Jigging For Salmon

History

After the Second World War, BC’s recreational salmon fishery grew steadily until the late 1990s. Most anglers trolled, mooched with live herring or cut plugged. These methods were effective everywhere, but there were regional hotspots where one fishing style or another dominated. For example, mooching with live herring was popular in Campbell River, the burgeoning central coast fishing lodge business preferred cut plugging and trolling was the go-to system in Juan de Fuca Strait.

Courtenay plug maker Rex Field was a tackle pioneer who introduced his Buzz Bomb jigging lure and fishing system in 1959. At the time, cod jigs were available but Field’s lure was different. It had a multi-faceted diamond-shaped profile and was rigged so the line passed through the lure, rather than being tied to it. Anglers could jig it vertically or cast it using a series of retrieve-and-drop motions. On the drop, it revolved and fluttered which provided sound and visual cues for feeding salmon.

In the early years, Buzz Bomb’s popularity was localized in the mid-Vancouver Island region. National and international expansion came when Doug Field took over his father’s business. That tradition carries on under the company’s current owners, Tim and Gaia Dolden.

Salmon jigging on southern Vancouver Island evolved differently. Its popularity began near Sidney and Oak Bay, where much of the seabed consisted of sand substrates containing large eel grass meadows. Juvenile herring were the dominant feed in Georgia Strait, but less so in these sandy-bottomed areas where needlefish were very abundant.

Needlefish, or sand lance, are long, thin fish. They depend on sandy terrain for spawning, food and safety, according to a 2013 study titled “Identifying substrate burying habitat of Pacific sand lance.” Only six per cent of the total area of Georgia Strait meets these criteria and most of it is located in southern Georgia Strait, with some minor pockets in the Strait’s central region.

For decades, Sidney was my home fishing area where, between 1980 and 2000, I witnessed the explosive rise and less precipitous decline of jig-fishing’s popularity. The causal factors for this are not clearly understood, although the growth phase might be linked to increased needlefish abundance. That increase coincided with a decrease in local herring numbers, possibly due excessive commercial fishing pressure when roe herring fisheries first started. The reasons for the jig fishery’s decline in these south island locations are unknown, although it is still a popular salmon fishing tactic.

During jig fishing’s rise in popularity, local anglers, having recognized the needlefish/salmon connection, began making their own needlefish imitation lures from narrow household plumbing pipes. Decades of fishing has confirmed the wisdom of that decision because needlefish imitators consistently outproduced any other lures in these areas.

Jigging Tips

Overall, jigging has proven itself as a productive and enjoyable way to fish for salmon. While it looks simple, there are some basics anglers need to understand.

 

Match The Feed

Chinook and coho are meat eaters, so smaller herring, mainly from three-and-a-half to seven inches long, are their principle feed on BC’s coast. However, they also love needlefish, anchovies, sardines, squid and shrimp when they are available. Sockeye, pink and chum prefer shrimp. If anglers did a little research on the local feed available and adjusted their jig choices to match the forage, it would substantially increase the chances of a successful salmon trip.

Fortunately, herring-shaped jigs work as anchovy and sardine imitators, although anglers should pay attention to colour and jig size. Smaller glow or white jigs with pink or red are effective when shrimp are present. Larger jigs in the same colours work when squid are on the menu, while small, thin-profile jigs are best when needlefish are abundant, as already noted.

 

Fish Small Pockets

Fishing over hard-to-troll areas gives jiggers a big advantage. There are lots of small salmon-holding pockets located behind steep drop offs, near kelp reefs, behind points of land, next to visible reefs or in narrow canyons between reef structures. Baitfish and salmon move into them to escape strong currents. Trollers usually avoid them for obvious reasons, but they are large enough to handle a few drift fishing boats.

 

Keep The Fishing Line Vertical

According to well-known Nanaimo fisherman Clyde Wicks, “The trick is to always keep your fishing line vertical.” This ensures the jig remains under the boat, making it easier to control its action and depth.

Pay Attention To The Fish Finder

Wicks added this bit of advice: “Years ago, we only fished on the bait piles. Modern sounders and underwater cameras have taught us to keep jigging for 100 metres or so after drifting off the bait. The salmon are not always on the bait pile, sometimes they are sitting off to the side, waiting for an opportunity to feed.”

 

Know When To Jig And When To Hunt

Jigging is really effective when feeding salmon are concentrated. When salmon are dispersed, trolling is a better option. So it’s important for jig fishermen to determine two things: Are baitfish under the boat? Are salmon feeding on them? If baitfish are present, it pays to stay, unless you’re not getting strikes and the bite is clearly off. Then find another location with feed.

Changing locations doesn’t mean running kilometres away. It may only take a short move to put you on fish. While it’s a given to key on back eddies, there are times when salmon aren’t there. Instead, they might be found mid-channel or even over deep, open water.

This is where good-quality fish finders are invaluable. If the sounder shows bait suspended in mid-water or stacks of feed near the bottom, get the jigs on those targets. If slack water is imminent, look for bait schools lying flat on the bottom with a visual profile shaped like a log. When the current slackens, those logs rise off the bottom as feed stacks, which should attract salmon.

Fishing for coho along their migration routes is a terrific angling experience. Adult coho stage and feed along these routes and, unlike chinook, will continue to feed until their final dash to the river. Baitfish and coho move back and forth with the tides and can be found from the beach to many miles offshore. Heavier, fast-descending jigs pay dividends if both the feed and salmon are down deep.

Trollers cover lots of water and hope to be rewarded with brief moments of non-stop coho action. Jiggers need to employ but modify this tactic. It’s important to rely on electronics to find bait balls, but you can combine that with old-school tactics like scanning for feeding activity, such as gulls diving on herring ball-ups. Motor directly to these spots, sneak in and jig the edges without disturbing the feeding frenzy. Visible tide lines are another good bet for jiggers.

 

Jigging Tackle

In theory, anglers could use any rod, reel and line set-up to jig for salmon. In practice, anglers need the right gear. Eight-and-a-half to 10-foot rods are good choices as long as they have backbone in at least the first half of their length, with flexibility through the remaining half down to the tip. A flexible tip makes it much easier to activate the jig properly. Match your rod with a small to medium-sized level wind reel with high retrieve ratios.

Pick low stretch, thin diameter lines. Wicks recommended colour-coded, 20 to 30-pound test braided line with some Seaguar Blue Label fluorocarbon for a leader.

The preceding advice is consistent with what I heard 30 years ago. I was testing some US-made Flashback jigs near Sidney with the jig’s designer, Don George. He impressed upon me the importance of staying in contact with the jig. It’s feel fishing, so anglers need the right equipment. Tim agrees, citing this example: “A flexible rod that is too whippy causes anglers to over jig without knowing it.”

Salmon prefer smaller jigs weighing from one-and-a-half to three-and-a-half ounces. However, switch to heavier jigs up to five ounces for deep-water fishing. Brand names like Zzinger, Spinnow, Delta Half Jig, Point Wilson Dart, P-Line, Blue Fox Gomame, MacDeep, Buzz Bomb and MacFish produce. Older products like Stingsildas, Perkins, Deadly Dicks and Strikers are still good if you can get them. Jig colours have improved significantly. Anglers should stick with combinations of blue, green, chartreuse, white, chrome, glow and holographic finishes. Tim calls blue and green trigger colours and added black, fire orange and hot pink to the list.

Jigging Techniques

The jigging technique is basic. Free spool the line to the intended depth, using your thumb as a brake on the level wind reel, then reset the drag before starting to fish. It is active fishing that engages your wrist, forearm and a bit of shoulder. A slight wrist flick is enough to activate the jig. However, as you fish deeper increase the lift slightly to compensate for depth and drag but, according to Tim, “Do not over-pull the lure; instead, use short, methodical jigs and consider an occasional double jig sequence.”

If the current starts to run hard or the wind comes up, switch to heavier jigs to keep the line perpendicular to the water. If you cannot maintain that line angle, move to another location.

It’s gospel that salmon usually hit a jig when it’s fluttering down. However, it’s not always true. They do strike during line retrieval and in other ways, as I found out decades ago in Barkley Sound. We were trolling off Sanford Island when the wind came up, forcing us to move to the island’s lee side for a lunch break. My fishing partner soon noticed that salmon were swimming just a few feet under the boat. We quickly switched to jigs and started fishing but without success. When it seemed they had all passed by, we motored ahead of them in the hopes of hooking a few.

On the way, my partner decided to leave his jig bouncing on the water a few feet behind the boat. Within seconds, a decent-sized coho grabbed it. Ironically, that was the only fish we landed that day, even though we continued fishing using both jigging and trolling tactics.

 

Jigging Is A Different Angling Experience

Anglers, like me, who mainly troll for salmon have our reasons for choosing that method. However, I’ll readily admit that jigging offers a closer connection to the marine environment, as cliché as that seems.

It’s quiet, participatory and personal. Plus, there is a lot to be said for reducing fishing to its essential components of rod, reel and lure. It’s also a terrific way to introduce family and friends to salmon fishing without overwhelming them with instructions or boring them to death while they wait for a rod to pop on a slow day.

Salmon jigging is still very popular and it maintains a strong angling core. Will its popularity explode again? That possibility remains, but it may depend on the return of salmon abundance and the recovery of coastal herring stocks. Regardless, it makes sense to include salmon jigs in every angler’s salmon lure arsenal.