The Thrill of Kingfish Jigging
Hi, I’m Joel. I fish for Ocean’s Legacy as a sponsored angler, and over the years slow pitch jigging has become my go to way of targeting kingfish. Here’s what I’ve learned.
Kingfish fight hard. They’re fast, strong, and they don’t give up easily, so going after them with jigs means you need decent gear and you need to actually understand what you’re doing with it. That’s what this guide is for.
Where to find them
Look around reefs, pinnacles, and anything underwater that holds baitfish. Drop offs are a good bet. So are wrecks, buoys, and submerged peaks. Channels and rips are worth checking too, because the current pushes bait through and kingfish sit there waiting for it.
Why slow pitch over speed jigs
Most guides talk about speed jigging for kingfish. I want to talk about slow pitch instead, because for most days on the water it’s the better option.
The jigs themselves are built differently. Slow pitch jigs are weighted through the centre so they flutter down on the drop instead of just sinking. That flutter does the work for you, which means you’re not muscling the rod all day.
Speed jigging has its place, but it wears you out. Working a 300g jig fast for hours is genuinely hard physical work. And it only really pays off when the kingfish are already switched on and feeding aggressively. If they’re not in that mood, you can jig for hours and get nothing, which is enough to make a lot of people give up on it.
Slow pitch fixes both of those problems. You can fish it for hours without wearing yourself out, and the fluttering action still gets bites out of fish that aren’t actively hunting. It looks like an easy meal even to a lazy kingfish. And if the fish are aggressive and want speed, you can just work the same jig faster. One jig, either mood.
Final thoughts
Slow pitch jigging is one of the best ways I know to target kingfish, whether you’re fishing reefs, drop offs, or structure. Get a solid rod, reel, and line, learn to read the fish, and you’ll land more of them.
Tight lines. Hope your next one’s a good one.
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