Suidpunt Deep Sea Angling Club - Rigging your Vertical Jig

Gulp Jigging

By Berkley Pro team

Whilst on a resent trip to South Africa I had the pleasure of fishing with a very knowledgeable angler by the name of Mark De La Hay. Having both found a love of vertical jigging and soft bait fishing, he had quite an unusual mix of both on offer when we went jigging in the deep! Using 50-lb Whiplash braid over Pflueger Supreme jig rods we where marking on the fish finder what I was told where big Amber Jack. Fish that would normal straighten out the 7/0 hook that’s attached to a 5oz Nitro jig head. So this is how the rig works!

STEP 1 - Get a heavy Nitro jig head (3, 4 or 5oz) and cut off the hook just as it starts to make its way around to the bend. Then you need a large split ring, a heavy solid ring or swivel and an assist hook from a vertical jig. Put the split ring through jig head eye and attach the assist hook cord to the solid ring (or swivel) and then to the split ring as well (never tie your leader to the split ring or jig head. You need to attach the hook directly to either the solid ring or swivel which is directly attached to the assist hook and tie your leader to this point).

STEP 2 -When I was fishing this rig we where using 8” & 10” squid (you can use whatever like you like such as a 7” Jerkshad or 6” Grub). So the next thing to do is get your squid and cut the tip of the hood, back to mach the jig head that will replace it.

STEP 3 -Simply insert the jig head into the bait and you’re almost done.

STEP 4 -Peg the assist hook into the bait so it looks smooth and you’re ready to drop.

STEP 5 -Look carefully at where the leader is tied to. It is tied to the assist hook! You can have your squid and jighead ripped off by split ring failure but you need to be positively connected to your fish by tying direct to the assist hook toe point!

This rig was devised by either Wes Rapson, Rob Carl or Mark De La Hay or all of the above. I never bothered to ask! Either way it’s a ripper way to get a really strong hook into a soft bait and get it to go down past the 100 metre mark with a 5oz jig head.
The big let down about current vertical jigs as far as Im concerned is that they don’t smell, which is a big issue in deep dark water when your lure is moving away from the fish so fast and they are very, very hard to the bite (lack bite appeal) and rarely get a second hit by the same fish. But with this rig you get taste, smell, bite appeal, reasonable sink rate and glow in the dark. This is quite the revolutionary step in jigging and it’s come from a part of the world that needs a lot more attention. The guys that I’ve fished with in South Africa are some of the best anglers you will find anywhere in the world. Very inspirational!!

Anyway, get that into ya!!!

Let me know how it goes for you and I’ll past on your efforts to the lads in SA.
Cheers

Royter