Souter: jigging supremo

Steve said that, in his experience, vertical jigging in the UK is good fun but probably well-down his list of methods for targeting pollack.

Keith Arthur
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TIGHT LINES
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If there's one man on the finger of sea angling's pulse, it's Tight Lines regular Steve Souter.

Steve is best known for his marine match fishing exploits; he's represented Scotland more than 40 times at international level and has four Home Nations gold medals. He has also won more domestic (UK) major titles than any other boat angler.

From his position as a consultant for Daiwa Sports, the largest tackle manufacturer in the UK, if there's anything radical happening in sea fishing, Steve knows, or as he says, is possibly even to blame!.

On my last trip to the Florida Keys I spent many hours 'speed jigging', or as it is better known in Britain 'vertical jigging'. This is hard work, entailing dropping a thin metal lure, often 25cm long, to a given depth, often the bottom, and winding it back as fast as possible.

The hook arrangement is very different from normal 'pirking', where a treble is usually hanging from the bottom of the lure - or taxi-door handle for those of you with decent memories - with a speed jig an 'assist' hook is used, sometimes two. These are single, strong hooks attached to a ring at the top of the jig by way of a VERY strong piece of Kevlar braid.

The advantage of this type of hook placement is that very few, if any, fish are foulhooked and Steve's theory is that those that used to be 'snagged' have attacked the head of the jig.

My furious winding from depths of 70+ metres in Florida was often interrupted, usually by the extreme bullies of the ocean: amberjacks. There probably are fish that fight dirtier than 'AJ's' but I've not found one yet. Even tarpon spend some time close to the surface and give you a chance of leadering them: amberjacks hit the bait at say 50m down, then head south.

Ad nauseam

Once they reach bottom, they take a breath and give the angler the chance to put some line back on the reel. Twenty metres is usually the limit, then they are off again. This is repeated, ad nauseam, literally: you soon get sick of it!

Amberjacks of 80lbs and more are frequently hooked, not necessarily boated, but a fish of 40-50lbs will leave an angler knowing he's been in a scrap. I will sometimes catch two, then if I hook another - usually by accident when hoping for a grouper, in itself a battle-royal - I will try and pass the rod over to someone who has yet to have the (dubious) pleasure of meeting AJ.

So, when Dave Gibson took Tight Lines pollack fishing last year, I packed my jigs. Pollack are not that dissimilar to AJs; colour and shape are similar, size and attitude not quite the same but surely they'd have a go at my lures.

Wrong! Not a hit. I asked Steve why: was it me? The jigs? Or that perennial complaint amongst anglers, the weather. Steve said that, in his experience, vertical jigging in the UK is good fun but probably well-down his list of methods for targeting pollack.

Steve's caught more pollack than a million Morris-men could shake a stick at and feels that their feeding habits are more conducive to a lateral, rather than vertical, attack which explains why the slow retrieve of a flying-collar/shad or sandeel is so effective.

Steve's favourite method for catching pollack in a competition is the Killer Rig, a name he resents as it intimates that it is a less-than-skilful method.

Simplicity

"Not so!" says Steve. "Put two anglers side by side, one used to fishing this way for pollack, the other less so, and I guarantee the best man will win."

The rig itself is magnificent in its simplicity. Three redgills are set about 45cm apart, tied off the main trace on cut blood loops, with a pirk or jig 45cm below the bottom dropper. This pirk has NO hook attached and is used purely to take the 'gills down to where the fish are feeding.

And that's the trick, according to Steve: the depth where the fish are feeding. Many anglers drop the set-up to the bottom as quickly as possible, then jig the baits back up to the surface, repeating over and over again. Steve 'feels' the rig down, always maintaining contact with the lures all the way down.

Hungry pollack intercept the lures momentarily creating a brief slackening of the line. That, Steve assures me, is the bite and MUST be met with a strike. Once the fish is felt, don't be in too much of a rush to wind it in as the fish has put your rig right where you want it, in the feeding shoal.

Hang on until you can feel more fish joining the party, each additional fish making the rig feel heavier. Once it's loaded with a fish on each hook, you're in business. Wind 'em up and weigh 'em in!

Like many other anglers I always felt that sea fishing was very much chuck it and chance it affair. Say that to Steve and you might finish up with a flea, or worse still a vertical jig, in your ear!

Keith answers your questions...

To send Keith Arthur a question, please click here: skysportsclub@bskyb.com

GET KNOTTED!
Hello Keith, could you please tell me a strong, neat and easy to tie knot to join a main line to a hooklength. Also when fishing in a wind or breeze when would you fish with your back to it and when would you fish facing it? Many thanks. Richard Kemp
KEITH SAYS: Hi Richard, I use two methods - paste these url's into a new browser to see just how they work. The first is the loop-to-loop connection, which I use exclusively when pole fishing. This entails tying a double-overhand loop into both the main line and hooklength:
http://marinews.com/Figure-of-Eight-Loop-700.php
then joining them together by passing the mainline loop through the hooklength loop, then the hook through the mainline loop. This is more secure than if you pass the hook through its own loop. For fishing with running line I use a water knot, known as a surgeon's knot in the USA. Either two, three or four turns, the number decided by difference in breaking strain or diameter of the two monos. For example, joining 0.12mm (3lb) to 0.10mm (2lb), a two-turn knot would be OK. If I were tying 0.10mm to 0.14mm I'd use a three-turn and to 0.16mm a four-turn. This is a very small, neat knot that will not generate twist in the hooklength, unlike the double-loop.
http://www.animatedknots.com/surgeonsjoin/index.php
Occasionally I will tie the hooklength to a swivel when I use a grinner, or uni, knot but I pass the hooklength line through the eye of the swivel doubled and tie the knot using doubled line for extra security.
http://www.animatedknots.com/uniknot/index.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com
I am a bit of a knot extremist! Tight and well-knotted lines!

MOULD GOLD
Hi Keith, Just a short question, could you tell me the name of the method mould that was designed by Neil Machin and is it available to buy? I thought it was brilliant. Enjoy the show just wish it was on for longer. Regards, Brian Morris
KEITH SAYS: That's an easy one Brian: It's the Garbolino Machin Speed Mould and should be available at a tackle shop near you! It comes complete with a feeder designed to fit it precisely but it can be used with others too.