What is the best way to fish Big Hammer baits?

I am looking for some tips on fishing Big Hammer style swimbaits for lings or halis...mainly in the sc/capitola area. Drifting, casting, dragging the bottom, vertical jigging, i'm just not sure.

Hey WTTM!! i cant help you. But im sure some will be able to. I see u got a Tarpon 120 nice! i got the 140

Drifting, casting, dragging the bottom, vertical jigging

Yes.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

ps...other guys on here will be more detailed in their responses, but honestly all of these techniques are effective....except dragging the bottom IMO, that will just get you snagged.

I usually just vertical jig while drifting but I kinda suck at fishing....watch some of DC's vids to get a feel for his very effective technique. 

Dragging them is actually very effective for lings and rockfish. I like to find spots i think have fish and drift over it banging the bottom. I also like casting it out letting it hit the bottom and then pump the rod tip softly letting it bounce off the bottom until the bait is vertical. Then cast again and repeat.  For me it's really important to have a good jigging motion. You should check out dc's videos he's a halibut magnet.

Some will say casting. Some will say trolling. My preferred method and everything has to be right, is wind or current drift of about 5 knots. This keeps the bait swimming and with a 3-4 oz leadhead the line stays not scoped out too much. I fish 30 braided line with a 6ft top shot of 30 seaguar blue label flouro. I use a uni 2 uni knot from line to leader. The braided line gives you an extremely good feel for the structure you are going over and a quick response time to lift the rod to avoid snagging. I let the line down to the bottom and reel up 1-2 turns. A level wind or open face reel with a thumb release works best. Continually working the bottom. Banging the lead off structure and lifting. Imagine a baitfish swimming over the top of a rock then down the side of it. Then banging up the face of the next rock. This provides a life like swim of the bait. Lings love this shit. Just fucking love it. Remember, the tail needs to be swimming for the effect.  Harold was thinking of trying to do a Go Pro vid of a swimbait going over the rocks from a bottom view. We are going to work on this. PM me and lets hook up sometime. Welcome. Craig

Exactly what rblack said.....same line and knot set up. I keep the colors simple. A light and dark. 3 oz for calm 4 oz for rougher. I even keep a few 1.5 oz for that once in a great while oil slick calm days

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Everyone has their own style of fishing these but i personally like to cast them and let its sink to the bottom. Once its down there i do 3-5 cranks then let it fall back down....just keep doin that til u get it in and u cant go wrong... in heavy structure like kelp or big boulders they jig great...

On structure preferably. I use a 1 or 1.5 oz head for slow drifts and pot holing the kelp and a 4oz for the faster days. I usually only drift in slow currents and tap the bottom with the lure as I go. If pot holing I reel the lure a good 20' off the bottom and let it fall back and dead stick it for about a minute and repeat. The most important piece of the puzzle is the structure though.

I prefer straight 20-25# mono or straight 30-40# braid. If proper preparations are not made a significant amount of time can be lost tying leaders while OTW. I retie at least 10 times a trip so a one knot rig with unlimited leader is key for me.

Whenever possible, I try to actually cast & retrieve them. Part of the BH appeal is the side-to-side wobble of the body. (That square thumper tail isn't the only thing attracting fish) And you don't get as much wobble when jigging vertically. Although, sometimes you have to present them vertically like if you're in the kelp or the drift is fast. When I work them vertically, I try to immitate a wounded fish struggling to get off the bottom (if you ever seen a dying fish on the bottom you'll know what I mean). Slowly drag bottom then give a couple quick twitches like it's attempting to swim up, followed by a slow & controlled decent back to the bottom.

the good thing bout big hammer is they work, the best way to fish them is keep them in the bottom

I pretty much only use the cast/flip/lob technique. Try to get an idea of what the bottom structure is like, and fish "downhill" whenever possible. Cast to the top of a hump or rock, let it hit bottom, and wait a few seconds. Twitch the rod tip, and wait. Give a few cranks, wait, twitch, wait, repeat, until you are vertical. A couple more quich shakes, then crank up and repeat.

This WHOLE time, I have a finger touching the line to detect pick-ups.

This is my halibut/rockfish/lingcod technique. The only changes I make are color/weight/size of swimbait to target different species. For lingcod, get a big-ass swimbait. At least 6.5".  I've caught more fish on 1.5 oz and 2 oz heads than any other weight.  I try to go with the lightest head possible, because it gives the BH a much more natural swimming action.

Wow thanks for all the great tips...i cant wait for the next time i can get out...

I am not a swim bait master but cast and retrieve will out fish verticle jigging in most situations. It is because you can cover more water with cast and retrieve. You may lose more tackle, but lighter heads reduce tackle loss. I have fished with some true swimbait masters and they out fished me every time with cast and retrieve. They also knew where the fish were which is the other part of the deal.