JIGGING

Jigging is definitely sport fishing. You animate the jig (a kind of leaded spoon), by yoyoing it, in order to “delude” the fish, all the way from the bottom up to the surface.

SPOTS

Rodrigues, from East to West

The famous Eastern Bank, Hawkins Bank and the plate around Rodrigues with his numerous spots (coral heads, bumps, reefs and rocks…) constitute many Hot Spots for XXL dogtooth tunas. You can catch exceptional fishes on each of them.

EASTERN BANK: A 104.5kg dogtooth tuna is caught on jigging on 25 October 2007 by Christian Mercier (Reunion). All tackle World record.
HAWKINS BANK (Western): On 26 October 2012, still on jigging, a 100.240kg dogtooth tuna is caught by Toni Costa (Switzerland)… for his very first exotic fishing trip.
ON THE CONTINENTAL PLATE AROUND RODRIGUES: On 23 October 2014, Charles Rubis (France) comes also for the first time here and catches a huge doggy of 97kg.

You will also be able to jig inside numerous yellowfin tunas’ boiling schools or around drifting wrecks (drifting woods, net chunks, etc) for wahoos and dorados.

FISH AND SEASON

You will be able to catch many different species (beyond the 2 queen species that are dogtooth tuna and giant trevally) such as red snapper, grouper, amberjack, jobfish, bluefin trevally, big eye trevally, yellow-spotted trevally, black jack, barracuda, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, white tip shark, etc.

All these species are regularly present all year long.

Eran with a Red corail trout caught on jigging on 2014 - Rod Fishing Club - Rodrigues Island - Mauritius - Indian Ocean

Julien with a big doggy on jigging - Rod Fishing Club - Rodrigues Island - Mauritius - Indian Ocean

FISHING TECHNIQUES

The special shape of the jigs enables them to dart around under water during the fall. Therefore, to bring it to life, on the rise, you may try a few animation types:

from slow to fast,
from small “jerks” to long ones, intersected by breaks and spurts, in order to excite predators. Everything is possible and it can change very quickly. So please dare varying your animations.

However, do not worry even if you are a beginner! You will be coached by the crewmembers of the boat, which have been practicing jigging for a few years now and will help you to find your way.

JIGGING at Rodrigues

TACKLE AVAILABLE

Aboard the Black Marlin, you will benefit a high quality tackle, free of charge:
• Custom rods like Ronin, Black Hole or Pedro, equipped with Shimano Stella 14000 reels, filled with 65 lbs and 80 lbs braid regularly replaced.
• Also at your convenience jigs, leaders and assist-hooks.
• Aboard, for your comfort, 2 special “jigging” belts are available
• For long fights, 2 harnesses adaptable to jigging rods.
You will only be charged lost or broken tackle, at its cost on French market, that is to say from 20€ for a jig all equipped… to 1600€ for a whole rod/reel set. However, the very first lost jig will not be billed (1 jig by day and by boat).

YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN TACKLE

• Aboard Black Marlin, the ideal is a rod between 5.4 and 6 feet long with a tip action and a 80lbs power. If it is too short, you may be bothered in the end of the fight when fish is directly below the boat, by the line, which may touch the hull. If it is too long, you may get tired needlessly too quickly. Keep in mind that big GT and doggies are well known to break poor quality rods!
• Concerning the reels, prioritize power (retrieving 1m of line each revolution of crank) and the capacity rather than retrieving speed, Stella 14000 for example. A spare spool already full of braided line may be of plus in case of breaking if fish is biting.
• A quality braid line of 80lbs (at least 300 or 350m on the spool) is required, plus spare braid line. However, it may be interesting to have 65lbs tresse if you have the opportunity to jig above 100m depths, or during days of strong current. As a matter of fact as line is thinner, it is easier to reach the bottom.
• Monofilament line from 80lbs to 150 lbs leaders about 7 or 8 m long, may give springiness to the set and will enable you to retie the knot again a few times if leader is worn out. Be careful though that it is not too short; a long leader warns of the arrival of the jig and enables you to slow down the movement so that the jig does not arrive too quickly in the boat or on your neighbour especially at night).
JIGS
• Jigs quite short, heavy, of 200, 250 and 300gr, silvery, orange, pink are good values in Rodrigues.
• Phosphorescent jigs for nights (ex. Sea Rock, Orion, Hooker 1, Flat Side by Shimano, Weepy by Hart…).
• It can also be interesting to put in one’s bag one or two 150 gr jigs in case there is no current (it happens). This enables to jig lighter, as well as having long jigs to offer a different dish.
HOOKS
• You may use assist hooks “ready to use” like VMC. But it would be shameful to be satisfied only with assist hooks that one can buy on the market. It is so easy to put it together and then be able to adjust them to the strength, length and hook sizes you need.
• Scarcely, a wahoo, a shark or a barracuda may cut your assist but it will mostly cut the leader, higher. If so, we may replace the assist hook by a set as the following: split ring/swivel/spilt ring/hook.
• To choose your hooks, we advice you to select hooks with a large opening, larger than the jig’s width and avoid iron hooks, making strikes random.
• We use the VMC 7264 in 9/0, 11/0 and 13/0.
• For the set, we recommend the Assist Line Varivas SS 80 (330lbs).
SMALL EQUIPMENT
• Split rings such as VMC 3561SS in 46.5 and 57.5kg.
• Solid rings between 400 and 700 lbs.
• Swivels with a resistance between 200 and 400 lbs, such as VMC 3260 SS in 415lbs.
• A ring plier such as the excellent Pafex “extra strong”.
• You may appreciate a belt after the first fights.

Happy crazy jiggers - 2014 - - Rod Fishing Club - Rodrigues Island - Mauritius - Indian Ocean

Mart on jigging at sunset on November 2014 - Rod Fishing Club - Rodrigues Island - Mauritius - Indian Ocean

THE CAPTAIN’S ADVICE

Many anglers wedge their rod’s foot under their arm to jig; this is a good position once you have found the rhythm between the movement of the rod and the reel’s capacity to reel in the line.

However, the most common mistake that I can see is that on strike, the angler hooks up the fish one, two or three times then gets diverted when he tries to fix the gimbal of his rod in his belt. Line is loosened and fish unhooks.

It is wiser to keep one’s rod under the arm, even to start pumping in this position and then take advantage of a good tension on the rod, down, to put it in the belt, spotting the way.

Rod Fishing Club is the solution to:

- catch your very first fishes on jigging,

- break up your own record or maybe why not try to look for a world record, also for your children on Smallfry and Junior categories.

Beginner, advanced or expert ? Come aboard to catch the fish of your dreams.

Book Now !