Given a choice, most offshore and inshore anglers would fish live bait for everything, from seatrout and sailfish to tarpon and tuna. But sometimes, fishermen deliberately choose dead bait, and not just when they run out of liveys or during a dead-bait-only tournament. Dead ballyhoo, menhaden, mullet and bonito, as well as strips and chunks of those baitfish, can at times actually be more effective than live bait.

A dead bait can be deployed exactly where and how it needs to be fished, whereas a live bait can swim out of the target zone or tangle another line. In addition, the scent of a fresh dead bait can prove more attractive to predators than the nervousness of a live bait. Some predators also prefer an easy meal over chasing a live bait.

The Dead Bait Tarpon Rig

“A tarpon may be a silver king, but he’s still a scavenger,” says Capt. Greg Hildreth of St. Simons Island, Georgia, who almost always puts out some dead baits on the bottom when he’s fishing for poons. Hildreth (georgiacharter​­fishing​.com) uses dead Atlantic menhaden, more commonly known as pogies, and fishes in water depths from 8 to 25 feet. “I’ll fish four or five rods, some with live bait, some with dead,” Hildreth says. “I’ll fish at least two live baits on top and dead baits on or close to the bottom.”

Hildreth castnets his live pogies the morning of a tarpon trip and puts some of the baits on ice. He hooks a dead pogy through the eyes on an 8/0 Gamakatsu circle hook. Hildreth says the large hook size works because of coastal Georgia’s poor water clarity.

“I figure bigger is better, just for the simple fact that I can put a lot of pressure on these fish, and get them to the boat fast and released,” he explains, adding that he uses scissors to cut off the pogy’s tail. “That keeps it from spinning in the ­current and puts scent in the water.”

He fishes Penn International reels, spooled with 80-pound braided line, and attaches 4 feet of 120- to 150-pound monofilament leader to the main line with a 150-pound snap snivel. Hildreth adds a quarter-ounce egg sinker to the leader to fish the pogy midwater. If he wants the bait on the bottom, he’ll use a 1½- to 2-ounce lead. To keep the sinker from sliding too far, he crimps a sleeve 2½ feet above the hook. At the terminal end of the leader, he ties on the hook with an improved clinch knot, which “gives the hook what it needs to set when it’s in the rod holder.”

Targeting Red Drum with Dead Bait

Hildreth also fishes dead pogies on the same 8/0 inline circle hook for bull redfish. His tackle includes Penn Spinfisher 7500 reels and Penn Carnage rods. He rigs a 4- or 5-ounce pyramid sinker 4 inches above the hook to prevent the big reds—which typically range from 18 to 30 pounds—from inhaling the bait too deeply.

He crimps the sinker in place on a 150-pound monofilament leader that is 3 to 3½ feet long. The heavy leader doesn’t spook the fish, and makes it easy for Hildreth to take a double-wrap and lift the fish into the boat.

Chunks of mullet or whiting also catch redfish, and Hildreth sometimes uses the remnants of legal-size trout that he’s filleted. “When I’m speckled trout fishing, if I know I’m going to fish for bull redfish in a day or so, I’ll keep the carcasses of the trout, the head being the best bait. Anything that smells nasty and fishy, they’ll eat,” he says. “If it’s a small trout, 14 to 15 inches (14 inches is Georgia’s legal minimum), I’ll go right through the eye sockets with the hook. If it’s a bigger trout, I’ll go from the ­bottom lip to the top lip.”

Trolling Bonito Strips

Capt. Abie Raymond trolls bonito strips for bonito, kingfish, sailfish, tuna, wahoo and dolphin out of Miami Beach, Florida. To prepare his baits, he ­fillets a bonito and removes most of the meat with a knife blade, until the ­fillet is ⅛ inches thick. That allows the hook to penetrate a fish’s mouth more efficiently.

He cuts the fillet with the blade angled to produce a beveled edge, which is hydrodynamic, yielding a strip that resembles a thin baitfish. Raymond squares off one end—which will serve as the top of the strip—and pokes a hole in it with the knife. He sprinkles kosher salt over the strips to remove water from them and toughen them up, then places them in a zip-closure plastic bag.

To fish them, Raymond uses Penn International 16 reels spooled with 20-pound line. The leader setup starts with 4 to 6 feet of 50-pound ­fluorocarbon. He ties a perfection loop at one end and clips it into a snap swivel. The terminal end of the leader features a flashy, reverse-feather Mylar Sea Witch—his favorite colors are pink-and-blue and blue-and-white—above a Mustad 7/0 J hook tied to the leader with a six‑turn improved clinch knot.

Raymond inserts a 4-inch piece of Monel wire through the hook eye, wraps it below the eye three times, and then threads it back through the eye. He runs the Monel through the hole at the top of the strip so the meat side of the strip runs along the shank of the hook. He then wraps the wire below the tag end of the clinch knot to secure the strip, and pokes the hook point through the ­center of the strip.

“That’s our favorite dead bait to work with [from June through September],” Raymond says. “We’ll put out two of those strip baits on our outriggers 80 to 120 feet behind the boat, along with a lure like a Billy Bait or Dolphin Jr. We stagger them: A 20-foot feather, a 40-foot feather, an 80-foot strip and a 100-foot strip would be our typical four-bait spread.”

Raymond favors trolling bonito strips over ballyhoo because strips last longer and can be cut to resemble a 4-, 6- or 8-inch flying fish, its wings imitated by the Sea Witch. “Another huge ­advantage of a strip over a ballyhoo is if a sailfish grabs a ballyhoo and rips off the tail, you’re done. A bonito strip, he’ll just grab it and grab it. It might stretch and get longer, and the meat might come off, but the skin’s still there swimming and looking beautiful,” he says.

Dead ballyhoo, of course, still remain a popular trolling bait, especially for dolphin. Raymond rigs skirted ballyhoo on a Mustad 3417 7/0 J hook tied to a 15-foot, 50-pound monofilament wind-on leader on a 20-pound spinning outfit. “You fish it like a strip, 80 to 120 feet behind an outboard boat, 60 to 100 feet behind an inboard boat,” Raymond says. “You want to troll at 6 to 6½ knots.”

Whether they’re dead or alive, fresh natural baits—rigged meticulously and fished properly—­consistently produce for anglers whether offshore on the troll or nearshore on the bottom. Use each option to your advantage. Dead bait might be old-school, but it never goes out of style.

The post Fishing Dead Bait: Old-School Theories and Updated Techniques appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Circle hooks have taken over many fishing applications for their conservation and hook-setting benefits, but some captains say anglers might be missing an important point: J hooks perform more effectively in certain situations.

When targeting fish with small mouths, such as tautog and winter flounder, or when pursuing aggressive gamefish, such as tuna or mahi, captains often choose J hooks. Traditional inline Js also work best when replacing lure trebles with single hooks (a process that also offers conservation benefits), and for targeting certain soft‑mouthed predators such as swordfish. But choosing the right hook always boils down to a case-by-case approach.

Bait Fishing with Crabs and Blood Worms

“We typically use J and octopus hooks when we’re fishing for blackfish,” says Capt. John Luchka of Point Pleasant, New Jersey. “They have small mouths, and we use green, white-legger and fiddler crabs. You need that wide gap between the point of the hook and the shank to hook the crabs.”

Luchka says the tautog’s big front teeth and crushers usually prevent deep-hooking. In most cases, they’re hooked in the lip or mouth area. He cuts off the legs and claws of the crabs and runs a 3/0 or 4/0 hook through the bottom part of the crustacean where he removed one of its legs. Luchka uses inline J hooks for stripers when he’s fishing lures. He replaces treble hooks on swimming plugs with J hooks, which are easier to remove from a striper’s mouth.

J hooks also work better than circle hooks for winter flounder, he says. “They have a very, very small mouth, so we use a long-shank J-style hook or a bait-holder hook,” Luchka explains. “You’re not catching the fish deep in the throat or the gullet. For bait, we use sand worms or blood worms and thread them on the hook, a Chestertown 2/0 or 3/0. It’s hard to do that with a circle hook. And the longer shank of the hook gives you the leverage to remove the hook from a fish’s mouth and release it.”

Tuna Fishing on the Troll

When Luchka runs to the canyons for tuna and mahi, he trolls rigged ballyhoo with a 6/0 to 8/0 J hook, depending on the bait size. “[Mahis’] feeding behavior is very vigorous, so most of the time you’re going to hook that fish in the mouth,” he says.

To catch tuna, he fishes either naked ballyhoo or pairs that bait with a Joe Shute skirted lure. J hooks lie flat in the bait, unlike circle hooks, which would have to be bridled to a ballyhoo because “it’s next to impossible to thread a bait on a circle hook.”

When to Use J-Hooks

Capt. Tony DiGiulian, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, also replaces the plug trebles with J hooks. Otherwise, he only uses J hooks when he trolls lures and when he’s daytime swordfishing. Although he experiments with circle hooks for that fishery.

“You would probably have a better hookup ratio,” says DiGiulian, who releases both undersize and keeper-size swordfish. “If we get into a big pod of mahi, one thing we do is try to release a lot of fish. If we’re catching 5-or 6-pound females, we let all of them go. Our personal standard for size is way higher than what the state or federal limits are. We use circle hooks because we want to make sure that we can harvest the fish that we target, and that the fish we are releasing are released in good condition.”

When trolling for kingfish with planers and lures or strip baits, or targeting big blue marlin and tuna, he uses J hooks. “If I were trolling, I’d use either a single J hook or a double J hook set,” he adds.

Under special circumstances, he also uses J hooks when live-baiting for kingfish. “If I’m targeting just kingfish, and I know I’m in a spot where there are no sailfish around, I might fish some J hooks with live baits,” he explains. “Fish such as kingfish or wahoo, with really sharp teeth, like to immobilize a bait by biting off the tail or biting it in half. Then they eat the remaining chunk as it sinks, and the hookup ratio with a J hook is traditionally greater. Kingfish of 5 to 10 pounds are harder to hook on a circle hook. The big ones eat the whole bait on a circle hook.”

Better Hooks for Baitfish

Capt. Jamie Thinnes, who fishes out of Fisherman’s Landing in San Diego, says he primarily uses J hooks except when he’s fishing for bluefin tuna. A drawn-out battle with a bluefin often ends when the tuna spits the J hook because the angler failed to stay tight to the fish as it neared the boat and begin moving erratically.

“Bluefin tuna, they’re just smart; they just roll over and do a complete 180 on you,” he says. “Our catch rate is usually a lot higher with circle hooks.”

Yellowfin tuna are a different story. “If we’re fishing for yellowfins or yellowtail, we’re using mostly J hooks. A 3- to 4-inch live sardine is a perfect yellowtail-size bait.”

Thinnes uses light line, 20-pound fluorocarbon leaders and No. 2 and No. 4 Mustad bronze hooks up to 1/0 or 2/0. “For a small bait to swim really well, we have to collar-hook it. Being able to get a bait on the hook without damaging the bait is important. A J hook hurts the bait less. We’re able to grab a bait out of the livewell, snap it on the hook and let it out immediately. The less handling the better. Hooking a bait on a circle hook is more challenging.”

So don’t let those old J hooks rust just yet. At times, they’ll run circles around the competition.

The post When to Use Circle Hooks or J Hooks appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The South Florida seas had grown into nasty 4- to 5-footers; the sky darkened. If it hadn’t been the August full-moon period, Capt. Chris Fay would not have ventured offshore. But he and his buddy were confident that it was prime time to catch a wahoo. “It was rough, nasty,” recalls Fay, of Deerfield Beach, Florida. “We had been fishing in 300 feet, but we saw a storm coming in, so we went into shallow water, 97 feet.”

Fay continues: “Right before the sun went down, the moon was coming up. As soon as that moon popped, the one fish that we were looking for decided to feed. We were doing a turn, and I looked over at the short planer rod, and that thing just started dumping. The fish made a 350-yard run, and we knew exactly what it was: a big, fat, giant wahoo.”

The fish, which ate a split-tail mullet, came within 15 feet of the boat after that initial run, then took off on another run. The wahoo eventually came close enough for Fay and his friend to sink two or three gaffs into the fish. Then they struggled to lift the wahoo into their boat.

They headed straight for the dock after that, where the wahoo bottomed out a 75-pound scale. “We just said we’re going to call it 80 pounds,” Fay says. “When you go specifically looking for that one bite on that day, there’s no better feeling, especially when you put in the time and effort.”

Full Moon Wahoo Fishing

Anglers catch wahoo year-round throughout southeast Florida, from Jupiter to Miami, yet relatively few know of the hot summertime bite. Savvy anglers and captains like Fay say that the absolute best time to catch the most and biggest wahoo — 40 pounds and up — occurs around the full moons in July, August and September.

In the northern Gulf — a well-known action spot for big ’hoos — the prime bite happens in February or March, with no known summer-full-moon bite. In North Carolina, however, a summer fishery ignites a day or two before the full moons of July and August. The fish come in fairly close to shore, says tournament veteran Mark Henderson, who once caught a 75-pound wahoo in 42 feet of water on a live bluefish in summer.

“My favorite moon is in August,” says Fay, who prefers the days leading up to the moon and the day after. “There’s so much more water flooding out of the inlet, and the fish are waiting for the food (baitfish) to come out. I like to fish 2 miles north and 2 miles south of the inlets.”

Capt. Skip Dana, who charters selectively out of Pompano Beach, Florida, says that the wahoo bite can be exceptional around the full moon in September. He prefers to fish “three to four days before a full moon and then a few days after. The day of the full moon is usually slower, with the best bite at midday.”

Even kayak anglers take ­advantage of the summer-full-moon wahoo bite. “I’ve caught them all the way out from a week before the full moon to a week or a week and a half after,” says Joe Hector, who puts on kayak-fishing ­tournaments out of Pompano Beach. Of note, one of his tournaments around the full moon in August produced eight wahoo, including a 71.9-pounder and two others over 50 pounds. “To me, August is the prime time to get those monster wahoo,” Hector says.

Best Tides for Wahoo Fishing

Capt. Stan Hunt, who used to charter out of Pompano Beach before retiring, caught one of the region’s most ­celebrated summertime wahoo years ago. Fishing in a local tournament, his first fish of the day was a 74.2-pound ‘hoo that he caught trolling in 95 feet of water off Hillsboro Inlet. The biggest fish of the event, that wahoo helped Hunt and his crew to a victory — and a nearly six-figure payday.

Where Hunt chooses to fish depends on what the tide is doing because that determines where the bait will be. On the last of an incoming tide, baitfish are pushed close to an inlet, so Hunt fishes shallow. When the tide is out, he fishes around wrecks and other baitfish attractors in 200 to 400 feet of water.

Fay says his favorite tide time to fish for wahoo falls on what he calls the switch of the tides: the first hour of the outgoing and the first hour of the incoming. Fay also likes to fish around wrecks, particularly in depths ranging from 140 to 240 feet. He also studies his depth recorder to locate schools of fish on which wahoo feed. “Get your electronics dialed in to where you can mark the bonitos,” he says. “Where there’s bullet bonitos (tuna) and little blackfin tuna, there’s going to be wahoo. If there are tunas in 400 or 500 feet, guess where the wahoo are?”

Trolling for Wahoo

Fay usually fishes a split-tail mullet from a planer 100 feet behind the boat. If he wants the bait deeper, he lets out more line. He also fishes big swimming mullet on two shorter planer lines, each about 20 feet behind the boat.

“There are two kinds of wahoo,” he says. “The shy wahoo that’s going to swim up to the bait three or four times before eating it on the long planer, and the big wahoo that’s not afraid to hit the short planer. They’re not swimming up to look at it; they’re swimming up to crush it. Seventy to 80 percent of my bites come on the short planer. They’re nasty, they’re mean, and they come right up in the prop wash.”

His spread also includes two big lures on the short outrigger lines. He likes to fish lures made locally at RJ Boyle Studio, as well as Ilanders with ballyhoo. On the long rigger lines, he trolls two midsize baits such as a Sea Witch with a fresh bonito strip on a long-shank 10/0 or 12/0 hook.

Fay says, on low-light days, he uses bright colors such as pink-and-blue and chartreuse-and-purple. On bright days and in clear water, he likes blue-and-white, all white and pink-and-white. “In August, my spread is almost all pink. Why? Because shrimp and squid are around on that moon.”

Hunt trolls bonito strips behind Sea Witches or ballyhoo with a skirt; he ties both rigs himself. Both the lures and skirts feature lots of Mylar for added flash, and his favorite skirt color is blue-and-white. He rigs the baits with a single hook, and pulls two of them on planers from the cockpit and one on a weighted line from the bridge at 8 to 9 knots.

Live-Baiting for Wahoo

Dana prefers to use live bait for summertime full-moon wahoo, especially in August and September. “You get more bites live-bait fishing than any other time of year. I’d rather catch one on live bait than 10 trolling a lure on a planer.

“Usually first thing in the morning, if there’s a little bit of a breeze, I’ll put out the normal spread and try to get surface bites,” says Dana, who’ll fly two fishing kites, each with three lines, a couple of flat lines, and a couple of deep baits. “They’ll sky on the kite baits, just like kingfish.”

Once the sun comes up, he starts slow-trolling in 200 to 400 feet of water. He rigs goggle-eyes, blue runners, speedos and little bullet tuna, and bumps the motors in and out of gear to keep the lines tight. “I’ll put one flat line 200 yards back, and one 50 or 60 yards back. I’ll put a downrigger bait on each side of the boat and stagger them. I’ll start at 75 and 125 feet down, and if I get a bite on the deeper one, I’ll go to 125 and 200 feet.”

When he gets a bite, his crew cranks up the downriggers to get the cables out of the way. Dana also pays attention to the depth where he catches the first wahoo because subsequent bites likely will be in the same depth. And don’t be surprised if you catch other species with downriggers, fishing deeper.

“There are 30- to 40-pound kingfish out there, and sailfish,” he explains. “I don’t know how many times the line takes off, zipping across the surface, and then a sailfish comes up jumping, and I thought I had a wahoo on.”

Hector buys live bait before he launches his Hobie pedal-drive kayak off the beach. He typically buys only five goggle-eyes and three pilchards, and keeps them in a 5-gallon bucket with a battery-powered aerator. Once he catches a wahoo — his personal best is a 65-pounder — he heads back to shore.

“When I’m targeting wahoo, my trips are short and sweet,” he says. “I’ll put out my first gog on the way out in 80 feet, then set up a drift. Or if the current isn’t strong, I’ll slow-troll [by pedaling the kayak]. I free-line a pilchard around 60 yards behind me on top, with a gog below. With goggle-eyes, sometimes to get them down I use a 2- or 3-ounce egg weight and try to keep it at middepth. If you put out two gogs together, you’re going to end up with a tangled mess.

“Believe it or not, I’ve caught more wahoo on big pilchards than on gogs. Some of my best catches have been on a 6-inch pilchard as opposed to a 3- or 4-inch one.”

Hector uses a Garmin depth finder to locate wrecks in 180 to 250 feet, and keeps zigzagging in and out of those depths unless he sees a sizable school of bonito or a solid color change, where the water abruptly changes from greenish to dark blue.

If he catches a blackfin tuna, Hector uses it to entice a wahoo bite. “I’ll cut open the tuna, take my gog or pilchard and stick it in the belly of the tuna, count to three, then put out the bait,” he says. “I believe it’s all about scent. Blackfin tuna and bonito have a distinct scent, and they’re very oily. I believe that’s why wahoo eat them. I once caught three wahoo in three days doing that.”

Wahoo Fishing Tackle and Rigs

Fay fishes his dead baits and skirted strips from a straight-butt rod with a Shimano Tiagra 30-wide reel spooled with 80-pound braided line. He uses a No. 6 or No. 8 planer and trolls at 6 to 7 knots. On calm days, Fay switches to a No. 4 planer and troll at 8 knots.

He connects the other end of the planer to 60 feet of 50- or 60-pound monofilament, attached with a double uni-knot to 10 to 15 feet of 60- to 80-pound fluorocarbon leader. Fay adds 18 to 24 inches of No. 7 wire leader to the fluorocarbon with a Spro swivel.

Dana fishes live baits on Penn high-speed reels spooled with 20-pound Momoi Orange Crush monofilament line on 7-foot medium-action 20-pound rods. He uses a 15-foot Momoi 30-pound fluorocarbon leader that he ties to the main line with a blood knot. To prevent cutoffs, he adds a 3-foot piece of 30-pound nickel-titanium leader wire attached to the fluorocarbon with an 80-pound Spro swivel. He ties the terminal end of the leader to a 6/0 VMC J hook, and adds a second J hook as a stinger.

“We always have a stinger on,” Dana says. “The length depends on the size of bait: 3 to 6 inches of No. 6 wire tied to a 4/0 VMC that we hook in the skin just enough so it holds.”

From his kayak, Hector fishes a Shimano 6500 spinning reel spooled with at least 300 yards of 30-pound monofilament on a medium-heavy rod. “In South Florida, you never know what you’re going to get — maybe a yellowfin tuna or a marlin, so you don’t want to miss the opportunities if you get them.”

His leader consists of 50-pound fluorocarbon or monofilament with a 6- or 7-inch piece of 30- or 40-pound wire. He fishes his baits on a 3/0 or 4/0 J hook with a 2/0 treble stinger hook. “Every single wahoo I’ve ever caught, when I gaffed it and brought it in the kayak, was caught in the throat, eye or side by the stinger. The lead hook was swinging freely.”

Hector ties all of his connections and keeps plenty of spare leaders in a small plastic bag. “I don’t do any swivels,” he says. “When I’m offshore in the kayak, I don’t want to be tying knots the whole time. If my wire gets kinked, I can tie on another leader [with an Albright knot].”

For anglers who have always wanted to catch a big wahoo, timing is everything, and there’s no need to brave wild winter weather to land that trophy fish — at least in South Florida. Check your calendar for the summertime full moons, put out your live bait or trolling lures, and get ready for that sizzling run.

The post Southeast Summertime Wahoo Fishing appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The razzle-dazzle of a slurping, clacking popping cork might seem off-putting at first, but its effectiveness and dominance as a fish catcher is indisputable. While particularly effective and popular in Gulf Coast states, the technique has followers in the Carolinas and beyond.

My baptism into popping corks occurred on my first-ever trip to the toe of the Boot State. Fishing the turbid open bays close to the Gulf, anglers in our boat caught oversize redfish hand over fist until we begged for mercy. What was the best rig for redfish that day? A flashy cork, about 4 feet of leader and a jig-and-bait combo. A topwater plug or “tight-lined” soft plastic did not attract the same interest from the bull redfish we were targeting.

Ever since, I’ve been hooked on corks in off-colored water, paired either with natural baits or lures. It’s my go to redfish rig, and sometimes the popping-cork rig is the only presentation a redfish or speckled seatrout will hit. The main draw of the popping cork is an attention-getting clacking or clicking sound created by beads hitting a foam cork along a metal through-wire. Second, when a cork is jerked by the rod tip, the lure or bait presentation jumps off the bottom like a fleeing bait. A weight attached to the bottom of the cork adds casting distance and stability; swivels at the top and bottom of the wire serve as line ties for the main line and leader. The sound mimics fleeing shrimp, crabs, baitfish or even other game fish attacking prey. Some models of corks also throw a disturbance splash.

When and Where to Use Popping Corks

Popping corks are prime to use when water conditions are choppy or turbid, with the best depths from 2 to 6 feet. “If you tie a leader much longer than 6 feet, then casting is difficult with 7- to 7½-foot rods,” says Capt. Ray Markham, of St. Petersburg, Florida. Use light leader material, such as 15- to 20-pound fluorocarbon, in clear water, but bump up to heavier leader in specific situations.

“You can use 20- to 50-pound leader, no problem, with a popping cork, especially in dark-colored water,” says Capt. Richard Stoughton, of Charleston, South Carolina. “I’ve even used 80-pound around structure like docks with success. I tie long leaders in spring and shorter leaders in fall, mostly because fish move into deeper waters in the spring.”

Anglers on the boat should cast ­different-colored corks so they can pick out their own float in a crowd. Markham prefers to throw less-noisy corks when fish are skittish.

“Where I fish, there isn’t much boat traffic, but the more traffic, the spookier the fish and the less noise I want from my cork,” he says. “Mostly we catch trout and redfish, but incidental catches include bluefish, snook, Spanish mackerel, snapper, grouper, cobia and others.”

Stoughton prefers to use corks because of the motion of lure imparted by the cork — if done correctly, when a cork is twitched or popped the lure will jump in a vertical motion. When an angler stops popping the cork, the artificial shrimp, jig or live bait will settle back to the bottom. He prefers to impart a double-pop action so the lure jumps twice and then falls.

“Often, I’ll add an egg sinker below the cork on the leader,” says Stoughton. “Pass the leader through the egg sinker twice so a loop wraps around the weight and holds it in place. Don’t let the egg sinker slide too close to the shrimp or jig because it will affect action negatively. Split shot can fall off the leader when a seatrout shakes its head near the boat.”

Some captains will tie their braided main line directly to the top swivel; others add a trace of leader material first. “I use braided lines on my rods, but tying directly to the top swivel of the cork can cause tangling issues,” says Markham. “Instead, tie a short piece of 30-pound fluorocarbon or some other stiff leader that stands away from the cork.”

Popular cork makers include Bomber, Cajun Thunder, Comal Tackle, D.O.A., H&H Lure Co., Red Alert, Four Horsemen and plenty of others. Soft lures to tie below the cork include artificial shrimp from D.O.A., Berkley Powerbait, LiveTarget, Berkley Gulp!, Savage Gear and Z-Man lures. Also, soft plastics pinned to a jig head are popular. But watch out: Sometimes trout or redfish will attack the cork itself. Try casting out a topwater in those situations for exciting surface strikes.

Using Popping Corks With Live Baits

Capt. Jeff Poe, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, ties on a specific type of cork for those customers who want to use live baits, such as shrimp, crabs or fish. “We use spinning tackle with football-shaped weighted corks that have beads on either end,” says Poe. “Their weight makes it easier for our clients to cast farther. Whoever casts farthest wins with the most bites, usually.” The average depth in Calcasieu Lake, where he fishes, is 6 feet, so a cork works anywhere in the lake.

“The deepest water where I’ve ever caught fish with a cork is about 35 feet,” says Poe. “That was around an oil platform in the Gulf. I’ll try a cork anytime I feel I’m around fish but we’re not getting the amount of bites I expect. Corks are a great way to catch fish in dirty water, as the noise attracts and the float suspends your bait in the strike zone.”

Poe strays away from corks in strong current because in those conditions fish hold tight to the bottom. He also won’t tie on a cork near large schools “because as soon as a fish eats your bait and pulls your cork under, other fish will attempt to eat your cork.”

Comparing Different Styles of Popping Corks

Anglers will notice a host of different-style corks available from a number of makers, with the most common styles shaped like an egg, a cigar or an ice-cream cone with the point bitten off. Each foam cork is different in how it’s built, so personal preference goes a long way in deciding how much you’re willing to pay, what style of cork you want, what type of beads you want, and through-wire ­material stiffness and durability. Here’s how some manufacturers describe their corks:

Bomber Paradise Popper

Bomber says: “The Bomber Paradise Popper’s wire is titanium. It springs back to shape. I have seen these corks with the paint and part of the cork gone, and they still produce fish. All of the other components are plastic or brass. The Popper is tested not to break at less than 70 pounds of pressure, and many don’t break until under more than 90 to 100 pounds.”

D.O.A. Popper Clacker

D.O.A. Lures says: “Between the cigar, oval and popper D.O.A. Clacker corks, some make less noise and have a different pitch in the sound they create. The popper style is louder and deeper in tone but also produces a big splash when worked aggressively. Due to the internal weight, the popper is durable and gets less wire bend than do other styles of D.O.A. corks.”

Red Alert Speckanater

Red Alert Lures says: “There are two unique features about my popping corks. One, the beads used are hematite, which creates a very distinct pitch like a shrimp slapping its tail. Steel inserts in the foam cork also contribute to the sound. Two, the through-wire is rated at 250 pounds but not rigid, with 100-pound swivels at the ends for a longer‑lasting cork.”

The post Fishing With Popping Corks appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The lexicon used to describe where anglers fish is confusing, even frustrating. “Inshore” or “coastal” often describes fishing in estuarine waters, at least in my stomping grounds, where fishermen target species like speckled trout, redfish, and flounder in rivers, creeks, and bays. In the Northeast, an “inshore tuna bite” might be 10 miles offshore.

“Offshore” fishing begins once you leave the inlet and make a run for blue water. However, offshore fishing is not dependent on the length of the run to the fishing grounds or how deep the water is — offshore fishing might start just a couple of miles (at ports such as South Florida, Panama or the Bahamas) or hours off your coast.

Even with those broad designations, the fish don’t always cooperate. There are no fences in the salt, so inshore species often leave inside waters for the Gulf and Atlantic. Usually these movements coincide with spawning rituals, an exciting time of year to target oversize specimens, at least for catch-and-release fishermen. So the next time you want to catch a trophy species, consider heading out of brackish areas and into open waters. Think differently on your next trip — consider it a role reversal — and you could score the “inshore” fish of a lifetime offshore.

Catch Snook on Nearshore Wrecks

South Florida fishermen regularly target snook up rivers, on mangrove-lined flats, and in passes and inlets. But not many know that offshore wrecks attract snook each summer, starting as early as late spring.

“My favorite spots average about 5 miles offshore, in anywhere from 20 to 60 feet of water,” says Capt. Glyn Austin, of Sebastian, Florida. “Most people don’t really target them because it’s all catch-and-release fishing June through August. Most people want kingfish or cobia, something they can take home.” Austin says all the fish are all longer than the 32-inch slot maximum, so the oversize linesiders can’t be kept no matter if the season is open or closed.

“Typically I use the same tackle at the wrecks as at the inlets,” says Austin, “a 7- to 8-foot rod, 20- to 40-pound braid, and baits like threadfin herring and pogies.” Austin fishes mostly from Port Canaveral to Sebastian, but snook exhibit the same behavior farther south on both Florida coasts around barges and reefs. “The snook are definitely attracted to structure and hang on the bottom,” says Austin. “We often catch giant jack crevalle, goliath grouper, cobia, redfish, black drum and flounder out there, along with the snook. That’s plenty of species that we see both inshore and offshore.”

Deep Water Flounder Fishing

Heading north along the Atlantic Coast, a different inshore species replaces snook around offshore structure. And this species is available from Florida to the mid-Atlantic states: flounder.

“In spring and especially fall, flounder are available in 60 to 85 feet of water out of St. Augustine and Mayport inlets, about 6 to 15 miles offshore,” says Capt. Stephen Szczepanik, of Mayport, Florida. “Those offshore fish just taste so much better than the inshore fish; it must be something about the sandy bottom they’re sitting on.”

Szczepanik has learned over the years that flounder are more likely to hang near metal structure, such as barges, instead of concrete rubble. The flounder group together in masses around the base, likely preparing or concluding their spawn. Still, Szczepanik admits that most of the flounder he catches and fillets don’t have roe.

“Offshore, an average fish is at least 22 inches and 3 pounds,” he says, “but 8-pound fish are also pretty common. Inshore, an 8-pound flatfish is an uncommon catch.”

One top tactic is vertically jigging a live mullet with a 1-ounce jig, making sure the line stays tight. He specifically shies away from stinky artificials because they attract undersize black sea bass and beeliners (vermilion snapper). Szczepanik prefers to use 20-pound-braid main line for its toughness and ability to cut through the water. Once you hook into a couple of flounder, chances are there are plenty more in the same spot.

“The best days are when it’s flat calm, and you can use a trolling motor to stay on top of the spot,” says Szczepanik. “Mark the structure with your finder, and then throw out a jug to mark the wreck.”

Stripers Near the Beach

Role Reversals

What happens when the biggest inshore fish are off-limits offshore? Chesapeake Bay captains deal with this every winter when targeting monster striped bass.

“In past years, cold winters pushed the bait off the beaches 10 to 15 miles, taking the stripers with them,” says Capt. Jake Hiles, of Virginia Beach. “But because striped bass are designated game fish in federal waters, fishermen can’t target striped bass, even for catch-and-release, in the Exclusive Economic Zone (more than 3 nautical miles offshore).”

The ocean season for migratory stripers ranges from about mid-December to February. Late February into March, the migratory striped bass head up Chesapeake Bay to spawn in the rivers, says Andrew Turner, a fisheries biologist with NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay office. Late May and June see the fish head north of New York to Maine to summer in the cool waters, usually within 3 miles of shore. Over the past couple of seasons, many Virginia anglers have not seen good numbers of stripers like they used to, whether that’s because of migration changes or increased fishing pressure.

When warm winters bring baitfish schools and mature stripers within a mile or two of the beach, Capt. Herb Gordon fishes the eastern shore of Virginia.

“You have to find the birds to find the fish,” says Gordon. “Finding birds is easy with the use of a good radar, one at least 6 kW. The bottom machine helps, but it’s not as dependable as birds. Some areas with structure always hold bait, which in turn, hold fish.”

Gordon usually trolls just four rods, while some of the other charter boats troll as many as 20. “On our rigs, we use double parachutes, 9 ounces each, with rubber 9-inch shads,” he says. “Our lines are staggered to fish different depths, and we also vary our trolling speeds.”

For anglers fishing in and around the mouth of the Chesapeake, it’s a matter of finding rockfish before they head too far offshore.

The post Where to Catch Trophy Inshore Fish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

If you walk into any Mid-Atlantic or Northeast tackle shop, fishing club or shady dockside bar and start talking about circle hooks, expect some mixed opinions. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission rules require anglers to use non-offset circle hooks when fishing bait for striped bass. And some stock assessments show that stripers are still not where they’re supposed to be. Circle hooks reduce release mortality. Despite some circle-hook skepticism, captains and pros have used them for years. They say the conservation-minded hooks work exceptionally well if you know how to rig them.

Fishing With Eeels

In late winter, Capt. Kenny Louderback slow trolls live eels off Virginia’s Eastern Shore. He fishes up to 10 rods, using planer boards to spread out the lines. The tactic produces a lot of slack line between the rod tip and the bait, which can impede striper hookups on circle-hook rigs. To improve his odds, Louderback says he waits until the fish pulls line off the reel before he takes the rod out of the holder. He also uses a lightweight circle-hook rig.

He snells an 8/0 Gamakatsu circle hook to 4 feet of 50-pound fluorocarbon, capped with a 150-pound-test barrel swivel. He slides a small, ½-ounce egg sinker onto his 30-pound monofilament mainline, and then ties the mainline to the swivel, creating a Carolina rig. To control the bait’s depth, he uses a heavier egg sinker. “I want just enough weight to keep my baits just below the surface,” he says.

Eels are slippery and very uncooperative. Given a chance, the slimy worm ties itself in a knot or slinks overboard. Louderback hooks the eel through the nose so it swims straight without tangling the line. Louderback points out that circle hooks improve the release survival of his catch.

Chesapeake Bay Striped Bass

Some years, 70 percent of the world’s striped bass come out of Chesapeake Bay, and Maryland anglers have perfected methods for catching these fish year-round. Capt. Greg Shute favorite time of year to target striped bass occurs in late spring and summer, when he anchors along a drop or channel edge and fishes menhaden chunks and live spot.

To fish cut menhaden, Shute uses a bottom rig with a 6/0 to 8/0 light-wire circle hook, made from narrower, more malleable wire. “I like a light-wire hook because it pierces the fish’s jaw,” he says. He snells the hook to 18 inches of 25-pound fluorocarbon, and ties the leader to a swivel. He threads a fish-finder slide and bank sinker onto his 20-pound-braid mainline, and then ties the mainline to the swivel and leader. Shute lightly passes the hook through a small piece of the chunk bait so the bait doesn’t interfere with the hook gap.

When he uses a live spot, Shute creates the same rig, but leaves out the swivel and sinker. He ties the leader directly to the mainline. “If I need a little extra weight I’ll pinch on a split shot,” he says. He runs the hook through the spot’s back, behind the head and in front of the dorsal fin. “This encourages the bait to swim down,” he explains. It also creates a solid connection without deep-hooking the bait.

New Jersey Cow Striped Bass

Capt. Greg Cudnik targets striped bass off the famed Long Beach Island in central New Jersey. From spring through fall, Cudnik chases striped bass in the ocean, inlet and back bays with live spot, eels and menhaden. To fish a live spot or eel, Cudnik chooses a 5/0 circle hook. For live menhaden, he upsizes to a 9/0 circle hook. He prefers a wide-gap circle hook, like the Mustad 39951, that he can dig a little deeper into the bait.

Cudnik snells the hook to 25 inches of 50-pound fluorocarbon tied to a small, 230-pound-test swivel. He passes his 30-pound braid mainline through a ¾-ounce egg sinker and ties it to the other end of the swivel. He wants to keep the bait on or near the bottom with as little weight as possible. “I don’t want the fish to feel the weight,” he says.

When he fishes live spot, Cudnik hooks the bait in the mouth and out the cheek plate for a solid connection. He hooks a live menhaden near the tail. “The tail presents a solid place to insert the hook,” he explains, adding the bait swims naturally and the tail doesn’t inhibit the hook gap. Cudnik particularly recommends circle hooks to new anglers. “People who haven’t learned how to use a J-hook have an easier time with a circle hook,” he says. Keep steady pressure on the line, and the hook will find its home, he adds.

New England Stripers

Fishing out of Rhode Island, Capt. Jack Sprengel has made a science of using circle hooks for striped bass. “I’ve been using circle hooks for years because they actually make it easier to hook a big bass,” he says. Sprengel starts the day catching menhaden with a cast net, gill net or snag rig. With live bait onboard, he heads off looking for bait schools and structure in Narragansett Bay. “When the current is moving, I drift the baits, and when it drops out I bump troll,” he says.

To handle a huge striped bass, Sprengel breaks out a 6000 size reel. He spools the reel with 30-pound PowerPro. “I like traditional four-carrier braid,” Sprengel says, preferring the heavier, more abrasion-resistant line to keep a 50-pound trophy out of the rocks.

The sturdy tackle allows Sprengel to put smooth pressure on a big striper with a light, 25-pound-test fluorocarbon leader. He uses a 30-inch leader in dirty water and 48 inches in clear water. To further reduce distractions for the fish, Sprengel attaches the leader directly to the mainline.

Hook size plays a critical role in success. As a rule of thumb, Sprengel chooses a circle hook that’s 30 percent larger than the appropriate-size J-hook. A larger hook allows him to hook the bait deeper with plenty of gap to catch the striper’s jaw.

Sprengel has tested his knots for effectiveness and prefers to attach his hook with a Palomar or uni-knot. “The knot allows the hook to pivot,” he says, explaining that when the circle hook pulls into the corner of the striper’s mouth, the hook pivots to drive the point into the fish’s jaw. He also improves the circle hook’s efficacy by lightly hooking the bait. “Bridling is the best,” he says. Use floss to lash the bait to the hook, providing a strong connection without interfering with the hook gap.

The post Best Circle Hook Rigs for Striped Bass appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

In south Texas’ glassy inshore waters, Capt. Brian Barrera of South Padre Island targets redfish, seatrout and even snook using jig heads and soft baits on light leaders. He catches spooky fish in the clear waters — but to do so, he has to ­downsize his tackle.

“Sight-fishing in 8 inches of water, I have to drop down from 20- to 10-pound braid to make longer casts,” says Barrera. “Jig heads must be ⅛ to 1⁄16 ounces. Four- to 6-inch finger mullet require smaller hooks, too. Don’t use a swivel to connect braid to leader; instead use a line-to-leader knot.”

Because fish are often on edge in his local waters, Barrera prefers to fish greener, off-color waters around his local sand flats. He’s also meticulous about not crowding the fish he’s targeting. “I really try to limit boat noise,” he points out. “You want your casts to be as long as possible to reach undisturbed fish.”

For Barrera, a switch to lighter tackle is a vital strategy for increased hookups. Other top captains along coastal shores employ similar tactics. Consider the scenarios below, each one describing a dramatically different fishery. The captains I interviewed all trim down their tackle differently for success. Chances are you can utilize some of the same techniques the next time you downsize.

Late-Season Tuna Fishing

Albacore are sized favorably to ­succumb to light tackle in the Pacific Northwest. “During the early season on the West Coast [starting in mid-June], albacore tuna tend to be very naive and susceptible to fast-trolled ­surface lures,” says Capt. Mark Coleman, of All Rivers & Saltwater Charters in Westport, Washington.

For anglers, it’s easy fishing for the tasty tuna just two hours off the Washington coast. But as the season progresses, these fish move off the troll gear and prefer live baits on a dead-boat drift. Most of the anchovies used as bait are small in stature, measuring just 4 to 6 inches.

“I have found that by downsizing our trolling lures and cutting our trolling speed in half, we can bring back the excellent trolling action we experience in the early season,” says Coleman.

But why troll when the action’s wide-open on live bait? Well, many times, longfins aren’t feeding at the surface, and that makes them hard to find. “Along with a few other indicators, trolling hookups help us locate the fish,” he explains. “Downsizing your leader from 30- to 20-pound and decreasing your hook size from a No. 1 to 4 make a big difference.”

Fishing Docklights at Night

In South Florida, nighttime anglers in skiffs position down-current of docks outfitted with LEDs. The tiny shrimp, baitfish and plankton clouds attracted to the halos of light tempt game fish such as snook, speckled seatrout and redfish. Because the baits are so small, lobbing a big plug or live bait up-current near the dock is an awful strategy. Often the water is clear, too, so casting bait or lures too large, or getting a boat too close to the structure, spooks that prize ­swimming along the shadow line.

Fly-anglers favor casting baitfish imitators, such as white Clouser flies on 6- and 8-weight outfits. Personally, I remember many nights fishing with friends and doing pretty well on spin tackle; still, nearby boats ­casting fly tackle ate our lunch. The only instances we could match fly tackle fish-for-fish occurred when snook targeted our D.O.A, Z-Man or Gulp! shrimp tied to 20-pound fluorocarbon leader.

Bait size matters at night for ­stripers, too.

“We call it fire in the water,” says Capt. Jay Cianciolo, of Laura-Jay Sportfishing Charters in Sandwich, Massachusetts. When there’s lots of phosphorus and other nutrients in the water, increased numbers of dinoflagellates turn on the light show of bioluminescence to evade predators.

“That’s when I drop down to small ‘pencil’ eels,” he says. “Big eels leave trails in the water, which I believe might push stripers off the feed. [In these circumstances] small eels always get bit better.”

Spinning Tackle for the Win

Cobia are great light-line adversaries, and not enough anglers take advantage of the unique species on scaled-back tackle. The visual fishery across southeastern and mid-Atlantic waters makes a ling’s aggressive bite and fight all the more exciting to light-tackle anglers.

“I know many captains who use ­levelwinds like Shimano TLDs, Avets, Accurates and many others,” says Capt. Brandon Long, of Long Overdue Charters in Charleston, South Carolina. “But over the past couple of years I’ve gone lighter and started having much more fun with cobia.”

Long fishes the brown bombers ­using 4,000- to 6,000-size spinning reels paired with medium-light rods. You don’t want the 4,000 in your hand when an 80-pounder pops up boatside, but for fish in the 15- to 50-pound class, it’s ideal.

“Lighter tackle makes it much easier to cast, present to and feed these fish with smaller plastics and hard baits,” says Long. “I fish 4- to 9-inch Z-Man Jerk ShadZ, smaller subsurface hard baits, and ½- to 3-ounce bucktails rigged with trailers.”

When Long downsizes his reels, he upgrades his drag washers. He also spools his reels with 20- to 30-pound braided line to guarantee sufficient line capacity, terminating with 50- or 60-pound mono leader.

“Felt drag washers will get ­destroyed by fish if not greased properly,” Long points out. “To avoid this issue, I replace all my drag washers with carbon washers from companies such as Carbontex; the strength and heat diffusion these washers handle produce much smoother fights.”

Fish the Docks During the Day

Targeting tarpon and snook in the Brownsville ship channel and basin, Capt. Brian Barrera focuses on the deep sections of channel, along dock structure, and on freshwater runoff channels called resacas. Instead of trolling heavy gear around the jetties (a preferred tactic in the area), Barrera uses home-crafted soft baits to cast deep into the legs of docks.

The bait consists of a ⅛-ounce Tungsten bullet weight atop a 2/0 to 5/0 octopus 4x circle hook. A jerkbait holds to the circle hook with a screw lock or hitchhiker.

“Those tarpon come out from the docks in the morning, but go back into the pilings when the sun’s up,” says Barrera. “I cast far back under the docks and use 20- to 30-pound fluoro leader to get them to bite during the day.”

Play the Odds

Capt. Jay Cianciolo can’t help but gamble. Live-baiting for trophy bluefin tuna far off the coast, he sometimes marks fish on the sounder when he can’t buy a bite.

“That’s when I’ll gamble,” says Cianciolo. “I’ll drop down to 130 fluorocarbon leader and an 8/0 circle hook.” That might not seem like light tackle, but large bluefins often necessitate 11/0 hooks and 180-plus-pound leader. “Usually, I’ll start getting bites then,” he says, “even though I definitely don’t land them all.”

The gambit is worthwhile for Cianciolo, especially when line-shy fish require lighter leaders. You don’t have to take the same risks with light tackle, and plenty of opportunities are available for anglers to downsize their gear and still maintain high landing percentages. So whether fishing inshore, nearshore or far offshore, consider dropping some of that tackle weight — it might just turn into your most productive trip of the season.

The post When to Downsize Your Tackle appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

New Jersey Black Drum Fishing Spots

Black drum traditionally spawn around the full and new moons in April, May, and June, when the tides are super high, to allow for better chances of cross-pollination of the sperm and eggs. The full moon in April saw an unusual presence of hundreds, if not thousands, of black drum entering the relatively shallow Barnegat Bay system. The parade of drum provided incredible back-bay battles for boaters setting up on a clam chumslick, as well as dock and pier anglers tangling with drum pushing the 50- to 60-pound mark. This Barnegat Bay drum fishery was missing in recent history.

Fast forward to the May full moon and things got even weirder. The surfline from the barrier island at Island Beach State Park down through Long Beach Island was flooded with roving packs of big black drum pushing 30 to 75 pounds, offering up even more big game battles from the beach.

Black Drum Fishing Tackle

For surf fishing, rods and reels must be capable of handling these brutes. I employ a 12-foot Shimano Tiralejo rod matched with a Shimano 14000 Ultegra reel spooled with 50- to 65-pound PowerPro braided line. At the tag end, I attach a size 2 three-way swivel, a sinker clip with a 3- to 5-ounce pyramid sinker, and the last eye gets a 24-inch section of 50-pound fluorocarbon leader. For a hook, I snell on a size 10/0 Gamakatsu Big River bait hook.

In the surf, anglers are bait fishing with clams, so a super sturdy metal sand spike driven deep into the beach is needed to prevent your rod and reel setup from being stolen. Baits are simple. A whole fresh gob of shucked clam is pierced on the hook three or four times, then cast out into a deep cut or slough where the drum are feeding.

Best Tactics for Black Drum

The key to success is timing the tides. Your best bets are to fish around the high tides, generally two hours before and two hours after the dead high tide. Deep waters allow for the barrel-chested warriors to enter close to the surf line. Light to moderate 5 to 15 knot easterly onshore winds are preferred as they push water and schools of drum up onto the beaches. Add some north or west into the wind direction and achieve similar success. Main spots where drum feed are deeper holes, but also the inside and outside of the sandbars. The drum are searching for clams and crabs getting washed over the bars.

Once hooked to a big drum, hold on tight. Let them dictate the terms of the fight as the initial run is long and sustained. Surprisingly, they put up quite a tussle as they use their big broom-tails to power away from the shoreline. Expect them to surface and boil up trying to shake the hook. The end game is critical in the undertow of the surf. Don’t freak out and pull on the line hard, as the drum will use their weight on the receding waves to try and snap your line. Time the wave patterns and reel in when they get pushed up onto the sand with a crashing wave, then run down and grab the drum by the mouth or gill plate to land it effectively.

The post The Black Drum Boom in Jersey appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Thirty miles off Oregon Inlet, North Carolina, trolling down a weed line in a 50-foot sportfish, we ambushed a pack of big dolphin. The fish attacked our spread, leaping out of the water, slashing behind a skipping bait, greyhounding from one side of the spread to the other.

With outrigger pins popping, rods bending over and lines coming tight, mate William Howell called anglers out of the cabin while Capt. Jason Snead put the teal-green Dream Girl into a tight turn.

Once all the rods were heaving with big fish and the reels losing line, Howell instructed the anglers to grab a gimbal belt and a fishing rod. Snead kept the boat idling forward while the anglers worked their fish to the boat.

Big dolphin don’t come easy. The broad green-and-blue fish streaked side to side and leaped into the air, frantic to escape. The anglers labored over their reels while captain and mate orchestrated a line dance with anglers shuffling around the cockpit to stay untangled.

In short order, Howell handlined each mahi close to the boat, gaffing it and swinging it into the fish box. As the anglers shared high-fives and back slaps, Howell deployed the lines and Snead bumped the boat back to trolling speed. Dream Girl lurched and rolled over waves and troughs and all eyes searched the sea to find the next weed line.

The Spring Dolphin Season

This scene played out a few years ago. These days, Howell runs his own boat. I caught up with him in late spring as he prepared for another season of dolphin fishing.

Howell expects bigger fish to show up off Oregon Inlet in April and hang out all summer. From mid-summer to early fall, the bulls move north. Between June and September, anglers from Virginia to New Jersey see their best big-dolphin action.

At least that’s how it’s supposed to go. The last few years, anglers have seen fewer big dolphin in early summer. So, when the sargassum weed lines up and the dolphin are on the feed, anglers need to be ready to make the most of the opportunity.

Finding Mahi

Howell generally hunts dolphin from 20 fathoms to the edge of the continental shelf. But to find big fish, Howell depends on sea-surface-temperature charts. “Water temperature is more important than depth,” he says. He looks for a substantial change in water temperature and color.

Once the boat crosses the change, Howell searches for floating sargassum that serves as a dolphin oasis. According to Howell, ideal conditions include a southwest wind blowing the weed against the edge of the Gulf Stream current.

Farther up the coast, anglers fishing off mid-Atlantic states don’t have the reliable Gulf Stream current found off Hatteras. Instead, they look for less significant changes in water temperature, clarity, altimetry and plankton levels that help amass sargassum and floating flotsam, which hold dolphin.

Once Howell finds the weed line, he slows the boat to 6 knots and puts out four rods. “I keep the spread limited to four rods to reduce tangles and keep the fish focused,” he says.

Big dolphin play like puppies in a dog park. Fewer baits in the water keep the dolphin on target and improve the chances for a good bite. If a dolphin hits a lure and misses, though, pull the ravaged hook out of the water and drop a fresh bait back.

Tackle and Rigging

Rigging a naked, unweighted skipping ballyhoo takes just a few minutes. In this video, the author walks you through the basic procedure.

Howell targets bulls with a quiver of 20-pound trolling rods paired with lever-drag reels spooled with 30-pound monofilament. To the end of the line, he ties a Bimini-to-no-name-knot connection to attach a 24-foot length of 80-pound mono and ties a 250-pound snap swivel to the end. For the leader, he ties a surgeon’s loop at the end of a 5-foot piece of 50-pound monofilament and terminates that with a 7/0, short-shank, thin-wire J-hook. Slip the surgeon’s loop into the snap swivel to complete the rig.

To add the bait, select a small ballyhoo, thaw it in saltwater and remove the eyes. Squeeze the bait and break its back. Take a 12-inch piece of copper rigging wire and thread one inch of it through the hook eye. Wrap that short end around the hook shank, leaving the remaining 11 inches of wire as a long tag end.

Hold the ballyhoo upside down and insert the point of the hook into the base of the gills. Thread the ballyhoo onto the hook as if threading a soft-plastic artificial onto a jig head. The point of the hook exits the belly and the eye of the hook rides beneath the ballyhoo’s eye.

Pass the long tag end of the rigging wire through the ballyhoo’s eye socket two times. Push the tip of the wire up through the base of the ballyhoo’s bill and then wrap the wire around 1/2 inch of the bill. Break off the remainder of the bill. 

Howell rigs some of the ballyhoo with a chin weight so that they slightly submerge, but he prefers to skip unweighted baits along the surface. 

Expert Tips to Troll for Mahi

To deploy his four baits, he uses a mix of short rigger, long rigger and flat line positions. He keeps four more rods rigged and ready to pitch to dolphin in the spread. “I wouldn’t want more than six dolphin on at once,” he laughs, imagining the chaos that would create. 

He lets the baits drop back in the spread until they skip across the water or swim just below the surface without spending more than a few seconds in the water or in the air.

When a school of dolphin attacks, Howell keeps the boat trolling until all rods host fish. If a dolphin strikes short, he picks up the rod and jerks it, then drops the rod tip to make what’s left of the bait shoot across the water and sink back to the fish. If that doesn’t elicit another bite, he instructs the angler to pull in the bait while another angler drops a fresh ballyhoo into the spread.

Once a fish is hooked, he keeps the boat moving slowly ahead while the angler reels. “The key is to keep the fish behind the boat and the lines untangled,” he says.

When the fish is within 20 feet of the boat, Howell sets the 6-foot gaff in reach and lightly takes the line in his hands. Carefully, he guides the fish by holding the line low to the water to keep the fish’s head submerged. If the dolphin gets its head above water, it jumps into the air and most likely throws the hook.

Once the dolphin is gaffable, Howell strokes it in the back just behind the head. Then, in one motion, he lifts the fish out of the water and swings it into the fish box — where it often explodes in a frenzy of tail whipping, rod-breaking energy.

When big dolphin school up behind the boat, or Howell finds a pack of fish on a float, he slows the boat and drops a rigged ballyhoo to the dolphin. He jigs the bait back and forth to get the fish’s attention. When he fires up a feeding frenzy, Howell can catch big dolphin one after another. “Dolphin fishing is one of the coolest things we get to do,” he says. Fast action, aggressive fish and an explosive fight make dolphin a fan favorite. “People love to catch them.”

The post How to Catch Dolphin in the Mid-Atlantic appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Richard Root burned his lure back to the boat, eager to entice a strike from a marauding wahoo. The wahoo bomb’s hook held securely to a black swivel and split ring, connected to a hexed blade spinning faster than a tornado. Flash and speed proved too enticing, and he soon pulled tight to a beastly wahoo.

Root’s success with a blade wasn’t a fluke; it proves that blades aren’t just for guys with carpet in their boats. Root was fishing far offshore in Baja Mexico’s Pacific waters when the ’hoo hit.

Flashy lures and modifications for saltwater anglers are diverse and widespread. The flash of a blade whirling, just like a silver-sided baitfish reflecting sunlight, often tips the odds in your favor. Whether a coastal or offshore fisherman, chances are you probably don’t have a single lure with a blade in your tackle bag. Not enough anglers take advantage of this simple lure component. Here’s why you should.

Bladed Baits for Inshore Fishing

Where bladed soft baits truly shine are the coastal off-colored bays, rivers and marshes.

“There are very few venues where bladed baits don’t excel,” says Capt. C.A. Richardson, of Tampa Bay, Florida, and host of Flats Class TV. “Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. At night, snook and big seatrout have always hit spoons in dim ­conditions. That’s a great time to throw soft ­plastics with a blade.”

Low light is key, along with cloudy waters and the presence of baitfish. “On a crystal-clear flat with few baitfish present, I’ll use a spoon or ‘naked’ soft plastic,” says Richardson. “But if I’m fishing in the marsh where there are plenty of pogies and mullet, I want my bait to stand out. I want something that looks different, something that’s aggressive with a bigger profile. Alpha fish want that type of bait, one that throws a bigger wake.”

Bladed soft baits have other ­advantages, including casting farther than lightweight plastics, so they’re ideal as prospect or search baits when blind-casting. Plus, the blade itself provides a weedless element.

“I’ll throw bladed baits on top of oysters and spartina grass, and then slowly pull the baits off the structure in front of redfish,” says Richardson. “A spoon or soft plastic goes right through the grass, getting stuck; I want to make a subtle presentation that doesn’t blow out the fish.”

Richardson will throw bladed soft baits in 1 to 8 feet of water. Too shallow and he opts for a simple spoon, but in deeper depths he’ll stick with bladed soft baits such as the Z-Man DieZel Spin. “Use a half-ounce head and slow-roll the bait deeper,” he says. “It’s perfect for fish that drop off a flat and hang in the deeper channel waters. There’s not as much light down there.”

Top soft baits with blades include Z-Man’s DieZel ChatterBait and Spin, Terminator’s Snagless In-line Spinner, and Castaic’s Lynch Mob, among others. Of course, you can take one of these baits, or others, and modify it with your favorite soft tails.

“Try adding an artificial-shrimp trailer to a spinnerbait for areas where marsh drains out, especially during the outgoing tide,” he says. “I use a ‘­helicopter retrieve,’ letting the bait bounce up and down. New penny is a perfect color in the turbid waters.”

Score Offshore

Metal jigs, and even plugs and poppers, benefit from blade modifications. Sport Fishing editor Doug Olander alters all three, at times, with ­additional bling.

“I prefer the metallic colors (gold and silver) or white blades,” says Olander. “For jigs, I favor smaller rather than larger blades, figuring the small blades still offer good flash without hindering free flutter much.”

As Olander points out, the trick is to add flash and attraction without altering the lure’s presentation, increasing bites from your target species. He’s not particular about the fish species or depth; he’s had luck with most fish that commonly attack metal.

“Though I rarely put them on poppers, when I have, I swapped out the rear treble with a big single hook and the front treble with a blade,” says Olander. “For deep-diving lures, I might add a blade at the back split ring. Blades and hooks are easy to swap out with split-ring pliers.”

Olander gladly admits to ­experimenting with different sizes, shapes and colors of blades. That’s all part of the fun, he says. Possible ­attachment points include replacing either of the hooks with blades, adding a smaller blade to a split ring that’s also occupied by a hook, or adding a blade to the leader in front of the lure.

How to Modify Lures to Add Blades

“Blades are application specific,” says Rollie Vallin, national sales manager for the Worth Company, makers of blades, split rings and clevises. “You probably won’t use a size 0 for barracuda, but there really are no limiting factors. It’s completely up to the angler how he wants to build.”

Still, it pays to have an idea of what’s available, including the different types of blades. “The width of the blade determines how fast the blade rotates in correlation to its length,” says Vallin.

A wide and short blade such as a Colorado blade turns slower but has more vibration. Willow blades are much thinner and spin faster, but they don’t exude as much pulsation. Indiana blades are a mix between the two, shaped almost like a pear. Worth sells all different types of blades, with popular finishes in gold, nickel, silver and copper, says Vallin.

“The best action for a straight, steady retrieve is a Colorado blade,” says Richardson, “for that deep ­vibration and thump, thump retrieve.”

Clevis fasteners, like those used on spinnerbaits, allow anglers to add a blade to the leader in front of the lure itself. Worth’s Clip N Spin clevis handles most blade sizes and is easy to use, says Vallin.

Using a clevis is much better than threading a leader straight through the hole of the blade, discovered Olander. “I liked the idea of a blade spinning in front of the lure, with the leader running through the blade,” he said. “But I had enough ‘mysterious’ breakoffs that I stopped doing that.”

To attach a blade to a lure, ­sometimes it’s as easy as using the available split rings or adding your own rings to the lure. Channel your inner mad scientist to see what works. Add a blade to the front or rear hook eye of a hard bait, and then cast it out. Does it swim true? Similarly, test a blade at the top or bottom points of a speed jig.

“It’s all about research,” says Vallin. “Always test it out. Cast it out there in real-life conditions to see what makes the best fish trap.”

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