Jug Fishing(I was told)

[jstall]

I was told, when you are fishing jugs the hooks have to on the line before the weight. Jug, line, weight, hooks. I have not fished jugs much and do not really know. The reason was the fish can not hook themselves unless the fish pulls against the weight. Is this true?
Thanks to all the replies I recieved to my other Threads.
Joseph

[loop]

Simple answer is NO.
I have jugs set with hook on bottom an three way riged they both work.Part of the set comes from the resistance of the jug being pulled under.
Loop

[james]

Ive always had the weight on bottom never tried any other way.

[dwreel]

I'm with James. Weight on bottom.Keeps bait off bottom muck so fish can get to it easier. Seem to get less snages this way also.

[jtrew]

I've always jugged with my weight on the bottom, regardless of whether I'm freefloating them, or anchoring them in one certain spot. BUT, there's always a little truth in everything. Because you aren't there to set the hook, it's not unusual for cats to be barely hooked when jugfishing. My usual technique is to grasp the jugline with my fingertips to pull it in, and keep the pulled-in line so that if the cat makes a sudden run, I can let the line slide through my fingers, or even let the entire jug & line go back in the water; then chase it down again. When you start easing a big cat to the surface, you can feel the weight; so, you know it's a biggun. Several times, I've felt cats that I knew would go at least 20#, only to feel a little 'tunk' as the hook pulled loose. You will get a better hookset if you use kahle hooks. I used them for one season, and really liked the way they hooked fish, but I switched back to big eye trotline hooks because the kahle hooks rusted so fast. Also, they have a small eye, which makes it difficult to use them with the 100# nylon I use for my juglines.

[Randy]

Well I don't use a weight. I like small jugs about a 20 oz. bottle but my buddy uses the large white pill bottles and their much smaller, he can buy em in bulk. then I use about a 2 ot hook and #18 nylon stageing doubled. I only fish about 6 to 18" deep no matter how deep the water is. You see I jug fish for the deep freez and wont keep any thing over 5lbs. My limit on lake livingston is 50 and last time that took just a few hours. I rod and reel for the big'ns but chasen down all them jugs is fun too. You see the Shad move up to the top at night and thats where the smaller Blue Cats are feeding.

[dinkbuster1]

how big a fish will a 20oz and a 2 litre pop (soda for you southerners) bottle be able to handle?

[spoonfish]

I was told, when you are fishing jugs the hooks have to on the line before the weight. Jug, line, weight, hooks. I have not fished jugs much and do not really know. The reason was the fish can not hook themselves unless the fish pulls against the weight. Is this true?
Thanks to all the replies I recieved to my other Threads.
Joseph

NO. Its not the weights resistance, its the jug that hooks them.
On my floater jugs I only put on a small egg weight (around a 1/4 ounce) or clamp on a 45 caliber split shot. Just enough so when you throw them out they unroll and keep your line down. Then a swivel, another foot of line and then hook on the bottom.
Permanent jugs I use a heavy weight on the bottom.
Its still the resistance of the jug.

[catfishcentral]

There's really no wrong way to jug fish but I prefer having a weight at the bottom. I also use a little heavier weight for my freefloating jugs than most people. I started out with two ounce weights and I'm currently using eight ounce weights on my freefloating jugs. I have found several advantages to using a heavier weight. First even though the jug provides most of the resistance a heavier weight at the bottom produces resistance on both the top and the bottom. I have notice a higher precentage of hookups using a heavier weight. Second is if your running your jugs unattended if legal in your area makes them easier and more effective to run. Jugs with very little or no weight can be push right up onto shore. This can make them a little harder to run, especially if your by yourself. Also the heavier weight works great becuase the free floating jug in most cases will anchor itself right at a ledge or dropoff. That eight ouncer will drift until it reaches a area that gets too shallow and anchors itself to that area. This is great in two ways first it keeps it from not washing onto shore and second catfish are attacted to dropoffs and ledges. They hang out and actively feed at current breaks and edges.

[gadzooks]

how big a fish will a 20oz and a 2 litre pop (soda for you southerners) bottle be able to handle?

Soda, that's what you bake with. Its all coke in may part of Texas.

[james]

Heres a couple pics that i posted showing the rig i use

http://www.catfish1.com/forums/showthread.php?p=112627#post112627

[jtrew]

Dinkbuster, my biggest fish on a 2-liter jug was a 65# blue.

[Gentleben]

Look out Dinky. you are in the south right now and out numbered:mad:
My biggest was 55 lbs and I brought him in by hand!

[jetdocx]

I put the weight on the bottom. I cut 16oz coke bottles in half make a hook in them with wire and fill them up with concrete. I leave them in the plastic
bottle so when I pull them out of the water they dont scratch up my boat.

[RandyTx]

On my anchored juglines I use that one pound dumbell weight it costs @ 44 cents and does not take up much space.

[RIP]

Thats ok dink we say maters & taters down here too,gadzooks is right it's all coke bottles in the south. LOL

[Mountain Cur]

I've used every type rig mentioned here, but we generally use a Carolina type with the exception of we put a trot line clip below the weight usually 2 oz. and then about 18 inches of leader attached to the hook, circle for timber, big eye trot line for open water or Kahle or a mix of all three depending on what bait is being used. The reason for the clip is we only have to handle the hook and leader when baiting up. Simple process, bait all the hooks lay them out and attach them as we get ready to throw the jugs.

[akwolf41]

Mike;

My Ole Pardner, Johnny Smith(Maine) has caught Cats to over 40# using our JugMakers with 2 liter Bottles on the Mississippi River to give you what he has done. I am gonna try doing some juggin this coming summer with our JugMakers and 2 liter Bottles here on Bull Shoals lake. I have a few good coves that should produce OK.

Gene