Wader-clad and bundled with a neck gaiter and low-cost ski gloves, I clambered over the sand dunes at Jones Seaside’s west finish with an icy-to-the-touch, 1-ounce diamond jig on my line. Except for two different automobiles, the parking zone was empty. A latest report instructed there have been nonetheless bass—some pushing 30 inches lengthy—feeding on sand eels within the mid-November surf. I didn’t fish diamond jigs typically, but when there was ever a time to throw one, it was now. My jig plummeted simply past the cresting waves and foamy wash over a sandbar about 40 yards out. When it reached the froth, a fragile thud and slack line signaled a chew, and in lower than 60 seconds, a receding wave deposited a stupendous late-season striper onto the sand.
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The diamond jig has a virtually 100-year historical past that started in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Fishermen in Lengthy Island Sound shortly took a liking to those heavy metals for his or her potential to sink shortly and generate a tantalizing shimmer with their extremely reflective nickel end. The middle-weighted design created an attractive fluttering motion, much like a leaf falling from a tree or a mortally wounded baitfish sinking by way of the water column.
By day or evening, the fish-catching talents of the unique Bridgeport Diamond Jig have been plain. The slender profile mimicked quite a lot of forage from sand eels to silversides, and their sturdiness towards the gnashing enamel of bluefish was unmatched. At the moment, Bridgeport Diamond Jigs are manufactured by Acme Deal with, an trade chief within the class of steel lures, or as surfcasters name them, tins. Years later, AVA Deal with, an organization primarily based simply throughout the Sound in central Lengthy Island, launched a slimmer model of the diamond jig, one which caught on with the surfcasting group.
Though AVA Deal with is not in enterprise, their diamond jigs turned the usual for surfcasters and jig fishermen alike. Producers like Sportfish Merchandise and Tsunami Deal with presently produce their very own diamond jigs with that very same AVA design. When November rolls round, surf anglers scour sort out retailers for A07s, A12s, A17s and A27s—weighing 1, 1.5, 2 and three ounces, respectively—adorned with inexperienced, crimson, or white tube trailers over the lengthy hook shank to assist them stand out within the roiled surf.
The slender steel soars by way of onshore winds, and the tube tail, fitted over a Tru-Flip hook, twists and wiggles on the retrieve like a panicked sand eel. There’s appreciable debate over the most effective tube colour for an Ava jig, however inexperienced appears to be the usual amongst boat and shore fishermen. Nonetheless, some surfcasters consider {that a} black tube, particularly on a cloudy day, stands out higher and will get extra bites.
Within the late-fall surf, an Ava is commonly fished with a RedGill or bucktail teaser 18 to 24 inches above it. When stripers are choosy and keying in on shut imitations of small, late-season baitfish, the diamond jig acts merely as a long-casting vessel to ship the teaser.
A sluggish and regular retrieve, with an occasional flick, is the go-to technique for a diamond jig within the surf, however lift-and-drop and dragging retrieves additionally work. The jig’s pronounced kicking motion, which stirs up the sandy backside like a burrowing sand eel, makes these easy tins particularly efficient so late within the season.
Within the boat, quite a lot of retrieves will catch. Yo-yo jigging a diamond jig simply off the underside, or on the depth the place fish have been marked on the fishfinder, could be very efficient. “Squidding” is one other approach that’s as outdated because the diamond jig itself. With this technique, an angler drops the steel jig to the underside, reels steadily 20 to 50 toes off the underside, and drops the jig once more. It’s hottest when concentrating on pollock and groundfish in northern New England, however it’s simply as efficient on bass and blues.
In one other hundred years, we’ll all have made our closing casts, however diamond jigs, just like the eponymous gemstone, will nonetheless be round, filling sort out containers and catching fish.
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