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I need help with deep water jug fishing any help will much appreciated thanks to all that reply
Jug fishing
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In deep water i run permanent jugs. I use 32 ounce gatorade jugs with a two lb. weight tied on the end of the line. I then tie a three way swivel, ever 4 feet up from the weight. I use 80 lb. braided dacron line. I use 3 hooks per jug. Tie on a 1 and 1/2 foot leader off each swivel and a 5/0 (or larger) kahle hook. The gatorade jugs are better then the pop bottle ones because they have a ring around them to wrap your line up and there lids wont strip out.I also like to keep the hooks outside of the jugs with a bicycle innertube cut in 1/2 inchs strips, rubber bands will work but the get brittle an break after a few times out.Dont store your hooks inside the jugs because the lid will crimp your line and the jugs will draw moisture and rust your hooks.
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cool thank you I will trys this
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fishing about 300 yards down from the dam in fast current no problems yet I have yet to try it deep water prolly 20 to 30 feet deep (i dont have a depth finder but i have fished it with rod and reel but anchored with no luck)
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First, make a number of floats down the area you plan to jug, checking the water depths. You want your juglines to be as deep as possible without constantly hanging up on the bottom. So, if a good bit of the bottom is 20' deep, with holes and deeper spots running on down to 30' deep, you need to stay above the shallower depth. I'd probably use lines 15'-18' long, depending on how sure I was of that 20' minimum depth. I normally use a 16p common nail for a weight, but for deeper water with more churning current, I'd probably move up to a 20p common nail. A nail is cheap and won't hang up as easily as a regular sinker. You can make up spare juglines ahead of time and simply wrap them around the nail for storage. Then, if you should hang up and have to break off your jugline, you can quickly replace it with your spare. While the number of hooks may be regulated by your state, if it's legal, I would say to put the bottom hook 12" above the nail, and put another hook every 3' until you are within 4'-6' of the surface. Many folks really like using foam noodles, but if you leave your "jugs" in that swift water very long, they will get really scattered, and it's hard to see the noodles at distances of 1/2 a mile or more. I use 2-liter soda jugs painted yellow because they're more visible than anything else I can find that's about the same size; 3-liter soda jugs would give me even more visibility, but they are just too bulky for my taste. If you'll put about 3 ounces of small gravel, sinkers, bits of scrap lead, or small wheel weights inside each jug, when you get a bite, the weights will slide down into the neck of the jug and keep it in a flagged position. Attach the jugline by tieing it to the neck of the jug.
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I will be fishing at night with noodle from wally world on the cap I put reflective tape on them
I fish grand lake in Okla., with depth's of 60 to 80 ft., ive gone to the noodles the last couple of year's, and have gone up to using railroad spike's. They float well and travel faster, I have this year gone to a auto part's store and buy floresant paint, they really stand out good.
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IMO, the biggest mistake a new jugger can make is to try to 'fight' the catfish into the boat. I couldn't begin to say how many big cats I've had pop off the hook when I applied just a few ounces of pressure. Believe me, they are often hooked very lightly. So, I do my best to 'finesse' the fish in by pulling the line just with my fingertips; if the cat makes a run, I let it run, and chase the jug down again. But, you need to be very careful not to let a hook get behind your hand, or that sudden run can jerk a hook right into you. Where I usually jug, my top hook and bottom hook are only 6' apart, with a third hook halfway between; that allows me to hold the line above the top hook while netting a fish on the bottom hook. When I put more hooks on the line (for deeper water), I attach them with trotline clips, which I can remove as I pull in the line.
The type of hook depends on several factors. Depending on where and how they jugfish, some folks lose some jugs on just about every trip, while others almost never lose one. Obviously, the expected lifespan of the jug is important when considering how much you can invest in each jug. For years and years, I used a big-eye trotline hook almost exactly like the ones I used on my trotlines. The only difference was that I used stainless hooks on my trotlines, and non-stainless on my jugs. A couple of years ago, I changed over to kahle hooks for my jugs, and did notice a little better hookup ratio. However, the size of the eye is much smaller, unless I spend about three or four times as much to mail-order big-eye kahles. Also, the kahles seemed to rust much more quickly than the non-stainless trotline hooks. So, this year, I switched back to using plain old big-eye trotline hooks on my jugs. I mostly use cut bait, and find that 4/0 or 5/0 hooks work best for me. The hook needs to be large enough so that the bait doesn't 'jam up' the area between the point and the shank, because that will cause a lot of missed bites.
I use 100# test nylon line because that's strong enough to pull a hook or sinker loose if it's going to come loose, but not so strong that I can't break it off when I can't get it loose.
The type of hook depends on several factors. Depending on where and how they jugfish, some folks lose some jugs on just about every trip, while others almost never lose one. Obviously, the expected lifespan of the jug is important when considering how much you can invest in each jug. For years and years, I used a big-eye trotline hook almost exactly like the ones I used on my trotlines. The only difference was that I used stainless hooks on my trotlines, and non-stainless on my jugs. A couple of years ago, I changed over to kahle hooks for my jugs, and did notice a little better hookup ratio. However, the size of the eye is much smaller, unless I spend about three or four times as much to mail-order big-eye kahles. Also, the kahles seemed to rust much more quickly than the non-stainless trotline hooks. So, this year, I switched back to using plain old big-eye trotline hooks on my jugs. I mostly use cut bait, and find that 4/0 or 5/0 hooks work best for me. The hook needs to be large enough so that the bait doesn't 'jam up' the area between the point and the shank, because that will cause a lot of missed bites.
I use 100# test nylon line because that's strong enough to pull a hook or sinker loose if it's going to come loose, but not so strong that I can't break it off when I can't get it loose.
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Is there a size preference on the size of the jug so that there is adaquate backpressure to hook them, or are most of the hooks in the gut. If most of them are in the mouth I will Jug but if a lot are gut hooked I probably wont do it because I dont normally keep any fish.
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JAYNC: Great question. This spring I was using several jug sizes. The gallon sized jugs were pretty light plastic and I was not doing well in terms of fish caught to bait lost ration. I thought that might be due to the use of trot line clips because the clips were usually pulled way out of place. I went to a more direct connection to the drops and while the hook up ratio changed a bit it was not good. I also used some laundry detergent jugs, they were the large size (I believe 1.5 gallons), I got a better hook up ratio from them from the git go and it also improved when I went to the direct connection for the drops. So yes, I believe that the jug size does matter.
On the down side, the larger jugs also present a larger sail area for the wind and are moved around more than the smaller jugs and they can pull a heavier weight.
My present set up is using a 25lb kitty litter jug, barrel swivel connection to the drop and an 8 oz styrofoam cup filled with cement as a weight. Unfortunately I have not been able to field test these jugs because of the gasoline prices and summer heat.
To answer your other question: I do not remember any fish caught other than hooked in the mouth. No gut hook up that I recall. I use nothing smaller than a 7/0 kahle or 9/0 circle and the biggest live bait I can get.
Only my experiences and observations.
On the down side, the larger jugs also present a larger sail area for the wind and are moved around more than the smaller jugs and they can pull a heavier weight.
My present set up is using a 25lb kitty litter jug, barrel swivel connection to the drop and an 8 oz styrofoam cup filled with cement as a weight. Unfortunately I have not been able to field test these jugs because of the gasoline prices and summer heat.
To answer your other question: I do not remember any fish caught other than hooked in the mouth. No gut hook up that I recall. I use nothing smaller than a 7/0 kahle or 9/0 circle and the biggest live bait I can get.
Only my experiences and observations.
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I tried the wally world nodles thiss past weekend with no luck at all useing shade cut and hole(tail cut off) I thought maybe the hooks was to big so I put on smaller hooks all empty hooks fishing in about 4 foot water
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Hummm.... Well I use mainly either two liters or 12 to 15 inch noodles. I use both about equal. I really haven't seen much difference in the amount of fish caught with either one. They both work well for me but two liters do have more bouancy than a noodle. The bigger your jug the more resistance but still no better hookup ratio in my experiences. Now I have over the years increased the amount of lead I use. I started with two ouncers and currently using eight ouncers. I believe the heavier weights give me a couple of advantages. First which is important to this question is I believe more weight at the bottom of my jug line has increased my hookup ratio. The fish takes the bait and more pressure is applied at the end of the jug with the heavier weight. Therefore the resistance of the jug or noodle in conjuction with a heavier weight seems to do better. Also I like the heavier weights for freefloating as they stop before going all the way to shore. They will stop at a dropoff, ledge, or edge where is prime placement when they do stop freefloating. It's also easier picking up jugs that are not up on the shoreline. Last the heavier weight has reduced the amount of tangled line when a fish as been on the jug all night.
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Oldprowler, trotline clips are bad to slide on the smaller diameter line we use on our jugs, as you found out. Here are a couple of solutions. On my anchored juglines, which have about 60'-75' of line on them, I make a small dropper loop every 3', which allows me to fasten a trotline clip there with no danger of it sliding. I have a trotline clip attached to the cap of my jug, so when I have enough line out, I simply fasten a loop into that trotline clip, which keeps any more line from unwinding.
One of the other members said that he uses two knots instead of a dropper loop, and hooks the trotline clip in between the two knots, which keep the clip from sliding.
One of the other members said that he uses two knots instead of a dropper loop, and hooks the trotline clip in between the two knots, which keep the clip from sliding.
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