Jigmaster 500 for Pin rigging

[Squidh90]

This summer I will be going down to Emerald Isle NC for a week and will be able to fish Bogue Inlet pier for the duration of that trip. This may be a stupid question but is a a Jigmaster 500 a viable fighting reel for pier kingfishing? Thanks in response to any replies.

[Darin Crofton]

It will get the job done most of the time, but if you hook a true smoker he could spool you in no time. From a boat you can chase them down, but from a pier I would use a reel with more line capacity. Good luck buddy!

[1badf350]

I pin rig Jennettes Pier in Nags Head regularly. The Jigmaster is low on line capacity and probably drag too. as Darin said. Will it work, maybe. Will you see anyone else using one, no. Ive seen guys use 4/0 Senators. I dont think i would go smaller than that. I use a TLD-25 loaded with 30lb mono and 50 feet of 80lb mono leader. Some of the guys use a TLD-20
Remember you are stationary, you cant chase the fish so you need line and you need that heavy mono leader to muscle him when he gets in the pilings. That leader will take up alot of room on a Jigmaster spool. You might get away with a 60lb leader but i wouldnt go lower.
Ive seen fish stay right at the pier and Ive seen fish completely spool a TLD-20. You just never know.
Try the North Carolina section over at www.pierandsurf.com Ive been a member there since 2006

[Squidh90]

Alright thanks for all the help. I suspected it was too small but just wanted to confirm.

[thorhammer]

I've seen guys use Smaller Avet's, MX and such, with braid backing. This might get you thrown over the rail at Bogue tho. I used to pin mostly at Sea View, which is the next pier south of Bogue (near New River Inlet). I used a 113HL with 25lb Suffix and a 40-50 lb mono leader. Will this work for kings, sure. However, early in season (May-June) cobia are always a possibility, and later in July-August, tarpon. Never mind spinners and blacktips all over. Chris's 80 leader is in play especially with cobes, who love a piling. My cousin has a 139 lb tarpon off Bogue, and I think I recall a 200 pounder of Jolly Roger, the next pier down from Sea View, a couple years back. PM me if you need terminal tackle. I have pinned exactly twice in the last dozen years and have a bunch of hooks, wire, etc. I'll send you N/C.


John

[1badf350]

John do yall use pier rail clamps down there? We use the Down East Salty S-10 clamp for our fighting rods and set the anchor rods vertical in the rod holders
Like this

[Gfish]

SE coast guys, what's a "pin rig"?

[Rivverrat]

Yes ! What he said..

[1badf350]

Its a way of fishing a live bait on the surface out away from the pier. Sometimes called a trolley rig. It uses two rods , an anchor rod and a fighting rod.
Anchor rod is as it sounds. You attach a weighted wire "anchor" as far as possible.
You create a sliding release "pin" that slides down your anchor line
Your fighting rod rig and live bait attach to this pin and slide down away from the pier.
When a fish grabs your live bait, the pin releases and you fight your fish

[thorhammer]

Chris, absolutely, where the pier rail will allow. They are the way to go.


Greg: Note in Chris's pic, there is a conventional outfit nesting horizontally in  the clamp he's referencing. This is the fighting rod. The vertical surf rods you see are "anchor rods" actually serving as a vertical "outrigger", like a Green Stick on a tuna boat. The anchor rod only has a grapnel type sinker, made out of all kinds of things- welding rod, 16 penny nails, heavy wire, etc. molded into a lead weight like a sputnik sinker, just heavier. This weight is chunked as far as possible and pulled until stuck well in sand. Then a "pin rig" is attached to anchor line. Its essentially an outrigger release, made with a snap or shower ring, a short length of leader (appx. a foot) egg sinker, and a clothespin. The fighting rod will have a 5-10ft wire leader at the business end, attached to said mono leader with a swivel. This swivel goes into jaws of clothespin (hence pin rig), and is jockeyed out by putting fighting reel in free spool and bouncing the fighting rod to lower the bait (live spot , menhaden, bluefish or whatever) so that it sits about a foot deep in water...splashing around and causing an attraction. There are diagrams around but i cant grab one at the moment. Somewhat similar to a slip rig used for ulua, i think, just using two rods. Usually we put a hi vis cork or float on the mono between the snap and the egg sinker on the pin rig so you can see where your rig is easily. When fish hits, the swivel pops out of pin and the pin rig slides down to the anchor so you are fighting the fish directly, just like from and out- or - downrigger. Hope this is not too confusing.

[thorhammer]

I figured you would find a diagram faster than I can type

The rig Chris shows is a newer variation with less hardware: the two wire "legs" are put through the swivel eye of your leader and adjusted as to angle so bait cant pull it out, but  a strike will.

[1badf350]

I couple years ago I started making pins out of Aftco Roller Troller flat line clips. They roll a bait out so nicely. They ar $25 a piece though so I rig them so they come back with my fish instead of sliding down to the end of the anchor line.
Sometimes you dont get your anchor back at the end of the day LOL

[nelz]

How do you pull the rod off of those S-10 clamps?

Btw, we get some big Kings off Florida piers, never seen one that could spool a properly rigged Jigmaster. Then again, there's other critters... sharks, rays that will do so in a heartbeat!

[thorhammer]

Chris- you are correct, the anchor might well be one way trip!

The c-clamp doesn't actually hold the rod; there are two of them on the rail and they bracket a pop-up cradle that holds the rod and allows you to pick the rod straight up. It is a commercial one piece assembly. People weld pipe to big c-clamps and all sorts of things but what Chris shows is the Cadillac.


Squid: No idea how much you fish or want to spend if you want a larger reel, but a big capacity for the buck is a Penn 68 Long Beach. 600 / yds of 30 lb mono, same as 113HLW, but you can find them for about 40 bucks. Caveat: they are a third slower than an HL Senator. They are pretty strong and have caught plenty of grouper (along with 66 and 67, all various widths of the same reel). You will be working double time if king runs back to pier.

Should you find one or a Senator you like, send it to me and I will service it for you with new drags if needed at N/C.


John

[Rivverrat]

OK same as a trolley rig. Just a different name... Jeff