Diamond jig rockfish
 

Anyone have some good experience Rock fishing with diamond jigs? I'm going to work one tomorrow in Newport. No squid, or bucktails, I mainly got dinky rockfish and junk fish like lizard fish and Tom cod. I want big rock fish and lingcod, so I'll stick with a big jig. I just read an article on bloody decks saying that its a good way to see what's in an area.

So the game plan tomorrow, work the 6 oz jig, trying different spots, and if nothing after a couple hours, I'm going to the bay on the swim baits in hopes of nice bass and maybe another legal halibut!!

Let me know your experience.

Cheers
:cheers1:

Jigs
 

Metal jigs work great to get to the bigger fish.
I like to use a 4 to 10oz. Ahi Assault jig on the bottom with a dropper loop above it. A strip of squid or a chovie on the dropper loop is a good addition to attract the fish.
Good Luck
Jim / Saba Slayer

I've used diamond jigs successfully for rockfish. Also the larger sizes of salas and tady jigs. And like Saba Slayer said, putting a dropper loop above the jig can be a good idea. Having a bigger jig near the bottom also gives you a shot at ling cod. I've heard of guys having success with the butter fly style jigs as well. Mike

the ahi jigs work great. the below pic was after just 1 session.

Where are you fishing? I've found that at times the rockfish in some higher fishing pressure areas aren't as eager to jump on the jig. If fishing shallower or without too much drift and current the megabait style jigs work really well too.

You can also use a whole squid or octopus with a big (7/0 or bigger) hook to weed out the smaller fish.

Do they happen to sell those Ahi Assault jigs locally? Thanks

Yep. I like them in the baby red and mackerel pattern. Weight will depend on depth and current. If you don't have squid or cho is gulp will work well

Two ways not to get snagged too often: 1) Keep your jig straight up and down 2) When you feel bottom, immediately get your jig up off the ground. Don't let it just drag the bottom with slack in the line.

I like Butterfly Jigs because of the placement of the hooks. I don't get too many snags. Realistically, most of the shiny heavy jigs on the market will do. Good luck.

so you just bounce these ahi jigs at the bottom?

As close as you dare. Those are Mustad 3X hooks and a welded ring. Get hung up you have a challenge to get it back

I wouldn't use the term "bounce." You want to jig it a couple of turns above the bottom...

Gotcha. Ill give it a try next time. I got some ahis on me and only tried once on a sport boat. Had a strip of squid on it.

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Just my .02, but I like 4-8oz. Jig heads (depending on depth and current conditions) with the Kalin's Mombo(?) 6"grub tails in white!
Again just my opinion!
FFY

So you tie the Ahi Assault in place of the weight that you would normally use a weight on your dropper loop and what pound mono/fluro would you normally use? Thanks in advance.
Dave

Yep, Assault instead of the torpedo weight you would normally use. Straight mono works. They don't seem to be line shy, so 25-40# (whatever you can break off from a kayak if there is need). Spectra will let you fish a bit lighter on the weight of the jig as it has less of a cross section to catch the current (less scope).

Just remember that you can only have one dropper loop if you have a jig instead of a weight.

^ Thanks for the clarification. I will be trying this setup.

You can get the Assault jigs in the single hook version at Bass Pro Shops in Rancho

For what it is worth, go with frozen squid.

Went out on Tuesday with frozen squid and it was wide open rockfish.

Caught 11 species of fish. Kept 5.

Time to go make fish tacos ......

Diamond jigs typically don't "swim" like a Tady or Salas. If you want it to swim more bend it a bit in a vise.

That said, I caught two yellowfin on a 2 ounce blue & silver Ahi a couple months ago, straight out of the package.