Knife jigs

[C.W.C.]

Originally Posted by yak-fishing-socal

Anyone have any luck with these or have any tips on how to fish em. Any information would be greatly appreciated

Do you guys add a hook to the back?

Originally Posted by yak-fishing-socal

Nice thanks and is the bite usually on the way down or when ripping it back up ?

Yes. Both. I have had more bites on the fall after I have danced it up & down a few licks..
I use a lightly slower retrieve than you would burn a yoyo due to its slimmer profile and straight speed.
(Which is why i guess I’m getting bit more on the drop. Same thing happens with bladed jigs..Pause, BOOM!
Japanese Knife Jigs..I have a love hate relationship with them. More so the former, as I find myself often at the bench grinder with a handful of Salvey flatware on .10 cent sale day..If those are Jimmy Caivos LB knives, I have the #2 & #4 and they do produce!
That #2 has a nice first belly coat of glow paint, or at least on mine it does. (Looks similar.)
I have had great luck with them in Florida for a multitude of species, but you fish them differently over there too. Locally, its slightly different than wreck or reef jiggin, but you could wind & grind them fluttering it upon a bait ball clearly getting worked of course, or on the outside of some bird action to entice. I don't buy into that videos promo with the matching $1500 set ups.. Few different ways to fish it.. Also those flat fall shimanos are nice for that side application..I prefer/have more confidence, using yo-yos in the basic approach for a multitude of reasons and versatility, also across a multitude of local species + for dead sticking. When you see those single Monster boomerangs hovering a few feet off the bottom deep, that is when I will throw a knife Vs. Yoyo to really speed drop on that solo mark in over 140’ & get him to notice it before he passes on his own hunt..With a school of thirty class yellows in -140’, at least a couple will notice a yoyo on the drop or upon on its dancing retrieve, but the ‘downfall’ is that it takes forever to get down..
For knives, I stage the hooks from the top. One long. one short. (Those medium size knives i prefer over the long chokers, that sometimes have hookset issue as a result. As it hits the rocky bottoms so fast, i have broken off quality yellows in the past from the bottom stinger cord breaking from the reef fraying. Since those heartbreaks, I only secure from the top..) To each their own..I still find myself burning the yoyo more, but the knives still have a secure spot in my small tackle box..