Well, the big schools of adult pogies have been in and around my area for the last several days and yesterday I was finally able to snag one! (from shore) Having never used one live I wondered how to most effectively hook it? I ended up putting the hook into its mouth and up through the top of its head. Wow! What a resilient little fish that was. It lived for over an hour before I had to quit fishing. I was fishing a river mouth at slack tide and the turn out and had several BIG stripers send that sucker flying out of the water but could not get one to catch it! I free spooled the pogie but it took 150 yds of line and was going strong and would have spooled me.

So, any good tips on how to effectively fish these live if I should be so lucky to snag another one? This pogie was a good 12 inches long and will become chunk bait tonight. Planning on cutting it into 1/3's.

Spinn

My experiance with pogies in the past was when the pogie actually hits the water after a cast. The slap sound it makes as it hit the water would usually attract a striper or blooo and bam! If possible throw the pogie back into a school of pogies, sit back and hold on. :laugha:

if you where getting chases & the pogie was a large one /they are probably smaller fish // they swirls & hits look big / but often if the pop the pogie in the air & don,t take it /its usually under 15# :think:

I've fished them like I fish Scup. Hook then through the back in front of the dorsal fin. I also cut the dorsal to make them swim erratically. :think:

I make a snatch rig and just let them swim around

Someone (Jeros?) makes a livelining rig. It has 2 hooks, 1 for the head, 1 for the tail on leaders. Works god for me.

Easy to make a "quick strike" rig that works great w/big pogies. Get some heavy mono (old 130 lb. tuna line works great.); tie a clinch knot from the non -welded hook on a treble to the eye of a 2nd treble. Vary the length according to pogie size; front hook through the nose, rear in the back. As soon as you feel a solid pick up set the hook. Don't let the fish take it if you plan to release the fish because it will probably have both trebles.

attach your main line to 100lb swivle tied to 2 or 3ft 50lb mono tied to a circle hook or live bait hook 8 size. some guys use huge bobber for live lining

Snag it & Leave it

Casting a large pogie kills him by a 1/5...(and 5ths are only good for drinking)
Pogies unlike a scup do not dive deep when casted or fished...they mostly stay around the sub-surface level, a scup automatically dives. For the most part, you want that pogie down deep and struggling...AWAY from the sub-surface attacking, ....smaller blues and stripers...(the weight of the snagger helps you accomplish this)
Of course fishing it this way decreases the life of the pogie quite a bit.....but if you live-lined a pogie for an hour, kudos to you... :cool:

Here's something to picture in your mind - Think deep....and think BIG.



A large school of pogies have been herdled up into a tight ball, constantly changing direction within the ball itself... but not moving the ball much at all. They're trying their best to replicate a large ocean creature, something intimidating to a Striper or Bloo. They also try taking advantage of the current but it only works against them, slowing their reaction speed in comparison to the attack of a predator.

Suddenly, something rockets overhead and lands 20 feet behind this large ball of menhaden. It's silky trail sinks quickly into the mass of fish...finally, the silky line starts to form and tighten up within the school...bumping signals are then sent to the origin of the rocket through the line indicating that the rocket has hit it's target....suddenly in a ripping motion, 3 welded hooks come roaring upward through this unknowing group of fish, clipping scales off as it screams towards the surface......Suddenly one of the hooks finds a home just behind a gill plate. The fish is painfully violated...it starts to dance erratically, blood starts flowing into the water...oily blood, oily pogy blood :D...it starts to circle with the weight of the snagger on just one side...the rest of the school senses it's paranoia and dodges left and right...breaking into smaller pods until they're away from this wounded target and then reform again.

The wounded pogy struggles to stay on the surface, it trys to rejoin the school but can ony swim circles due to the snagger...the weight becomes too much...he can't hold his own...he slowly gives in and points his head down. As he approaches the bottom he can sense that he's not alone. In a frantic motion, he raises his head and makes a futile attempt at the surface...powerless, he stops midway feeling the weight of the snagger dragging him down...but something is watching him...something that's been waiting in the darkness for quite some time, waiting patiently for an injured prey.....................

...the pogy continues to sink, quivering in pain as it feels the barb draining every last drop of strength from him........


OK, let's have some endings........:D,,,,,, :think:

Whew.....I think I need a cigarette after that :D


did you used to write for Penthouse Forum?

Snag it & Leave it

Casting a large pogie kills him by a 1/5...(and 5ths are only good for drinking)
Pogies unlike a scup do not dive deep when casted or fished...they mostly stay around the sub-surface level, a scup automatically dives. For the most part, you want that pogie down deep and struggling...AWAY from the sub-surface attacking, ....smaller blues and stripers...(the weight of the snagger helps you accomplish this)
Of course fishing it this way decreases the life of the pogie quite a bit.....but if you live-lined a pogie for an hour, kudos to you... :cool:

Here's something to picture in your mind - Think deep....and think BIG.



A large school of pogies have been herdled up into a tight ball, constantly changing direction within the ball itself... but not moving the ball much at all. They're trying their best to replicate a large ocean creature, something intimidating to a Striper or Bloo. They also try taking advantage of the current but it only works against them, slowing their reaction speed in comparison to the attack of a predator.

Suddenly, something rockets overhead and lands 20 feet behind this large ball of menhaden. It's silky trail sinks quickly into the mass of fish...finally, the silky line starts to form and tighten up within the school...bumping signals are then sent to the origin of the rocket through the line indicating that the rocket has hit it's target....suddenly in a ripping motion, 3 welded hooks come roaring upward through this unknowing group of fish, clipping scales off as it screams towards the surface......Suddenly one of the hooks finds a home just behind a gill plate. The fish is painfully violated...it starts to dance erratically, blood starts flowing into the water...oily blood, oily pogy blood :D...it starts to circle with the weight of the snagger on just one side...the rest of the school senses it's paranoia and dodges left and right...breaking into smaller pods until they're away from this wounded target and then reform again.

The wounded pogy struggles to stay on the surface, it trys to rejoin the school but can ony swim circles due to the snagger...the weight becomes too much...he can't hold his own...he slowly gives in and points his head down. As he approaches the bottom he can sense that he's not alone. In a frantic motion, he raises his head and makes a futile attempt at the surface...powerless, he stops midway feeling the weight of the snagger dragging him down...but something is watching him...something that's been waiting in the darkness for quite some time, waiting patiently for an injured prey.....................

...the pogy continues to sink, quivering in pain as it feels the barb draining every last drop of strength from him........


OK, let's have some endings........:D,,,,,, :think:
as the pogy turns around a striped bass is speeding at him with a mouth that you could fit a soccer ball in wide open with one foul swoop the 76lb linesider swallows the pogy head first. the striped bass finds that something is not right the bass feels something in his mouth pulling the angler sets the hook the bass feels a mortal sense of danger and dives for the rocks below him to try to rid him self of this tormenting pulling line. left,right the bass zigs-zags through the rocks. the line go's limp the bass has won. this fight will haunt the angler for all his life it will invade his dreams he will never know how big the bass or thing was. but this just makes his blood boil and gives him more resolve than ever before

as the pogy turns around a striped bass is speeding at him with a mouth that you could fit a soccer ball in wide open with one foul swoop the 76lb linesider swallows the pogy head first. the striped bass finds that something is not right the bass feels something in his mouth pulling the angler sets the hook the bass feels a mortal sense of danger and dives for the rocks below him to try to rid him self of this tormenting pulling line. left,right the bass zigs-zags through the rocks. the line go's limp the bass has won. this fight will haunt the angler for all his life it will invade his dreams he will never know how big the bass or thing was. but this just makes his blood boil and gives him more resolve than ever before


that sounds dreadfully familiar.

"Whew.....I think I need a cigarette after that


did you used to write for Penthouse Forum?"



:biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:



I just almost peed myself on that one!!!

It @#$%^&*( died & the Crabs ate it & your snagger got hung up :mad: