Where slow pitch fits off Louisiana
Slow pitch jigging was developed in Japan by Norihiro Sato to catch fish that aren't actively feeding. Instead of burning a jig back to the boat, you give the rod short pitches and let a jig built to flutter and slide do the work on the fall, the way wounded prey looks to a grouper sitting on the bottom.
Off Louisiana that makes it an offshore game, not a bayou one: natural bottom and rocks, the oil and gas platforms, and the deep water beyond them. This guide is built from what our own team has reported from those waters: Captain Tyler Mistich out of Cocodrie, Pro Staff Ryan Smith, and the 48-hour trip Jorge Polo and Ryan filmed for our Louisiana series, which took them down to 2,200 feet. You can watch it in part 1 and part 2.
Read the conditions with a STRYKE first
Ryan's routine is simple. He starts the day with a STRYKE and uses it to test the water: what weight and what shape the current, the wind and the drift will allow that day. Only then does he settle on a jig.
The goal is to keep the line close to vertical. Our starting point for the STRYKE is about one gram per foot of depth, adjusted for current. When the line starts angling away, go heavier or switch to a more compact profile. Fishing deep off Florida with a strange current pushing the jigs, Tristan Terorotua started on a 540 g STRYKE and moved to a 730 g SEMY to keep his line straight up and down.
Once you're down, remember where the bites come from. With slow pitch, most of them arrive on the drop, while the jig is fluttering, so don't be in a hurry to take up the slack.
Snapper and scamp on natural bottom
Tyler Mistich runs trips out of Cocodrie, and when red snapper are feeding aggressively his go-to is the STRYKE. On one tough winter trip, every fish his crew caught came on 140 and 240 g STRYKEs over natural bottom in 180 to 200 feet: red snapper on white and black crackle, then scamp, a queen triggerfish and a fireback grouper on yellow crackle.
The STRYKE 140g and STRYKE 240g cover that depth range, and white crackle is still in the line-up.
Scamp respond to other presentations too. Our team has boated 20 lb class scamps in Louisiana on the EYEDROP, a skirted jig you can drag along the bottom or hop. The EYEDROP 2.0 is the current version, with a glowing skirt that seats in the back of the jig and cuts down on line hangups during the drift.
Working the rigs
Plenty of Gulf jigging happens around the oil and gas platforms, and the sharks know it. Ryan's tip: look for the smaller schools of bigger fish on the down-current side, 30 to 100 yards off the rig. You get better fish and put some distance between your hookup and the sharks that stay close to the structure waiting for an easy meal.
Out there you'll also run into toothy pelagics. When wahoo show up, Ryan rigs his assist hooks on the bottom of the jig only, so a fish that connects with the hooks has its mouth away from the leader.
Going deep
Beyond the rigs and the natural bottom, the jigging gets deep. On a trip out of Mississippi, Ryan boated a yellowedge grouper on a 340 g STRYKE with a Tribute Power 6, and Tristan landed his first bearded brotula on a 440 g STRYKE with a Tribute Power 8. Then they pushed out to 1,000 feet and spent a couple of hours catching deep-water oddities.
For that kind of depth, Ryan's picks are the STRYKE 340g and the SEMY. The SEMY 330g is built on the STRYKE with a more compact profile: it streaks on the free fall, flutters when you pitch it, and is made for the heaviest conditions, from shallow water down past 2,000 feet. That's the depth Jorge and Ryan fished on our Louisiana trip, and the queen snapper at the top of this page is from that same trip.
At these weights the rod matters as much as the jig. The Tribute SPJ comes in powers from 0 (30–100 g) to 10 (800–1,100 g), and it's the rod behind most of these reports. Match the power to the jig: Tristan found the Power 8 handled a 730 g SEMY he'd normally fish on the Power 10.
What our team caught, and on what
| Jig | Rod | Fish | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| STRYKE 140g and STRYKE 240g | — | Red snapper, scamp, queen triggerfish, fireback grouper | Natural bottom, 180–200 ft, off Cocodrie |
| EYEDROP | — | Scamp, 20 lb class | Louisiana |
| STRYKE 340g | Tribute Power 6 | Yellowedge grouper | Deep water, off Mississippi |
| STRYKE 440g | Tribute Power 8 | Bearded brotula | Deep water, off Mississippi |
All of these jigs live in our slow pitch jigs range.
Quick tips from the team
- Start with a STRYKE. Let it tell you what weight and shape the day allows.
- Stay vertical. If the line angles off, go heavier or more compact.
- Fish the down-current side of the rigs. Thirty to 100 yards off, away from the sharks.
- Bottom hooks only for wahoo. Keep the teeth away from the leader.
- Let it fall. Most slow pitch bites come on the drop, so don't rush to pick up the slack.
Before you go
Seasons, limits, permits and release-gear rules for Gulf reef fish change often. Check the current Louisiana fishing regulations with LDWF, and its guide to barotrauma and descending devices, before every trip.
