07-02-2007, 07:52 PM
Hey Luckybob,
Kent is right...I can't really say that ALL fish caught trolling are small and ALL fish caught jigging are big, but it would be very accurate to say the the AVERAGE fish caught jigging is bigger than the AVERAGE fish caught trolling.
He is also right about another thing (2 things in a row, thats a first for Kent!), and that is that most of us that jig, really don't put in the time to find the fish like Mike (MGB) does. My technique is to spend about 15 minutes and see if I can find some fish. If I don't, I anchor over a previously known good GPS spot, and hope that the fish come in. Lately, the fish seem to really be hugging the bottom and we have caught fish even when they are so close to the bottom that they don't show on the fishfinder. (hint)
I still consider myself a rookie, but we usually judge our fishing day success (at Strawberry) on the "ratio of fish caught over the slot". Saturday for instance, we only caught 12 fish, but 4 of those were 22 inches or over. Thats a 33% over the slot ratio, and we thought that was outstanding. The ratio is usually not quite that good. Usually we can depend on at least a 10% over the slot ratio, which would be like 1 fish in 10 over the slot. And then, there are some days when we might catch 50 fish and none will be over the slot. Those are fun days, but we go home disappointed at the over-the-slot ratio.
My wife and I went with a couple in their new boat 2 or 3 weekends ago, and the jigging was slow, so we decided to troll. We caught a bunch of fish but the majority were UNDER 15 inches. We anchored in a previously marked GPS spot and started jigging. Every fish caught was OVER 19 inches! It was an outstanding object lesson.
They went out last week again (without me) and reported back that they had done the same experiment, with the same results. Bigger fish jigging...littler fish trolling.
Randy
[signature]
Kent is right...I can't really say that ALL fish caught trolling are small and ALL fish caught jigging are big, but it would be very accurate to say the the AVERAGE fish caught jigging is bigger than the AVERAGE fish caught trolling.
He is also right about another thing (2 things in a row, thats a first for Kent!), and that is that most of us that jig, really don't put in the time to find the fish like Mike (MGB) does. My technique is to spend about 15 minutes and see if I can find some fish. If I don't, I anchor over a previously known good GPS spot, and hope that the fish come in. Lately, the fish seem to really be hugging the bottom and we have caught fish even when they are so close to the bottom that they don't show on the fishfinder. (hint)
I still consider myself a rookie, but we usually judge our fishing day success (at Strawberry) on the "ratio of fish caught over the slot". Saturday for instance, we only caught 12 fish, but 4 of those were 22 inches or over. Thats a 33% over the slot ratio, and we thought that was outstanding. The ratio is usually not quite that good. Usually we can depend on at least a 10% over the slot ratio, which would be like 1 fish in 10 over the slot. And then, there are some days when we might catch 50 fish and none will be over the slot. Those are fun days, but we go home disappointed at the over-the-slot ratio.
My wife and I went with a couple in their new boat 2 or 3 weekends ago, and the jigging was slow, so we decided to troll. We caught a bunch of fish but the majority were UNDER 15 inches. We anchored in a previously marked GPS spot and started jigging. Every fish caught was OVER 19 inches! It was an outstanding object lesson.
They went out last week again (without me) and reported back that they had done the same experiment, with the same results. Bigger fish jigging...littler fish trolling.
Randy
[signature]
I used to N.ot have E.nough T.ime O.ff to go fishing. Then I retired. Now I have less time than I had before. Sheesh.