Shimano butterfly jigs...

[VaRandy]

I am new to the world of jigging and have the following questions.

Retail small new Butterfly jigs (including the glow models) are selling for $20 retail for the small ones (no hooks) and are made in Japan.

Others that also say Shimano Butterfly "flat" models near the same size are made in China and sell for half of that. The $20 one does not have flat sides.
Will they fall the same or not?

How important is either for different species or am I making too much about it?

Thanks

[gman]

Shimano released two types of jigs ...

1. Butterfly (retails for up to $24 a jig). This jig is symetrical in shape and has great reflective appearance, made up to 270g and is made specifically for jigging vertical. The jigs are made to react to a vertical presentation and aren't as effective if there is a strong current which will make the jig go more horizontal hence the birth of the flat sided jigs

2. Butterfly flat sided (retail for $17.99) This jig has one solid mettalic side in either gold or silver and one painted side, made up to 325g These jigs are shaped differently with one flat side and are made to be fished from a non vertical position in a heavy drift

[etan]

There are lots of good jigs out there. Williamson, River2Sea, diamond jig, OTI, etc. all catch fish. Jigging is mostly personal preference. When we started fishing tuna on the headboats in Port Aransas in 2002 the Tady 4/0 was the hot jig. Everything works some time!

[Fishhead56]

Yes alot of good Jigs are on the market, it has grown simulair as the US wine and beer market. Choose what you like.
Get good terminal tackle, hooks ect.
OTI covers such.

[Deep_Sea_Gull]

Do you want a blonde or a redhead???

They all work. Some are better on different days.

Ask the fish what they want today and be prepared to give it to um.. The cost is your consideration...

[ToneyC]

Bass Pro has an equivalent that cost much less and they come with hooks.

[Enoch]

I really believe there are NO equivilents to SHIMANO jigs. period.

In japan they build huge tanks to test different action, shapes, sizes, sounds, and motion of assist hooks to test run all type of jigs. There are no other companies that do this.

wave tank research just for $20 dollar jigs! kudos to them...

[gman]

Originally Posted by Enoch

I really believe there are NO equivilents to SHIMANO jigs. period.

In japan they build huge tanks to test different action, shapes, sizes, sounds, and motion of assist hooks to test run all type of jigs. There are no other companies that do this.

wave tank research just for $20 dollar jigs! kudos to them...

I would agree to a certain point, I do not openly bash them as some do becuase I actually feel their jigs work great. I love their reels as well although they could have done more to bring an equivilant of their Japanese jigging rods here.

There are two very different markets the US only gets a glimpse of what offered world wide and although they do make two nice styled jigs they fail in comparasin in many other ways to the global jig market

There are many other jigs that work, there is no perfect jig. I do not believe you can even compare a fisherman's Andaman, Sanme or Hots such as the Drift Tune jigs to a butterfly, not even close, for the US market they work well globally they fall short with only 2 designs and limited weights


Just my opinion, they are great and work well but definately not the best

[gman]

Originally Posted by Enoch

In japan they build huge tanks to test different action, shapes, sizes, sounds, and motion of assist hooks to test run all type of jigs. There are no other companies that do this.

There are many companies that test their jigs in tanks and extensive field testing such as Hots, Fisherman Brand, SevenSeas, Shout, Smith & Evergreen just to name a few. These are the major jig suppliers world wide who have been around in this segment of the fishing business for longer than most

[MrBill]

Jig selection is very important. I learn more every trip. I believe that current and the bait the fish are feeding on is very important to having a successful jigging adventure.

For instance. The past two weekends the fan hasn't stopped. The seas have been very rough. Currents have been very strong inshore. In fact, shallow water (70 to 100ft) have had extremely strong currents. The standard Shimano butterfly jigs did nothing. I switch over to the flatside jigs, and it was one Jack Craval after another.

In the deeper inshore water (120 to 210') the current was not as strong. I did best jigging the OTI Jager 200 gram. The flatside couldn't buy a bite. The Sevenseas Hooker, which is normally a very productive jig couldn't buy a bite. The Smith Nagamasa in silver was hot in 180 to 210'. I think it's because the fish were feeding on small ribbon fish at the rocks. The ribbon fish are tiny right now. At least the ones at the bait shops. You're lucky to find them over 12 to 13".

Weather looks to finally be nice this coming weekend. I wasn't planning on it, but I just might have to see what it is like to go out and not get the crap beat out you in the GOM. I'm still a little sore from last weekend.

If your marking fish. Just keep changing jigs. You will eventually find a home-run. The only fish I was catching was kingfish and Jacks. I did catch a few undersized AJ's on a Jitterbel glow color. The water color was foggy green 40 miles out. In fact, to hit blue water right now out of Port A, you have to travel 97 miles due east. Gunnison is green, Boomvang is blue. South is best. Camels Head is in blue water. It's only about 55 miles off Port Isabel.