Slow-Pitch Specials

Unique rods are at the heart of this effective technique, which allows anglers to fool fish anywhere in the water column.

- Joe Albanese

1. The butt section of a slowpitch jigging rod, like the Shimano Game Type Slow J pictured here, typically consists of the bare blank terminating in a bulbous cap designed to lock the rod in place under an armpit while fighting fish. The reel seat is a minimal affair, usually with a trigger to maximize sensitivity.
2. Near-micro guides wrangle the fine-diameter braided lines needed to keep baits deep while minimizing tangles. Even when chasing big fish, anglers employ braid of 30 pounds or less to get jigs down deep enough to reach snapper, grouper and other benthic species.
3. The blank features a gradual, even taper that provides the smooth recoil needed to bring jigs to life. But the light blanks lack the power to muscle fish upward. Instead, they must be gingerly winched to the surface using the reel.

Slow-pitch jigging is a listening game. You're taking everything in, using all of your senses. "The rod is the tool that allows me to do that," says Benny Ortiz, Shimano pro-staffer and slow-pitch-jigging guru. He's talking about one of the latest fishing techniques to land on our shores from Japan, which utilizes jigs that emulate a wounded baitfish in its final throes. The magic lies in the slow, fluttering action of the jig, which seems to force even neutral fish to bite. And the magic wand is the rod used to make those jigs dance so enticingly.