Tried making a pipe jig.

[BentRod]

For you halibut pipe jig aficionados, in my quest to hook my first halibut I've tried my hand and building my first pipe jig using instructions from various internet forums/sites. This is my prototype. About 9" of 1/2" pipe and almost exactly 16oz. We typically fish in water between 90'-300'. Until now we've just been using spreader bars and bait rigs (with no luck), but thought I'd give this a try this year. I did include a swivel between the cotter pin and hook, which is well hidden by the squid skirt. Although most instructions incorporate large split rings both at the hook and at the mainline swivel, I've managed to avoid them altogether on this one as I couldn't see how it would add any benefit since the largest size I could find was #9 and I was concerned about their strength when battling any hard fighting fish (most instructions called for #10 and up). Am I just paranoid? Of course I have to hook a fish first.
I plan to make a few more before May, but hope to get some critiques so I can incorporate changes if needed.
Any educated feedback would be welcome.

IMG_3597.jpg (53.78 KiB) Viewed 10627 times

[MarkFromSea]

Bit confused that your bait rigs didn't work. Jigs such as yours are pretty popular. I see no reason why it wouldn't work. Since you only have the one hook on there, you could also trail back a heavy mono leader with a bait hook in dropper fashion. It can be tricky maintaining close proximity to the bottom without getting hung up depending with where you fish.

Since you plan on making more, put together a 3/4", ballpark, doubles the weight I think for heavier current/wind or deeper water.

Some take it super serious. I believe butts will eat anything in front of them when it's not moving too fast. Find the butts, put bait in front of them moving very slowly, they'll eat it. IMO If they aren't eating bait, they aren't there or it's moving too fast.

[Mike Carey]

looks good to me.

[BentRod]

Bit confused that your bait rigs didn't work. Jigs such as yours are pretty popular. I see no reason why it wouldn't work. Since you only have the one hook on there, you could also trail back a heavy mono leader with a bait hook in dropper fashion. It can be tricky maintaining close proximity to the bottom without getting hung up depending with where you fish.

Since you plan on making more, put together a 3/4", ballpark, doubles the weight I think for heavier current/wind or deeper water.

Some take it super serious. I believe butts will eat anything in front of them when it's not moving too fast. Find the butts, put bait in front of them moving very slowly, they'll eat it. IMO If they aren't eating bait, they aren't there or it's moving too fast.

Thanks for the feedback Mark. I attribute our previous failures mostly to inexperience. My buddy and I started halibut fishing the year before last and I get out only one day during the season, so in essence, I've been out twice in two years. This will be the third year (third day). The first year I knew nothing about fishing for halibut and figured incorrectly that my buddy did, so just went along expecting an education. He brought some spreader bars and herring. We did not have sufficient weight to keep the gear down in the area we were fishing, so found a flat shelf at 50' and spent the day bouncing our gear over that without result. The only education I got was that we didn’t have a clue what we were doing.
Last year, I did a little research on where to target the fish, so we took heavier weight. I took along a bunch of trout heads/guts for bait and my buddy was to bring the herring, but he forgot it at home, so we used the trout heads all day. Our 16 and 20 oz weights were sufficient to keep our gear in the 90'-200' depths we were fishing, but we got an education on fishing the tides, so spent a lot of our time trying to get our drift correct between the shelves and drop-offs. I think we wasted quite a bit of time fishing in less-than-ideal areas and we were not confident in our approach. We don't have an anchoring system that would be safe to use out there, so just drift. We did get a couple good hits that didn't stick, caught a big dogfish, and one rockfish, but that was all. When the current was up, we figured our gear was moving across the bottom too fast, and then we’d hit slack tide and find we were not moving hardly at all, so then spent time trying to find a zone to fish using the sonar.
I’ve done a lot more research this last year and feel I’m better educated on where and how to target the halibut (environment/gear/tides), but will have to see if we can put it into practice. I thought that the jigs might come in useful when the current was either too fast or slack, by enticing a reaction bite vs. the bait rigs.
As for weight, since the 16 and 20 oz cannon balls kept our bait rigs down, I figured a 16oz pipe jig would be sufficient and the 1/2" pipe is what I had in the garage. Since we typically don't fish in really heavy water or deeper than 300', I thought going bigger might be unnecessary. There is a lot of mixed information out there on recommended weights. In regards to the single hook, I thought I might put a dropshot rigged teaser hook up two or three feet above the pipe jig and attach a strip of salmon belly there. We still plan to use bait rigs and I saved a bunch of salmon belly strips from last fall, which I hope to pair with some herring. I agree that if we can get the bait in front of the fish, it probably doesn’t matter what the bait is, but do believe it needs some good scent to draw the fish in. I think the next step for me is feeling confident that we’re fishing where the fish should be. It’d be nice to hook something interesting one of these days.

[dutchman2858]

You're on the right track...all your efforts sound good. Put a couple of these in 24 oz or 32 oz in your arsenal and you'll get it done, even in deep water. Not as cheap as going homemade but they were always my "go to" gear for halibut if fish were picky. Put a piece of one of those salmon bellies on and let her rip.

These sink fast, and can be bounced on the bottom with little chance of getting hung up, unless you drag them into a rock crevasse. When drifting don't let your gear "drag" too far behind the boat while you are jigging the bottom. Guaranteed way to get hung up.

Sharpen ALL of your halibut hooks: jigs, "J" or circle. Big fish have tough mouths. Good luck and knock 'em dead!

[BentRod]

Dutchman, thanks for the tips. I did try one of the 1lb jig heads witha grub body the very first year. It was my buddy's. I was bouncing it off the bottom and about 15 minutes in I felt it hang on a rock and the line broke. I could see that getting expensive fast, so we opted not to invest in those any more. At least with the bait rigs we were smart enough to use low test dropper line between the weight and the spreader bar, so when we got hung up we'd only lose the weight. I've got most of the materials for the pipe jigs already, so currently it doesn't cost me much to manufacture those.
I can probably design/fabricate/pour a jig style head for the 10/0 siwash hooks I already have. Will have to look into it.
Again, thanks for the reply.

[MarkFromSea]

You're definitely on track... sorry to hear about the trout.... that doesn't work well with crab either when compared to salmon or even rockfish carcass. I've tried em. The drop shot you describe is exactly what I had in mind.

Those other jigs do work.... but, IMO, when fished side by side,,,,, I believe bait out shines jigs... just my opinion.
Based on one day fishing AK off of a small ship just west of Kodiak Island in the late 90s. I outfished the Mate 10-1, my bait to her jig... in all fairness though, we were drifting too fast and I fished more hours. She did get a bit discouraged... LOL some what similar about a year and a half ago. Even when using bait, I'll toss a standard size hootchie on there, whiteish or a glow in dark in case the bait falls off from a bite or whatever. Long flapping salmon skin seems to be the bomb to me... sorta tough, flapping as it moves, and the scent they like. Even when I would rebait last year in AK while anchored up here or there, I'd leave the old flapping skin on the hook.... I just don't believe it needs to be complicated...... bait, bait, bait.... but that's me... oh... and a standard size hootchie.

I read others describing using halibut cord and all sorts of complications... GREAT, that works for them. Me, a 3 way swivel, a foot dropper(20 pound mono) to my lead ball(palm size), a 4+' 50 pound mono leader to a couple hooks solid tied about a foot apart with a hootchie each so I can run two baits, one hook a piece. The slower the current, the slower you'll have to drop it to prevent tangles. Try your jig first though with that trailing teaser, it's essentially the same set up with your jig being where my lead is at.

Oh, in your original, you used a swivel where split rings would go... that does allow the hook to swivel around with the tip next to the pipe... might be a concern, might not matter. IDK

[dutchman2858]

Mark: Good points...however you didn't outfish ME 10:1 when I was running my charter in Kodiak I always had both bait and a jig with bait strip in the water unless fishing small fish: bait hooks forward and jigs off the back. I could anchor in 300 feet, and always preferred that to drifting....get the scent trail out and let them come to me. They had to swim past the jigs to get to the bait, so we had two different rigs for them to check out. Didn't lose nearly as much gear either In "Chicken Holes" (congregations of smaller fish) the dual hooks with bait clearly works better than jigs...many times a fish on each of the two hooks.

It boils down to doing what you have the most confidence in, sticking with it for the most part, but being willing to change things up if "Plan A" isn't working!

Who did you fish with in Kodiak, Mark?

[BentRod]

All great info. Much appreciated.
I've read multiple articles on what to use and how. It's a mixed bag on preference of jig vs. bait, but the one thing that is common to both is getting some good scent on there. Seems like the successful bait guys recommend a minimum of two types of offering on the hook (i.e. herring/salmon belly). One for scent and one for durability. A lot of the jig guys also recommend sweeting the pot with some sort of durable bait on the jig hook as well. I'm hoping to take along at least herring and salmon belly this go around as well as adding some bottled scents to the mix. I think we'll probably do like Dutchman indicated and get one of each offering out. If one produces more than the other , then we'll have the option to switch out. I also plan to add the hoochie to the bait rigs as well. No harm in adding some additional attraction I'd think. I believe it really does boil down to confidence. We really need to hook into one or two to start thinking we have a clue what we're doing. Following the advice of others is great, but making it work is another thing.
I found some square 3/4" aluminum tubing in the garage, so might try making up some heavier pipe jigs from that.
Any more words of wisdom are welcome!

[fishinChristian]

Looks a lot like many we've made over the years. I have caught more with bait/spreader rigs, but those work fine, and even better on lingcod. Be sure to make a wide variety of weights as you continue, and I varied the hook placement, allowing for rock or sand bottoms. Also, for ling, the quick uplift of the jig is the correct action, but with halibut, you want more of a gentle sweep. I avoided halibut for a couple of years as a kid with my enthusiasm, but got lots of other bottom fish. You want a weight that goes reasonably straight down, but doesn't drag or overtax you or your gear, or have an angle that varies from the perpendicular more than about 25 degrees. At 40-45 degrees definitely go heavier. Personally, I try to keep it under 15. Also, adding scent or a bit of meat helps as well. On the hoochies I stick a bit of natural sponge in the center soaked in attractant. You can even leave a little space at the bottom (or top as you pour the lead) and put a sponge or cloth in the space and crimp the end. Renew the scent every half hour or so. The real barn doors usually come on bait, but for numbers the jigs do very well. As for the cotter, the angle takes care of the holding power, but I always took a screwdriver and spread the pin inside as well as outside, before pouring the lead. I'm sure it isn't necessary, but it reduced my paranoia. When I'm fighting something over 200 lbs, occasionally way over (weigh over?), I like all the help I can get!

[MarkFromSea]

It boils down to doing what you have the most confidence in, sticking with it for the most part, but being willing to change things up if "Plan A" isn't working!

Who did you fish with in Kodiak, Mark?

Always support vessels, engineer position, that particular day was Western Pioneer hauling frozen fish south on a small freezer cargo vessel, the "Bowfin". Imagine if you will, drift fishing from an approx 170ish foot vessel, get to the end of the drift, reeling in and running back to the starting point several times. LOL I was on top of the world back then, good times! I am no expert. I just follow what you wrote above: "doing what you have the most confidence in, sticking with it for the most part, but being willing to change things up if "Plan A" isn't working!"