leader for big jig dogs

[Corey Howell]

heavy jigging fiends - advice appreciated

going after dogs with new jig outfit - Saltiga Expedition + Wilson Venom 450 + Jigman X8 100LB

hooks and rig sorted, but would really appreciate any suggestions on what test/diam mono leader to use?!

two main spots

1. typical tropical coral reef dropoff - jigging depth 50 to 150m

2. live submarine volcano - no coral or any sort of growth for the dogs to play in - but LOTS of sharks. jigging depth 50 to 200m [the dogs go real deep when SSTs hit 31C]

thanks for any feedback!

Corey

[Corey Howell]

....85 views for 0 replies....um, pretty ordinary fortnights fishing. trying again:

jigging for doggies with Saltiga Expedition + Wilson Venom 450 + Jigman X8 100LB - can anyone offer some experience with best length and diam/test mono leader to use for
A. volcano with no sharp coral/edges but lotsa sharks
B. normal coral dropoff

thanks!

Corey
Peava Village
Solomon Islands

[Brandon Khoo]

There is really no correct answer to this. A heavier leader will of course provide more safety but sometimes, if they are a bit cautious, You will not get a single hit on heavy leader. I'd start around 130lb and see.

On the volcano area, it's simple - don't fish there. All you will succeed in doing is killing a stack of doggies without landing one. The sharks will destroy every fish you hook.

[Corey Howell]

thanks for the sobering advice Brandon 

like all seamounts, the shark - and fish - activity on our volcano varies dramatically with currents et al. after having trolled and speared there for 15 years, i've learnt that when the sharks are ON you simply move on to another seamount - no one enjoys donating apex predators like large doggies to the noahs

it's taken a couple of years to afford this heavy jig outfit, and losing spools of PE8 is not something i can afford to do on a regular basis, nor do i want to see doggies sporting jewellery, so i'm doing everything i can to reduce the tackle loss

so start with 130 leader and work up. cool. what about length? long enough for a couple of wraps on the spool when the fish is next to the boat ?

thanks for the advice on this!

Corey

[Corey Howell]

the jigging structure in question [when its subaerial]

[Brandon Khoo]

Again, no set rules. I like enough length so you can leader a fish next to the boat.
Corey, do you live in the area? If you're living in the region of Marovo, you should have access to loads of GTs

[Corey Howell]

yes mate, i live on Gatokae, the eastern tip of Marovo. awesome GTs but when you live with em you start looking for something different - hence the new doggie jigging investment

i only use the gear occasionally, the Wilderness guides have got the real work proving up best jigging locations for clients, fun to help out

had some friends bring the outift over and we went out Tue evening to christen it out the front, got annihilated three times in a row - saltiga drag wound out on 100lb jigman and the venom 450 noodled - didnt even slow them down let alone looking like turning their heads before they got back to the bottom. was sobering stuff. back to the drawing board

[Corey Howell]

after getting smoked tried again with 50cm of 026 single strand wire in the hope that might help when the dog reached the bottom, but in typical tuna fashion they wouldnt bite with that wire on there, despite being 100m down, on dusk, with a lumo jig - gotta love those doggie eyes eh.

[Corey Howell]

sobering stuff reading thru the posts rgds jigging XL doggies, and the broad consensus that most-if-not-all of em r simply going to just blow you away. no contest. despite all the technology in yr $ gear investment, travel expenditure and effort, practice, experience etc etc. and not to forget time spent on forums

thats one helluva summation of the doggie as a worthy opponent. and after being repeatedly [0 from 12 encounters and counting] blown away on 100lb braid and Z6500, well.......i'm not about to refute that conclusion

to take the discussion into realms i most likely cant afford - and prob not physically handle [and without taking all the fun out of it like the 130lb-chair-outfit-in-the-covering-board tactics the Van guys resort to] what happens when you go all out with gear and try stopping the bastards with 200lb braid on custom ultra heavy spin gear? is anyone managing to bully their way beyond the simple laws of physics as laid down by XL doggies?

gym memberships? roids? amphetamines ?

good luck!

Corey
Solomon Islands

[Matt Born]

0 for 12 is massively unlucky man!! as you say! crazy fish to catch!!

guess its about what you can handle + what the fish will still take - leader wise... + lots and lots of Luck.

looking fwd to a pic of one of the monsters when your luck changes

[Corey Howell]

mmmm. luck. due for some !

Z6500 drag wound tight's just not enough to turn their heads - the 200lb hard mono pops soon as they reach that bottom, so i dont think an extra foot or even two of wire's gonna make a huge difference to be honest as its particularly rugged terrain down there - funny how the dogs hang right on the roughest stuff isnt it   and the strike rate drops radically with the wire......

swapping horses to those crazy pimped overheads like the JM guys use IS an obvious option in going heavier, but am so enjoying the eggbeater setup and all the flexibility it provides [using 450g Venom jigstick for jig+pop+tuna+marlin - one split ring change]

any experiences out there on pumping up the eggbeater option to really take the fight to these dogs ? to somewhere well north of 50lbs drag ?

[Stu Hardy]

We also took a spanking at the Chesterfield reef recently on the doggies. I think you get lucky with the big ones, hooked well off bottom, as much drag as possible and run the boat as fast as possible for deep water. We got beaten with JM, Stella and Alutecnos 12c reels all wound up much as drag as possibe, even with 2 thumb pressure. Even the JM guys got spanked more often than not, losing 200+ jigs I understand.

[Corey Howell]

thanks for the Chesterfield insights mate!

at least i only have to travel five minutes from my house to lose jigs, not halfway across the bloody Coral sea. makes me feel much better

managed to get a couple on maybe halfway up, but couldnt stop em going straight home. time to stock up on cheap eBay jigs and keep trying eh!

been fishing solo so bit of a challenge gunning the boat off the reef same time as getting pulled over the side. will grab one of the guides and try the skulldrag approach, thanks!

[Brandon Khoo]

200 plus jigs?!

We also took a spanking at the Chesterfield reef recently on the doggies. I think you get lucky with the big ones, hooked well off bottom, as much drag as possible and run the boat as fast as possible for deep water. We got beaten with JM, Stella and Alutecnos 12c reels all wound up much as drag as possibe, even with 2 thumb pressure. Even the JM guys got spanked more often than not, losing 200+ jigs I understand.

[Stu Hardy]

Brandon, that is the rumour