There is a category of fishing that doesn't announce itself with the drama of a topwater explosion or the aerial acrobatics of a billfish. Deep-water jigging is quieter in its beginning — a jig dropped into blue-water darkness, a rhythmic lift-and-drop, the signal of a hit transmitted through the braid before you feel it in your arms — but what follows is not quiet at all. A dogtooth tuna at eighty metres on a jigging setup is a straight-down freight train. A large amberjack on slow-pitch gear over a seamount requires patience and technique, then maximum pressure for the last twenty metres before the fish reaches the structure below you.
In the Thai Andaman, deep jigging is both the complement to popping sessions and, for many anglers, the primary reason to make the trip. The combination of accessible pinnacle and wreck structure, productive depths in the sixty-to-one-hundred-twenty-metre range, and a target species list that includes some of the most powerful reef-associated fish in the Indian Ocean makes this one of the more compelling jigging fisheries in Southeast Asia.
The Fishery's Geography
The Andaman jigging fishery is defined by structure. Unlike pelagic trolling, where you're covering water and hoping to intercept roaming fish, jigging ties you to specific features — underwater mountains, the wreckage of sunken vessels, steep reef faces, and the hard edges where the continental shelf drops into the abyss. These features concentrate fish by concentrating food: current deflects off structure, lifting nutrients from depth, drawing baitfish, and drawing the predators that eat them.
The primary structures within range of Tap Lamu and Phuket include:
Similan Islands pinnacles. The underwater topography around the Similan archipelago is complex and varied. While the islands themselves rise above the surface, the submerged structure around them — particularly to the west and between the island groups — includes rock pinnacles, overhangs, and sloping reef faces that hold fish at jigging depths. The western drop-offs in the sixty-to-hundred-metre range are among the most productive jigging marks in the area.
Koh Bon and Koh Tachai. These northern outliers of the Similan group sit above submerged structure that extends well into jigging range. The same current that makes Koh Bon famous for GT popping also positions baitfish over deeper structure immediately adjacent, creating productive conditions for the jig angler who switches gear between tidal phases.
Offshore seamounts and banks. The area northwest of the Similans toward the Burma Banks zone includes seamounts that rise from deep water to within jigging range of the surface. When accessible, these marks — particularly those that peak at seventy to one hundred metres — are the most reliable locations for dogtooth tuna and large amberjack.
Wrecks. The Andaman has a number of documented wrecks within practical range of Tap Lamu and Phuket in depths of forty to over one hundred metres. Wrecks create artificial reef habitat and hold fish year-round, with grouper and snapper being the resident species and amberjack and tuna passing through. Some wrecks are well-known to operators and appear on itineraries regularly; others are less visited and produce less pressured fish.
Target Species
Dogtooth Tuna
The dogtooth tuna (Gymnosarda unicolor) is the prestige jigging target of the Andaman. Unlike the more pelagic yellowfin or bigeye tuna, dogtooth are reef-associated, living over and around structure in the sixty-to-hundred-and-fifty-metre range. They grow large — fish in the twenty-to-forty-kilogram range are taken regularly in Thai waters, with exceptional fish above fifty kilograms caught occasionally — and their response to a jig worked hard over a pinnacle is as violent as anything the Andaman offers.
Dogtooth tuna feed aggressively on baitfish and will take both high-speed jigs worked fast in the water column and slow-pitch jigs fluttered through their depth range. Their first run on light-to-medium jigging gear is fast and deep, and the challenge is stopping them before they reach structure below you. Braid to PE6-8 rating, a heavy fluorocarbon leader, and a rod with the backbone to apply real pressure in the lower water column are the baseline requirements.
Amberjack
Greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili) and related species in the Seriola family are reliable jigging targets over the deeper structure marks. They fight differently from dogtooth tuna — more sustained, with repeated runs and a tendency to kite sideways rather than go straight down — and they are available at a wider range of depths, from shallower pinnacles to the deeper bank edges. Fish in the five-to-twenty-kilogram range are common; larger amberjack approaching thirty kilograms are taken over the better structure marks.
Amberjack respond well to both slow-pitch and high-speed jigging techniques, making them an accessible target for anglers learning the jigging method. They're also good eating, and retaining one or two fish for the galley on a liveaboard trip is common practice.
Grouper
Several grouper species inhabit the Andaman reef structure at jigging depths. Camouflage grouper, coral grouper, and larger species in the potato cod and giant grouper range are present in the deeper structure, though the very large grouper are more commonly encountered on wrecks and at the base of steep reef faces. Grouper are ambush predators and respond best to jigs worked near the bottom — slow-pitch presentations that keep the lure in their strike zone longest are most effective.
Grouper are slow-growing; the very large fish represent decades of growth. Most operators encourage release on larger specimens, though smaller fish are commonly retained for the galley.
Snapper
The deeper reef systems hold multiple snapper species in the one-to-eight-kilogram range. Ruby snapper, midnight snapper, and various Lutjanid species that don't have common English names are regularly caught jigging near the bottom. They're less glamorous than dogtooth tuna or amberjack but are often the most consistent catches when other targets aren't cooperating, and they are excellent table fish — a meaningful consideration on a multi-day liveaboard.
Techniques: Slow-Pitch vs High-Speed
The Thai Andaman accommodates both primary jigging methods, and experienced anglers often use both on the same trip depending on target and conditions.
High-speed jigging — sometimes called "speed jigging" or by the Japanese term horizontal jigging — involves heavy jigs in the hundred-to-three-hundred-gram range dropped to depth and then retrieved rapidly with a sustained pumping action: lift-wind, lift-wind, often at a pace that works both arms and aerobic capacity simultaneously. This method is most effective for dogtooth tuna, which respond to a jig that appears to be fleeing at speed. It is the physically demanding method and requires appropriate fitness to sustain across a full session.
Slow-pitch jigging is the more recently developed technique that has transformed reef jigging across Asia. The principle is opposite to high-speed: a lighter, asymmetric jig is allowed to fall in a controlled, fluttering manner, with the angler applying short, precise rod strokes at specific intervals to create a rolling, gliding action. The falling phase of the jig is when most strikes occur. This method is highly effective for grouper, snapper, and amberjack, requires less physical output than high-speed jigging, and allows more precise control of lure depth and action.
Many Andaman jigging sessions are run as a combination: high-speed for the first hour at a dogtooth mark while the current is optimal, then a transition to slow-pitch over the same or adjacent structure as conditions change.
Current and timing
Jigging sessions are most productive when current is running over the structure. Slack water over a seamount that's normally excellent can be completely dead. Work with your captain to time jigging sessions around the tidal phase, alternating with topwater or trolling work during the windows in between.
For rod ratings, jig weights, reel specifications, braid-to-leader connections, and hook rigging for both methods, the saltwater jigging rods guide covers the tackle specifics in detail.
Depths and Practical Logistics
The productive jigging range runs from roughly forty-five metres on shallower pinnacle tops to one hundred and twenty metres on deeper seamount bases and wreck sites. The most consistent fishing across target species occurs in the sixty-to-one-hundred-metre band. Current velocity determines jig weight: stronger flow requires heavier metal to maintain bottom contact. Carrying a range from one-hundred to three-hundred-plus grams covers most conditions you'll encounter on these marks.
Day Trips vs Liveaboard
Jigging day trips from Phuket and Ao Chalong are viable for closer marks — the outer Phang Nga reefs, some closer wreck sites, and reef edges within a two-hour run. These trips typically reach productive depths and work for a half to full day of jigging before the return transit.
Day trips from Tap Lamu (Khao Lak) have better access to the Similan structure, with the inner Similan pinnacles accessible within a ninety-minute to two-hour run. A focused Similan jigging day is genuinely productive during the season.
Liveaboards remain the most effective platform for jigging the best marks. Sleeping over the seamount rather than transiting to it means your first jig in the water is on the first drop of first light at the peak tidal phase — rather than arriving at nine o'clock to discover you missed the morning bite. For the deep jigging angler, the liveaboard math is even more compelling than for the surface fisherman.
The first hour of light over a productive seamount is worth more than a full day of fishing a mark you arrive at mid-morning.
The Operator Landscape
Operators running jigging trips well are recognizable by a few consistent characteristics: they maintain track of specific mark performance across seasons, they carry adequate jig inventory (losses to structure and to toothy fish are significant), they can advise on technique rather than just pointing you to a mark, and they run efficient, organized decks — jigging with multiple anglers requires attention to line management to avoid tangles during drops and fights.
Some operators specialize in jigging alongside popping, running mixed itineraries that use the morning tidal windows for topwater GT work and the slack and off-peak periods for jigging. This combination is the most productive use of a full Andaman liveaboard day.
Conservation Considerations
The Andaman's reef fish populations are healthier than many comparable Indo-Pacific fisheries, partly because of the national park protections over the Similan and Surin areas. Responsible jigging practice means retaining only what you intend to eat, releasing large grouper and dogtooth tuna when possible, and moving between marks rather than hammering a single pinnacle until the school disperses. Dogtooth in particular are slow-maturing fish; most serious Andaman operators have adopted a photograph-and-release approach for larger specimens.
Planning Your Trip
Jigging works from October through April in parallel with the broader Andaman fishing season. For the full seasonal picture, the Andaman Sea fishing guide covers the yearly rhythm. To understand how jigging fits into a mixed-method liveaboard trip alongside sailfishing and GT popping, the liveaboard guide is the most useful starting point. And for the topwater complement to a jigging trip — particularly if you want to work Koh Bon or the Surin structure for GTs between jigging sessions — the GT popping guide covers the technique and the spots.
