In Part 2 of the Deep Jigging Academy, we looked at the major components of a deep jigging outfit — the rod, reel and braid.

Now it’s time to connect everything together.

When you’re fishing in 200, 300, 400 metres or more, every component between your braid and your jig needs to have a purpose. There is little point fishing an expensive rod, quality reel and premium braid if the final few metres of your system haven’t been thought through properly.

For me, a good deep jigging rig needs to achieve four things. It needs to be strong enough to land very large fish, simple and reliable, allow the jig to move naturally, and — importantly — give me a sensible failure point if I get snagged.

That final point becomes increasingly important as the water gets deeper.

Losing a jig is expensive and annoying. Losing a jig and hundreds of metres of braid is much worse.

Throughout this lesson I’ll show you exactly how I rig my own deep jigging outfits, from the end of the braid all the way through to the jig and assist hooks — and, more importantly, explain why I rig them this way.

🎯 What You’ll Learn

• Why we use a leader in deep jigging
• Why I generally choose monofilament over fluorocarbon
• How I select leader strength and length
• Why PR and FG knots aren’t my preferred connections for deep jigging
• Why I use the Albright knot
• How I connect the leader, swivel, split ring, jig and assist hooks
• How to choose the correct assist-hook length
• When I remove the bottom assist hooks altogether
• How all these components work together as one complete system

1. The Complete Deep Jigging Rig

Before we look at each component individually, let’s look at the complete system.

My basic deep jigging rig is deliberately simple:

There are no unnecessary connections or pieces of terminal tackle. Every component has a job.

This blueprint gives you the complete picture. Now let’s pull the system apart and look at why each component is there.

2. Choosing the Right Leader

One misconception I regularly hear is that the main purpose of a leader is to make your line less visible to the fish.

That’s not why I use one.

The primary job of my leader is to provide abrasion resistance and protection at the business end of the system.

Remember how thin the PE2–PE3 braid we’re using actually is. It’s incredibly strong for its diameter, but we don’t want that thin braid rubbing against rough structure, a fish’s body or anything around the boat.

The leader gives us a much tougher section between the braid and the fish.

It also provides another benefit that I think is particularly important when fishing thin braid: shock absorption.

Braid has virtually no stretch. Monofilament does.

When a powerful fish makes a sudden lunge, that small amount of stretch helps absorb some of the shock rather than transferring every bit of force directly through the braid, knots, hooks and rod.

That becomes particularly useful when you’re fighting very large fish on PE2 or PE3.

3. Mono vs Fluorocarbon

There are plenty of anglers who swear by fluorocarbon leader. That’s perfectly fine.

Personally, for deep jigging, I prefer monofilament.

Fluorocarbon is often promoted because of its supposed low visibility underwater. I don’t put anywhere near as much importance on that as some anglers do — particularly when we’re talking about jig fishing.

A lot of jig strikes are reactionary. The fish sees a lure falling, darting or fluttering through the water and reacts to it. I’m far more concerned about presenting that jig properly than I am about whether my leader is theoretically a little less visible.

Fluorocarbon is also considerably stiffer than mono, particularly as leader diameter increases. That stiffness can inhibit the movement of the jig.

Mono is softer and more supple, which allows the jig greater freedom to move naturally. It’s also easier to tie, considerably cheaper and provides more stretch and shock absorption.

Fluorocarbon certainly has advantages, particularly abrasion resistance, and there are situations where anglers may prefer it. But for the way I deep jig, the advantages of mono outweigh the benefits of fluorocarbon.

4. How Heavy Should Your Leader Be?

For most of my fishing, I’ll use either 80 lb or 100 lb monofilament leader.

That covers the majority of the deep jigging I do and gives me a good balance between strength, abrasion resistance, shock absorption and maintaining good jig action.

When I’m fishing very rough country, I’ll generally step up to 130 lb.

And when I’m targeting particularly big fish over very snaggy ground, I’ll sometimes go as heavy as 150 lb.

• 80–100 lb: Most of my everyday deep jigging
• 130 lb: Very rough country where I want extra abrasion resistance
• 150 lb: Very large fish and particularly snaggy ground

The important point is that I don’t automatically reach for the heaviest leader available. Heavier isn’t always better.

As leader diameter increases, so does stiffness. That can affect jig movement and make the entire terminal system more cumbersome.

Match your leader to the fish you’re targeting and the country you’re fishing.

5. How Long Should Your Leader Be?

For most of my deep jigging, I prefer a leader of around 5–6 metres.

That gives me plenty of protection at the business end of the setup. The extra length provides a good buffer between the fish and the braid, helps with abrasion resistance and adds useful shock absorption when a big fish makes a sudden lunge.

There are also some very practical advantages once the fish reaches the boat.

With a longer leader, I can use the mono to help control the fish and pull it closer to the boat without having to handle the much thinner braid.

Once the fish is alongside, I can either use the jig to help lift a manageable fish aboard, or use a lip gaff for very large fish.

A 5–6 metre leader also gives me some working room throughout the day. If the lower section becomes scuffed or abraded, I can trim the damaged section off and re-rig without immediately having to replace the entire leader.

For me, that makes a longer leader a very practical choice for deep jigging.

6. Connecting Braid to Leader

The two most common braid-to-leader knots used by lure fishermen are the PR knot and the FG knot.

Both are excellent knots. They have very high knot strength, an extremely low profile and pass exceptionally well through the rod guides. In situations where achieving the strongest possible braid-to-leader connection is the priority, either is an excellent choice.

But for deep jigging, I look at the connection slightly differently.

I don’t necessarily want the strongest knot I can possibly tie.

In fact, in very deep water, having an intentional failure point in your system can actually be an advantage.

Imagine you’re jigging in 400 metres of water and your jig becomes firmly snagged on the bottom.

You pull harder and harder until eventually something has to break.

Where do you want that failure to occur?

With an extremely strong PR or FG connection, there’s no guarantee the line will break at the leader knot. If the braid breaks somewhere higher in the water column, you could potentially lose hundreds of metres of braid along with your leader and jig.

That’s expensive. But there’s an even bigger problem.

You may now have so little braid remaining on the reel that you can’t continue fishing effectively at that depth.

One snag can potentially end your day’s deep jigging.

7. Why I Use the Albright Knot

For my deep jigging, I use an Albright knot.

I’m not using it because I believe it’s stronger than an FG or PR. It isn’t.

I’m using it because it gives me the combination of strength, simplicity and — critically — a more predictable failure point that suits the way I fish.

The Albright is:

• Strong enough for the drag pressures I use
• Quick to tie
• Easy to learn
• Reliable
• Suitable for the heavier leaders I fish
• Easy to retie on a moving boat

But the biggest advantage becomes apparent when I get snagged.

In my experience, around nine times out of ten, when I have to break a snag off, the line breaks at the Albright connection.

I’ll lose the leader and jig. That’s annoying. But generally, I get my braid back.

When you’re fishing in 300, 400 or 500 metres of water, that matters enormously.

It’s important to understand what I’m saying here.

I’m not arguing that the Albright is a better knot than the PR or FG in every fishing situation. PR and FG knots are superb connections.

I’m saying that the characteristic that makes them so desirable in many forms of lure fishing — their exceptional strength — isn’t necessarily something I want when I’m fishing a jig hundreds of metres below the boat over snaggy ground.

For deep jigging, I want the connection to be strong enough to land the fish but sensible enough to sacrifice the leader before sacrificing hundreds of metres of braid.

8. Terminal Connections – Keep It Simple

Once we reach the end of the leader, I keep the terminal setup as simple as possible.

My arrangement is:

I tie the leader directly to the swivel using either a Chain Knot or Uni Knot. Both are strong, reliable and easy to tie.

The swivel provides a strong connection point and also helps reduce line twist, particularly with jigs that flutter, spin or rotate during the descent.

A single split ring connects directly to the swivel.

The jig then attaches directly to that split ring.

My assist hooks are tied to their own solid ring, and that solid ring also attaches directly to the same split ring.

That’s it.

Both the jig and the assist-hook set are connected through the one split ring, with no unnecessary extra hardware.

It’s simple, strong and practical — and it allows me to change jigs quickly without having to cut and retie the leader every time.

9. Assist Hooks – Small Component, Big Consequences

Your jig attracts the fish. Your hooks land it.

Assist hooks are one area where I don’t like compromising on quality.

I want a hook that is:

• Extremely sharp
• Strong enough for the fish I’m targeting
• Correctly sized for the jig
• Attached using quality assist cord
• Rigged at the correct length

That final point is particularly important.

If your assist hooks are too short, they sit very close to the ends of the jig and may not reach a fish that strikes further along the lure.

But simply making them longer isn’t the answer.

If your assist cords are too long, the hooks can foul around the jig, wrap around the leader or — when you’re running assists at both ends — overlap and tangle with each other.

Long assist cords also increase the chance of hooking the bottom.

For my rigs, I want the hooks from the top of the jig to reach down towards the centre.

If I’m running bottom assists as well, those hooks should reach upward towards the centre.

But there’s an important rule:

The two sets of hooks should not overlap.

An easy way to check this is to lay the top and bottom assists along the body of the jig. If they overlap each other, they’re too long.

10. Do You Always Need Bottom Assist Hooks?

No.

Although I regularly fish assist hooks at both ends of my jigs, there are situations where I’ll deliberately remove the bottom assists altogether.

The two main situations are very rough terrain and strong current.

If I’m fishing over particularly nasty ground, removing the bottom hooks simply reduces the amount of hardware available to catch on the bottom.

Strong current creates a slightly different problem.

As the current increases, the line starts to angle away from the boat and you gradually lose some of that direct connection with the jig.

In deep water, that can make it surprisingly difficult to recognise the exact moment your jig touches the bottom.

And those next few seconds are often when the trouble starts.

The jig may already be lying on the bottom or bouncing across rocks before you’ve realised it has landed.

If you’ve got a pair of assist hooks hanging from the bottom of the jig, you’ve just increased the chances of hooking the reef.

This is particularly important when you’re fishing several hundred metres down. Even a small delay in recognising bottom contact can be enough.

In these situations, I’ll often remove the bottom assist hooks.

Yes, theoretically I may sacrifice some hook-up opportunities.

But I’ll happily make that trade-off if it substantially reduces the number of jigs I lose.

11. Build a System – Not a Collection of Components

This is really the message I want you to take away from Part 3.

Don’t look at each component independently.

Your braid, leader, knot, swivel, split ring, hooks and jig need to work together as one complete system.

There’s no point having an incredibly strong braid-to-leader knot if it means losing hundreds of metres of braid when you get badly snagged.

There’s no point using enormously heavy leader if its stiffness inhibits the action of the jig.

There’s no point buying an expensive jig and then attaching cheap, blunt hooks to it.

And there’s no point adding hardware simply because somebody told you that you need it.

Every component should have a purpose.

I want a system that’s strong, simple, reliable, easy to maintain and easy to repair on the water.

⚠️ Common Rigging Mistakes

• Using unnecessarily heavy leader: Match your leader to the fish and terrain rather than simply using the heaviest leader you can find.
• Choosing a knot purely on maximum breaking strain: Think about what happens when you get snagged.
• Poor-quality terminal hardware: A swivel or split ring is a tiny component to lose a trophy fish over.
• Blunt hooks: Check your hook points regularly. Deep jigging isn’t the place for hooks that are “probably sharp enough”.
• Assist cords that are too long: If the top and bottom hooks overlap, shorten them.
• Leaving bottom hooks on in extremely snaggy country: Sometimes removing them is the smarter option.
• Letting the jig sit on the bottom: Touch down. Recognise it. Start jigging.

🎯 Key Takeaways

1. For most of my deep jigging I use 80 or 100 lb mono, stepping up to 130 lb for rough country and occasionally 150 lb for very big fish over extremely snaggy ground.
2. I generally use around 5–6 metres of leader for braid protection, shock absorption, boatside fish control and enough spare leader to trim away damaged sections.
3. I prefer monofilament to fluorocarbon because it’s softer, easier to tie, provides shock absorption and allows the jig greater freedom of movement.
4. PR and FG knots are exceptional high-strength connections — but maximum strength isn’t necessarily my priority in deep water.
5. I use the Albright knot because it’s strong enough for the fish I target while giving me a more predictable failure point when I get snagged.
6. Keep the terminal system simple: leader → swivel → single split ring, with the jig and assist-hook solid ring attached directly to that split ring.
7. Correct assist-hook length matters. The top and bottom hook sets should reach towards the middle of the jig without overlapping.
8. In rough terrain or strong current, consider removing the bottom assist hooks to reduce your chances of snagging.

🛒 Gear Used in This System

• 🧵 SeriolaPro Deep Jigger Braid
• ⚡ SeriolaPro Deep Water Jigs
• 🪝 SeriolaPro Assist Hooks

Coming Up in Part 4

🎣 Choosing the Right Jig – Weight, Shape & Colour

We’ve now built the complete outfit.

Next, we get to the part that actually gets presented to the fish.

In Part 4 we’ll look at how I choose the correct jig weight for depth and current, why staying vertical is so important, how different jig shapes behave through the water, and where colour fits into the equation.

And we’ll tackle one of the most common mistakes I see in deep jigging:

Fishing a jig that’s simply too light for the conditions.

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