. . . from Bassyius Maximus.

I could not get Friday off however my buddy and my other buddy got to get out there and hooked up 20+ Bonito and a few incidental bluefish. 4 of us got to go out in the 2-3 foot slop early Saturday and had the place to ourselves save for the occasional sportfisher that would troll by then leave and we hooked up another large mess of the Bones and even more bluefish. There have been a lot of bonito out there, more than I've ever been witness to in my short time and all the reports are on the money as well.

We did take the time to try just about every plastic swimmer in our collective possession and can now safely say that anything trolled or cast will catch these fish/bonito assuming/knowing that they are there. The color of the lure didn't matter for we had silver sides and a red head and a green top that worked. Black top, orange bottom, silver sides, worked. Dark blue/blue crystal, worked. The green tigers worked, the green top, yellow bottom, they all worked, so long as it vibrated through the water, it caught the fish. The length of lure didn't matter nor did the size, the depth didn't matter, whether it ran deep, 6-13 feet or 15 or 20 or shallow 1 1/2-3 feet, they hit everything we put in the water. It could have been because we were the only boat in the area or that they are just hungry and want to eat our tasty plastic lures.

The only thing we have not tried this year are any metals. As we are fortunate enough to be on a boat, so long as we have the wind to our backs we can get our lures launched and into fish that the metals are not necessary and I've yet to get a metal that will outfish the plastic swimmers we've had so much luck with, but that is me.

I lost/misplaced my flash drive and all the pics are in my buddies computer but do you really want to see more pictures of me and my buddies and those things?, I didn't/don't think so.

When trolling what kind of rod and reel and line set up do you use or are you just casting these plastic things?

We've been using the same rods and reels that we use for casting for trolling, and even eeling and casting for bass, they do it all.

We've been going light. We have all 7 foot rods, Boca's in Medium and Medium/Heavy and a 7 foot St Croix all mated to 40 series reels, Boca's, Cabo's and a Shimano MGFA Stradic 4000. Our lines are from 12-16 lb test, from Ande to Trilene big game in green and clear to 12 lb Stren in Hi-Vis green.

I favor trolling out my 6'9" Boca M/H. I lost 3 inches or so from the tip from sitting on it in the car and had to replace the tip. I had 15 lb Big Game on the spool and let out about 3/4-7/8 of the line out when trolling before I flip the bail. As the line calculator does not go above I think, 12 lb test, having to carry the numbers over, I estimate that the reel can take about 160-170 yards of 15 lb test. I like the M/H because I'm used to how the rod is bent when the lure is set in the water. I can't tell how the lure is doing with the medium wt. rods because they are so flexible/too bendy although I think that the lighter rods would impart a littel more/better action with the lures.

I think we are having good luck catching because we are going light for these bones/f-albacore. The light rod allows more action on the lure as well as having a light line to allow the lure to wiggle more and the fish can't see the line as much. Despite all the bluefish we bailed we had yet to be cut off once, even with no leader of any kind, just a Palomar straight to the lure and we must have caught about 100 bluefish in two days of fishing.

The fish take a little while to get to the boat because of our light line but we revive them and set them on their way so long as they are not bloodied by the hook, and we take some to eat as they are pretty tasty despite the fact that I don't really like the taste of fish all that much. Imagine a fisherman who doesn't like to eat it or really taste it.

In our area or in all the areas we've been catching, we will troll to find the fish, then once we know the general area where they are racing around, we'll drift or anchor and cast, of course with the wind at our backs and we'll be into them. So far it has been all blind casting as there have been no birds or signs of anything on top. So we are still using the same light tackle rods and reels for casting and trolling as it is a joy to use the stuff and can't fathom going back to my trusty 6500's and 7' light, m/l fiberglass rods I had been using for years. One good thing to say about my trusties is that they were like weightlifting, I'm at the peak of my casting curve from all the casting I had done with the heavier set ups of the past.

When I got my first two set ups, the Medium inshore rod and the Medium/Heavy, I told myself that I would not troll either one, that changed quick when I tried the M/H and found that it worked quite well as initially I thought I had made a mistake buying a M/H rod but now I'm so happy that I did. Next toy will be a 7'6"-er as I have all 7' rods and will have to step up and make the 7'6"-er my casting/eeling rod as I want it to be light/fast.

There will be the side that believes that light line and light tackle will/could kill more fish because of the prolonged fight and we do take that into consideration but so far all the fish we've sent back have swum off just fine because we de-hook fast and get them back in AQAP, as quick as possible. I do hope this helps in any way.

PAUL,, I think he should take us out and show us :kewl:

VB

not looking for exact spot, but what state/body of water are you talking about.
Thanks
Zac

Thank you Bassy. I too would like to know where, but I understand. I do accept PM's though:cheers: Thanks for all the info.

Peter I may have to give this a try. If I do I will call you. P.

Sounds like Nantucket Sound to me.

A week or two ago you almost couldn't not catch a bonito anywhere from Point Judith to Wesport, and I'm sure further beyond as well.

We've been in Nantucket and Vineyard Sound. The rips between the East Side of the Vineyard and the West Side of Nantucket have been very good to us and oftentimes we have the entire ocean/rip to ourselves. We can oftentimes see other boats in the distance but we always prefer to fish a rip solo, so we find our own fishable water.

So far, in my experience, I've found that wind direction does not matter. Tide and stage of tide does not matter. Sunny, overcast, slight mist, rain, none of these things matter to the bonito, or the bluefish. For us, it has been pick a rip in the roughly 15-20 square miles from Wasque point to Tuckerneck Island and there will be Bonito in the rip. Of course there will be bluefish too and bass, I don't think this is a big secret. Hell, not long ago I wondered where the Hooter was, I just didn't know that that bouy out there was called the Hooter.

Here is another story of how I think. For many long years I would go out and catch nothing, I reeked at fishing and still don't think I'm good, still a intermediate-novice. I had a boat and read about many, many spots and all the techniques and methods available to fish them. The thing with spots is that at least from a boat, the boater still has to gas it up, gear it up, and run the oftentimes churned up seas. It is easy for the uninitiated to look at a chart of Western Vineyard Sound or the Eastern end to Nantucket Sound and think that all one has to do is point the boat in the right direction, throttle up and go, but nothing is almost further from the truth. Just how many rips are NorthWest of Nantucket?, a real lot, and they are all in a 20 mile radius, a large area for our 20+ center console single engine fishing boats. All there has to be is a little wind and current and shoal-ey/rip water and it just won't be a swell ride for most boats under 24 feet. So while there are spots out there, there just aren't many who can get out to the "promised land" to fish the water. It is why I understand the whole shore "spot-burning" issue. Who wants every potential poacher going and catching every short that will bite?

I hope this helps as I can't wait again to get out early Friday morning and if possible, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Labor Day weekend, geez.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/thundra04struck/bone-eye.jpg

Bassyius hiding behind a 3.5 pounder. I can seeeeeeee you.

Thanks very helpful. Kind of where I thought you were. Where do you launch from? Paul