Worden's maxi jig

What lures are working and people's reviews and photos on what they have caught on them!
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tripleH
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Worden's maxi jig

Post by tripleH »

I just returned from my annual trip to Oregon USA to visit our son and try to get Chinook salmon. I didn't get one (again) but I did learn about shad fishing in the Umpqua River, which probably has me hooked now. The shad return from ocean in May-July to spawn and can be caught from the bank using a really light (1/32oz) jig head with a 1" grub in day glow pink (locally made). Typically, fish this rig under a float. Shad are the biggest member of the herring family and were introduced to west coast USA and now form a very active sport fishery. They range up to about 2 kilo but most are ~1 kilo. They fight hard, especially the females. People use 1-3kg rods with 4lb test (claim is that they spook easily), so it is a lot of fun.

Anyway, in my attempt to catch a chinook with salmon egg sacks (messy and fall off even using an egg loop knot), I got onto twitching jigs, typically with a 3/8 or even 1/2 oz jig head for deeper, faster moving rivers. The lighter versions are aimed at steelhead (steelhead are rainbow trout that have gone out to sea and returned to the river to spawn; different than chinook salmon, they don't die after spawning.) Here's a link to a US vendor: https://riversportsman.com/product/wordens-maxi-jig/

Long story short: didn't catch any chinook but got a lot of steelhead, all on spinners. I did try the twitching jig but no success there.

I brought the jigs home and thought I'd try them on pinkies. Indeed they work but will need to wait until spring to see if bigger fish go for them. The technique is to "twitch": cast out, let sink then jerk up and reel a little, repeat. Fish take them on the drop. Anyway, pics are of the jig and the little pinky that went for it. I guess the pinkies like the look of a salmon egg?
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Widsa
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Re: Worden's maxi jig

Post by Widsa »

Very interesting,
When I used to travel there my local friends used prawns that were kept in salt and dyed red/pink with food dye.
They said they kept these indefinitely in a jar in the freezer and there really wasn't any smell from memory.
We fished these under a float and they were quite hard and stayed on the hook well.
I never thought about trying this on our local fish but I am sure it would work, maybe on the gummy and big whiting also using smaller prawns/shrimp
Has anyone tried anything like this?
It was certainly effective on the steel head.

It is interesting seeing how different the methods are over seas.
Somebody just back of you while you are fishing is as bad as someone looking over your shoulder while you write a letter to your girl. ~Ernest Hemingway
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tripleH
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Re: Worden's maxi jig

Post by tripleH »

I bet the salted prawn on a jighead under a float would work great here over shallow weed beds like at Coronet.

I was also thinking about the egg loop knot. I never hear of it being used here, but it is a must over there to hold a blob of salmon eggs (skein) onto a hook. I wondered whether it could be used to secure pilchard rather than half hitch. Links below to tie one.

https://www.netknots.com/fishing_knots/egg-loop

https://www.google.com/search?q=egg+loo ... 16qU8AI_28

And, yea, it is really common in Oregon rivers to suspend a small soft plastic or jig under a float. Idea is to set depth so that lure is just above bottom and lure moves around in current. I also saw a lot of small (<2") soft plastics on light jig heads (and even spoons) rigged on a running sinker rig. That could work here for whiting with the really small plastics they use.
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happyas
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Re: Worden's maxi jig

Post by happyas »

That egg loop knot looks very interesting for other soft baits as well. I wonder how it would go anchoring live sandworms without piercing them with a hook, or with weed for luderick.
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