Q on fishing Yamashita Jigs....

[greg ct]

For you guys who fish the Yamashita jigs, do you tie them directly onto your leaders (single jig, no weights) or do you the more boat centric over/under rig with a weight at the bottom?

 

I tried some last season in the over/under method and they just didn't work.  I went back to yo-zuri's.

 

Thanks

[JANZ]

Depends on what the squid want.  I've caught with all diff setups, usually one setup outperforms the others on

any given night.   I will say that the jigs with heavier weights under the eyes dont catch as well as the suspended

or really slow sinking.   If you need to fish bottom then you go with a 2-4 oz sinker and a suspended (floating)

or very slow sinking jigs.  A few nights I used very slow sinking tied directly to line.  The squid were on top (top 5 ft

of water) they would rush up to it and stop just short,  feeler would come out and touch side of jig and pull back

then slowly back off.   Took care of that problem with spray on scent, it did help as they touched the jig then

grabbed it.   The scent had to have made the diff.  Not only that but I usually use the small china made jigs

that you can get 6-8 for same price as one Yamis.

[BillG]

Depends on what the squid want.  I've caught with all diff setups, usually one setup outperforms the others on

any given night.   I will say that the jigs with heavier weights under the eyes dont catch as well as the suspended

or really slow sinking.   If you need to fish bottom then you go with a 2-4 oz sinker and a suspended (floating)

or very slow sinking jigs.  A few nights I used very slow sinking tied directly to line.  The squid were on top (top 5 ft

of water) they would rush up to it and stop just short,  feeler would come out and touch side of jig and pull back

then slowly back off.   Took care of that problem with spray on scent, it did help as they touched the jig then

grabbed it.   The scent had to have made the diff.  Not only that but I usually use the small china made jigs

that you can get 6-8 for same price as one Yamis.

 

What are these China made jigs and where can I get some. I am so terrified of snagging bottom with a double jig set-up rigged with a pair of Yamashitas. So much so that I avoid using a double jig set-up. I think I would pack up and go home if I lost $30 worth of jigs, especially since I am certain it would be on my first drop.

[Gilligan]

 I use mostly the Yamashita Naory RH jigs in the 1.8B size. I tie them directly to my four pound test running line and only fish one at a time. I do use a tiny snap without a swivel at the end of my line to make changes easier for my eyes. I really only fish from docks, but I nailed over a thousand squids during the fall run last year on the Vinyard. Never saw the use of going over/under when I was killing them so well with a single jig. I outfished all others using Yozuris and other jigs with the single Naory on a snap on four pound. Of course I am not in a crazy crowded place like the causeway in Newport, so I haven't much trouble with snagging or getting snagged by other's lines and the four pound isn't a problem. Also the water where I jig is mostly less than ten feet deep but up to 20' occasionally. The Naorys fall nose down so if I'm careful and there isn't a lot of junk in the water I don't lose too many on the bottom.

[JANZ]

I got a bunch on ebay and they work pretty good when used with a bottom weight, but

if I'm tied direct with nothing else my preference would be the naory.

[lasker31]

This sat heavy on my mind last spring. One night my friend fished two yamashitas in the over under method and I fished a single yo-zuri. At the begining of the night I out fished him but by the end of the night the tables turned even though we were fishing from a pier next to each other under the same light.

I think until I get the subtlety of jigging down better I'm going to stick to a single jig. Its always crazy to see a squid swim up to your jig at light speed and then stop short only to swim away (not to metion frustrating). Janz, what kind of spray on scent did you use?

 

Thanks for the thread.

[Gilligan]

First of all, there are Yamashitas, and there are other Yamashitas, many different sizes and styles. The same is true for YoZuris. I have YoZuris that are the same size and shape as the Yamashita Naorys, and they fish very close to the Naory in efficiency. The YoZuri "mini" is a very efficient top jig on a high-low rig, although as stated above I hardly ever use one except in deep water. The standard tackle store YoZuri of four inches long is just too big and will almost always get out fished by a skilled jigger with a smaller jig. The 3&1/2" YoZuri is a little better, but still a bit on the large size for my (and many squid's) taste. I don't use scent but have found that if they speed right up to the jig and don't grab it, often a change of color and/or size will make the difference. I have had them disregard the standard Naory size 1.8B and switched to the little size 1.5 with a slower sink rate and hammered them. I have killed them using a white jig, had them turn off, put on a pink or orange jig, and banged them hard all over again. See my thread below "Merry Christmas to all squidders" and click on the link and you will see many Yamashita, YoZuri, and other jigs not readily available in this country. A large arsenal of jigs definitely increases ones catch.

[JANZ]

My take on the jigging part is =  weight hits bottom, let it sit so jigs can sink slowly the towards the bottom, most

times you never feel the hit,  its when you lift you discover you have something on the line, if nothing after lifting 2-3 ft

off bottom repeat weight touches bottom wait, sometimes I count to 5 or even 10 then lift and unbelievable how many

times there will be 1 or 2 (even had 3 on 2 jigs) attached to your jigs.   Your not really jigging to get them to hit your

just starting the sinking process again.

[lasker31]

Thanks JANZ and Gilligan for the tips.

[JANZ]

I use 3 diff types of scent , all spray on to simplify application, shad and menhaden seem to work 

best for me.