I know everyone has their own style of targeting kings, which is cool. But I know i’m not the only one that has used jig heads as a lead for trolling Dead Cigar minnows.
My question is what brand, size, color are you guys using and have had success with? Lets say it’s a 6-8" cigar minnow for reference. Are any of you wiring in a stinger? If So, where are you hooking it if at all? Are you rigging them through the bottom lip up to the top, or are you closing the gap and going through it’s head? Shorter steel leader with the jig head? Single strand?
I was just curious if anything you guys are doing is any different than what I would usually do. I experiment just like the next angler, but sometimes it’s a good idea to ask and get a fresh idea.
As for my rig, I use pink jig heads, the ones with a sharp angled nose. I like a smaller cigar minnow when I use a jig head, and I go through the lips. I use a very short, light weight steel 7 strand leader; usually 46 pound. I’ve been wanting to try that Tyger line, the tieable stuff. But, I haven’t heard anything about it, probably because it’s so freaking expensive.
I like it raw
I have been king fishing for 25 years, and have taught king mackerel fishing, which means I only have a “little” knowledge, never enough it seems. I use the “hook-up” lure, which means the hook is facing up, not down. My favorite brand in Hank Johnson made in Florida, hard to find here. That lure is a butterbean head, not tapered; the taper seems to hamper the bait’s action. My color preference is white or chartruese, and I always use a second hook, not a stinger hook. The hook is on a single strand wire, 17#, the least diameter. The wire is turned down, not up and the hook is placed in the bottom of the cigar in the anal hole as deep as possible. The key is the wire will hook the king, when he misses the hook by pulling the hook into the fish. I have VERY specific reasons for everything I do in rigging. My email is captaindonmiller@gmail.com
hey mac daddy the rigs you discribed here are about the same that i use in morehead area of NC and the same in hatteras.the only things different in my rigs are iuse a jig head just like you and with a cigar minow rig i put small treble in or near the but of the minnow. then when i use a live menhaden i will do all of the above and leave a trailwith a treble free behind the menhaden.i use several color heads my two are chartruse and white and some of the rigs i put skirts in front of the jig some inbetween the jighead an the minnow.the first 2 are the favorites on the OBX Ill be in the palms for a week starting on the 14th to the 21stplan on doing alot of fishing. my wife doesnt know this but ive saved alot of money for fuel in the bout.i dont know these waters real well but with the gps and some live bait and a whole week there should be some fish in the boat i hope.
Here’s a pic of one of my rigs.
#5 46 pound single strand American Fishing Wire. 18 inches. Hank Brown Hookup 3/8 oz jig head. 3-6 inches of #5 wire. #4 4x treble.
The Hank Brown Hookup heads (http://www.hookuplures.com/hookup_barbed_jigheads.htm) are hard to find around here. Boone makes one called the Tout lure (http://www.boatersworld.com/product/478716137msk.htm) that does very well but doesn’t last as long. Color does not make much of a difference. Hook the minnow from the bottom up from dead center of the chin to dead center of the top of the head. Offcenter and it will spin and through the eyes it will spin. I don’t hook the stinger through the bait. I’ve tried it both ways and didn’t see enough difference.
Capt. Matt
Contender 27 T200HPDI