Favorite Sea Bass Rig

[ICastAsJason]

Bought a boat and will be fishing the reeds and wrecks for sea bass after striper season. Favorite set up for sea bass?

Lure, rig, rod... Whatever you got. 

[Snaps]

11 hours ago, ICastAsJason said:

Bought a boat and will be fishing the reeds and wrecks for sea bass after striper season. Favorite set up for sea bass?

Lure, rig, rod... Whatever you got. 

Depends on what they are biting on, some days the bite is better on the bait, some days the jig, some days everything, try to be prepared .

Ava plain up to 2 oz

Hammered jigs same

Gulp sand eels some days these were killer

Z-man baits hold up well

Salted Clams Hi/lo rig

 

[surfstryker]

for rod and reel, i really enjoy my lexa 300HD with jigging world nexus 7 ft 2-6. also works for deep water fluking. 

 

additional jigs not mentioned above are shimano butterfly flat fall and daiwa sk - anything with pink...little expensive though 

[billthe5th]

high low rig, but not the kind in the bag.

first hook 8-10" above sinker, second hook 18-24" above that. 6-8" leader to each hook off of main line.

2/0 octupus hooks

 

There were lots of days the last few years where the bite was light, and the longer droppers hooked a lot more finicky fish it seemed. They feel less = they chew more.

 

Yes, there's days where it doesn't matter, and they inhale everything, but its not as often as the reports make you think.

 

ALSO, saw lots of guys go out with their hearts sets on jigging because of all the reports they read, but its not always that sure of a thing. 

The 2 main areas all the party boats fished were large areas of scattered bottom that held sandeels, and that's where jigs worked. most other wrecks and reefs are more isolated, and those fish would barely touch jigs many days.

 

 

 

[bido]

Slow pitch rod and Nomad streaker, Gypsy’s, and Ridgebacks are my favorite.   
As stated the best jigging is when there are sand eels around.   I rarely ever bring bait now.  Sometimes that means fishing a little harder with the jigs than others fishing bait, but you also save alot of money by not buying clams.

ive also seen sea bass stacked up on one wreck that arent interested in the jig, while a wreck a half mile away they are suicidal. Strange fish sometimes.  

[ICastAsJason]

Thank you. This helps. 

[wjtoggin]

I have a lot of fun jigging sea bass on a tsunami slimwave rod with a quantum accurist reel with the flipping switch, both have been holding up well, make sea bass jigging a lot of fun.

Flipping switch makes dropping the jig back down pretty seamless, spooled with 10-15# braid, get away with lighter jigs, have used all sorts of jigs but an ava 007 or 017 are staples. Teasers aren't a bad idea either, or gulp on a hook above the jig, but they bite the tails off so they don't last all that long.

 

Easy, fun, affordable.

Have another rod I bait fish with as an absolute last resort but really almost any rod reel within reason will work bait fishing, definitely want a more "specialized" rod for jigging them 

 

[Surf bomber]

Three dropper loops tipped with clam .. when your limit is reached switch to black fish rig or another species …

[SeaZen 21]

Slow pitch style jigs

Any jigs

Even sabiki style jigs. Hogy lures makes a rig called the jig-biki. Basically a beefed up sabiki rig with a place to attach either a jig at the bottom end or a sinker. 
 

I feel the flash on the biki rig or the assist hooks in slow pitch style jigs adds value 

 

[MakoMike]

I can tell you that the addition of a dodger greatly increases the number of bites on a sabiki rig when fishing for herring. 

 

I use a rig that is three 3/0 or 4/0 circle hooks with a sinker loop on the bottom, baited with clam or squid.