billcollector]

I have yet to be in a situation where I felt it necessary to tip my hook with anything, and in the gulf of mexico, putting any natural bait on a hook on your jig might make it where you have to have a circle hook, I don't know if gulps would qualify. With all that being said, my undecorated hooks have outfished bait, live, freshly dead or frozen, on every trip I have been on so far. I love it so much, I just purchased a torque rod and Trinidad 40N so I can switch off and exercise my other arm when one side gets tired speed jigging. I have learned though, I can catch aj.s, snapper and grouper on a slower retrieve, depending on if I am using a center balanced knife jig as opposed to a end heavy one. Like I have previously stated, I have caught durn near every type of fish found over wrecks and reefs with butterfly style jigs (obviously not spade fish though) and I don't worry about triggerfish and such. I have also caught king and spanish mackeral and wahoo without wire traces and have yet had a hook cut off or a lure cut off my leader (have had my line break above the heavier leader though when I was being macho and fought the fish on 50 lb or better drag,...my stella 10000fa can produce drag upwards to 65lbs, I have since learned, via trial and error, that is a no-no)

Azipod, how did you do jigging????? As for drifting or anchoring, hell, they both work, whichever is your choice. The reason you read about drifting, when folks are targeting tuna in the GOM with jigs, where it is done probably more than anywhere in U.S. waters, they are fishing on the edge of the shelf and it is just too deep to anchor. We normally drift, simply because we run and gun, hit the wrecks and reefs and pick up the real aggresive fish, and then move on. If you set on a reef or wreck and take a whole boat's limit of snapper or grouper, especially if it is a small one (most private numbers are) you will ruin that spot for a long time to come, if not for always, it is best to hit it, take a couple of fish, and then go hit another number. Some of my best numbers were ruined by us taking 3 or 4 peoples' limits of sow red snapper, the next time we came, there were no suspended snapper and not a bite. My experience with aj.s is different, we release most every aj we catch every now and then keeping a couple of keepers for the grill and to dirty some grease. What outfit did you get, and how do you like it?

[edjaen]

Hi there,
I started using the butterfly fishing system in Panama, in the tuna coast on the Pacific Coast, but have been cut off every now and then by toothy critters (spanish mackarel and wahoo abound in this waters). Has anyone rigged these jigs with a short piece of wire at the end of the flourocarbon leader?
Thanx

[Seth]

Yes, sometimes a wire trace is a must. Just as you mentioned, wahoo can cause havoc in some places. The flexible, less shiny, wire is the way to go.

[edjaen]

Thank you Seth, I will give it a go and will post back the results.
Tight lines

[Capt Rick]

Just for the record,,,"Gulp" is not a natural bait.

[redneck_billcollector]

I will tell you this, since I have really started getting into jigging, my attitude has really changed with regards to tackle. In the US most of the reels, both spinning or conventional are readily available in our market. The Shimano Stella series, Dawia Saltiga series, and the Shimano Trinidad narrow series are all great reels for vertical "japanese" style jigging. The problem for those of us in the states is finding good rods. The few good rods available in the states are typically back ordered from now until next year, it seems. Shimano makes a great jigging rod, the Blue Rose series, but there are probably less than 50 of them in the US and finding one for sale is a task (I have yet to find one in the size I need). Some of the better rods for jigging such as the Jigging Master Power Spell or the Hots Wei World are carried by only one or two specialty dealers and they are always back ordered. When I was catching AJs in the "keeper" size range, the trevala xxh was fit enough, I have since caught some much larger fish, and the trevala, though it is rated for 80-200lbs, truely can't take much more than 13 or so pounds of drag without loosing its power. Another problem is finding decent line, power pro is not the way to go, I now specialty order my line from japan and pay on average around 100 or so dollars for roughly 300yds (300 m). Hopefully, now with vertical jigging gaining popularity in the states we will soon be able to get decent rods and line. This past month, three major fishing magazines ran articles on vertical jigging that I saw, maybe some manufacturers will start responding to what I hope will be a growing demand. I still stand by my assertion that in most cases there is no better way to catch fish that won't bite than vertical jigging.