The surf zone is a wild arena. Completely different environments span the Northeast to the Carolinas all the way to Florida. Texas and California are distinct too. But anglers who prowl the beaches know some surf rigs can be ubiquitously applied. Still, the many different options available might confuse those who don’t understand their applications. And surf spots in different states sometimes have different names for the same rigs. As a diehard New Jersey surf caster, I want to help you pick the best rigs for your favorite species. The hi-lo rig, pill float rig, fishfinder rig, chunk rig, and mullet rig are some my favorites for stripers, redfish and pompano, even sharks.

The Hi-Lo Surf Rig

Quick Summary: Why have one hook when you can have two? Joking aside, there’s more to the logic of a hi-lo rig (dropper loop rig) than just having another hook. The hi-lo rig, sometimes spelled high-low rig, is meant to cover the waters just off the sea floor, anywhere bottom fish are feeding. Even one foot can make a difference to get bites when targeting true bottom feeders or to convince wary fish to swim up and eat a bait. Bait with worms, clams, shrimp, crabs or small chunk baits. (You can also use the rig when fishing bridges or piers — just space out the hooks accordingly.)

Design: Use a 75-pound barrel swivel and 30-inch section of leader. Tie the two dropper loops 16 inches apart in the leader. Pick appropriate size hooks scaled to the fish species you’re targeting, then thread the hooks on to the dropper loops. Tie a loop knot to the opposite end of the leader that you tied the swivel. A loop knot allows you to easily attach and remove a weight for different conditions. In the surf, pyramid sinkers work the best to hold bottom.

Species: Surf stripers, snapper, grouper, black sea bass, rockfish, tautog

The Fishfinder Slide Rig

Quick Summary: The fishfinder rig is meant to allow feeding fish to pick up a natural bait without feeling any unnatural resistance. The lack of tension helps prevent a gamefish from spitting out the offering. Try this setup when using live baits such as bunker (menhaden), mullet, eels, pilchards, sandworms or bloodworms. You can also use chunk baits or fresh clams as well. Besides the surf, good spots to use fishfinder rigs include inlets or creeks when the tide is running. Anglers should free-spool the line and allow a fish to take it unhindered in the current for a natural presentation.

Design: Utilize a fishfinder slide with sinker clip to attach a pyramid or bank-style sinker, or you can substitute an egg sinker for the slide clip. I prefer to use a 75-pound barrel swivel to prevent the sliding weight from reaching the hook. To the swivel, tie on 20 to 30 inches of leader and a snelled hook.

Species: Fluke, southern flounder, striped Bass, red drum, cobia, sheepshead

The Pill Float Rig

Quick Summary: Use this rig to keep the baits floating off the bottom to prevent crabs from stealing your baits. Sandfleas, worm bits and clam bits are great natural baits. Artificial offerings such as Fishbites, Fishgum and Gulp Saltwater Surf Bytes work too. Targets are generally smaller fish species up to 4 pounds. Or use the rig to procure live baits such as grunts and pinfish for the livewell. One other spot this rig excels: fun fishing along bridges and piers.

Design: A hi-lo rig design, except with small Styrofoam pill shaped floats in front of the size number 4 to 8 bait-holder hooks.

Species: Pompano, whiting (northern kingfish), white perch, grunts, pinfish

The Chunk Rig

Quick Summary: Tie on the chunk rig when targeting larger gamefish and you want to throw big baits. Use chunk baits such as menhaden, bluefish, cut mullet, pinfish, grunts or herring. A long leader allows bigger fish to pick up the bait and swim off. Then, an angler can and should reel tight for an effective hook-set. This is a great all-around rig when casting from the shoreline targeting different species. Just about everything eats chunk baits, except maybe those few crab-crunchers.

Design: Tie on a three-way swivel, with a sinker clip attached to one eye to handle a pyramid weight. The other eye receives a 30-inch piece of 40- to 80-pound mono leader. A snelled circle hook, scaled accordingly from 5/0 to 12/0, ensures solid hook sets.

Species: Sharks, striped bass, bluefish, drum, snook

The Mullet Rig

Quick Summary: Specifically designed to throw fresh or frozen mullet, this rig allows the whole bait to be fished in a natural manner. The mullet floats just above the sandy seafloor in an enticing display to attract feeding gamefish. Also, the float keeps your bait off bottom where crabs can pick it apart.

Design: For this rig, I use an oval Styrofoam float built-in with a 4-inch length of wire, ending with a dual-barb hook. To bait this rig, remove the hook first. Thread the mullet on the wire from the mouth down through the body out the anal vent. Then, reattach the hook back to the metal leader. Make sure one barb is pierced into the side of the tail. Tie your floating mullet to a length of leader that connects to a three-way swivel. Connect your swivel to the main line. The third leg gets a sinker clip and weight.

Species: Striped Bass, bluefish, red drum, sharks

The post Top Bait Rigs for Surf Fishing appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Most fishermen can carve reasonably flat pieces of meat from bones, but pro captains and guides know tricks that cut time while also paring flesh to the bone for a variety of species. I’ve asked several professional guides and captains from New England to the Bahamas for their filleting tips.

Fishing Fillet Knives

Most pros have at least two fishing knives — one for filleting and one for skinning. A straight blade around seven inches long with just a bit of flex will typically provide the best control of a fillet-knife tip as one navigates through and around skin, flesh and bone. For skinning, on the other hand, long, flexible knives do the job better. Nine inches seems about right. Expensive isn’t necessarily better, but a cheap knife won’t have a blade that’s both flexible and hard enough to hold its edge. ­Forschner and Dexter Russell were recommended by several pros I interviewed.

The One-Cut Fillet

Fish that aren’t very tall from dorsal to belly — like sea bass and yellowtail and vermilion snapper — can be filleted with just one pass. “I make an angled cut from the top to the belly just past its pectoral fin, then I turn the knife and run it right along the fish’s spine,” says Capt. Carl Griffin, of Reel Deal Charters in Charleston, South Carolina. The blade penetrates both belly and dorsal simultaneously, all the way to the tail, and the fillet comes off in one piece. Lay the fillet skin-side down to cut ribs out, and check the fillet along the spine up near the head for remnant bones.

This works well on small mackerel too. “I’ll run the knife through the whole fish in one pass on fish up to about 20 pounds,” says Capt. Jamie Ralph, a freelance captain in Boynton Beach, Florida. A few pieces of backbone stay in the entire length of the fillet, but Ralph cuts these out along with the blood line — the dark meat surrounding the spine, particularly in mackerel, tuna and dolphin.

Top-to-Bottom Fish Fillet

Larger fish require a half-dozen knife cuts, always working from the dorsal downward. Griffin starts with an angled cut from the head to belly, then he makes “a long cut from the head all the way down the back, just barely breaking the skin.” In the next pass, Griffin says, “I cut along the bones down to the spine, then I work up and over the spine. You have to hold the top half of the fillet up away from the bone to get a good fillet on the bottom of the fish.” Griffin’s fifth cut goes from backbone down to — but not through — the rib cage. As his knife moves toward the tail, the tip comes through the skin from anus to tail. Griffin then uses a heavy serrated knife to cut through the ribs, working from anus up toward the head.

Ribs In or Out?

Instead of cutting through the ribs, many pros cut them out while removing the fillet. “Run your knife along the rib bones,” says Capt. Brian Garris, an inshore guide. “Just don’t put so much pressure on the knife that you break those bones.” This takes some practice on delicate fish like seatrout, so check the fillet and trim out any missed bones.

Striped bass have a pronounced rib cage. “The knife goes along the ribs easily at first, but it gets hard at the steep angle of the rib cage,” says Patrick Wood, of Hindsight Sport Fishing in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. “I’ll hold the fish down with the knife blade and then rip the rest of the meat off the ribs.”

How to Skin a Fish

A ragged fillet might not be noticed at dinnertime, but a bit of skin left on the meat stands out. If skinning is a problem, try these tips.

“Use a long fillet knife with a flexible blade,” says Capt. Justin Hubbard, who works at Haddrell’s Point Tackle in Charleston, South Carolina. “Bend that knife so the point of the blade and the heel of the blade are running right on the table,” he says. “It will lie flat right along the skin.”

On fish with thick skin, angle the blade down into the skin just a bit. On fish with thin skin, break the job up. “On mackerel, you have to remove the blood line anyway,” Griffin says, so he cuts each fillet down its length into two lengthwise halves, and then skins each. “It’s a lot easier to skin just half a fillet.”

Most pros take the skin off in one or two smooth strokes, but this takes practice. Until then, skin evenly across the fillet, dorsal to belly, a few inches at a time. With the fillet skin-side down on the table, start at the tail, leaving just a bit of meat at the tip of the tail to hold on to. (If you muck it up, try again from the corner near the head.)

“Get a good hold on the skin,” Garris says. “As you move the knife along, keep following with your fingers up close behind the blade so you’ve always got even pressure between the blade and the skin.” Garris says in doing this, you’re also holding the portion of the fillet you’ve already skinned up out of the way.

Peel or Cut to Skin?

Many people cut barely through dolphin skin all the way around the fillet, and then pull the skin off before filleting the fish. A glove or pliers helps. This works for mackerel, tuna and other small-scaled species as well, but pros shy away from this trick.

Pulling the skin off leaves fibers of flesh on the skin and somehow also changes the taste of the fish, according to Capt. Lige Lawrence on the Island Hooker in Fort Lauderdale. He’ll pull the skin off small dolphin, but he cuts larger fish from their skin. Lawrence divides his fillets in half or thirds while skinning. “Cut about an eighth of an inch above the skin,” Lawrence says. “You can feel it. The knife cut gets tougher when you get close to the skin.”

No-Knife Tuna Fillet

Capt. Brett Wilson cuts large tuna down the length of the fish along the lateral line. “As long as it’s good and cold,” he says, “you can reach in and fillet it — take the meat right off the bone — with your hand.” To get tuna that cold, he packs ice in and around gutted fish and then adds seawater to make a brine.

While variations to these tips are numerous, there are a few universal recommendations. Keep knives sharp — there are plenty of tools to help. Go slowly — speed comes only with ­repetition. And probably most ­important, pay attention to pros cleaning fish and don’t hesitate to ask questions. Most experts will even guide you through a fillet job — but only with your fish!

How to Fillet a Mahi

The post How to Fillet Fish Like a Pro appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Armed with the knowledge that scientists who dissect large South Florida bonefish report gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta) in their bellies, my intention was to uncover a panacean soft bait to target flighty bonefish. Heck, there must be a reason certain bonefish flies like Harry Spears’ Tasty Toad, Pat Dorsey’s Kwan Fly, and the Gummy Minnow imitate a toadfish, goby, and glass minnow.

But after speaking with established Florida Keys captains such as Rich Smith, of Marathon, and Dave Atkinson, of Islamorada, I’ve learned just how unpredictable and scarce bonefish can become at times. When limited numbers leave them with narrow opportunities for customers — live shrimp, small crabs and flies offer the best presentation, so they stay with what’s habitually successful. “You really have to take advantage of the ­opportunities you get,” says Atkinson.

Different fish stories persist in South Florida of bonefish attacking bait schools intended for different species, but none ignite any degree of confidence. Still, options do exist for spin anglers who want to trick bonefish without relying on live baits like shrimp and crabs.

The Best Bonefish Jig

Most captains I spoke with agreed that the simplest lure to tempt a bonefish is the skimmer jig. Sometimes called a bonefish jig or flats jig, it’s flat with a tip shaped like a diamond or a circle. The hook and jig eye always point toward the surface to deter snags with grassy or rocky bottom where bonefish live. The hook is dressed with bucktail, fly or synthetic material to mimic shrimp and crabs. Different than traditional boxing-glove jig heads, the slender skimmer wobbles in the water and falls at a slower rate.

“Lightly twitch the rod so the jig hops off the bottom like a shrimp,” says Capt. Mo Estevez, who fishes South Florida’s Biscayne Bay regularly. “With a pure jig — which has no smell — you’re appealing to bonefishes’ keen eyesight. The jig’s productivity is dependent on the ability and skill of the angler. It’s tough to get the right action.”

Many captains tip the jig with fresh shrimp to appeal to a bonefish’s olfactory senses, but that’s no longer a true artificial. Instead, use artificial-shrimp scent (like Berkley Gulp! Alive, Pro-Cure or Carolina Lunker Sauce) on your jigs.

Color combos are wide ranging for the jigs, but browns, oranges, whites and pinks are top picks. In general, choose colors that mimic the same color as the bottom substrate or the colors of the local crustaceous fauna. In South Florida, common prey such as xanthid (mud) crabs , portunid (swimming) crabs, alpheid (pistol) shrimp and penaeid (Atlantic white) shrimp all mimic popular jig colors. Pick ⅛-, ¹⁄₁₆- or ³⁄₁₆-ounce jigs based on how shallow the flat is.

“Skimmer jigs work for anglers who don’t fly-fish,” says Estevez. “With the higher tide, bonefish feel and act safer with more water over their back. Still, I prefer low water on an incoming tide to spot them as they ‘pop’ onto the flats from deeper water.”

Popular jig brands include Hookup Lures Weedless Bucktails or Capt. Harry’s Flats Jigs, but many lure makers offer their own patterns.

Playing the Bonefish Numbers Game

Beyond South Florida, areas such as the Bahamas, Yucatan Mexico, Los Roques, Venezuela and Belize can offer incredible numbers of bonefish. In areas of abundance, anglers have the opportunity to try different presentations.

The bonefish of Los Roques eat from a buffet of glass minnows in the waters around the island, shadowing pelicans that dive on the bait. But the Venezuelan bones are a unique and exotic outlier; shrimp, crabs and sea worms still reign supreme for bonefish in most parts of the world. Consider these two techniques when the bonefish are ready and willing or in large groups mudding.

A Bone to Pick

1. Cast Berkley Gulp! Shrimp

“I have success with Berkley Gulp! Shrimp whenever I can’t find fresh shrimp,” says Capt. Jody Albury, of Marsh Harbour, Bahamas. He casts the artificial shrimp the same way he would a natural one. “Fishing the Marls, I use 10-pound SpiderWire braid, a light fluorocarbon leader and an Eagle Claw Baitholder hook, size 1/0.”

Besides Berkley Gulp!, South Florida anglers are having increased success with Savage Gear 3D Manic Shrimp and Vudu Shrimp lures. It’s a stealth presentation that requires the angler to set up on a flat where the bonefish are likely to flood onto — it’s not necessarily sight fishing. Anglers must make plenty of casts to where the deeper water meets the flat.

2. Cast a Fly With a Split Shot

A second method Albury mentions sprung from necessity — or possibly frustration — when fishing the extremely shallow flats that straddle the western side of Great Abaco. The Marls are a mix of mangrove, keys, limestone and bright-white sand.

“If the fish are being picky, I’ll have my spin anglers cast a fly with a split shot a couple of inches above the fly,” he says. “My favorite bonefish flies are the EP Spawning Shrimp and Veverka’s Mantis Shrimp, both in size 4.” Some might consider the technique cross-pollinating fishing styles, but I’d counter it’s a clever move to diversify your fishing arsenal for a fickle species.

Targeting Bonefish in Deepwater Harbors

Sight-fishing takes a back seat to other tactics when bonefish vacate the flats during the heat of the summer or the chilling temps of winter. Bonefish handle low oxygen levels that accompany hot water in coastal, tropical habitats by inhaling air into a lunglike air bladder. Still, larger bones retreat to deeper waters during the summer. In this warm-water scenario, ­blind-casting artificials pays dividends. The trick is to find deeper water near productive flats with current.

Regarding the Finger Channels south of Key Biscayne, says Estevez: “If it’s low tide, or in the cold of winter or dead of summer, head to the Finger Channels and bounce pompano jigs on the bottom. Bonefish head for the deeper channels, and you’re also likely to catch permit, mutton snapper and juvenile African pompano.”

Try pompano jigs or an undersize bucktail jig crafted mostly with a chrome jig head, short-shank hook and nylon skirt. The skirts are often cut short, just past the bend in the hook. Bomber’s Nylure Pompano jig is a good example of this style of jig. Other pompano jigs, like Doc’s Goofy Jig, are shaped kind of wacky. The Goofy jig is a long-shanked hook set inside a banana-shaped lead. Many times, the jig is dressed with a secondary hook hidden inside a skirt. This popular jig catches bonefish over sandy bottoms. Next time the fresh bait’s not available, tie on a jig with confidence.

The post Catch Bonefish with Lures appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Anglers targeting big kingfish and Spanish mackerel by slow-trolling live baits use specialized techniques to entice wary fish to strike. One popular and proven tactic involves presenting two live baits on a single terminal rig, which creates a larger profile and more action. These double-pogy rigs can be tied in two basic designs. And while the pogy, or menhaden, is commonly used, this system works well with a variety of other baitfish. Both rig designs use extra-strong hooks and swivels, and employ haywire twists to make connections between lengths of single-strand wire. Skirts or colored beads can be added for color and flash.

King Mackerel Double Pogy Rig

Here’s the list of the materials needed:

• American Fishing Wire pre-cut lengths of camo brown 58-pound-test (12-inch) and 38-pound-test (36-inch)
• VMC 4X strong treble hooks, black nickel, size 4
• Owner Flyliner live-bait hooks, black chrome, size 1/0
• Spro Power Swivel, (single barrel swivel), size 7
• Spro Power Swivel Combo (three-way swivel), size 5
• Skirts or colored beads if desired. I like chartreuse and mylar.
• DuBro E/Z Twist tool for making haywire twist

This rig is built like a single-bait, two-hook rig but you add a second treble hook. Easy to build and tougher to tangle, the three-hook rig can also be used with small Spanish mackerel, large blue runners, ladyfish or ribbonfish — if you run short of terminal rigs built specifically for those baits.

STEP 1: Haywire-twist a treble hook onto each end of a 12-inch section of 58-pound-test wire. Leave approximately 6 inches of wire between the hooks.

STEP 2: Connect another 12-inch length of 58-pound-test wire to the eye of one of those treble hooks and finish the opposite end of the wire with a live-bait hook — again leaving about 6 inches between the hooks.

STEP 3: Haywire-twist one end of a 36-inch length of 38-pound-test wire to the live-bait hook and finish the opposite end with a single barrel swivel.

STEP 4: Below, a finished rig before adding live baits. But now it’s time to fish! Attach one bait to the live-bait hook by passing the point through the nostrils. Attach the second bait to the middle treble hook by passing a point of the treble through the nostrils. The last treble swings freely.

The Four-Hook Kingfish Rig

This rig is a combination of two single-bait rigs attached to the mainline with a three-way swivel. The four-hook rig allows each bait more freedom of movement, somewhat eliminating a tiring tug-of-war between baitfish, but it does so at an increased risk of tangling.

Haywire-twist a treble hook and a live-bait hook onto a 12-inch section of 58-pound-test wire, leaving approximately 6 inches between the hooks. Connect one end of a 36-inch length of 38-pound-test wire to the live-bait hook and the opposite end to one eye of a three-way swivel. Repeat this process with another treble and live-bait hook, but this time, remove 6 inches of the 36-inch length of wire before connecting it to the second eye of the three-way swivel.

Attach baits to the two live-bait hooks by passing the points through their nostrils. Attach the trebles to the bait by passing one point through the skin just behind the dorsal fin. If the treble hooks swing freely, that increases the chances of tangling when the two baits swim together.

Although I always try to pick baits of equal size and friskiness, it’s common for one baitfish to tire before the other, rendering the rig less effective and making it necessary to change out baits more often. However, this extra effort pays off when a smoker king skyrockets behind your boat with your handmade double-pogy rig in its mouth.

The post The Best Kingfish Live-Bait Rig appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Gusts to 25 knots out of the ­southwest stacked 2-foot waves atop 3-footers. What should have been a beautiful late fall day was quickly becoming a misery trip as torrents of salt water blew over the bow with the frequency of a punk-rock drumbeat.

My wife released her white-knuckle death grip on the console rail just long enough to punch me in the shoulder. She started to yell what surely would’ve been an expletive when she was cut short by a curtain of Chesapeake Bay brine.

“Trust me,” I shouted over the wind blast. “Three more minutes of this and we’ll be in the clear.”

By “in the clear” I meant that we’d round Point Lookout into the lee, and the wave height would drop by two-thirds. I certainly didn’t mean to imply I’d be clear of her wrath — it was obviously too late for that. But the second shoulder punch told me that she didn’t quite realize what I meant: Being in the lee of a point of land versus being on the windward side can make the difference between utter misery and fishing in relative comfort.

Finding Refuge from Windy Weather on the Water

Experienced anglers certainly know how very important the combination of wind speed and geography can be. It’s a lesson learned early.

As a child, I remember rushing to the window the moment I awoke on Saturday mornings to look at the treetops. No movement in those higher branches meant calm seas; a few rustling leaves was OK, but swaying treetops meant that rousting Dad out of bed would be a wasted effort.

Most open-water outings depend on decent weather conditions, which deteriorate more frequently in winter due to repeated cold fronts. During those months, the Jet Stream tends to push south. Nor’easters develop along the East Coast, and polar air flows south until it collides with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico.

While wind speeds along most of the northern Gulf Coast average 5 to 6 mph during the summer, they build to an average of 9 to 10 mph in winter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Atlantic coast averages 6 to 7 mph during summer and 9 to 10 mph during winter. And in Florida, average winds build from summer’s 7 to 8 mph to winter’s 10 to 12 mph.

Wind patterns can be somewhat predictable, and we can plan fishing around that. Any East Coast angler, for example, knows that a few calm days in a row often follow the violence of a cold front. But weather patterns have been changing in recent years; when it comes to wind speeds, they appear to be growing stronger over time. According to research performed at Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology and published in the journal Science, wind speeds have increased globally by 5 percent over the past 20 years.

However, a few places in the country offer a perfect combination of geography and prevailing winds. That is, they remain fishable in most or all conditions short of a gale — regardless of the season.

We chose six weather havens that deserve national ranking for both top-notch fishing, inshore and nearshore, and protection from wind and approaching storms.

San Diego Bay is Sheltered from the Wind

San Diego Bay benefits from a north-south orientation in an area that sees prevailing westerly winds virtually all year long. At just 1 to 3 miles wide, the bay never presents a very long draw over which westbound waves can build.

During winter, though, the bay can be hit by Santa Ana winds. These gusty, dry desert blows, which emanate out of the east, can compress while moving through canyons, and eventually peak at more than 100 mph inland. They’re commonly closer to 20 to 30 mph along the coast, but that’s plenty strong enough to hit anglers where it hurts. All that considered, San Diego Bay still gains a leg up when it comes to finding a lee, thanks to the intervention of man.

“San Diego Bay is 14 miles long and surrounded by land for most of that distance,” says Capt. James Nelson, a San Diego guide dubbed “the fish icon.” “Most of that land is incorporated, and downtown San Diego (on the northeast corner of the bay) has buildings to 497 feet high. This helps protect the bay from wind on most of the days that we would be on the water.”

Just what does Nelson target in San Diego Bay? A surprisingly wide range of species, including spotted bay, sand and calico bass; corvina; croaker; halibut; sharks; and even the vaunted West Coast bonefish.

“This makes San Diego Bay not only one of the best fisheries around, but also a comfortable place to be on a boat,” he says.

Louisiana’s Protection from the Wind

When it comes to twisting, turning waterways with lee shores aplenty, regardless of wind direction, a salt-marsh fishery can be tough to beat. And when it comes to salt-marsh fishing for species such as spotted seatrout, flounder, black drum and especially red drum, the Louisiana coast ranks high on the list.

While the Mississippi River delta offers a plethora of wind-sheltered ­locations, anglers must consider the way the wind affects fishing in the marshes. “Our area is strongly affected by winds [which pick up in the winter months but commonly peak during the spring], but what wind does is affect the waterways we can access,” says Capt. David Bourgeois, of Big Dog Fishing Charters, in Lafitte, Louisiana, just south of New Orleans. “When winds are strong from the north and west, water is pushed out of the Barataria Basin and into the Gulf of Mexico. During these times, there are plenty of oil-and-gas-field access canals that are productive for fishing, and where we can hide from the wind.

“However, we have to deal with very shallow water and have to be careful not only fishing, but when running to our spots to make sure we don’t hit any usually submerged items or run aground.”

South winds create the opposite effect, pushing water up into the marsh and bayous. “South winds that raise our water levels allow us to fish areas we couldn’t otherwise access, such as ponds, flats and shallow bayous,” he says.

Fishing Key West When Windy

Anglers in Key West — and throughout much of the Keys — benefit from the ability to fish either the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, depending on conditions. Even when all the surrounding waters roil, captains can tuck behind small islands that block the wind.

“We’re pretty lucky,” says Capt. Rush Maltz, of Odyssea Key West Sportfishing. “In the summer, we have prevailing winds out of the southeast, and in the winter, lots of east and northeast. We also get a lot of cold fronts moving through in the winter, and winds blow at 20 knots or more. But we can almost always find a place to fish.”

When it’s blowing out of the east, and seas in the Atlantic stack up to 6 or 7 feet, Gulf waves might only measure 1 to 3 feet, he explains. “On days the Gulf is unfishable, we might still be able to run offshore in the Atlantic and catch sailfish.

“Sometimes we can stay right in the harbor, where it’s almost always sheltered, and catch tarpon, or maybe permit or cobia, and snapper are always around. You don’t always have to go very far around here to catch fish. As a guide, this is great. While most of the coast might be stuck, we have options.”

This does, of course, affect which fisheries may be targeted on any given day. While sailfish and mahi might be plentiful on the Atlantic side, fishing the Gulf might mean going for grouper or snapper instead. On days with too much bluster for either option, backcountry and flats areas offer species such as tarpon, permit and bonefish. In other words, taking advantage of this weather flexibility means remaining open-minded about target choice.

“Instead of just saying we’re blown out, we change it up,” Maltz says. “We can still have a great day of fishing. And nine out of 10 anglers have no problem with that at all.”

Hide in the Outer Banks from the Wind

Take one glance at a map of the North Carolina Outer Banks and you can see that whichever way a strong wind blows, anglers can find sheltered waters somewhere in the sounds, bays or along the beach. On an east or west wind, for example, the slot between Roanoke Island and the mainland in Croatan Sound, and between Roanoke and the barrier islands in Roanoke Sound, should be quite protected. If the winds hump out of the north, the waters south of Wanchese should enjoy a lee. And if a southerly riles things up, the waters of Kitty Hawk Bay should remain relatively placid. That shelter can extend, at times, out into the ocean on the northeast or southwest side of Cape Hatteras and the east or west side of Cape Lookout.

Capt. Joey VanDyke, who has mated on offshore boats out of Oregon Inlet and Hatteras and today runs inshore, offshore and bay charters on the 27-foot custom Carolina-style Fingeance, has seen every aspect of how, where and when to alter fishing tactics to keep casting right through a blow.

“We’re very diverse here in the Outer Banks,” he says. “We’re mentally and physically able to change it up at the drop of a hat. From one day to the next, we might go from sight-casting for cobia in the ocean to targeting drum up on the grass flats in the sound. When the wind starts blowing, we have a plan A and a plan B — and a plan C and even a plan D.”

While most anglers happily adapt, some ­tourists don’t always get it. “We try to explain it to clients; we try to break it down for them and help them understand why the wind can make one area or another, and even a particular type of fishing, less productive,” VanDyke explains. “Take sight-casting for cobia, for example. There are times when the water’s too churned up for that to work from a blow the day before, even though now it’s calm enough to fish for them. But chumming might still be an option.

“Or, we might need to focus on a different species entirely. Sometimes it takes a little while, and sometimes we take them out and let them have a look. But as long as people are willing, we have a very unique opportunity here to find good fishing in most wind ­conditions, almost year-round.”

Chesapeake Comfort from the Winds

Having fished the Chesapeake Bay my entire life, I’ve taken advantage countless times of its rather erratic shorelines and plentiful tributaries to find a lee regardless of wind direction. But the bay’s combination of shoals and channels means that wind doesn’t need a long reach to create a tight, nearly vertical chop.

A 1-foot chop can be uncomfortable in a small boat. Two-footers can pound out your fillings while running, and roll your boat from side to side like a carnival ride while adrift. If you’re not careful, you might soak your wife in salt spray and earn yourself a punch or two. But no matter the direction the winds blow — even during the winter, when wind direction is unpredictable and you’re quite likely to have a 15-knot breeze — fishable waters can almost always be found in the middle bay at or around the Chesapeake Bay bridges.

Spanning just over 4 miles from the western to eastern shores, the twin spans of the bay bridges feature literally hundreds of pilings, some as long and wide as an 18-wheeler, as well as two artificial islands known as “the rock piles.” The islands not only break the wind but also the waves.

If the wind is blowing out of the east or west, one side of the bay or the other is bound to be relatively calm. And if it’s blowing out of the north or south, one side of the bridge or the other is significantly calmer. When the conditions are fishable but still uncomfortable, you can always take a break in the lee of one of the islands.

Added bonus: The bridges offer some of the best structure in the entire Chesapeake Bay, and quite often, the striped bass fishing here excels. Throughout the year, anglers can pluck school-size stripers to 30 inches from around the pilings by casting jigs on light tackle, live-baiting, or trolling tandem and umbrella rigs up and down the lane between the two bridges.

In early spring and late fall, trophy-size fish migrate in and out of the area. In fact, the largest striper I ever hooked in the Chesapeake struck beneath the east span of the north bridge. We fought it for a solid 20 minutes before it broke 40-pound test with a rod-pumping head-shake, ensuring I’ll always dream of hooking a fish like that again in the shadows of the Chesapeake Bay bridges.

Martha’s Vineyard Variety

Martha’s Vineyard benefits from a ­combination of tall wind-breaking bluffs near areas with strong current, numerous nearby islands and a fairly consistent westerly prevailing wind pattern. This adds up to options — lots of options — when the wind blows.

“You can always find a lee, and you can always find a place where there’s wind in your face too,” says Julian Pepper, a senior staff member and 20-year veteran at Larry’s Tackle Shop, the oldest such establishment on the island. “If you’re a fly-fisherman and you need protection from the wind, you can always go somewhere like Chappaquiddick and fish near the bluffs, where there’s also good current and good fishing. Between the sound, the islands and the ocean, there’s almost always a good place to fish.”

While the Vineyard is best known for its striped bass fishery, which starts in May and usually hits full swing in June, in the fall, false albacore can be found close to leeward shores. Even in winter, fish like tautog can be found in waters close enough to the lee to remain protected.

“It’s at its best when you get a blow for a couple of days. That pushes bait in,” Pepper says. “And then the wind turns. You can be in the lee, have clean water and some of the best fishing around.”

Battling the Breeze

Even in protected waters, strong winds make fishing tough. Casting becomes an issue, trolling lines might be pushed into one another and the wind can blow big bends in your line, reducing the ability to feel a bite. Use these simple tips and tactics to catch more fish in the maelstrom.

• When throwing lures or bait, remember to position your boat to allow casting with the wind. If that’s not possible, cast side-armed and low to the water.

• When trolling, try to head directly into or directly with the wind. When the breeze hits the boat on its beam, lines are much more likely to blow into one another. If that’s not possible, place your heaviest lures with the most drag on the upwind side of the spread and your lighter lures on the downwind side to keep the light lines from being blown atop the heavier ones.

• When fishing topwater in a strong wind, walk the dog with a stickbait rather than choosing a chugger or popper. The more abrupt jerk needed for popping some lures can lead to lots of cartwheeling (and the associated tangles).

The post Fishing Success in Windy Weather appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

During the winter months, mama croakers spew their eggs into high-salinity offshore waters, where they’re fertilized by daddy croakers, and then, in the afterglow, both mama and daddy head off to find something to eat, leaving the youngsters to fend for themselves. Maybe it’s parental malpractice, but Mother Nature shrugs. She couldn’t care less.

Along the Louisiana coast, the larval and post-larval croakers are pushed by the tides into shallow waters, where they use seagrasses and detritus to hide from predators and feast on rotifers, copepods and even the very detritus that serves as their home.

Eventually, though, the fish outgrow the marshes, and begin to migrate in the spring. That’s when they face a murderer’s row of speckled trout — and unwittingly provide anglers with some of the best fishing action of the year.

Croaker Chaos

For the growing croakers, big spring tides are both a blessing and a curse. Riding the conveyor belt of the tides is how juvenile croakers make their way into the bigger bays, but these strong currents also slam the fish into ledge walls that disorient them and make them easy prey for specks. This, in turn, makes the trout easy prey for anglers.

It happens every spring in South Louisiana, and is most consistent in brackish marshes, where juvenile croakers proliferate. Anglers who want to maximize their productivity simply ride around looking for what locals call “boiling water.” Boiling-water areas show upwellings on the surface, where hard currents hit ledge walls and are forced upward. These are most commonly found in winding bayous with 10 to 20 feet of depth. Not every ledge wall will hold fish, but a high percentage of them do, and an angler who hits enough of them will certainly find a bite that has him posting pictures on social media.

Best baits, far and away, are 3½-inch soft-plastic paddle tails that most accurately mimic the size and action of the migrating croakers. Louisiana anglers fish those on ⅜-ounce jigheads, and will sometimes add a ¼-ounce jighead-and-paddletail combo fished as a double rig when currents are particularly swift. Figuring out how fish orient at each ledge wall is part of the fun, and shrewd anglers will frequently change their angles to find feeding specks. Hooked fish regularly upchuck juvenile croakers onto the boat decks of successful anglers. Often these fish are so recently ingested, they can be thrown overboard, where they swim down, probably to be eaten by another trout.

Spring Seatrout Success

Depending on water temperature, the bite will begin around the first of March and stretch almost to the summer solstice. By then, most of the mature specks have moved offshore to spawn, leaving behind only the undersized immature fish, along with a host of pests, like hardheads and gafftops.

But during the run, the specks are shockingly large for Louisiana marsh fish. An 18-inch average is about the norm, and several fish in the schools will stretch between 20 and 24 inches. In comparison, anglers fishing marsh lakes and expansive bays during this same time of year will typically be plagued by undersized and barely legal fish.

Though specks are the primary beneficiaries of the croaker migration, other species also notice and take advantage of the easy meals. Redfish are ever present, and the pattern delivers far more bites from black drum, flounder and largemouth bass than unfamiliar anglers might expect. Given the onslaught, it defies belief that any croaker survives to reach offshore waters and complete the spawn cycle, but clearly a whole bunch do. Despite getting no help from their parents.

The post The Best Spring Seatrout Bait appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Because braided line has such a thin diameter, the importance of knots used to connect braid to a length of mono or fluorocarbon leader takes on greater significance. Most anglers choose to use a leader with braid, but based on the results of this challenge, it would seem that many are losing 30, 40 and even more than 50 percent of the braid’s breaking strength at that knot. On the other hand, some knots retain 90 to 100 percent of the braid’s strength. The fundamental purpose of this knot challenge is to share with Sport Fishing enthusiasts which knots are the strongest and how they are tied.

How We Tested 53 Fishing Knots

Before we look more closely at the winning knots, here’s how the challenge worked. Those who answered our call for participants could enter in either the light-braid category (15-pound braid to 30-pound fluorocarbon leader) or the heavy-braid category (50-pound braid to 80-pound fluorocarbon), or both. All were sent the same braid and leader so everyone would be working with the same materials.

Specifically, entrants used Spiderwire Stealth Blue Camo Braid in 15-pound-test and Spiderwire Stealth Glow-Vis Braid in 50-pound-test as their main line, tying to Berkley ProSpec fluorocarbon leader in 30-pound and 80-pound, respectively. The 15-pound Spiderwire braid actually broke at 34.4 pounds, on average; the 50-pound Spiderwire broke at 62.8 pounds. That means knots would have had to break at 34.4 and 62.8 pounds to achieve 100 percent strength.

Keep in mind the bottom-line goal of this challenge: Determine the strongest possible knots to connect braid to leader. Given that objective, there were few restrictions. Some tied a double line in the braid, some did not. A few applied glue to their knots. Whatever worked was fair game, as we can all benefit from that knowledge. Those who elected to tie a double line (most often with a Bimini twist) then had two knots to test; they were submitting a “knot system,” if you will.

It was essential to determine which of the two knots tested weaker; that registered as the “weak link” in their system, and that knot was the one that would determine the strength of their method of connecting braid to leader. (In some cases, the weaker knot was the Bimini twist; in other cases, the knot connecting the doubled braid to the leader proved weaker.)

Each entrant submitted three samples of the same knot, so the strength measured represents the mean of the three break tests.

The Best Knots for 15-Pound Braided Fishing Line

As the charts you’ll see a bit farther down show, the strength of these knots was pretty much all over the place, from 100 percent to as little as about 17 percent. For lighter braid (15-pound tied to 30-pound fluoro), here are the three strongest knots, in order.

PR Bobbin Knot — 84.3 Percent Break Strength

Tied by Capt. Bryan Dietz of Merritt Island, Florida

Improved FG Knot — 80.9 Percent Break Strength

Tied by Capt. Tim Simos of Fort Pierce, Florida

FG knot — 73.4 Percent Break Strength

Tied by Ralph Green of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

The Best Knots for 50-Pound Braided Fishing Line

For heavier braid (50-pound tied to 80-pound fluoro), here are the four strongest knots, in order.

GT Knot — 100 Percent Break Strength

Tied by Chad Nisely of Painesville, Ohio

PR Bobbin Knot — 99.5 Percent Break Strength

Tied by Bryan Dietz of Merritt Island, Florida

Improved Bristol Knot — 92.1 Percent Break Strength

Tied by Doug Olander of Winter Park, Florida

Improved FG Knot — 82.1 Percent Break Strength

Tied by Capt. Tim Simos of Fort Pierce, Florida

Two Charts Showing the Strongest Fishing Knots

What to Consider When Tying Fishing Knots

Knot-tiers are becoming more sophisticated, at least based on comparison to a similar Sport Fishing knot challenge years ago. Most of the winning knots here aren’t simple or quickly tied (many best tied the evening before a fishing trip rather than on the water in a hurry in rough seas), but the results speak for themselves.

Another change from the previous knot challenge is the prevalence of single-line knots among better entries. That is, years ago, most of the strongest knots tested were formed from a double line made with a Bimini twist, such as a Bristol (aka Yucatan or no-name knot). This year, only one such knot scored among the best. All other top knots tie the single-strand main line directly to the leader. The FG knot has become quite popular, for example. Also, it should be noted that the time some anglers took to tie elaborate knots connecting doubled braid to leader wasn’t effectively spent since their Bimini twists broke first.

It seems that tying knots approaching 100-percent strength might be inherently more difficult with lighter braided line. The percentages of the two best results with 15-pound braid were in the lower 80s, while three entries with 50-pound braid tested between 92 and 100 percent. (Two knots finished among the top three in both light- and heavy-braid categories, but tested weaker with the lighter braid).

It’s not just the knot; how it’s tied is strategic. That is, in some cases, very similar or even the same knots tied by different entrants tested far differently, suggesting slight variations in how they were tied could make a considerable difference.

Albrights and double-uni knots are very popular — but are they the best knots? One result consistent in this challenge was that Albright and uni knots to connect braid to leader scored pretty low. Lots of anglers — and pros — swear by them, and certainly, a knot you can tie efficiently, with lots of confidence, is important. But the Instron tester suggests anglers can do better.

How to Tie the PR Bobbin Knot

How to Tie the Improved FG Knot

How to Tie the GT Knot

How to Tie the Improved Bristol Knot

Top Fishing Captains Favorite Knots

I asked these charter captains and guides how they choose to connect a braid main line to a fluoro or mono leader. Here’s what they said:

The post Strongest Fishing Knots Connecting Braid to Leader appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

You know the saying “What’s old is new?” Well, the older I get, the more sense it makes. I see the kids pegging their pant legs like we did in the ’80s. Star Wars is more popular than ever. And certain old-school fishing tactics are back in vogue.

When I was a kid, my dad would load us and his gear into his 24-foot Albemarle, carry us across the mouth of Chesapeake Bay to the edge of Inner Middle Ground Shoal and throw out the anchor. He’d break out a half dozen Penn setups rigged with fish-finder rigs. After baiting up with chunks of menhaden, he’d cast the rigs around the boat and deploy a bag of chum. Then, we’d wait.

Fishermen are famous for their patience, but waiting for hours while boiling under the hot sun, all the while swatting flies and listening to the waves slap on the hull, would test the resolve of a saint. Not to mention the weird bycatch fish. Skates, car-hood rays and small sharks were more annoying than the green flies.

In those days, cobia fishermen were a special sort of crazy, suffering the worst conditions to catch one of the biggest inshore trophies. On a hot August afternoon, with thunderstorms on the horizon, the shoals at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay were lined with boats and covered in a sheen of menhaden oil. Many anglers tried to catch these finicky beasts, but few were successful.

Those few had turned cobia fishing into a passion, devoting their lives to the pursuit. The payoff came in one of the largest and most unpredictable coastal game fish. These fish can grow up to 100 pounds, bigger than most inshore sport fish.

No two cobia fight the same. They will run, charge, roll, dive and even jump. Often, a free-swimming cobia will follow a hooked fish to the boat. That’s when real chaos kicks in as the crew scrambles to pitch a bait. Then there are the stories of hooked cobia getting wrapped up in the anchor rope and chum line. I’ve seen guys jump off the boat to free a cobia caught up in bridge pilings. After sacrificing blood, sweat and sanity, they were not about to let a cobia get away.

Chumming for Cobia Lost Favor Over the Last Decade

About 20 years ago, local anglers returning from the fabled cobia waters off Florida brought heavy spinning rods, big bucktails and stories of free-swimming cobia. Within a couple summers, sight-casting towers were popping up like tulips in spring. The chumming hopefuls had become sight-casting cowboys. I was one of them.

If I could catch cobia by driving around the bay at 10 knots, to hell with chumming! The choice seemed obvious. Trade in chum, cut bait, live bait, hours in the sun, no breeze and trash fish for cruising around, face in the wind, a bucket full of eels, a couple of bucktails, two rods and no trash fish. I was sold. So were many, many anglers.

It wasn’t long before I figured out that sight-fishing for cobia isn’t easy either. The sun is just as hot, the fish are just as finicky, the outboard burns more fuel and my success rate improved only slightly. After a couple of summers driving around and going blind staring through the bright sun into the empty water, I was ready to catch a trash fish!

Chumming for Cobia is Popular Once Again

I caught up with my old friend Wes Blow to learn more about chumming for cobia. While the rest of us were sight-fishing, Blow was perfecting his bait-fishing tactics.

“I like the chaos,” he explained to me over the phone. Blow often fishes alone. Juggling a spastic cobia while trying to clear lines, pull in the chum bucket and then land the thrashing fish solo makes his blood run hot. Instead of explaining his methods and madness, he invited me to join him on his next trip.

We met at Wallace’s Marina in Hampton, Virginia, hours before sunrise. Blow loaded the boat with a half dozen three-gallon chum buckets and two dozen eels. He grinds his own chum out of fresh menhaden. His recipe mixes one gallon of menhaden oil with 100 pounds of fish. We ran out of Back River, and Blow stopped the boat in a deep channel. He armed two rods with two-hook bottom rigs baited with Fishbites bloodworm and 2-ounce bank sinkers. We drifted down the channel and quickly added three dozen croaker to the livewell.

By the time the sun peeked over the horizon, we were heading toward the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. Blow said he starts cobia fishing as soon as the water temperature hits 68 degrees. “The first fish show up off Hampton, at York Spit and Bluefish Rock,” Blow said.

On this slick-calm August day, Blow motored to the shoals on the inside side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. He anchors on a sharp drop or significant hump so the boat is in shallow water and the chum slick is drifting into the deep. “I like the tide and wind going in the same direction,” he said. “That way the stern of the boat and chum slick are pointing in the same direction.”

With no wind and a morning outgoing tide, Blow anchored along the edge of Inner Middle Ground Shoal so the chum slick trailed toward the bridge. Blow keeps the anchor rope tied to a polyball so he can quickly ditch the anchor when he hooks a big cobia.

As the boat settled in the current, Blow dumped a three‑gallon bucket of chum into a five-gallon bucket with holes drilled in it and diving weights in the bottom. He dropped the bucket over the stern and let it sink to the bottom.

Cobia Fishing Techniques

As the greasy slick snaked its way with the current, Blow pulled out four medium-heavy combos spooled with 65-pound braided line. When I noticed that each reel has a different color line, he explained: “If I get a tangle, I quickly know which line is coming from what reel.” I joked, “They must love you at the tackle shop.”

Each rod is outfitted with a fish-finder rig. Blow threaded a plastic fish-finder slide over the braided line and tied on a 250-pound-test swivel. He attached a 2½-foot length of 80-pound Ande monofilament snelled to a big J hook. “I use an 8/0 hook for eels and a 10/0 for croaker,” he said. He likes a J hook because it improves his hookup ratio. “Big cobia have a hard, bony jaw,” he told me. “And a J hook will stick anywhere.” Because cobia often pick up the bait and charge the boat or jump and thrash, Blow feels the J hook has a better chance of finding purchase. “Very few cobia [that I catch] are deep-hooked,” he insisted.

No one is more concerned with the well-being of these brown bombers than Blow, who serves on the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council subcommittee for cobia. He’s fought for years for sensible regulations to protect both the species and anglers’ rights.

Blow clips 8-ounce pyramid sinkers to two lines. The other two lines get a 4-ounce bank sinker. He drops the heavier sinkers right off the stern. “I catch 75 percent of my fish on the baits right next to the chum bucket.” The other two lines are stationed 20 feet behind the boat. “I catch the biggest fish on the longer lines,” he added.

Blow clears the deck and keeps the menhaden oil scrubbed off. The anchor is ready on the buoy. His rigs are fresh and tackle pristine. “Cobia will test every inch of your gear,” he stressed throughout the day. “You have to be ready when that 100-pounder is on the line.”

Hot Cobia Fishing

With the lines set and the chum flowing, we sat back and waited. The early morning humidity was already sitting on us like a wet towel. It wasn’t long before we got our first bite. I grabbed my camera, and Blow grabbed the rod. “It’s a shark,” he announced even before seeing the fish.

I stowed the camera, and Blow brought the 4-foot biter to the side of the boat. “Hold the rod,” he ordered, and I obeyed. He reached down, took a couple wraps on the leader, threaded the line onto a dehooker and, with a twist of the wrist, released the shark. The dehooker easily grabbed hold of the J hook, although a circle likely would have had similar results.

Blow rerigged the leader and replaced the bait in the spread. “I must catch a thousand sharks each summer,” he lamented. “Maybe more.” According to Blow, trash fish are just part of the fun. The key is to keep an extra rod rigged up and ready to deploy while fighting a shark or ray.

It wasn’t long before one of the rods bucked heavily. Then the line went slack. Blow was quick to react, jumping on the rod and reeling the line tight. A 3-foot brown fish skirted the surface of the water 30 feet behind the boat. When the fish turned to run, Blow jerked the rod tip to set the hook. Then he engaged the clicker on the reel and put the rod back in the holder. We worked quickly to clear the other rods. I pulled up the chum bucket and left it dangling at the surface. “With the clicker on, I can listen to what the fish is doing while I prepare the boat,” he explained.

Once the lines were in and the deck clear, Blow returned to fighting the cobia. Brown bombers are one of the most unpredictable fish on a line. This one pulled all the tricks. Their favorite move is to come to the boat quickly. When I reached for the net, Blow barked, “I don’t even try to land them when they first come to the boat.” He’s wise to their tricks. “I hit the fish on the head with the net and it will freak out and run again.”

I reached in with the net and scooped a 30-pounder into the boat. The fish slithered on the deck while Blow quickly removed the hook and measured it. Then he inserted an orange spaghetti tag and returned the fish to the water. He held onto the lip and let the cobia regain its composure. When the fish gave a kick that covered Blow with green water, he let it swim away.

By now, the sun was up in full force and the heat building. Blow’s open center console offered no place to hide, and my light clothes stuck to my skin. I gulped water and moved around the boat trying to find any breeze. The surface of the bay was slick-calm, and the boat hardly rocked. Luckily, the fishing was just as hot as the weather. We landed a couple more brown fish in the 20- to 30-pound range as the tide ripped toward the ocean.

When the current began to slack, Blow moved the boat to the east side of the bridge, where we rode out the incoming tide. We caught more cobia, including one fish that pushed 50 pounds. All of the fish were tagged and released. Sure, we caught a few sharks and rays, but that didn’t rain on the parade. I considered the day a major success.

At one point, I spotted three cobia swimming along the edge of the shoal, 30 yards in front of the boat. I grabbed a heavy spinning reel and 3-ounce ­bucktail that Blow keeps just for such occasions. With all of my might, I heaved the lure at the idling fish. The bucktail landed with a splash a few feet ahead of the pack. I watched their fins slash the surface, I gave the rod tip a jerk and all three fish turned on the bucktail. I let the lure drop. The fish swam down.

I jigged again, cranked a few feet of line, jigged again, but nothing happened. I did everything right, but sometimes cobia simply won’t cooperate with a lure presentation. All the more reason to chum for them.

After hours of action, we’d released a half dozen cobia. Each fish fought its own fight. With one of us on the reel and the other scooting around the cockpit, we were able to control the chaos. I saw Blow’s point about action. Too many times I’ve gone all day sight-fishing without taking the rod out of the holder. That definitely won’t happen when chumming up cobia.

Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program

In an effort to track fish movements and monitor populations, the Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program recruits volunteer anglers to place numbered tags in 11 species of sport fish. Participants are trained on how to insert tags and record data. The resulting information plays a big part in tracking fish numbers and setting regulations. Cobia have been a big star of the program: One fish tagged in Virginia was recaptured in the Gulf of Mexico, off Texas. Wes Blow tags dozens of cobia each summer. Because he receives a notification when one of his tags is returned, the information helps him refine his cobia strategy. To get involved in the program, visit mrc.virginia.gov.

Cobia Fishing Supply List

• Medium-heavy conventional or spinning combos spooled with 80-pound braided line
• 8-ounce pyramid sinkers
• 4- to 6-ounce bank sinkers
• 8/0 and 10/0 J hooks on 80-pound mono leader and
• Fish-finder slide
• Five-gallon chum bucket drilled with ½-inch holes
• Three-gallon buckets of menhaden chum
• Two dozen live eels
• Three dozen live croaker or spot

The post Chumming for Cobia 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.

First Come, First Served

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.

If the Bait Fisherman Was There First

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.

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.

Boat Versus Surf Fishermen

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.

Blitz Fishing Conditions

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.

A Baitfish Frenzy

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 Versus Walk-On Surf Anglers

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.

Respect Other Anglers

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.

The post QUICK GUIDE: Surf Fishing Etiquette 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.

How to Fish with Crabs for Tarpon

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.

Fishing with Blue Crabs

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.

How to Fish with Fiddler Crabs

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.

Other Types of Crab Baits Crabs

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.

How to Keep Your Crabs Alive

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.

How to Fish with Crabs

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.

Crab Lure Imitations

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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