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Can slow pitch jigs hold their own in a rockfish tournament? Yes. We fished a San Diego rockfish tournament on the Ogre and the Samurai, slow pitched everything, and our boat finished second out of 28 boats with 28.85 lbs.
A little more at stake
We rockfish all the time. A tournament is a different atmosphere, with a little more at stake, and it's fun competing.
On the boat: me, Kevin Nakada, and Simon. Three fish each, and every angler keeps their own bag in their own cooler. We knew some good zones going in, so the mission was to get back on them and find the fish again.
The game plan: jigs only
No bait. Just Submission jigs and a set of prototype custom slow pitch rods Simon brought to test.
The two jigs doing the work:
- Ogre Slow Pitch Jig in 500g and 600g: a fast fall on tension, then a long, slow fall on the pitch. Gets to depth in heavy current and keeps the slow pitch flutter.
- Samurai Slow Pitch Jig: riffled grooves modeled on Japanese armor give it a rocking, rolling motion, and the riffles glow.
Going this heavy? Our guide on how to choose the right jig weight for depth and current walks through it.
Early bites and the first big fish
Getting down takes time, and it's a long reel up. But the bite came early. Simon got bit and stayed buckled over. "You're on a hog, dude." It came up a big red widow rockfish.
On what I think was my second drop, the 500g Ogre went down. "The technique works."
What came over the rail
- Red widow rockfish: several good ones, one big enough it had to be gaffed.
- Mexican rockfish: the first one of the day came on the Ogre.
- Bacalao (sand grouper): a slimy stud with sharp spines. We call it the best eating fish in the ocean. They can be wormy, but not always, and the meat is white and good.
- Bocaccio: a big one, plus more later in the day.
The Ogre got bit. The Samurai got the bigger fish.
Midway through we made an adjustment. The Ogre was getting bit, but the Samurai seemed to be getting the bigger fish, so we switched over to try it.
Late in the day the 600g Ogre got hammered and a fish came up triple hooked. Then I hooked a donkey that turned out to be another bocaccio.
Fishing rocky bottom like this? Read how to fish slow pitch jigs in heavy structure before you lose a jig to it.
Weigh-in: 2nd out of 28 boats
Three fish each, best fish picked for the bag. The boat total came to 28.85 lbs. Somebody had a 35.
Final result: second place out of 28 boats, and Kevin took the second big fish. There were some big ringers and some pretty good anglers out there.
What I'd tell you before you go
Slow pitch everything. Every fish on our boat came on the jig.
Have more than one jig in the arsenal. The Ogre got bit. The Samurai got the bigger fish. Switch when the pattern shows.
Do the reps. This was only about the third time we'd fished that zone hard. It's only going to get better.
Fishing rockfish somewhere else? See how the day went at San Nicolas Island with the Javelin. New to the technique? Start with what slow pitch jigging is, then check out 5 slow pitch jigging mistakes and how to fix them.
Gear used
- Ogre Slow Pitch Jig, 400g to 600g (we fished the 500g and 600g)
- Samurai Slow Pitch Jig, 400g to 600g
- Rods: prototype custom slow pitch rods
Ready to fish what we fished? Shop the Rockfish Collection and get your black belt in fishing.
OSS 🤙 Muto
