Squish Jigs by Savage Gear Dominate the Bluefin Tuna Scene
Squish Jigs by Savage Gear have been dominating the local tuna scene. The Bluefin Tuna fishing off of the coast of Southern California has been incredible for the past few years. Heck, I’d say seasons, but it seems as if the fish have never left. The fish seem to be circulating around our local banks and islands. I’ve heard fisherman say that these are the years that we will look back on ten to twenty years from now and say, “those were the days.” And I don’t disagree.
The bait that has really been getting these fish going is the Savage Gear Squish Jig. Half Squid, Half Fish, these little chunks of metal drive fish crazy!
Growing up in Southern California, I have spent my fair share of time on our local sport fishing fleet. From San Diego to San Francisco, I think I have visited every landing. In fact, as a kid of about 10 years old I used to pin-head on the Annie B Barge out of Long Beach and boy were those were great times, with a lot of great memories. As we get older, our taste for the fishing we do seems to refine a bit. The comfort of a nice boat had definitely grown on me over the past few years.
One thing that hasn’t changed in me is the desire to pull on big fish and this past year may have been the greatest in anyone’s memory. You legitimately had the chance to get out and catch a cow, fish over 200lbs, on every trip. It was pretty incredible. The bait that was at all of the local bait receivers was sardine. Sometimes giant horse sardine, and sometimes palm sized baits, but one thing that seemed to be absent has been anchovy. That is alright as these fish were keyed in on the sardine for the most part. A lively bait presented perfectly in front of a hungry Bluefin seemed to be the ticket.
Luckily it wasn’t the only way to get these big bluefin to bite. One very popular artificial bait that really shook up the scene was the Savage Gear Squish Jigs. These are artificial, erratic fall baits that are half squid, and half fish. These baits just plain got bit! With a bunch of exciting colors and sizes, Savage Gear really hit the head on the nail with these baits. And this past year, they added the glow baits into the lineup.
The Squish Jigs can be fished a couple of different ways. You can cast and let them sink out, drop them straight down, or heck, even burn them across the surface enticing some wicked blowups. They are called Erratic Fall Jigs as when you drop them down, they shoot off into various directions, and don’t just fall straight down. This darting, erratic action really gets the fish to bite.
Originally released in four sizes, 80, 100, 130 and 180 grams, the Savage Gear family is being expanded and this year they are adding the Magnum Squish Jigs to the family. These heavy baits will be coming in at 250 and 280 grams and be available in the popular colors.
In the baits I was testing, I found that the hottest colors were the Zebra Glow and full Glow colors. The Zebra Glow come in either Pink Zebra or Silver Zebra design. The Zebra stripes are a full glow color that glows very bright on the deep drops.
The way I was fishing these on a recent episode of Stoked On Fishing, was the straight drop. I had the jigs tied onto 80lb braid with a 60lb topshot spooled onto a Okuma Makaira 15 mounted to the new PCH boat rods. I would let the jig drop straight down the side of the boat. If we were metering fish at 120 feet, I would get the jig down to about that level and start winding. It isn’t a full yo-yo effect, but a nice grind up 40 or 50 feet, then drop back down.
When the fish were around, you generally wouldn’t even make it to the zone you wanted to get to. If you should feel your jig stop falling, wind, wind, wind! Fish on!. The ultra strong hooks and rigging on these things kept the fish on tight. No need to set the hook on these guys as there was a perfect corner of the mouth hook up each time.
I always recommend to anglers going out to have some of the Squish Jigs in their box. If there is weak bait in the tank, you run out, or you just want to drop down, this is the way to go.
This trip was pretty phenomenal as we were only about 60 miles from home, and had pretty wide open fishing. Luckily, we caught the entire thing on film. Here is a link to the full Stoked On Fishing episode as it aired on Fox Sports Net.
To find out more information on the Savage Gear Squish Jigs, visit www.savagegear-usa.com. And be sure to ask your favorite retailer for the Squish Jigs by name.
Here are some links to the gear that I was talking about:
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Happy fishing!
Davey
