[Locke N Load]

Anybody can do anything they want with any setup they want. But, if you want to do it the most effective, comfortable and safest way you choose the right tool for the job.

Jigging rods are light and comfortable with some amazing power. I would never trim more than 4 or 5 inches off the bottom of one. They are designed differently with thin walls throughout. A true tuna chunking blank is going to be built heavy-walled for the first two feet (probably, just a guess) in order to allow for trimming and securing in an aluminum butt. I'm not sure I would even put an untrimmed jigging rod in an aluminum butt, let alone cutting a foot off in order to make a decent length chunking rod.

If not using an aluminum butt or seat, then a jigging rod is fine to chunk with. You just need to fish it as a jigging rod.

Last year for fun I put a dead mack on a big hook out with a JM 3 Kings Heavy spiral-wrapped rod with an Avet HX Raptor. I got tired of holding it and put it in a 15 degree gunnel rod holder with just enough drag to set a hook. No more than ten minutes later I see it bend way over. I ran over, grabbed it, pulled it out of the rod holder and applied more drag. It was probably in the 25+ range. 5 minutes later a decent sized blue shark came to the boat, saw the hull and made a run eventually chewing through the 100 pound fluoro leader.

Rod handled that situation fine. If I was planning on trolling or leaving the rod in a gunnel holder under substantial drag all the time then I would use my Calstar GF410XH in a #2 unibutt. This blank is rated 40-100 and is 4'10". I trimmed around 8" off it to make the rod length overall 6'. It is a little beast. I tested it with a bottomed-out Avet 50W lifting 50 pounds of weights without issue. It will be perfect for a 30W targeting small to medium size tuna chunking, livelining or trolling. Oh, and I used all Aftco Wind On rollers because they are tried and true.

Get the right tool for the right job and you will limit the potential issues.

 

[Capt Richie]

Blue sharks are not tuna...Didn't I see a video with a guy catching one on a toy rod...

We have caught more blue sharks on bluefish rods than on standup gear...

I hear ya & agree right tool for the job !!!!!

Thin walled rod in a rod holder for med/large Bluefin / west cost yellowfin...

LOL...Again right tool, every min you fight a Bluefin over 10 you killing the fish & the meat...So Why sport ? killing the fish your not going to keep is not sport ..Destroying the meat your going to eat is not sport...

 

[Get'n Jiggy]

Chunk'n setups are different on all three coast. And for good reasons

Here on the 3rd coast our tuna's average 80-90lbs. A slob here is 150lb so any setup will work even spinner setup.

 

[Capt Richie]

so how do you hold a piece of bait at a depth say 75' with a sinker & just the clicker on ?..

 

[ksong]

Here are pictures of using custom Black Hole Cape Cod Special 250g/350g/450g for live bait in Mexico.
I wouldn't touch heavy rods for standup anymore.









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www.jignpop.com
www.jignpopforum.com
www.blackholeUSA.com

 

[Capt Richie]

fishing out of a rod holder with 18lbs of drag on strike with a split grip ?...

 

[ksong]

There are no rod holders on the long range boats out of San Diego. You feed line while holding a rod.
When you fish deep with sinker, you use strap to wrap around the rail attached to harness lug.

 

[Capt Richie]

that not his question...so your rod wont work...

 

[ksong]

See the rod hanging under the rail. That is how they fish unattended.

 

[ksong]

When they put the rod in the rod holder, they put very light drag with clickers on.

 

[Capt Richie]

your a very good politician Kil you dance around the question..

Question Can you fish you rods live or dead bait out of a rod holder with 18lbs of drag on strike ?

Next question How many of your giants Bluefin blank have failed ..

 

[ksong]

I am telling different fishing style in different world.
If the blank is exposed, the rod surely get broken when pulled very hard.
My friend even broke my custom 100 - 130 lb Gloomis rod while fighting by putting the rod in rod holder/
If you have a jigging rod, it is stupid to put the rod in the rod holder if you want to use heavy drag while there are other ways to use the rod with heavy drag. There are two schools to use heavy sinker for tuna while chunking. One is put some heavy drag so that tuna hook themselves and the other school is to put very light drag with clicker on. The second method is more popular among recreational anglers.

 

[GARRIGA]

Honestly, too many agendas and too many my way is right and you are clueless comments. Don't tell me you can't chunk with a rod that doesn't have a slick butt. I don't need to be on strike and I've fished this way since the late 90s. Only rod option we had on the long range trips did not have slick butts. To avoid carrying tons of gear you adapted to get by with less. I've done the rail straps when trolling. Works better then placing on a rod holder assuming you have that option available to you.

Old school ways just get in the way of new approaches. Sometimes beating a dead horse gets innovations going. It's not like man has been speed jigging since the beginning of time. Someone had to start it.

Best to help them take that path than just shut the door on them because one has never attempted it or fails to wrap their head around it. If guys are catching big tunas on jigging rods then perhaps adapting to making them work with chunks makes the most sense. If it doesn't then don't do it. It's a big world. We don't all have to follow the same paths.

This place can be so enjoyable if we just worked to help each other vs being so quick to taking another's knee out. Now I'm going to find a dead horse to beat up. Sometimes that's better than the alternative.

 

[Capt Richie]

Kil again you dance around the question...You post that you wont fish a stand-up rod post pictures ..But the standing question is can you fish it out of a rod holder without it snapping ..

So you change the way you fish to accommodate the rods your selling at the time..Just like your post you cant fish a long rod jigging striped bass..LOL..

I on the other hand design blanks & rods to accommodate the angler..

nice try ..

 

[ksong]

Do you think I use light jigging rod for standup just for selling my rods ?
That is your big problem. Do you know how many jig fishermen not using our brand ?
You never used short jigging rod what so ever and you stick to your old style way to explain everything.
I used your favorite Calstar rods for jigging over 20 years ago. I wouldn't touch them for jigging tuna nowadays because there are much better options now.
Good luck.

 

[Capt Richie]

Kil please stop the BS

We both know 90% of the tuna caught on the east coast is with a rods dragging hooks or chunking out of a rod holder with drag....


Not holding rods or just with clickers on....How in the hell you drag 10-15 lines holding rods ?

 

[ksong]

There is no need to discuss further.
I highly recommend to use short jigging rods for tuna standup. Once you use it, I am pretty sure you don't want to use heavier, longer rods for standup anymore. It doesn't have to be Black Hole rods.

 

[Capt Richie]

Kil you have dance fever...

 

[JudgeSmails]

Honestly, too many agendas and too many my way is right and you are clueless comments. Don't tell me you can't chunk with a rod that doesn't have a slick butt. I don't need to be on strike and I've fished this way since the late 90s. Only rod option we had on the long range trips did not have slick butts. To avoid carrying tons of gear you adapted to get by with less. I've done the rail straps when trolling. Works better then placing on a rod holder assuming you have that option available to you.

Old school ways just get in the way of new approaches. Sometimes beating a dead horse gets innovations going. It's not like man has been speed jigging since the beginning of time. Someone had to start it.

Best to help them take that path than just shut the door on them because one has never attempted it or fails to wrap their head around it. If guys are catching big tunas on jigging rods then perhaps adapting to making them work with chunks makes the most sense. If it doesn't then don't do it. It's a big world. We don't all have to follow the same paths.

This place can be so enjoyable if we just worked to help each other vs being so quick to taking another's knee out. Now I'm going to find a dead horse to beat up. Sometimes that's better than the alternative.

you're talking about two different things. On the east coast when you're chunking with 6, 8, 10+ ounces of lead and a butterfish, squid or whatever at 3AM down to 200' it gets boring as all shit to stand there holding the rod. its not letting out a chunk free lining it or a flyer at the surface for 150yds then reeling in and re-doing. so lots of times the bait is more or less vertical in the water column. putting a thin walled jigging blank in a vertical holder and catching some shut eye isn't the best idea. the rod doesn't NEED to be a slick butt though it does help in the metal cow boat rod holders or while trolling.

plus, many guys use those rods to troll at the canyons on the way out/in as well. so again, a jigging rod isn't best for trolling.

if you're talking about standing there with a chunk of blackfin or false albacore (you'd call it a bonita) and letting line out and reeling in over and over then sure jigging rods are a ton of fun. They do suck if the fish goes under the boat and you can't get the line away from the hull, which no one really seems to be mentioning, but overall sure they're fun to fish with. light setup with the same fish is always more fun. but you're arguing something you don't seem to have experience with.

I lived on all 3 coasts and have fished all those ways, what you do in the gulf isn't the same as the NE and isn't the same as the west coast. the reply of "fishing is fishing" doesn't really work. its just different. to mock it as "oh old school sucks" is pretty ignorant.

 

[GARRIGA]

I'm from the NE. Didn't do the party boat chunking for tuna but neighbors and lots of friends did. I did so on a private boat.

Have you ever tried hanging the reel from the rail west coast style and how Kil showed above? Rod doesn't have to be in the holder to present bait deep dead sticking.

As for going under the hull. I've fished 8 foot rods for muttons and when a fish goes under the hull even those don't always clear the fish but I can see the short rods struggling. However, how long are the standup rods these days. The ones I used up north were 6 feet max and preferably 5.5 to impart the most lifting leverage.

Like I said, didn't do the party boat thing for tuna but the guys I knew doing it were all switching to the short stand up rods. This was the late 70s to early 80s as the techniques from the west were making it east.

Let's not assume I just fish the gulf, please.