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In response to Jay:
When jigging at night, I like to first find the fish on my sounder. That way I have somewhat of an idea as to what depth I need to drop. Its not uncommon to drop 400+ feet. Than again, sometimes all you will need to go is 100 feet. In either scenario we use braided or spectra line. There are several reasons for this:
First, when jigging at great depths with mono, the likely hood of actually getting a good hook set is very slim because the angler is unable to compensate for the give or stretch of the line. With its minimal stretch, spectra will give the angler the best opportunity for a solid hookup.
Secondly, with most of my experiences of night jigging the tuna have held close to the structure. In order to get the strikes we have fish close to cables, rig legs, etc. Spectra and other braided lines offer superior abrasion resistance and as a result you will lose far less fish due to cutoffs.
Lastly, because of its strength and minimal stretch you can apply much more drag to a running tuna, while pulling the boat away from the structure, in order to "hoss" him out.
As far as jigs go, I like to use a 16oz Braid 761 "Blue Mackerel" with a 10 ft 130 lb. Fluorocarbon leader. This jig also comes in a "glow mackerel" color as well. Some nights the only thing they will eat is a glow mackerel. Its always a good plan to keep a variety of jigs, including the traditional diamond jig, so that you can switch up until you can find what the tuna will eat. I prefer changing all of the hooks on my jigs from the factory hooks to a Mustad 36245D 3x 3/0 Triple Grip Treble. The reason for this is that we have found that the factory hooks tend to bend or straiten under the strain of heavy (30-35lbs) drag that we use to get the fish away from the structure. There's not many things that frustrate me more than a tackle failure so to avoid the headache take the extra time to switch out your hooks.
As for the rod and reel combo, we use reels with high speed retrieve and supped up drags, such as a Shimano Tiagra LRS 30, in conjunction with a 50lb. Cape Fear rod. The high speed retrieve is necessary to give the jig the proper action to entice a strike. And the extra backbone provided by the rod is a must for heavy drag settings.
Jigging isn't just a successful night time technique for blackfin, yellowfin, and Big Eye . There are some days were the fish are marking deep and there is just no other way to get a bait to them other than a heavy jig. Several of the captains here in Venice have had success with daytime jigging. Also, during the summer months, wahoo can be plucked from deep underneath large grass patches and other floating debris.
I hope this helps Jay. Good Luck.
Capt. Rimmer - Reel Peace Charters (985)-534-2278
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