Bay Bridge Jigging Question..

[kayak456]

hello everyone. me and my dad are going to try and fish the bridge this weekend again. last weekend we hooked 6 fish but brought none to the boat. we were jigging literally on the pilings. My question is that can you jig in between the 2 sides of the bridge. also what piling is the most productive on general?and my last question is how do you jig the rock pile. do you cast at is and jig? of do you get close and drop straight down.. thanks for the help!

[J.A. Veil]

hello everyone. me and my dad are going to try and fish the bridge this weekend again. last weekend we hooked 6 fish but brought none to the boat. we were jigging literally on the pilings. My question is that can you jig in between the 2 sides of the bridge. also what piling is the most productive on general?and my last question is how do you jig the rock pile. do you cast at is and jig? of do you get close and drop straight down.. thanks for the help!

I am not very skillful at jigging the Bay Bridge. I think you can learn a great deal by reading Shawn Kimbro's book that came out last December. He is a master jigger, and he describes his methods well. I think you live in Edgewater -- Marty's tackle shop usually has copies of the book.

[kayak456]

thanks ill check it out. i have read some on chesapeake light tackle .com and i do live in mayo

[jet]

you can jig anywhere, but like kimbro says, "jig where the fish are."

gotta find them, by sonar, birds, breaking fish, structure, etc.

[chex]

To jig the rockpile, cast towards it and jig your lure up increasingly slower, like you're going down stairs. Snag city.

Between the eastern rockpile and the second bridge there is a deep hole that sometimes holds fish (60 ft). You can vertical jig that part.

[kayak456]

thanks i will defiantly try thanks for the help

[Pinch]

cast up current and jig back to you with the current. Always keep the line tight on the upswing and the down swing. Set a rythm with the lead on the bottom. You should be able to tell when your jig hits the bottom and when its going to hit the bottom. Most strikes come on the drop there are several types of strikes to feel for. A small quick snap feels like a pencil tapping your line (this is the usual strike for me and its an aquired feel) Another strike is the weightless inhale (A striper picks the lure up and swims toward the yak giving your line a weightless feeling). Find the pattern. If you catch 2 or more stripers on the left side of the 3rd piling with a white bkd then almost 100% of the time the stripers will be in the same location on more than just that piling. I always use a 1.5oz spro style/swimming minnow jighead and 6'' bkd's (white/ opening night color are my goto) DO NOT OVERLOOK the shallow pilings. There is no "BEST PILING" everyone has their favorites, and I have mine. This said I have caught rock one almost all the pilings on the Gdock side. Current is your friend, When the current is running you have a much higher and almost certain chance of hooking up if you are using the proper technique. Once you get the feel for LTJ you will never fish the same.

ROD CHOICE IS VVVEEERRRYYY IMPORTANT. A light rod (Carrot Stix/ Carbonlite/ Wright McGill Football series/ Star rod/ G. Loomis/ etc. etc.) MH-H rod with a fast/extra fast action. Jig weight is determined by current strengths, cast distance, and plastic boyancy. You WANT to be able to feel the bottom.


There are several ways to jig this is what works for me.

Side note (Redfish12 showed me this technique last year and it has very productive)

[Ahab]

In between your jigging, I would recommend that you throw out a x-rap with some blue on it and troll just outside the pilings on either side of the bridge. You also may want to troll around Thomas Pt. while you're there. From what I've read, this seems to be what's working currently.

Good luck.

[kayak456]

do you use spro bucktails?

[kayak456]

thanks the rod i ought with my curado is a shimano teramar 7 foot medium heavy extra fast action

[Pinch]

I use spro's for flounder, thats about it.

[ictalurus]

If you're in a boat, turn the motor off and drift into casting range.

[Yak Fish]

Does anyone have kimbro's book. I've a few books on the chesapeake/striper fishing, but not this one. It won't take much to convince me. Does it focus on a particular area of the bay?

[chex]

Does anyone have kimbro's book. I've a few books on the chesapeake/striper fishing, but not this one. It won't take much to convince me. Does it focus on a particular area of the bay?

He talks a lot about the bay bridge / kent narrows area, and has a chapter on the ccnpp. I thought it was a good read.

[CAGE RATTLER]

I've personally had no luck at the pilings but never tried with the yak.
In my power boat, whenever I head past the bridge, I'll stop and try a few pilings. Havent caught a fish there yet but sure have lost alot of lures down there . I usually dont stay there long enough probably but when you loose 3 lures in 3 casts sometimes, Im ready to go elsewhere... lol. I'm usually tossing metal too which may contribute to the snags. My go to lures are crippled herrings and stingsilvers usually.

I think I try to get to close to the pilings but not really sure if thats wrong or not. I've even bounced the lure right off the piling and let it drop straight down next to it. But when I see a video of someone catching at the pilings, They look to be a good distance from the pilings.