We stood there on the back deck just a chattin away when from behind me one of the rods just doubled over wit the line screaming off my Fin-Nor 30 Sportfisher reels.
It was game on......BIG "R.B." - aka: Redbass, Redfish, Red Drum
at least a 35 pounder. Pegged the 30 pound Bog-Grip scale.
Okay, the tide now is about dead, time to head to the jetty rocks at the inlet and do some "JIGGIN".
With these kinda jigs. Not lead headed jigs. But short fat "vertical jigs" with a swinging hook that I fashioned myself. I've been slab spooning for a while. Well why not vertical "butterfly style" jigging at the jetties? Why not?
I believe these ar a ounce and a half, are chrome hammered style Butterfish jigs that normally would have a hook on the bottom end. But I made the single swinging hook. Add a bit of FISHBITES on the hook part as flavor and offshore it's a "mini" deadly, Micro Jig!
So we pulled up to the inside of the north jetty as the clean ocean water poured around the rocks. Had a perfect anchor and a perfect current. We grabbed the heavy action Tiger-lite Ugly Stiks, matched up with high speed 6:1 Daiwa Saltist 20 HC levelwind reels. Dropped over the jigs and for Pat it was an instant hook up on a Ladyfish. Then another....."good, I needed to re-stock my cut bait for the rest of the weekend."
Then, Pat starts vertical jigging just off the bottom again.....Monster hook-up! And then we see it a 3 foot across MANTA RAY is leaping thru the air. Puts up a hell of a battle. But is it actually "mouth hooked"??? Or just snagged.
NOPE, it was mouth hooked and ate the jig.
This picture was after I took the hook out of it's upper lip. Very unhappy, it swam away just a little "worse" for the wear.
Next, I had a Redbass hook up on the jig. And got a royal ass handing! Breaking off my jig in the rocks. I only knew it was a redbass, because it fought just like this one. Which ate the vertical jig, gave a great fight, and was exactly 27 inches.....so it ended up in the cooler.
It was Pat's turn again....this time he set the hook the rod bowed over like a horse shoe and didn't budge,,,,,"at first". And then started to move away and guess what he hooked this time, squarely in the corner of it's mouth?
Yep, a Loggerhead Sea Turtle ATE his jig as he vertically jigged it off the bottom at the base of the jetty rocks. If you look real close you can see the jig in it's mouth.
I hand-lined the Turtle over to the side of the boat and it let me reach down and snatch the hook out of it's beak, without much fuss.
The tide was rushing in and I had a few more spots to hit, so after awhile we picked up and moved.
Which in hind-sight we shouldn't have, because the next two spots we real duds. And we laughed about it later that if we stayed at that spot, maybe Pat could have hooked up a Manatee, or a Dolphin, next with his jigging technique.
And in all reality, we should have stayed right there and seen if we could pick off a few more Redbass.
I was just so happy that my jigs worked, and that they don't even snag up in the jetties all that bad when the hook is free swinging. This won't be the last time I take those Micro-jigs with my home made "butterfly style " swinging hook out to the rocks for more combat.
