I am so in on this slow pitch thing

[the rockfish ninja]

I've been doing this the past couple of seasons and I just don't want to fish rockfish any other way anymore. Between the fidgety method of presentation, and the fight on light rods, to the direct connection to the fish without a heavy sinker in the way, there's no turning back for me.

Went out of Half Moon Bay and it was quick and easy limits of big Coppers & Vermilions, too quick & easy, and were twice the size of the other anglers using conventional RF methods. Most of my limit was in the 4-5lb range.  Good day on the water, just too short cause we limited so fast.






Gear:
Shimano Grappler slow J rod
Accurate Valiant 300

[Crow]

Nice catch !

[MarkT]

Nice going Proteus!

[fordfox]

"NINJA",
I had similar experience here on the East Coast fishing for Black Sea Bass. Difference is that I tied my leader to the lure where the hook meets the lure (the ring attached to the hook) which translate to the opposite end of where yours is tied in the picture. Same size and shape lure as yours, only different in coloring. This was my first year trying this method and I was somewhat reluctant to switch away from FRESH Bait, but the results were amazing!!!! You could say I put on a clinic for those around me (which is unusual). The lure got slammed on EVERY drop, and as you stated, by the Larger fish of the school, while those around me did not fare that well with their Baited hooks. I limited out, and they went home with fillet! And an OLD DOG can learn new tricks!

[sabaman1]

Rockfish, i am interested in slow pitch fishing. What lures do you recommend and do you tie directly to braid?

[Swami805]

What's the difference between slow pitch jigging for rockfish and fishing a fig for rockfish? The last several years I've been using 3-5 oz maga baits, a calcutta 300 with 20lb braid and a 9' cousins 908xf. I usually don't used any bait. I went yesterday and did pretty good. Pretty much the same thing isn't it?

[oc1]

Nice fish.  Please excuse the ignorance of a foreigner, but what is a "rf"  and what is a "fig"?  Also, is a rf or a fig more likely to snag?  I know what slow pitch jigging looks like from the videos, but I don't know what it feels like.  Is it just bumping?
-steve

[the rockfish ninja]

Sabaman1 - I use fluoro topshot, the connection is to a solid ring attached to the split ring. It's a bit involved, look up "Japanese Angler Secrets" for setups & info, or just web search Slow pitch jigging. As for what jigs?.... Welcome to the rabbit hole.
https://www.okhaen.net/the-100-best-vertical-jigs


Swami805 - I've no idea what a maga bait is & figs=jigs? All I can say is the slow pitch rod is pretty unique in being really light & really powerful for what it looks like, but the most important thing is that the design of the blank makes this type of jigging action easier to perform.

oc1 - RF=Rockfish, Figs are a great fruit so I fished all day and didn't lose a single jig, as soon as I hit bottom I start the slow pitch. If I feel I've gotten out of the strike zone I'll re-drop or re-cast but I was hitting them 10-20 cranks up and in mid water.

[philaroman]

I've been doing this the past couple of seasons and I just don't want to fish rockfish any other way anymore. Between the fidgety method of presentation, and the fight on light rods, to the direct connection to the fish without a heavy sinker in the way, there's no turning back for me...

WOW, I see what you mean -- THAT'S INSANE!!! 
specifically, the "rod-to-lure ratio" 
those are heavy deep-water jigs up to 5 oz. -- correct?
are the the rods strictly vertical drop-n-jig, or can you also cast 3+ oz.?

[the rockfish ninja]

I've been doing this the past couple of seasons and I just don't want to fish rockfish any other way anymore. Between the fidgety method of presentation, and the fight on light rods, to the direct connection to the fish without a heavy sinker in the way, there's no turning back for me...

WOW, I see what you mean -- THAT'S INSANE!!!  
specifically, the "rod-to-lure ratio"  
those are heavy deep-water jigs up to 5 oz. -- correct?
are the the rods strictly vertical drop-n-jig, or can you also cast 3+ oz.?

Designed for jigging, I underhand cast due to party boat regs. As for weight, because all this mostly comes out of Asia it makes you work & think metric so I'm losing my oz thing. These jigs range all the way up to 400gr or more, good to have a conversion chart bookmarked on your computer.

The easy part is getting the right jig for the right depth, the equation is grams=feet so being a pest to the captain at how deep you are is crucial.

-"How deep are we now skipper?"
-  ..... "I just told you a few minutes ago  ...... grrr  .... wknd warriors."

[philaroman]

misspent youth...  easy ballpark oz=>g conversion

love the idea of slow pitch, but can't justify expense for rare use
need alternative almost-vertical land-based applications
I grasp the basics -- let's say I get ML for well under 300'/300g
could I also use the rod to cast 50-100g a reasonable distance?
nothing too snappy or aggressive -- just a respectable overhead load/unload

[the rockfish ninja]

misspent youth...  easy ballpark oz=>g conversion

love the idea of slow pitch, but can't justify expense for rare use
need alternative almost-vertical land-based applications
I grasp the basics -- let's say I get ML for well under 300'/300g
could I also use the rod to cast 50-100g a reasonable distance?
nothing too snappy or aggressive -- just a respectable overhead load/unload

C'mon, with all the $$ we spend on gear? One more rod isn't gonna kill you.......

It's a tool, with a specific job, presentation. Trying to make it do more than it was designed isn't a wise approach IMHO, and it's NOT for land based anything, a pure boat rod.

The real Japanese rods are very expensive, but there are cheaper alternatives on the market from China & Korea, and both Penn & Daiwa offer newly released affordable SPJ rods.

[jurelometer]

Steve & Swami:

Check this out for an explanation that should fill in some gaps:

http://www.anglers-secrets.com/slow-pitch-jigging/
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My (slightly contrarian) take:

Basically a style of vertical  (drop and retrieve) jig  design that optimizes the action for both the drop and a pump and wind retrieve.  Slow pitch is a bit of a misnomer, Maybe a translation issue?
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Rods

The extra bendy rods enable the lure lifting motion to last  longer while the rod unloads. Folks that are really into this focus on creating a  magic combination mixing lift, unload, and winding.

Rod makers are heavily promoting slow pitch, and will try to convince you that you need a special reel and lots of different rods for different sized jigs and actions.  I have just one jigging rod that I cannot stand using.  I agree with Tony:  these are specialized tools.  I find that this style of rod sucks for casting, fighting fish, shaking a jig off a snag and so on.  But us  haters are definitely in the minority, so don't listen to me if this is something that you want to try.

The deeper you are fishing and the stronger the current, the less a bendy rod can affect jig action.  You bend the rod, and the friction/bow on the line eats it all up before the jig moves.  Also if you are fishing with very slow drop flutter jigs that get bitten on the drop, the rod action does not come into play.   All those bluefin guys that are dropping those butterfly (flatfall) jigs are not using a slow pitch rod, and would regret it if they did.   So you don't need a slow pitch rod to fish a slow pitch jig.  In some cases, a standard casting or rail rod might be a disadvantage to working the jig, but not all.   I would like to see an underwater video of an expert working a slow pitch jig on different rods, and see how much the action actually changed.

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Jigs

I am a big believer in the jigs.  But one thing to remember: There is no free lunch.  The more wobble or flutter on the drop, the slower the drop.  And wobble and flutter on the retrieve will cause the lure to carry and lift faster in the current, making bounce jigging more difficult.

The jigs  can roughly be broken down into how fast they fall.  The flutter (AKA flatfall) jigs are at the very slow end, and those long knife jigs are at the very fast drop end.  I kind of like the middle range.  All of the jigs that I have seen have roughly the same density.  A large/heavier jig will sink faster,  but it is the action that most influences the drop rate.

I have been messing with this jig style a bit.  I have designed and tested three so far.   Ther are so many different jigs available that there are not many niches to fill, but I still find it worthwhile from a learning perspective.

Flatfall jigs work really well closer to the surface,  spending more time falling at any depth, but they do their work and get bit mostly on the drop which is a bit passive for my taste.  

The flatfalls work just as well near the bottom, IF you can reach it.  And since they drop slowly, they have a nice combination of lots of flutter and slow movement, which means a rockfish/lingcod can run them down.  I am not sure that I would want to be elbow to elbow on a partyboat with everyone deep dropping flat falls.

Many of the  slow pitch jigs can be worked horizontally as a cast and retrieve lure, especially if you are wiling to work them like a lead head (wind a bit, let it drop a bit, repeat).    The flatfalls work nice this way  for ambush predators that do not want to leave structure. If you prefer a lure  that  works  like a classic SoCal iron that keeps moving, my experience has been that  the classic SoCal irons or something like a waxwing that was designed for for constant wind  tend to work better.

RANT: I cannot stand those stylized eyes on slow pitch jigs.   If the eyes do any good to get a lure bit,  they need to look like eye that can be discerned easily by a fish that doesn't read a lot of Japanese comic books.

The best 100 vertical jig article is a nice read with good photos, and some classification.   I personally would not put much weight in the ranking and observations.  500 lures over 2500 hours comes out to an average of 5 hours per lure.  That five hours is supposedly includes  testing in multiple  environments, time of day, season, etc.  Not enough time.  Now  toss in confirmation bias (reaching for a favorite in favorable circumstances).  I have found that when testing lures or flies, if you don't rigorously rotate through a small set of options at fixed short  intervals, you end up fooling yourself pretty quickly by falling in love with the one that happened to get bit first.

-J

[philaroman]

I object: the "RANT" was way too short
Anime Anchovy & Hentai Herring deserve more comment

[jurelometer]

I object: the "RANT" was way too short
Anime Anchovy & Hentai Herring deserve more comment

Ask and ye shall receive.

New species: Clupea hentaius