Gear for Ningaloo fishing

Hi All

I am heading to Ningaloo for the 1st time in July for a couple of weeks. will be fishing 60-100 metres deep from boat.

I want to start getting some gear ready  for the trip. So can people recommend some jigs for fishing those depths please 

cheers Darryl 

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"If we all fish for the future now there will be fish in the future"


BlueKiaser's picture

Posts: 422

Date Joined: 22/04/15

Curious what other jiggers think

Wed, 2023-04-05 21:00

I'm very interested in your jigging experience and current jigging gear.
Also, what other fans of jigging have to offer on this topic.

I find in those depths you need the weather conditions to be very favourable to be able to successfully jig.
Keeping your jigs in the right zones most often can become more important than what jig quality, style, colour and bling you use.
While I do have preferences on jig styles, colours and other characteristics, I personally find that is less important when fishing North.

My preferred set up is using heavy mainline (100lb braid) with about 80lb fluro leader (and a good 3m of it).
I like jig weights around the 200g with one or two sets (pairs) of assist hooks on the top (no bottom assist hooks to reduce snags).
Make sure your assist hooks are good strong quality because I have seen far too many weaker ones straightened.

When jigging North, you will be grateful if you load up your tackle bag with cheap jigs.
I typically budget to lose 1-2 jigs per hour of jigging ... and yes that is average.
I have had great sessions catching several quality fish and losing no gear in 30 minutes followed by frustrations losing 6 jigs in a row and boating nothing (likely culprits: sharks/cods/groupers/mackies).
After a week away losing 25+ metal jigs, you will be happy on reflection that many of them were sourced from the bargain bins.

As soon as the winds are gusting over 15knots, I find it becomes more difficult to fish my preferred jigging setup.
You can finesse with lighter line and jigs but regardless, if your boat is drifting quickly, by the time your jigs reach the bottom, you will no longer be jigging straight up and down and that dramatically reduces your catch rate when jigging. I typically cast ahead of the drift and jig for less than a minute and then wind up and reset ... the faster you are drifting the more frequent you need to do this.

The point I am getting to is, in great weather conditions, you have a huge range of jigging techniques and gear brands, sizes and colours that you can try and have fun with. In moderate weather conditions (in your 60m-100m depths), best have jigs at least 150g and plan to either cast ahead of your drift or have your skipper try to hold boat position. In weather conditions worse, my advice is to resort to baits and the old paternoster rigs with weighty sinkers.