The post A Redfish Caught Hundreds of Feet Deep appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.
]]>Do you have a photograph of a fish you can’t identify? If so, we’re up for the challenge, and would welcome the opportunity to share your photo and its ID with an international audience of enthusiasts. (Whether published or not, we will personally respond to every inquiry.) Email your jpgs, as large/hi-res as possible, to: fishfacts@sportfishingmag.com.
When an angler in the U.S. mentions fishing for redfish, one species comes to mind: red drum, widely called redfish through its range — a big drum caught primarily inshore, typically in very shallow waters, in Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states. But Capt. Terry Nugent, with Riptide Charters in Sandwich, Massachusetts, caught a very different kind of redfish in 400 feet of water off Chatham, Massachusetts.
“I’ve landed a few of these over the years,” he says of the fish in his photo. The fish are marketed as redfish, he adds, “but obviously they’re not red drum. What are they really?” He also asks how large they grow, what is a normal depth to encounter them, and what is their range.
Nugent did indeed catch a redfish. That is the correct common name for four species in the genus Sebastes. Two of those species are caught off Massachusetts, says Mike Fahay, a Northeast marine fish expert: S. fasciatus, the Acadian redfish, and S. mentalla, the deepwater redfish.
These species are part of the rockfishes complex (genus Sebastes) important in Pacific Northwest recreational and commercial fisheries. They are in no way related or similar to drums and croakers, like the red drum.
Fahay says that, based on depth of capture, this would likely be the Acadian redfish, common from 400 to 900 feet. In fact, the species — found from Iceland as far as south as the Mid-Atlantic — at one time supported an important, major commercial fishery and was a common item in fish markets in the Northeast. But it’s a story too-often told: Landings plummeted from 60,000 metric tons in 1942 to just over 300 metric tons landed in 1996. The species is now considered endangered by the IUCN, yet NOAA says it is not overfished.
Like all rockfish species, redfish are slow growing and long lived, increasing their susceptibility to overfishing. These days, most that are caught weigh in at under two pounds, Fahay reports. (The IGFA all-tackle record, caught in 2010, weighed a whopping 2 ½ pounds.) At one time, redfish weighing up to 24 pounds were caught.
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]]>The post How Florida’s Water Woes Affect Anglers appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.
]]>I watched a National Geographic documentary recently on the African savanna, highlighting the typical predator-prey encounters that the landscape is famous for. A wildebeest was at a watering hole and, predictably, its day was ruined by a pack of gnarly hyenas. I always felt sorry for the big beasts as they tried to fend off attacks from every quadrant. Sometimes the beasts get away, but many at least suffer wounds that eventually finish them off.
Which reminds me of the current state of Florida waterways, besieged by repeated thrashings from a pack of hyenas, in the form of ancient and inadequate sewer infrastructure, failing septic systems close to the water, heavy residential and corporate agriculture fertilizer runoff, stormwater runoff, freshwater herbicides and more. That’s a formidable, destructive pack of attackers.
And it’s all happening at once. The causes and consequences have been relatively ignored for years, and if these attacks do not stir panic in the hearts of Floridians who fish, boat, love the water, or care about their health — maybe they’re not paying attention.
Lack of political will and urgency — plus inadequate funding — is at the heart of the failures. It’s too easy to chalk it up to too many new residents coming in or too many tourists. The reality is Florida’s office-holders at every level, and the agencies they oversee, are stuck in a time warp. They seem to think you can still use 1950s technology and approaches that worked for a 1950s population, and somehow protect the resource that is suffering much greater pressure today.
Not to mention that development permitting is way too easy in the Sunshine State. If you fish in Florida, you’ve likely seen the bumper sticker that reads “Leaving Florida? Take a developer with you.” That attitude likely sprung from the over-development of the woods, freshwater springs, lakes and salt waters that long-time Floridians consider “True Florida.” And True Florida is rapidly disappearing.
The Everglades water crisis — and efforts to restore the natural system — is the center of attention (even internationally) for good reason. But that’s just one part of the massive Florida water problem — local point-source pollution throughout Florida is worsening rapidly.
Florida’s sewage infrastructure is ancient (as old as 80 years) and simply inadequate in places, where development is off the chain and natural habitat loss is shocking. Aside from age, performance of sewers is inhibited by Florida’s heavy rain, and of course, tropical storms. The regular rainfall and common deluges basically guarantee major spills. Sewage lift stations without generators shut down. Untreated sewage backs up and overflows, usually through simple manhole covers. It all ends up in our favorite waterways where we swim, fish and boat. Many expect rising sea level to exacerbate this problem.
Heavy and repeated nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) loading from septic leeching and large-scale sewage system spills fuel the harmful algal blooms (HABs) that cloud both fresh and coastal salt waters, shutting out sunlight that is vital to seagrass health. And all of Florida’s marine fish and other organisms depend on seagrass, and to a lesser extent, oysters and other shellfish. Not to mention sky-rocketing fecal bacteria levels that make people ill, and often prompt no-contact health warnings on the water.
Perfect examples of nutrient hotspots on the Atlantic coast include the upper St. John’s River, the entire 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon, the St. Lucie estuary, Lake Worth Lagoon, and Broward and Dade county’s heavily urbanized waterways. On the Gulf coast, the west central region accounted for over half of all spills from 2009 to 2020. Southwest Florida accounted for over 15 percent. In contrast, the Space Coast on the Atlantic side accounted for 25 percent of all sewage spills. Not surprisingly, the heaviest population density regions fared the worst.
Sewage spills get the most media attention, and are more shocking to see than the continuous polluting inflows of stormwater. Florida’s copious annual rainfall used to seep into the ground surface and into Florida’s “honeycomb” aquifer. Now, rooftops, streets, parking lots and other impervious, developed surfaces prevent much of this. There is instead a quick shunting of this rainfall, and the pollutants it picks up, directly into lakes, rivers and coastal bays, in most cases, without any degree of treatment.
Long before Florida saw today’s rampant development and sprawl, early settlers envisioned making a “worthless swamp” a money-making landscape. They blindly drained the wetlands of South Florida which was ruinous for the natural water flow that once trickled over land and in the porous ground year-round from today’s Orlando region to Florida Bay in Everglades National Park. Three major roadblocks interrupted the natural flow of the River of Grass:
The highways greatly impede the wet season bounty of fresh water which naturally spilled over the southern rim of the Lake Okeechobee. In time, the lands were drained by canals to accommodate corporate agricultural operations, mainly sugar growing and some row crops which needed drier fields in summer and fall, and ample irrigation during winter drought.
In the 1950s, the agriculture industry grew with dairy farms, cattle ranches and citrus groves. Unfiltered and unmonitored, nutrient runoff from these farms caused eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee. Increased phosphorus levels fed cyanobacterial blooms, also known as blue-green algae, on Lake Okeechobee. The harmful blooms and sediments flowed unimpeded to outlet valves such as the St. Lucie River to the Atlantic and the Caloosahatchee River to the Gulf. Florida basically destroyed three estuaries, and the dependent coastal economies, to support an agriculture industry that belongs elsewhere. (Note: Florida sugar is subsidized.)
The big hope in 2000 was the signing of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) by the Clinton administration, a complex suite of 65 water projects designed to right the Everglades ship, to basically restore the natural hydrology of the vast wetland. It was to take 20 years, with costs shared by the federal government and the State of Florida.
CERP is in year 24 with less than 10 percent of the work completed. A vast reservoir and stormwater treatment area (STA) is finally under construction south of Lake Okeechobee. It will supposedly take 20 percent of the polluted water from Lake Okeechobee that currently trashes the coastal rivers. Its size was shrunk by over 70 percent during land-acquisition negotiations — the state of Florida failed to find enough willing landowners to sell for the project footprint. The water-holding area might be completed and operational by 2035 if there’s enough money allocated in each budget year.
Too many Floridians are not especially enamored with the outdoors, and too many seasonal visitors seem to accept the declining natural resources because, well, at least it’s not snowing outside. All anglers and outdoorsmen and women should engage with those who paid by state and federal taxes to fix this mess.
Too few realize they can speak their displeasure directly to Florida’s branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state’s handful of water management districts (St. Johns, Southwest and South Florida), the governor, senators and representatives, county commissioners, mayors — all of them. You can even take part with public comment on those monthly water district meetings. Hate to say it, but anglers are too often missing from the discourse. Same goes for the recreational fishing tackle companies, boat-makers and tourism businesses who stand to lose their shirts if this continues.
In the case of point-source pollution, you can change a few things you might be doing at home. Do you fertilize your yard and landscape? Consider stopping altogether, or at the least, choose low-nutrient products. Slow release, too. And never apply fertilizer, herbicides and fungicides during wet season. It all ends up in the storm drains and in the public waterways. Floridians are increasingly eliminating turf grass, replacing it with native ground covers and plants. It’s a great move to make.
Don’t blow turf grass clippings onto streets where they end up washing into storm with the next heavy rain. They decompose and add phosphorus to lakes and streams, plus cause algal blooms in summer.
If you live where there’s sewage infrastructure, and you still have a septic tank, consider hooking up to sewer. There are cost help programs in some municipalities. Conversion to sewage is finally gaining ground. Be part of the solution. At the least, keep your septic system in good working order.
Speaking of flushing, please never dispose of outdated or those extra pharmaceuticals that your doctor prescribed. Researchers are finding massive amounts of human drugs in our fish and other wildlife. Some of the compounds do enter the waterways through human urine, but flushing old pills can be stopped.
About the Author: Mike Conner is a lifelong Florida fisherman, specializing in fly and light tackle angling. He has worked as a guide in South Florida, as a staff editor at magazines such as Florida Sportsman and Shallow Water Angler, and as executive director of the Indian Riverkeeper.
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]]>The post Toughest Nearshore Game Fish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.
]]>When it comes to game fish of inshore waters and shallow reefs, these eight brawlers have probably broken more hearts — and rods — than other species. Sure, it’s subjective and, sure, there are other species that might have been included. But no angler who knows his game fish will dispute that these are very tough on rod and reel. Most don’t fight fancy, leaping and cavorting like tarpon, but battling hard, down and very, very dirty. Keep in mind, by the way, that this list is limited to inshore and shallow-reef waters. (So species such as amberjack, that tend to be on somewhat deeper reefs, aren’t included.)
GT are actually as tough as they look, which is saying something. One of the largest of the jacks (family Carangidae), GT are one of the ultimate, bucket-list game fish for anglers fishing areas such as Australia, New Caledonia, Oman, the Andaman Islands, and even Hawaii. A favorite method for the big boys is throwing large poppers and stickbaits over reef and channel edges — and then trying, often fruitlessly, to power them away from structure, even with 80- to 100-pound braided line. The IGFA world record is an amazing 160 pounds, 7 ounces caught in Japanese waters in 2006.
Roosters are arguably the most exotic of all nearshore eastern Pacific game fishes, with their distinctive coloration and, particularly, the unique high, comb-like dorsal fin. But, as anyone who’s caught them will tell you, their very tough combatants when hooked. Though not jacks, roosterfish take a page from the playbook of that stubborn family of fishes. Unlike jacks, roosters jump and may clear the water in spectacular fashion. They’re found in the tropical waters of Mexico south into the waters off Peru. The IGFA all-tackle record, caught off La Paz, Mexico, in 1960, is 114 pounds.
By and large, wrasses tend to be active little colorful fishes of tropical reefs. But the humphead Maori (aka Napoleon wrasse) is a big powerhouse of a fish that can reach 400 pounds or so, dwarfing a man. Seldom are specimens more than a fraction of that landed. Once these fish take a lure, there is truly no stopping them from swimming right back into or around coral. Amazingly strong, they pretty much go wherever they want, whenever they want to go there. Found throughout the Indo-Pacific, the IGFA world record is, surprisingly, just 43 pound, 10 ounces.
Widely called a “black bass,” these powerful snapper in fact live in the lower rivers of southern Papua, New Guinea. Heavy currents in muddy waters swirling around omnipresent snags (sunken trees) make for a great challenge; many more of these fish are lost than are landed. But anglers from developed countries make the long trip for the bragging rights of releasing one. The biggest brag goes to the angler with the world record of 47 ½ pounds, taken in December 2015.
There are other species of cubera snapper; the Atlantic and the African versions both get a bit larger. However, unlike those, the Pacific cubera loves to prowl rocky headlands and shallow reefs, and as such is a prime target in the clear waters for anglers throwing large poppers and stickbaits, as well as for those slow-trolling live blue runners. That habitat also means stopping these cubera is critical — and very hard to do. The world record of 81 pounds, 3 ounces was caught in Isla Senora, Archipielago De Las Perlas, Panama in 2022.
Anyone who’s ever fished for porgies — rather small but tasty tropical/temperate fishes — might have trouble accepting the fact that the thick, aggressive steenbras of South Africa’s coastal and estuarial waters is a porgy. In fact, it’s the largest porgy of that family and sports big canine teeth. The slow-growing predators are prized and tightly regulated. The world record is a whopping 124-pound, 12-ounce fish from the Eastern Cape area of South Africa, taken in 1994.
Although similar in morphology, appearance and down-and-dirty fight to the amberjack, California yellowtail (caught primarily from Southern California south along Baja and the Sea of Cortez) often frequent waters quite near shore and around kelp beds and rocks — where many big yellowtail are hooked and lost. Unless found offshore around floating kelp, light tackle for yellowtail often ends in sorrow (for the angler). Most IGFA yellowtail records come from the California or Baja regions, but some anglers in Japan are also making noise in the record books.
In true trevally fashion, goldens are fighters to the end. While they don’t get nearly as large as the giant trevally, goldens fight as hard pound for pound. They also offer anglers a particularly striking appearance with their yellow coloration, and their very widespread availability — throughout the Indo-Pacific all the way to the eastern Pacific, from Baja south to Ecuador. They are caught in near-coastal waters as well as clear flats where, in Australia, they are prime sight-casting targets.
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]]>The post New Gear: The Siren Connected Boat App appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.
]]>Today’s revolutionary technology, specifically the Internet of Things (IoT), has granted anglers the ability to monitor their boat location, security and vital signs remotely via a mobile app. Now, Siren Marine is making that experience even better with the newly upgraded Siren Connected Boat mobile app featuring integration with Yamaha outboards.
Features of the new app include real-time vessel security, multiple and flexible boat-monitoring and tracking functions, as well as conveniences such as remote digital switching for control of onboard systems from a smartphone or smart watch virtually anywhere in the world.
Yet, the biggest news lies in the Siren app’s integration with Yamaha’s Command Link Plus. It enables the app to automatically remind boating anglers and their preferred dealers about scheduled maintenance requirements and due dates based on actual engine use, as well as maintenance records as updated by either the servicing dealer or the DIY boater.
Boat dealers have the ability to install Siren 3 Pro devices at their dealerships. What’s more, some boatbuilders now offer Siren 3 Pro as standard equipment on select boats. The builders include Grady-White, Regulator Marine and Skeeter.
Siren 3 Pro is the third-generation remote boat-monitoring and telematics platform that operates over a global 4G/5G LTE cellular network with the option to add SirenSat (an offshore antenna) for customers that leave cellular coverage. Options for monitor sensors include wired and wireless, as well as connection to the NMEA 2000 network. There is also a new low-power mode that extends battery life during times when full functionality is not needed, such as during winter storage.
The new app is available now for download in the US. For boaters who already have a Siren Marine system, the app will update seamlessly on their mobile devices. The new app is free for basic service, but requires installation and activation of the Siren 3 Pro main device and cellular service. Siren 3 Pro system hardware starts at $797 with cellular plans as low as $18.75 per month.
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]]>The post QUICK GUIDE: Surf Fishing Etiquette appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.
]]>Mug – (verb) to hold up, knock-off, loot, plunder, hijack, swindle.
If you’ve fished the beach long enough, you know what mugging is. Loosely defined, it’s the direct, uncomfortable encroachment of the area you are fishing by another angler, usually occurring after that said angler sees you hook up. Or it could happen when said angler thinks there’s enough room to fish the same exact spot as you. However you look at it, you know what it feels like when it happens and it can lead to expletive-laden verbal exchanges, fistfights, and even missed fishing time. And no one wants to destroy a fishing outing. So how do you know if you’ve been mugged or if you’re doing the mugging? Here are a few quick guidelines to follow to keep you on the straight and narrow.
The Golden Rule. If you are the first one to get to a spot, then that spot is yours to fish. No other angler has the right to mug you. Get up earlier if you want to put a claim on a spot.
An angler is the first to the beach and sets up two sandspiked clamming rods in a hole. Other anglers should not fish anywhere between the deadstick rods but should stay and fish on the outermost sides of the rods. Some mornings I walk up to the beach to what I want to consider “my hole” to start plugging, only to see a deadsticker there. I feel trespassed, but he was there first, and it’s his hole to fish, plain and simple. I move on. Which leads me to the 30/50-yard rule.
If a deadsticker is set up in a hole, and I want to plug, it is not considered mugging to walk 30 yards down either direction from his outermost rods and start making casts. However, if you are also bait fishing, it’s best to go down to the next hole to set up camp and stay at least 50 yards away. When anglers are plugging, a comfortable distance between anglers actively fishing is usually 30 to 50 yards.
The concrete rule. No boat should fish so near the shore to be in the surfcaster’s average casting distance without expecting repercussions. Surf fishermen should get first dibs on surf fish — beach anglers are limited in the water they can cover, while boaters are not. If a boat fishes bunker schools or boiling striped bass close enough to read the writing on a surfcaster’s hat, the boater is too close. A boater shouldn’t be surprised by possibly getting hit by errant plugs, heavy metal jigs or weighted bunker snags. Surfcasters need not give way to a boater fishing inside the breakers.
This one can get really dicey in the heat of the moment, so it’s best to keep your actions ultra-simple. Don’t cut in. An angler walks up to the beach to see striped bass and bluefish busting the surface. If the pack of anglers is tight, don’t walk down and begin casting between two anglers already spaced evenly apart. You’ll encroach their already established personal space and screw up the whole dynamic. Walk to either end of the pack, anticipating the school’s movement and begin casting. The school moves, then the other anglers pick up and frog hop to the forward-progressing end of the line to begin casting again. Don’t cut in between anglers. It will only lead to crossed lines, potential hooks in the face, and missed fishing time.
In crazed excitement, when adult bunker schools come in close enough to cast to, it can get competitive from the beach. Always stay on the outskirts of the snagging crew. Say there are five guys all snagging bunker, but the school has begun to move south fast. You are on the tail end of the snagging crew. Don’t pick up and muscle your way in between anglers 2 and 3, or 3 and 4, but instead frog hop the entire bunch of anglers and intercept the school ahead to start snagging again. This rule applies only if the pack of anglers is fairly tight. If not, see the 30/50-yard rule (above) in respect to re-entering the snagging crew in the middle.
Beach buggies have the decided advantage when chasing blitzes and scoping out spots. Still, anglers with beach vehicles shouldn’t mug other peoples’ spots. This is how it goes sometimes: Too many beach buggy anglers sit in the comfortable heat of the truck with binoculars without making casts. Once a walk-on has a bent rod, many times the buggy will scream on over, run out of the truck, and start casting right next to the guy hooked up. Bad move. It’s not bad to want to fish where the fish seem to be, but buggy anglers shouldn’t do drive-by muggings. A nice gesture would be to ask the walking angler if he minds you casting nearby. Common courtesy wins out.
When surf fishing, whether it’s in Jersey, North Carolina or Montauk, all that really matters is common sense and a little respect. Sure, there will be days when it’s a ghost town and you have the beach all to yourself, but there will also be days when it is jam-packed. React accordingly. The saying goes, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, or something like that. If it feels like you are mugging somebody, chances are you are. Whether you’re a local living year-round in a beachside community, a part-timer who owns a house or rents to enjoy a few months out of the year, or a day tripper driving from inland towns to enjoy the beaches, we are all fishermen. All of us have the same rights, respects and responsibilities to share the beach equally.
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]]>The post Fishing With Crabs as Bait appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.
]]>There are dozens of species of crabs in North American coastal waters, from the eraser-size Florida mole crab to giant Alaskan king crabs that won’t fit in a washtub. All of them have in common that at some stage of their lives, they are high on the list of edibles for local game fish.
In Florida, there’s no better spring and summer tarpon bait than the “pass crabs” that drift through the west coast passes by the thousands from April through July. They max out around 4 inches across the carapace, and have well-developed swimming legs on the back of their shell.
Catching pass crabs is straightforward; get out on the early part of an outgoing tide near one of the passes, find a rip stacked up with grass, foam and debris, and dip-net the drifting crabs. You can also sometimes find them along the beaches at dawn when an onshore wind has stacked grass along the shore.
Fishing with crabs as bait allows you to target a plethora of species. These crabs, candy for both tarpon and permit, also are tasty tidbits for redfish and snook — as well as cobia, which are known as “crab eaters” in some areas for good reason.
From Virginia to Texas, the blue is abundant and easy to catch with a trap you can hang off any dock — a piece of mullet or chicken neck draws them in. Small blues, to 4 inches across, make the best live baits. Cobia love them, and so do big redfish and drum. You can also do well cutting larger crabs in half, particularly for redfish and big black drum.
These little crabs found on muddy shorelines, and around oyster bars and backcountry creeks, are wonderful bait for pompano, permit, sheepshead and redfish.
To catch them, take a tip from the pros and conduct a “crab roundup.” Make a sort of funnel from strips of plywood about six inches tall and eight feet long, stood on edge with a couple of stakes to hold them in place. Sink a 5-gallon bucket into the sand at the small end of the funnel, then herd the crabs into the funnel.
Sand fleas — actually mole crabs — rate as a favorite of many fish, particularly pompano on the beach. Snook eat them too. Sand-flea rakes are available at tackle shops in most beach communities. Sieve the sand at the surf line where you spot the diminutive crabs.
Throughout the tropics, hermit crabs are a favorite permit bait. The crabs are slow and easy to catch along any beach or coral edge. When you need fresh bait, pull them out of their shell and bait up — it’s a rare permit that can pass one up.
Black mangrove crabs swarm the roots of mangrove trees all over peninsular Florida. About the size of a 50-cent piece, they are the right size for reds, sheepshead and pompano. Put a piece of cut bait on the mud next to mangrove roots or seawalls at low tide, and set a cardboard box soaked in salt water atop it. The crabs will soon find the bait. They’ll stay put under the box long enough for you to scoop them up — without the box, they’ll run off before you can get close enough to capture them.
Most species of swimming crabs do fine in a flow-through livewell; remove the pincers so they don’t kill each other or get your fingers when you scoop them up. Keep semi-aquatic crabs like fiddlers and hermits for several days by simply placing them in wet seaweed in a 5-gallon bucket.
Fish live crabs on a short-shank 3x-strong hook matched to the quarry. For tarpon and cobia, a 5/0 or 6/0; for permit and slot reds, a 2/0 to 3/0. For small crabs, such as fiddlers when you’re after pompano and sheepshead, use a size 1 or 1/0. For the tiny mole crab, a light wire hook in size 1 or 2 is the ticket for pompano. Hook all these crabs through one of the points in the shell, coming up from below. Twist the hook so the point drills through the carapace without cracking it. Check the hook point after the bait is in place; on large baits like blues, the shell can sometimes slightly turn the point.
Among artificial lures, find a bait that looks so much like the real thing that you expect it to attack with waving claws — is a great alternative to live crabs in moving water. In soft plastics, Z-Man, D.O.A., Berkley Gulp! and Savage Gear are good, among others.
The big thing in fishing an artificial is to resist the temptation to fish crab lures like a jig; that’s about five times too fast. Use scented baits for sight-fishing. Toss them slightly ahead of tailing reds or drum, twitch a few times to get the fish’s attention, and then let the built-in scent do the rest. Ditto for tarpon: Land the bait well in front of them, let it drift down on their nose, and hang on tight.
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]]>The post West Winds Are the Best Winds appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.
]]>I’m clearly a glutton for punishment. For most anglers, fishing trips involve making a milk run of spots that have delivered for them in the past, and hoping that at least one of them will hold feeding fish on that day. It’s an efficient strategy that certainly increases the chances for success. But to me, it’s as boring as reading a book on String Theory.
The joy for me in the sport of angling is not in reeling in a fish but rather in overcoming the challenge of figuring out the fish. Each bite is just confirmation that the fish were doing what my analysis determined they should be. Once the fish is hooked, I’d just as soon hand the rod to someone else to reel it in.
Because of that, I rarely fish the same spot twice, preferring to hit new areas that require me to read the water and make exploratory casts to determine if my hypotheses were correct. Since my home state of Louisiana has 2.5 million acres of coastal wetlands, the options are almost endless for anglers like me who want to channel their inner Vasco da Gama.
As such, most of my fishing trips actually begin at my desk staring at Google Earth on my Mac. I look for areas rich in hydrographic features that should deliver based on expected conditions on the day I’m fishing.
To me, one of the most predictable occurs during or immediately following an atmospheric feature that most south Louisiana anglers despise — a west wind. Breezes with a compass reading anywhere from about 225 to 315 cause water in Louisiana’s marshes to flee like tourists the day after Mardi Gras. Lakes, bays and lagoons that may have produced fish the day before a westerly wind will be as fishless and nearly as dry as the Mojave.
Since those are the areas that most anglers fish, west winds are as popular in south Louisiana as bland gumbo. But those fish have to go somewhere, and to me, a west wind merely serves to concentrate them and make them easier to catch. That’s particularly true with speckled trout and redfish, although the strategies I employ to find them differ slightly.
If I’m hoping to get a speckled-trout fix, I scan the satellite images and make note of medium-sized bayous that drain marsh lakes or lagoons. From September through May, specks will stuff their faces in these water bodies. They will retreat to the nearest deep water when forced to by Mother Nature. Although major bayous with depths to 20 feet are certainly worth checking, the sweet spots for me are bayous with 6 to 10 feet of depth. Invariably, once on sight, I’ll make my first cast at the first bend of each of those bayous.
If I’m craving the hard hits and strong pulls of redfish, my game plan varies slightly. What I look for in my map study are small bayous that connect two marsh ponds. Redfish seem to always want to be as shallow as possible, often hunting for snacks in water no deeper than the height of their bodies. So when ponds get dry or too shallow to swim, the fish stack up in absurd numbers in these small bayous that measure only 2 to 3 feet deep.
Often the challenge is getting to these tiny waterways in the low-water conditions, an obstacle that’s overcome with the use of a mud motor or with nerves of steel while running an outboard over glorified mud puddles. The latter is the method I employ, so a push pole is standard gear on my boat. It’s saved me from spending the night in the marsh more times than my wife will ever know.
Admittedly, not every medium-sized bayou that drains a marsh lake will hold speckled trout, and not every small bayou between two ponds will be crowded with redfish. So I find several before I ever pull my boat out of the garage, and I’ll hit them all in a day’s fishing. Ground truthing my hypotheses is what makes this sport fun.
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]]>The post Best Striped Bass Lures appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.
]]>Recipes are great for both cooking and fishing — follow this set of instructions, and you’ll get that desired result. Professional chefs, however, understand which flavors combine well to create their own delectable dishes. Charter captains, who fish many days consecutively, through varied weather, temperature and tides, similarly understand how a lure’s specific characteristics — its flavor, if you will — mix with given water conditions to convince fish to take a bite.
With that in mind, I asked 11 striped bass experts to pick their favorite striper lure and explain when and how they fish it. I also asked each why he believed that particular lure to be so mouthwatering to striped bass in those circumstances. Sure, pro anglers typically name as their go-to striped bass lure one made by a manufacturer who sponsors them. But knowing it has proved consistently effective for them, then understanding why — both their “recipe” (what to fish, when and how — as well as their reasoning) — will help all striper enthusiasts increase their success. Here are the best striped bass lures you can buy today.
Where, When and Who Along Long Island on New York’s southwestern coast, from Jones Inlet to Fire Island, Capt. Al Lorenzetti targets striped bass on current edges along inshore sandbars from late May through mid-July, and then again in October and November.
Lure Choice and Conditions “When I’m anchored ahead of a rip, the blunt tip of the Danny, plus that metal lip, gives it a wobble that stripers want to pounce on, even with minimal forward motion through the water. Just the current makes the plug work.”
Read Next: Striped Bass Fishing in New England
How and Why “One angler on one side of the boat just holds the lure right in front of the edge of the rip. Another angler on the other side casts behind the rip and reels right up to it. The most experienced angler in a group of three then throws between the two and reels the plug right along the rip line, just fast enough to make it wobble. It lays over side to side and looks like the slow-moving bunker or shad that frequent those rips.”
Size and Color 3½-ounce in yellow (which is intended to resemble bunker)
Unique Rig Bend the metal lip down, not quite to 90 degrees, to keep the lure on top, where it’s easier to keep an eye on it as well as see spectacular striper surface bites.
When to Switch “Casting into the wind, the line tends to foul the Danny’s front hook, and if I can’t get close, like at a breaking inlet bar, it doesn’t cast far enough.” At such times, Lorenzetti goes with Gibbs’ Polaris Popper. “It doesn’t foul, and I can throw it a country mile.”
-Lorenzetti is a pro staffer for Gibbs.
Where, When and Who North Carolina sounds — really, one huge, shallow inland sea — provide stripers year-round, with “dynamite action from late April through November,” says Capt. Gary Dubiel.
Lure Choice and Conditions If he knows where to cast, and stripers are either in shallow water or actively feeding on top, Dubiel says the distinct, loud rattle of the Skitter Walk attracts bigger fish than most other lures will.
How and Why “Use a lot of rod tip and reel slowly” — the classic walk-the-dog, Dubiel says. “Rock the bait aggressively side to side to move that big rattle inside, and keep it moving toward you with slow momentum. The rhythmic noise and motion seem to trigger fish.”
Size and Colors 4 3/8-inch with a white or chartreuse belly, or — in particularly dark, tannic water — a model in orange hues
When to Switch In choppy water that muffles noise, or when fish are deeper or more scattered, Dubiel prefers the louder sound and heartier surface action of Storm’s Rattlin’ Chug Bug, a cup-faced popper, which he says is also easier for many anglers to fish properly.
-Dubiel is a pro staffer for Rapala.
Where, When and Who Beginning in May, striped bass show up on bars and along marsh edges on the Merrimack River, just south of the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border, says Capt. Chris Valakatgis.
Lure Choice and Conditions “On a calm day, you see the Jumping Minnow on top, even if it stops, and you hear the rattle. That helps get you into a rhythm and adjust your retrieve until you find the cadence that entices bites.”
How and Why “Start with a slow walk-the-dog motion, then use slow twitches of the rod tip to make the bait swing out wider to the side. If stripers are breaking on the surface, try speeding up the cadence and tightening the zigzag.”
Size and Color 4½-inch in bone
Unique Rig Replace original hooks with larger No. 1 or No. 2 trebles to handle 40-inch fish, but crush barbs to aid releasing smaller schoolies.
When to Switch “The Jumping Minnow is so light, it’s hard to cast in any wind, and if it’s choppy, you need a lure with more surface commotion to stand out,” Valakatgis says, so in those conditions, he switches to the rear-weighted Cordell Pencil Popper for better casting and heartier action.
Where, When and Who After spawning in the Hudson and Delaware rivers, stripers return to the coast beginning late in March and hang there through June, says Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, Capt. John Luchka.
Lure Choice and Conditions “When adult bunker are around, the fast-sinking Magic Swimmer targets fish on the surface, midwater and all the way to the bottom,” Luchka says. Stripers are drawn to the vibration the jointed body creates and, the guide says, it looks like an injured fish once the fish get close.
How and Why “They’re not super aggressive until they’ve had a few meals. Cast the lure outside the edge of the bait school so it looks like a wounded bait separated from the school. Let it sink, then bring it in slowly a couple of cranks and pause, a couple more cranks, and pause. They crush it on that pause.” A faster retrieve entices those same fish after they’ve eaten and become more aggressive.
Size and Colors 7½-inch, 3-ounce fast-sinking in bunker, or the brighter American shad color in murky water
When to Switch When smaller prey are prevalent, Luchka prefers “Sebile’s Stick Shadd, which is a bit rounder, and better matches the body shape of peanut bunker.”
-Luchka was a pro staffer for Sebile, back when the company was producing lures.
Where, When and Who Chris Fox’s flexible schedule gets him on the lower Chesapeake Bay as regularly as many pro captains where, from October through early December, he parlays that expertise into frequent striper, trout and redfish slams, all from one lure.
Lure Choice and Conditions Near the mouth of the York and James rivers, green shrimp — which are actually white — show up thick in shallow water near man-made structure such as old pier pilings. “The ColtSniper‘s lip drives the lure underwater a foot or two, where the long, skinny body and white color match the shrimp.”
How and Why From deeper water, “cast it up on a flat and just reel it in slowly. It flashes white as it wobbles and rolls side to side. The fish usually hammer it right at that drop-off,” he says. As the water temperature falls below 50 degrees, “I slow the retrieve drastically, almost to the point of boredom,” he says — until a 40-inch striped bass piles on.
Size and Colors 140 mm (5.5 inches) in bone color with pink highlights underneath
When to Switch When the fish hang deeper than the ColtSniper will reach, “I switch to a sinking version of Hayward Tackle’s Genesis and twitch it for a walk‑the‑dog action.”
Where, When and Who Along Cape Cod’s eastern shore and north past Cape Ann, Massachusetts, from mid-May through mid-July, tremendous currents from 12-foot tides over bottom with minimal structure to hide behind force striped bass into huge, roaming packs. They’re “more like open-water pelagics” — not their normal ambush hunting style, says Capt. Dom Petrarca.
Lure Choice and Conditions For about an hour on either side of slack tide, Petrarca says, “the stripers push the mackerel to the surface and attack from underneath. The long, wide Cruiser makes a lot of surface noise and offers the mackerel profile that bass are keyed in to.”
How and Why “Every couple of cranks, give a light twitch to the left [for spinners with the handle on the left side]. The wide body is weighted so the narrow nose digs in and it kicks out to the side, then comes back in an S pattern,” Petrarca says, which mimics the quick lateral movements of mackerel fleeing predators.
Size and Color 10-inch in a blue- or green-mackerel pattern
Unique Rig Owner Stinger 3/0 treble hook plus a Gamakatsu 8/0 live-bait hook at the tail
When to Switch During ripping currents between high and low tides, striped bass change hunting tactics. “They stack up, looking like a long wave on the fish finder in the middle of the water column.” That huge wall of striper mouths swimming with the current sucks up any unfortunate prey it rolls across. “Get in front of the school, and drop a 3- or 4-ounce jig.”
-Petrarca is a pro staffer for Strategic Angler.
Where, When and Who Capt. Scott Leonard starts his season in May on Long Island, New York’s central south shore, and he moves to Montauk and beyond as the fish migrate east from July through September.
Lure Choice and Conditions “The Talkin’ Popper fishes really well when it’s flat or fairly calm — 12 knots of wind or less. It casts well too when stripers are up tight to the beach and hard to get to.”
How and Why “Cast along the outer edges of the bunker school, where big bass tend to be. Pop it, let it settle, then pop it again, while reeling nice and slow. The slower the better for bigger fish,” he says. “The way it splashes, it looks like a wounded bunker separated from the school, and stripers climb right onto it.”
Size and Colors 3½-ounce in yellow, to mimic prevalent bunker
When to Switch “When conditions are rougher, with a lot of surface commotion already, I’ll go with a surface swimmer like the Gibbs Danny.”
-Leonard is a pro staffer for Tsunami.
Where, When and Who Capt. Carter Andrews fishes far and wide for The Obsession of Carter Andrews television show, but he often returns to New England during peak early‑summer striper fishing.
Lure Choice and Conditions The Mag Darter fishes really well in strong New England currents. “It doesn’t roll to the side like a true lipped lure,” he says. “With the magnetic weight-transfer system, super-long casts maximize my opportunities farther from the boat.”
How and Why “With just a slow, steady, straight wind, it darts really well side to side,” which he says entices striped bass in most conditions. To spice it up, though, “on every second or third crank, I give it just a little twitch.”
Size and Colors 6½-inch in bronze or bone, or, at times, holographic pink
When to Switch “When I’m up the rivers, in calmer conditions with less current, I can throw the 5-inch Mag Minnow like a dart,” he says, to more accurately target specific points and pockets of marsh grass where striped bass might lie.
-Andrews is a pro staffer for Yo-Zuri.
Hard baits require specific angler actions to convince stripers they’re a natural food source. “Soft baits already look and feel real,” says Rhode Island charter captain Jack Sprengel, who offers several hot tickets.
Early in July, as fish move into deeper water off Block Island, Sprengel says, “they’re often using current breaks behind structure to carry feeding opportunities to them. The original RonZ series lure’s tapered body swims just from water moving across its body.” Simply drop a 6- to 8-inch lure from a drifting boat, choosing the weighted head based on drift speed. Alternately, “cast into the direction of the drift and let it sink to the bottom, then slowly jig it all the way back to the surface.”
-Sprengel is a pro staffer for RonZ.
Beginning in May in Narragansett Bay, “when they’re in shallow water and easily spooked, it’s tough to beat a soft-landing, slow-moving bait like the original Slug-Go, presented at or just below the surface,” Sprengel says. A 6- to 10-inch bait should be rigged with a single-hook head. “Less is more. Don’t botch the presentation by adding too much input. If the strike doesn’t come right after it lands, retrieve any slack, give it two sharp twitches, pause, and repeat.”
Regarding another favorite of Sprengel’s, he says: “Near a jetty or pier, a weighted paddle-tail shad with tight but erratic action, such as Storm’s swim shad, sinks quickly down into the strike zone along and between structure contours.” Start small, 4 to 6 inches, or as large as 9 inches to target large stripers. “Reel slowly and let the paddle tail do its job.” Sprengel favors these swim shad in bright colors on bright days and darker colors on dark, overcast days. “Hold the lure over your head,” he suggests, “and see how it contrasts with the sky — as fish will see it.”
With a West Coast spin on striper fishing, widely known Northern California fishing journalist Steve Carson says: “On major rivers, the 8-inch black PowerBait Maxscent Kingtail rigged on a ½- to ¾-ounce jig head replicates local eels. In the California Delta, Berkley’s 4-inch Havoc Sick Fish and 4- or 5-inch PowerBait Ripple Shad are good for blind-casting at known holding areas, or cast the Gulp! 5-inch or 6-inch Saltwater Jerk Shads into visible boils. Carson adds, “Shad- or trout-replicating colors are usually best, though chartreuse can be very effective in dirty water.”
-Carson is a pro staffer for Berkley.
Back on the East Coast, pro tournament fisherman Capt. Seth Funt (@teamthreebuoys) says, “The fish in Long Island Sound in March and April are tuned in to worms and small sand eels,” so he opts for a ½- or ¾-ounce Spro Prime Bucktail Jig in pearl, tipped with a 4- or 6-inch Gulp! Power Worm in pumpkin color. “It gives them a big, fat sand eel to get excited about. Just twitch, twitch, pull, and then let it fall a little. Worms and juvenile eels don’t swim along like baitfish; they just move with the current, so present it the same way.”
No matter your preferred striper lure, the key is to match it to the seasonal patterns and feeding behaviors of the striped bass you’re targeting. With the right lures and some well-timed casts, you’ll be hooking into plenty of these hard-fighting fish in no time. So get rigged up with some proven striped bass lures and get out on the water — the next trophy is waiting for you.
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]]>The post 10 Best Tarpon Lures appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.
]]>Tarpon are smart, or stubborn — I’m not sure which. Maybe both? No matter what, a tarpon’s lack of appetite some days makes for frustrating fishing. What I’ve learned over the years is that figuring out the best tarpon lures and understanding which ones work best for your area can go a long way.
I remember one summer trip off a Florida beach when school after school of tarpon swam underneath the boat, completely ignoring our best presentations. Dozens of tarpon patrolled just below and at the surface, often gulping air in defiance to our offerings.
There’s no better way to get out of that tarpon rut than by switching tactics, as my friends and I learned later that month. A local guide let slip that the tarpon were biting white, oversize jerk baits rigged to appropriate-size jig heads. For the rest of the summer, we jumped and released plenty of tarpon along the beaches. I say “jumped” because tarpon are tough to catch, and getting jumps and long runs out of them is still fun fishing, even if they never make it to the boat.
While there can never be 100 percent certainty what tarpon will chew (even if they devoured it last season or last month) I surveyed top captains, fishing-show hosts, tackle shops and lure manufacturers to find the best tarpon lures. To list every valuable tarpon lure would fill an entire book, so we kept it to a mix of 10 hard and soft baits, listed in no particular order.
Expert: Capt. Chris O’Neill, Englewood, Florida
Weapon of Choice: Badonk-A-Donk High Pitch (4.75 inches)
Color: Depending on the sky conditions, O’Neill’s first choices are silver mullet or speckled trout. If the sky is bright and the water’s flat, he’ll use a color with a bone- or orange-colored throat.
Fishing Conditions: O’Neill prefers the water’s surface to be lightly choppy or flat calm, though such conditions are not absolutely necessary. Look for signs of tarpon rolling at the surface or feeding on mullet or ladyfish. In the waters around Boca Grande, Florida, O’Neill prefers fishing from August through October. There’s zero pressure that time of the year, and migrating fish are happy throughout the estuary, he says. They are far more willing to take a topwater lure.
Technique: Spot the tarpon and try to get ahead of the pod quietly. Work the bait down-current of the fish, just as Mother Nature would, says O’Neill. Baitfish do not swim against current, toward a school of hungry tarpon. Use a twitch-twitch-pause retrieve — and boom! — expect to get hit, says O’Neill.
Rigging: O’Neill, who’s a Penn pro, prefers an 8-foot Penn Legion rod armed with a Penn Spinfisher 6500 spinning reel. He uses 50-pound braided main line, connected to 60-pound fluorocarbon leader with an Albright knot. But before he ties on the Badonk-A-Donk with a loop knot, he replaces the treble hooks with stout short-shank hooks to increase hookup ratios and minimize potential damage to the fish.
Expert: Capt. Ed Zyak; Jensen Beach, Florida
Weapon of Choice: Terror Eyz (regular size; “I have caught more tarpon on this lure than all others combined,” Zyak says.)
Color: Root beer
Fishing Conditions: The lure works great on the beach in clear water, as well as the stained waters of backcountry rivers.
Technique: When using the Terror Eyz, Zyak typically casts to rolling fish — long, accurate casts are a must. Cast 4 to 6 feet in front of a rolling fish, and let the lure sink freely for a three- to four-second count, he says. Then use a steady, slow retrieve with no jigging movement at all. The bite is usually very light, but make sure to set the hook hard, says Zyak.
Rigging: Zyak prefers a 5,000-size Shimano Stella spinning reel on a 7- or 7½ -foot, medium-heavy rod. He spools with 30-pound braid and 50-pound fluorocarbon leader. The line-to-line connection is a double uni-knot, and the Terror Eyz gets a loop knot at the eye. This setup gives the best balance of distance and accuracy, plus great drag and power from the rod, the guide says.
Expert: Capt. Aaron Snell; Key West, Florida
Weapon of Choice: Original Hogy (10 inches)
Color: Snell prefers bone, followed by bubble gum. He’ll use black in low light or in off-colored waters.
Fishing Conditions: Snell prefers to sight-fish for tarpon over crystal-clear flats. For fishing around bridges, Ross Gallagher, director of retail sales at Hogy, recommends a black Hogy rigged to a jig head. More and more Keys captains bounce the jig along the bottom to catch tarpon in deeper waters, he says.
Technique: When flats fishing, get the lure in the water well ahead of the fish. Retrieve the bait with light twitches right into the fish’s strike zone. Vary the retrieval speed to the fish’s cruising speed, says Snell. Then set the hook down and to the side as soon as you feel the pop, he says. If the tarpon is swimming toward the boat, make sure it turns away before striking.
Rigging: Snell uses an 8-foot, medium- to fast-action spinning rod coupled with a reel that handles 30-pound braid. He ties a Bimini twist into the braid, and then uses a ninja or double slim knot to attach 2 feet of 60-pound fluorocarbon. Sometimes he’ll incorporate a section of furled nylon to add stretch. He rigs the Hogy to a weightless, 10/0 swimbait hook. Leader-to-hook connection is a Homer Rhode loop.
Expert: Capt. Andrew Bostick; Marco Island, Florida
Weapon of Choice: Z-Man Streakz (5 or 8 inches)
Color: Black or white
Fishing Conditions: Bostick covers the waters from Marco Island to Everglades National Park on the southwest coast of Florida. He searches for tarpon feeding high in the water in both clear and tannic conditions. Since the lure is up in the water column, he says, it’s exciting to see the strikes.
Technique: Bostick fishes the soft bait when sight‑casting to rolling fish or blind-casting in a productive area. During the retrieve, he jerks the bait 6 to 8 inches, lets it sit for a second or two, and repeats. It’s important to wait for the fish to turn after it eats because anglers set the hook too fast at times.
Rigging: Bostick rigs the 5-inch Streakz with an Owner 4/0 Aki hook; the 8-inch is rigged with a 7/0. He uses a medium-heavy setup spooled with 20-pound braid, ending with 60- to 80-pound leader. Super glue the ElaZTech material of the Streakz to the hook, recommends Bostick. Once glued, the bait lasts longer than other soft plastics and has an impressive lifelike look.
Expert: George Large, general manager, Yo-Zuri America
Weapon of Choice: Crystal 3-D Minnow Magnum
Color: In clear water, Large uses the holographic sardine color; in tannic water, he uses the holographic bunker; and in dirty water, he chooses holographic chartreuse.
Fishing Conditions: Spring and fall are the best times of the year, especially around new moons and during flood tides, says Large. As far as water conditions go, the lures work well in most waters, but tannic tints really set off the ultraviolet colors.
Technique: It’s as simple as casting and retrieving. Work the lure with a consistent retrieve — fast or slow, says Large. The tarpon will let you know what they prefer. Sometimes incorporate intermittent pause-jerk-pause actions to increase strikes, he says.
Rigging: It’s really up to the user, says Large. He uses a medium-heavy rod rigged with 60- to 80-pound braid, paired with a strong baitcasting or spinning reel. Large ties 80- to 130-pound fluorocarbon leader to a heavy-duty split ring attached to the lure’s line tie.
Expert: Capt. Rick Murphy, host of the Chevy Florida Insider Fishing Report and Sportsman’s Adventures
Weapon of Choice: Glidin’ Rap 12
Color: Gold shiner
Fishing Conditions: Capt. Rick Murphy spends plenty of time fishing Everglades National Park in South Florida for the silver king. He targets laid-up tarpon in the back bays, swirling with clear to tannic-brown waters, during the prime months of May to October.
Technique: Murphy prefers blind- or sight-casting to rolling fish with shallow-running lures that feature strong side-to-side action. He casts out in front of the tarpon and twitches the rod tip to give the lure a walk-the-dog presentation, a forced zigzag motion that many lure anglers are familiar with. Often, tarpon hit the lure during the pause. So far, his largest lure-caught tarpon is 140 pounds.
Rigging: Murphy prefers plug tackle, opting for a 7-foot rod paired with a 400-size baitcasting reel. He rigs up with 20-pound braid main line tied to 60-pound fluorocarbon leader. All line connections use the time-tested uni-knot.
Expert: Capt. Rhett Morris; Port Charlotte, Florida
Weapon of Choice: Series III Suspending Twitchbait (S25MR)
Color: Morris prefers chartreuse, red-head-and-white back, or apple-red-and-gold
Fishing Conditions: The best time of year to catch tarpon is April through June, as well as in fall, says Morris. He looks for glass-calm waters so the lure leaves a surface wake while being worked toward the boat. Still, the suspending twitchbait works in choppier waters too, so don’t fret when waters aren’t dead calm.
Technique: Cast the lure 10 feet in front of a rolling fish, then slowly work it with a series of twitches. Morris tries to follow a one-second pause with a three-second pause. He’ll change to a one-two count when retrieving the lure more erratically. Try hard to make the bait look like injured, easy prey, says Morris.
Rigging: Morris removes the front hook of the MirroLure and replaces the back treble with a 3x-strong Owner treble hook. That single, rear hook has a better hookup ratio, he says. He attaches the plug to 6 feet of 60-pound leader with a no-name loop knot. Make sure to use at least a 7½-foot rod that can handle 50-pound braid and an 8,000-size reel, he says.
Expert: Patrick Sebile, founder of Sebile Lures
Weapon of Choice: Magic Swimmer Fast Sinking 145
Color: A natural shiny color for the daytime. At night, Sebile chooses white so he can see the lure in the water.
Fishing Conditions: The best time of the year is during spring and fall, or anytime tarpon are active in shallow waters.
Technique: Sebile rigs his lures to fish in a number of ways. Cast and reel in the lure with a straight retrieve, or slow-troll the lure behind the boat. If anchored, let the bait sit still so the “Magic Swimmer can do its magic,” says Sebile. The natural wobble of the Magic Swimmer in the current draws strikes from tarpon.
Rigging: Sebile developed this rig years ago when guiding for monster tarpon in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa. Sebile connects a circle hook to a swivel, holding the hook onto the swivel with a rubber stopper. On the other end of the swivel, a split ring attaches to the lure. The rig allows anglers to change sizes and models but still allows total freedom for the lure to swim, he says. Once the fish is hooked, there’s no leverage on the lure’s body and less of a chance to break off. The hook lips the tarpon when they swallow it, minimizing intrusion of the hook in the fish’s mouth, Sebile says.
Expert: Henry Waszczuk, host of Fishing the Flats
Weapon of Choice: Scaled Sardine Wakebait (4½ inches)
Color: Ghost amber
Fishing Conditions: Waszczuk prefers stained water, where tarpon can’t overanalyze his presentation. He targets fish in Florida Keys backcountry waters near tide rips, mangroves and other holding areas, plus near bridge structure.
Technique: Tarpon are notorious for keying in on live baits such as crabs, threadfin herring or scaled sardines, so it’s no surprise that Waszczuk recommends twitchbaits, swimbaits and wakebaits that mimic them. Waszczuk makes long casts to the tarpon, staying as far away as he can from the pods, and then utilizes a quick-pause erratic retrieve. The height of the rod tip off the water dictates the various depths your lure swims, he says.
Rigging: A medium-heavy rod matched to your favorite spinning reel is all that’s necessary. Waszczuk uses braid in the 40- to 50-pound class but recommends the angler determine the line weight based on the size of tarpon in the area. Tie a fluoro leader to the terminal end, and then add the plug. Waszczuk works the bait with the rod tip for the best action.
Expert: Robert Lugiewicz, manager at Fishin’ Franks tackle shop in Charlotte Harbor, Florida
Weapon of Choice: WildEye Swim Shad (4 to 6 inches)
Color: Lugiewicz prefers bunker or mullet colors but says the best color changes from year to year.
Fishing Conditions: Sight-or drift-fishing in the harbor or along the beaches offers the best of both worlds in summer. Lugiewicz prefers a bit of a breeze and some chop on the water, and looks for schools of mullet or threadfin schools. In Charlotte Harbor, he’ll search out deeper holes, ranging from 6 to 20 feet deep.
Technique: Besides casting in front of tarpon schools and letting the bait sink, Lugiewicz offers a tip you might not have considered. Put a float above a swimbait, cast it out, and stick the rod in an out-of-the-way holder while drifting. Forget about it while casting to other fish in the area. He’s caught countless tarpon this way, he says — Rodney the Rod Holder to the rescue.
Rigging: Rigging is a cinch with the line-to-swimbait connection using a basic uni-knot (no leader). Lugiewicz uses an 8-foot rod, such as a Shimano Teramar, and pairs it with a Penn Battle spooled with 50-pound braid. (He’s not affiliated with either manufacturer.) Leader strength is 60- to 80-pound fluorocarbon.
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]]>The post Spring Into the Yellowfin Tuna Fishing Scene appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.
]]>Yellowfin tuna attack in packs, like wolves descending on a flock of lambs. Often, these 50-pound footballs launch completely out of the water to crash bait from above.
On the hook, they fight like bulldogs with a headstrong run capable of pegging anglers to their limits. On the table, the meat tastes delicate, whether seared like a steak or sliced up cold and raw.
Among the top locations to catch this most-popular gamefish has to be Hatteras Island, North Carolina. Captains troll ballyhoo, cast topwater plugs, dangle baits from a kite or jig vertically. Fishing out of the famed Oregon Inlet, on the east side of Hatteras island, or the fabled Hatteras Inlet on the south side of the island, anglers find ample opportunities to catch the yellowfin tuna of a lifetime.
The combination of warm-water eddies and deep structure attracts tuna to the waters off Oregon Inlet from October through June. While blackfin, bigeye and bluefin tuna visit the area, yellowfin tuna remain the star attraction.
The charter fleet fishing out of Oregon Inlet developed the tactics that anglers all over the world use to score yellowfin. Based out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, Capt. Charles Haywood chases tuna on his 55-foot custom boat, Rigged Up.
Haywood has fished Oregon Inlet since childhood, starting as a mate for some of the most iconic anglers on the water and later becoming the owner operator of his own boat. After decades chasing yellowfin, Haywood and the rest of the tuna fleet have developed foolproof tuna tactics.
“We can catch yellowfin tuna all winter,” Haywood says. Later, the spring season heats up from early May to late June. While every angler prays for calm weather, Haywood says the best tuna days are a little rough. “Not hell-bent, but a 12- to 18-knot wind seems to get the fish moving,” he says. On a stiff northeast swell, he spots schools of yellowfin swimming downsea.
Haywood looks for yellowfin where the edge of the Gulf Stream crosses the continental shelf, anywhere from 30 to 50 miles offshore. Ground zero is a cut in the shelf called The Point. The warmer, clearer water of the Gulf Stream meets the cooler, dirtier water of the Labrador Current in a noticeable seam. As the currents ebb and flow, the seam moves north and south along the edge of the shelf. When the warm water crosses over a hill, cliff or canyon in the edge of the abyss, yellowfin tuna stage to feed.
“This time of year, yellowfin will hold inside or outside the stream,” he says. Haywood has caught yellowfin in water from 68 to 78 degrees; he says 70 to 74 degrees is ideal.
Haywood relies on his fish finder to mark tuna and bait as the boat moves from one piece of structure to another. Once he finds fish on a hill or canyon, he works the area until he dials in specific locations and determines the best direction to approach them.
To catch yellowfin, Haywood trolls skirted ballyhoo at 6.5 to 7.2 knots. He starts with a large ballyhoo rigged beneath a Sea Witch skirt. Haywood keeps a complete palette of skirt colors, from black-and-red to bright pinks and whites. He changes colors to meet weather and water conditions.
He pulls the ballyhoo using 50-pound-class tackle and spools up with 130-pound braided backing. To the backing, he adds a 100-yard topshot of 80-pound mono and crimps a 25-foot leader of 180-pound fluorocarbon between the topshot and the lure.
An effective tuna spread consists of a dozen baits fished from a web of lines. Haywood makes use of long riggers to long-short riggers, short-short riggers, two or three shotguns and flat lines splashing just a few feet from the transom.
Haywood recommends changing each lure’s position until it swims correctly: riding down the boat wake and popping out of the water every minute. Sometimes the fish favor long baits swimming deeper and other times, the tuna attack short baits splashing on the surface. With the right spread, a pack of yellowfin will attack every bait until every rod bends double.
After the first bite, Haywood keeps trolling, hoping to hook multiple fish. By the time he slows the boat to let the anglers work on the fish, he has moved away from the structure. With the swift Gulf Stream sweeping him away from the honey hole, Haywood turns his boat into the current while the anglers fight their fish.
When the spring bite turns hot, anglers descend from every direction to get in on the action. Chartering a professional captain can help you learn the ropes.
Haywood also encourages visitors to network with local captains to monitor weather conditions and navigation hazards. The channel markers don’t mark the channel, and a big winter swell can make the outer bar almost impassable. “We may be tough on the outboarders,” he laughs, “but the inlet is always changing. Don’t be afraid to ask for local knowledge.”
Although it lies only 60 miles south of Oregon Inlet, Hatteras Inlet is a world away. While the fleet fishing out of Oregon Inlet enjoys steady action on yellowfin tuna, anglers fishing out of Hatteras Inlet chase tuna that ride eddies of cooler water spinning along the Gulf Stream.
Capt. Rom Whitaker has chased yellowfin out of Hatteras Inlet for 40 years. “Ten years ago, tuna fishing was excellent,” he recalls. Then, local anglers suffered a dry spell — until last year.
Whitaker says the behavior of the Gulf Stream eddies changed. “We had less current and more eddies,” he says — perfect conditions for yellowfin tuna.
The Gulf Stream current can rush faster than 5 knots up the coast, and that deep, blue water is too warm and turbulent for tuna. Instead, Whitaker looks for an eddy of cooler, slower, green water spinning up from the south.
“The water in the eddy can be 3 degrees cooler,” he says. “As the eddy moves up the coast, the current will change from southwest to nothing to a backing tide out of the northeast.”
For this reason, Whitaker starts each day studying satellite sea-surface-temperature images. While on the water, he monitors changes in the eddy with his Sirius XM satellite service. He also talks to captains who fish out of Morehead City to the south, asking about water temperature, current and other details for clues to where the tuna are holding—on the edge, in the center, or at the top or bottom.
Once he determines the most likely area, he looks for where the water crosses underwater structure. “The tuna ride the eddy like a train,” he says. The fish might stop at canyons and rock piles, but they continue to move with the water. “One day they might be south at the 800 line, then the next day they’ll be at the triple zeros, and the third day, they’ll stop behind the Rockpile,” he says, referring to Loran-C locations.
Whitaker says the Hatteras yellowfin season runs from April until early July. As the months progress, his tactics change. He prefers trolling Sea Witches and ballyhoo. If that doesn’t work, he might try dropping a spoon on a planer, or adding a spreader bar into the mix. “I like the spreader bar in the middle of the spread,” he says.
If Whitaker marks fish on his fish finder, but can’t get a bite, he drops 200-gram vertical jigs. If he sees yellowfin jumping out of the water, he grabs a spinning rod rigged with a topwater popper. But his favorite way to catch tuna is with the kite, he says.
When the tuna feed on flying fish, they turn up their noses at trolled baits. Dangling a rubber flying fish from a kite can be just the thing to entice the tuna to bite. Whitaker uses 30-pound tackle spooled with 65-pound braided line. He attaches the mainline to a 4-foot section of 200-pound monofilament holding the lure. He can run two lures off one kite, trolling fast enough to keep the kite in the air and the lures bouncing off the wave tops.
Read Next: More Yellowfin Tuna Tips
“It’s a very visual bite,” he says, describing how tuna launch into the air to snare a flying bait. Yellowfin seem to prefer their prey hanging three feet off the surface. With a lot of line in the air, it’s important to quickly retrieve slack. Sharp hooks snare the fish until the angler can catch up using the reel.
On a typical day tuna fishing, anglers might have to employ several tactics before hitting the mark. Expect to switch from trolling ballyhoo, to casting plugs, jigging metal and flying a kite. But if you can find the right water over the right structure, you’ll find some of the world’s best yellowfin tuna fishing.
Yellowfin tuna are typically found offshore, often 30 miles or more from land in open waters. However, they can also be encountered closer to shore if there are deep water trenches, canyons, or upwellings that bring nutrient-rich waters and baitfish near the coast.
Yellowfin tuna are capable of swimming at a wide range of depths, from the surface down to around 800 feet (244 meters). They often inhabit depths of 200-600 feet (61-183 meters), following the vertical migration of baitfish and other prey.
The all-time record for the largest yellowfin tuna caught on rod and reel was a massive 427-pounder (193.7 kg) landed by angler David Chee off Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico in 2010. It measured 98 inches (249 cm) in length and had a girth of 71 inches (180 cm).
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