River 2 Sea knife jig

With the demise of Megabait (my all time favorite) I have started looking for something else to use.  I decided to try a River 2 Sea knife jig.  http://www.river2sea.com/productframe.php?view=product&cat=Salt Water&subcat=Metal+Jig&item=Knife+Metal+Jig 

These types of jigs have been around for a while, and are similar to the ones Shimano markets as the butterfly jig for prices that will just make you laugh out loud.  This jig was priced much more modestly at around $7....still not cheap but way less than $30  .  I rigged it with two of the the River 2 Sea free swinging "assist" hooks that attach to the top of the jig.  With this setup there are two hooks on longish dacron leads at the top of the jig, and no hooks off the bottom of the jig.  Seemed like it should be less snaggy than having hooks on the bottom. I bought a 5 oz size, which in this product is a large looking jig.

This jig looks promising.  In a 1.2 mph drift this jig sunk fast and staight when tied to 50# spectra and I caught fish right away.  The 5 oz. actually felt a little heavy, and will try a 4 oz next time.  The "assist" hooks are IMHO a little too effective.  These things are made out of heavy wire and must swing around like a pair of tiny free gaffs because these evil little thingy's foul hooked a LOT of fish.  Some small blues came in hog tied with a hook to the tail, and a hook to the head...ouch!  If your looking to do meaningfull C&R this is not the way to rig this!  The assist hooks eventually ended up being the jig's demise as it free gaffed some bull kelp and it was no more.

I will keep experimenting with these jigs however as it showed a lot of promise...good action, good drift, and fish ate it readily.  I will try a 4 oz next, but rigged with a big siwash on the bottom and a single Gamakatsu assist hook.  The Gamakatsu assist hooks are shorter, lighter and generally less evil, but still quite effective.  Stay tuned.

 

 

Hi Sean,

If you going for Lings.  I still like the Braid Slammer in the 4 oz.  Other guys (like Bill..I think he runs this site..or maybe his wife does?) like the curly tail lead heads.  I have try them.  But, think think you missed a lot of fish because they short strike the tails. But, to each his own.

Ken kickfish

Those look good too.  I'll have to give them a go.  Swimbaits can be very effective as well, but they are hard to fish deep when the drift gets fast.

I was using 2 assist hooks on a jig until I got the snag from hell and lost it. I had the same jig with only one assist hook and actually caught more fish with it than I did with the 2 assist hooks.

What kind of jig were ya swingin?

Sean, the Sea Knife looks like a worthy replacement for the Megabait iron. I too regret their passing and I am finding them hard to find now.

My biggest issue with swimbaits is losing the tails to short strikes. Call it an amateur's theory, but I think some predators just intend to wound the prey with the first strike, much like Great White Sharks or Billfish do, but our swim bait sinks much faster and our retrieve pulls it away sometimes before their second fatal lunge at it. I remember Brian likening the strike procedure for swimbaits as a slow and steady pull as with a dog and its toy. Maybe if I learn to do that, my short-strike, tailless swimbaits retrieval days are over

I am curious as to how these 'assist hooks' are rigged. Anyone care to show photos?

Look good. I'd do the usual and replace the treble with a Siwash though.

My biggest issue with swimbaits is losing the tails to short strikes.

Short strikes are small schoolie fish picking at it.  Big fish have no problem inhaling a bait first strike.  You can try downsizing your bait to get them to stick but you'll more than likely be catching small fish. 

Those jigs look pretty sweet.  What kind of action did they have?  I've only fished a couple knife jigs but they had a weird darting pattern on the drop, real fast. 

This one has the double assist at the top and a single on the bottom.  I'm going to replace the bottom with a big VMC siwash and the use a short single assist like the one off to the side in this photo.

The action is a nice erratic zig-zag on the drop.

Sean,

Is that leader material on the Assist Hooks wire, poly-covered wire or poly-covered braid? It doesn't look like straight braid nor like mono.

I might try such a thing to add to my larger Megabaits--mgiht catch some good bait fish 

It looks like old school dacron fishing line.  Whatever it is, it ain't high tech.  The single gamakatsu version on the top of a MB is MONEY.

That's a great set up scwafish. I'd like to try one of those out as well.

I have a slammer set up like that w/o a hook on the end so I can bounce it off the bottom without having to worry too much about a snag. I put 2 Gamakatsu assist hooks up front which usually have a bit of squid on them. The thing almost always gets hit on the way down.

BTW the Gamakatsu assist hooks use some kinda braided line. They don't specify so scwafish is right... not too high tech.. http://www.gamakatsu.com/new_products/new_assisthook.htm

Z

I believe the braided line is usually spectra or kevlar in the 300 - 500 lb test category.  But I don't see why some dacron wouldn't work as well.

Here's an article I found on how to make them... pretty simple really... thick braided line, large hooks, a simple knot, and some heat shrink tubing is really all you need.  I've made some and the trick seems to be getting the braided line long enough to allow you to still  put them on a jig, but not too long as to become the sort of flying gaff Sean was talking about.

http://www.lyndenhuggins.com/Fishing/Stinger%20Hook/How%20To%20Make%20a%20Stinger%20Hook%20Rig.htm

cool link Bsteves!

Z

Extremely cool link!  The way that guy rigged his jig is exactly what I was thinking, except I like longer shanks on the siwash...really awesome!!!