jig stop

saw this little guy in the display case at the jig stop in dana...it's for use on a lift pole, when the tuna bite went wide open.  in the time before spotter planes and seiners, this is how tuna were caught commercially.  the hook shape is designed to keep a fish on only long enough to be flung onto the boat, only to fall out once on board so the fisherman could return it to the water without wasting any time.  sometimes if the fish were big, they would put two-three men/poles onto one jig.  i still remember as a kid fishing aboard the fortune in mexico out of h&m when the albacore went wide open, the captain pulled one out of his quiver up in the helm and pulled a few over the rail...i hope the video below makes up for my bumbling explanation...it's well worth watching