How I Chose My Slow Pitch Jigging Rod, Reel, & Jigs

When I set out to buy a slow pitch jigging setup, I had a million questions that were hard to get answered from product descriptions online. This article will answer all your questions about how to pick the best saltwater slow jigging rod, reel, and jig. As we talk through the critical characteristics of your setup, I’ll share how I settled on my decision of which products to purchase. I am about to purchase about 27 ft boat that I’ll be able to take offshore, so I wanted to make sure I purchased a slow jigging setup that was high quality and technically correct for the skill (so I could look like the pro I wish I was).

I will add that I figured the entire setup would max out under $1000, so I decided it would be worth it to choose the setup I truly thought was best and save for it if it was on the pricey side. And let’s be honest, what fishing setup for a targeted technique isn’t expensive if you want the best of the best? Even if you don’t choose my exact same setup, this article will give you the knowledge you need to make a smart decision.

If you’re unfamiliar with slow pitch jigging, it’s a technique in which the artificial lure reveals its action during the fall. The angler puts the reel in freespool to allow the lure to fall to the bottom, and once it hits bottom, the rod is jerked up and the line is retrieved on the upward rod motion. Then the angler points the rod back down towards the water’s surface and the lure falls vertically on the slack line with an enticing wobble or flutter. The weight balance and action of the lure causes the lure to remain nearly horizontal during the fall. Contrary to other styles of jigging, fish will bite the jig while its horizontal and falling down, rather than when the jig is vertical and coming up. It's a fairly new technique that’s rapidly gaining in popularity around the world as it seems to invite a reactionary bite, instead of relying on a feeding bite. The technique needs a specialized rod, reel, and jig, for which this article will help you choose.

The boat is usually drifting or at anchor when slow pitch jigging. When I go fishing at the Marathon Humps in the Keys, I'll usually do slow pitch jigging when drifting with the current one direction and then troll the area while going back upstream. If you're interested in reading about rod and reel combos for trolling offshore, read my article here.

Slow Jigging Reel

There is a tremendous amount of choices on the market for reels. They can range from very cheap to very expensive. I’ll walk you through several reel features so you can understand how to narrow them down. 

Is a Conventional or Spinning Reel Better for Slow Pitch Jigging?

In the hierarchy of reel categories, at the top is spinning and conventional. You either have a reel who’s spool axis is perpendicular to the rod, or parallel to the rod. Each style has its pros and cons, and each style performs better in different scenarios.

For slow pitch jigging, the angler is holding and working the rod and reel for the entire thing. There is no resting in a rod holder in slow pitch jigging. If using a conventional reel, the angler will cup the reel sideplate with one hand, work the rod with the same hand, and retrieve with the other. In a spinning setup, the angler would be holding the rod and maybe the bracket part of the reel. As you can imagine, it sounds like you’d have more control and improved comfort and sensitivity by palming a compact and lightweight conventional reel.

Since the technique also relies on letting the jig fall to the bottom, the higher line capacity of a conventional reel makes sense. Also, while letting the jig fall to the bottom, the reel is in freespool. With a conventional reel, you can apply thumb pressure to the spool to slow down or speed up the freespool rate. In a spinning reel, there’s no convenient way to control the freespool speed. You would have to grip the line above the bail with your fingers.

Now we all know the downside of conventional reels, and that is the dreaded birds nest. You won’t be casting when slow pitch jigging, but if you put the reel in freespool with a heavy jig and no thumb pressure, you can pretty easily accidentally get a bird’s nest right away. This is where something like the freespool control lever on the Shimano Ocea Jigger comes in handy. You can set the freespool speed to slow and brakes are applied to prevent a too-fast freespool resulting in a bird’s nest. To my knowledge, this is the only reel in the slow pitch market to have this feature, and it might be a huge factor in your decision.

The ability to vary the freespool speed by varying your thumb pressure on a conventional reel, is a big plus for conventionals since you can effectively try many speeds to entice a bite. Also consider that these reels rarely come with a levelwind, so a narrow reel can help ease the manual levelwind.

What Line Capacity Do You Need?

The line capacity you need depends on your most common fishery. For me, I live in Melbourne, FL and will most often be slow pitch jigging in the waters east of Cape Canaveral and on my trips to the Keys, which I hope will become much more frequent when I get my new boat. I’ll most often do slow pitch jigging in water depths of 50-200 yards deep which are about 20 miles offshore in Central East Florida and about 10 miles offshore in the Keys.

I figure I need enough line capacity to reach the bottom, and have about one hundred yards extra for a fish to run. Slow pitch jigging is inherently a light tackle, finesse technique, so I’ll commonly be using 30 lb braid. If I need to go very deep, I might drop down a size so the smaller diameter line cuts through the water faster and better. If you'd like to learn more about light tackle, read my article discussing it, here.

Based on my most common fishing area and the fact that I’ll use 30 lb braid, I’m looking for a line capacity of about 300 yards of 30 lb test braid.

Is Star Drag or Lever Drag Better for Slow Pitch Jigging? How Much Max Drag Is Enough?

Star drag and lever drag are both effective drag systems, although very different. Star drag has an external star-shaped mechanism mounted on the handle which allows the angler to tighten and loosen the drag setting. Star drag systems consist of friction washers installed on either side of the main drive gear which is offset from the spool. The main drive gear turns the pinion gear which is attached to the spool.

In contrast, in a lever drag system, the drag washers are installed directly against the spool. Because of the location of the friction washers, star drag washers tend to be smaller than lever drag washers, and therefore the max drag on a star drag reel tends to be lower than the max drag on a lever drag reel.

This fact is why we need to know how much max drag is enough? The answer might surprise you: most often you’ll set your drag somewhere between 10 and 15 lbs for slow pitch jigging, which means you’ll need the reel’s max drag to be a little higher than that, about 15-30 lbs.

Since I’m using 30 lb test braid for most of my slow pitch jigging, I’ll be setting my drag at about 10 lbs, which is roughly 30% of the breaking strength of the line. I might drop to 20 lb test line sometimes, so I’m not expecting to use high drag settings. Considering my settings will stay pretty low, star drag should work just fine.  I personally like lever drag systems better because I can easily hear the clicks when adjusting the drag, which makes the setting more repeatable for me (if I tightened by 2 clicks for a little while, I’ll know to loosen by 2 clicks later). With a star drag reel, I should be using a scale to measure my drag before every outing. As you can see, star drag and lever drag will both work, so it’s ok to simply base this decision on personal preference, or let the other characteristics drive your decision.

What Retrieve Rate & Gear Ratio Is Best for Slow Pitch Jigging?

Although it might contradict your initial thought, a faster retrieve rate, usually characterized by a higher gear ratio, is preferable for slow pitch jigging. If you think about how you slow pitch jig—thumb pressure on the spool during freespool to drop the lure, then a rod pitch up with a quick line retrieve and then letting the jig fall again as the rod tip lowers, a faster retrieve rate can help get your jig back to a falling action faster and keeps you in control of the lure by eliminating the slack. The fall is when the jig works best.

The faster retrieve rate will also help when jigging in a current. The current has a tendency pull your line and you’ll end up with a curved slack line between the lure and your rod. A faster retrieve rate will help get rid of that curve easier, which will allow you to maintain control of the lure. About 35-45 inches per turn is considered a fast retrieve rate and is usually accompanied by about a 6:1 gear ratio.

Now if you’re going to be slow pitch jigging for big game pelagics, you should consider a two speed reel. A two speed reel is usually heavier and bigger, but it has the advantage of a fast retrieve rate when working your lure, and a powerful low gear ratio for getting the big fish to the boat. For me, it’s more likely that I’ll be targeting tuna, grouper and snapper around 30 lbs, so a two speed isn’t necessary.

What Style and Size Handle Should I Look For?

When considering the handle, a couple of key concepts apply: the longer the handle arm, the easier it is to reel in your line when a heavy fish is on it (similar to the concept of orienting an allen wrench), and the bigger the handle, the more confident you’ll feel when you’re fighting a big fish. A long handle arm and banana shaped handle is a must have in a slow pitch jigging reel. This is one of the primary differences between something like Accurate’s Boss Valiant conventional reels, and Accurate’s slow pitch jigging (SPJ) version of the Boss Valiant conventional reel.

Does Reel Weight Matter for Slow Pitch Jigging?

Possibly the most important feature to consider is the weight of your slow pitch jigging reel. Slow pitch jigging is a very active fishing technique where you’ll be palming the reel and working the rod up and down when you’re working the lure, and then you’ll be hands-on fighting a fish when you get a bite. To help prevent fatigue, you’ll want something lightweight, although the word “lightweight” is relative to the strength and size of the angler. For example, if you’re a strong 200 lb man, your max weight is likely to be higher than my petite wife’s max reel weight. This also comes into play when choosing the general size of the reel. You’ll want to make sure that its comfortable for you to hold with one hand and you still have room to add the diameter of the rod in there. The weight is a spec available online that gives should give you a good idea of the size of the reel. For example, the 1500 size Shimano Ocea Jigger weighs 14.3 ounces and the single speed 300 size Accurate Boss Valiant SPJ weighs only 9.9 ounces. For me, I will lean towards the lightest one I can get with the line capacity I need so that my wife and kids can comfortably use it too. 

The Best Slow Pitch Jigging Reel

The main reels I considered in my search were the Shimano Ocea Jigger and the Accurate Boss Valiant SPJ. Both of these reels are conventional and both of them have a long handle arm with a banana style grip. The table below shows a comparison of the other specs for the 1500 size Ocea Jigger and the 300 size Accurate Boss Valiant SPJ. I narrowed it down to these two sizes because they offer enough line capacity, both have sufficient max drag, and both have fast retrieve rates. Essentially, both of these reels will work for my usual fisheries.

	Star or Lever?	Max Drag	Braid Capacity	Weight	Gear Ratio	Retrieve Rate	Price
Shimano Ocea Jigger OCEAJG1500HG	Star	15 lbs	300 yds 40 lb	14.3 oz	6.4:1	39 in	$520
Accurate Boss Valiant SPJ BV-300-SPJ	Lever	23 lbs	325 yds 30 lb	9.9 oz	6:1	38 in	$480

The primary driving factor for me was the size. I will use the setup, my wife will use the setup, and so will my children and friends. I felt like the lighter reel would be more versatile since the smaller angler won’t tire out too quickly and it will simply make it lightweight and easier for me to use for longer periods of time.

Although I chose the Accurate Boss Valiant SPJ, the Shimano Ocea Jigger has the added feature of the freespool control lever. The Accurate relies on your thumb pressure to control the speed, which is fine, but this feature on the Ocea Jigger gives you more confidence that the pressure you apply to the spool is more consistent. Rather than estimating that it “feels about the same”, knowing that you didn’t touch the lever setting is more of a sure thing. This also helps with anglers new to conventional reels who might accidentally put the reel in freespool without a thumb on the spool.

Slow Jigging Rod

Is A Conventional or Spinning Rod Better for Slow Pitch Jigging?

Jigging rods are generally available in both a conventional and spinning configuration. As we learned earlier, for slow pitch jigging, a conventional reel is best, and so we must pair that reel with a conventional rod. In a conventional rod, the guides are smaller since they don’t have to accommodate the size of the line spiral coming off a spinning reel. The guides are also located on the top of the rod since the conventional reels are mounted on the top of the rod.

What Line Rating Should I Look For?

Since slow pitch jigging is typically done with 30 lb test line, you’ll often see jigging rods rated for 30 lb test line. If you plan on fishing for large pelagic fish, you would likely use a higher pound test line to accommodate the stronger fish. For me, I plan on using 20-30 lb test line for nearly all of my slow pitch jigging, so 30 lb test line rating on the jigging rod is perfect, but it would be ok if the max line rating was a step higher at 40 lbs.

What Lure Rating Should I look For?

The lure rating on the rod should match the size of the lure you plan on using most often. You’ll need about 100 grams of lure weight per 100 feet of water depth, so it depends on your fishery.

I know I’ll be jigging the Marathon Humps occasionally, which range from 86 ft – 750 ft deep, and I’ll be jigging reefs and wrecks East of Ft Pierce which range in depth from 60-120 ft deep frequently. I need a variety of lure sizes to fit these depths, but I’ll focus on the 80 grams – 150 gram sizes for my most common areas. In general, you’ll see a stronger rod power for heavier lure weight ratings.

Should My Jigging Rod Have Fast Action or Slow Action?

A nice parabolic bend is crucial for slow jigging. The slow action allows the rod to work the jig more effectively. Also consider that slow pitch jigging uses repetitious and rhythmic actions to work the lure and a parabolic bend in the rod helps keep those motions fluid. I found that when I was searching for jigging rods on tackle websites, it was easy for fast action rods to show up in my search. Be careful not to accidentally buy a fast action rod for slow pitch jigging, you need much more bend than that!

What Length Rod is Best?

Usually a long length rod is used to propel a lure for long distance casting. When slow pitch jigging, you’re hanging the lure over the side of the boat and letting it drop, not casting. A 6-7 ft rod length is perfect for giving you just enough length over the edge of the boat, without being too much length, for the rod bending to control the jig.

What Grip Style Do I need?

For slow pitch jigging, the grip should be a minimalistic split grip. The split grip does 2 things: ensures the moderate to slow action of the rod extends all the way to the butt, and also makes it more comfortable when the rod is under your armpit. The common way to hold a jigging rod is to have the long butt section under the armpit of the arm that’s palming the reel.

The Best Slow Pitch Jigging Rod

When I went online to find a slow pitch jigging rod to buy, I felt like the options were not great. I saw some fantastic ones, like the Daiwa Saltiga Slow Pitch Jigging Rod for $600 and the Shimano Game Type J jigging rod for over $400. I felt like if I were going to spend that much on a rod, I might as well get a custom rod!

I had a ballpark figure in my head of around $150-$200 to spend on a good quality rod that’s not sky high pricewise. I noticed that rods under that range didn’t have lure ratings listed, which generally means they weren’t specifically designed for slow pitch jigging. I ended up getting the Daiwa Harrier HSP66MB 6’6” conventional rod with medium power, slow action with a braided line rating of 30 lbs and a max lure weight of 250 grams. It cost me right at $200 which I thought was reasonable. If I get to a point where I’m slow pitch jigging very often, I might invest in one of the more expensive slow jigging rods on the market, like the Daiwa Saltiga.  The Daiwa Harrier that I picked up fits all of the characteristics I was looking for.

Slow Saltwater Jigs

When choosing a jig for slow pitch jigging, you need to make sure you choose one that is designed for slow jigging. Slow pitch jigs are lures that turn horizontal when in freespool and slowly sink with a wobbling or fluttering action. They are generally wide with a flat side and a “V” shaped side. This contour causes the “V” shaped side to face down and the flat side to face up. The V also helps create the wobble action. The weighting of the lure is mostly centered which allows the lure to turn horizontal.

Sometimes it can be hard to figure out if a jig is fast or slow, but an idea about the shaping should help. The wide and stout lures are usually slow jigs and the long and narrow lures are usually fast jigs. The flutter action of a slow jig mimics an injured or fleeing baitfish.

What Size Jig Should I be Using?

The lure weight is one of its most critical attributes. This information will be crucial to know when pairing it with the appropriate rod. Slow pitch jigs have their weights listed in grams and slow pitch jigging rods have a lure rating also listed in grams. Similar to reel selection, the depth of your typical fishery will play a part in the size that’s best for you. A rule of thumb is 50 grams of weight for every 50 feet of water depth. For example, if I’m fishing in 125 ft deep water, I’ll use a 125 or 130 gram jig. If there is a strong current, you may need to upsize a little to keep the fall vertical.

What Color Jig Should I Use?

Slow pitch jigs come in a variety of colors and patterns. There are even glow in the dark jigs which can be extremely effective in deep waters where minimal sunlight reaches the bottom. There are shimmery metallic jigs to catch the reflection of the sun closer to the surface. I usually start with a chartreuse or white colored jig, and switch to something like blue or orange if it isn’t working. If you can see baitfish nearby, always try your best to “match the hatch” and choose a color that resembles the baitfish.

What Hooks are Good Jig Hooks?

The hooks on slow pitch jigs are critical, but I’d they don’t have to be exactly what you want when you purchase the jig. You can buy pre-rigged hooks of different strength and style and change them out yourself. The Shimano butterfly jigs come with Owner hooks, but most of the time it only comes with on hook on the top eyelet. I nearly always want two hooks up top to make sure I get the fish to the boat. One hook will usually hook the mouth, and the second hook will usually hit the side of the fish’s face. Together, these two assist hooks keep your fish on the lure and increase your hookup ratios. The Ocean Tackle International jigs come with OTI Raptor Glow assist hooks.

Hooks are something you can easily swap out on your lure if you want to change something. You can play with the hook size, shape, and coloring. The hooks should be rigged with spectra cord or even wire if you’re dealing with toothy fish. The hook should fall to about the middle of the lure. You can swap them out for angled-curve hooks which are more resilient to bending. You can swap them out for ones that include flash. I’d recommend having spare assist hooks, already rigged up, whenever you go slow pitch jigging.

The Best Saltwater Slow Pitch Jigs

In the rod and reel category, I narrowed down the market and selected only one rod and one reel to purchase. When it comes to jigs, I like to have a variety of sizes, colors, and styles on hand so I can change it up to get better results. I have the entire collection of Shimano Butterfly jigs, although some are actually fast jigs. I also have the Nomad Buffalo, and the Ocean Tackle International Slow Pitch and Degen jigs. I picked up a variety of sizes and colors so I can try different things. It’s important to keep a variety on hand so you can change your lures if something isn’t working, but I’d make sure you buy sizes that are appropriate to the depth of water you’ll most likely fish. To read more about the Shimano Butterfly jigs, read my article on them here.

I hope this article helps you make an informed decision about your slow pitch jigging setup. Tight lines, y'all!