Every year I am finding that sluggo's are less effective. It seems as if bass are adapting to them. The last two trips in my boat I used sluggos, but my mutinous crew used alternatives. These scurvy, rum-ridden dogs outfished me 5 to one. Sluggo's just don't seem as effective as they used to be. I have a lot of respect for Steve, but at least in my area Sluggos are not getting the job done.

Sluggos.
 

I totally DISAREE! I am AMAZED every time I use this lure. I fish in the surf 100 percent of the time. Boat use is foreign to me.

Sluggo
 

Again, I still can't believe that the entire surf fishing community isn't using these things. It has nothing to do with confidence, it has to do with how you fish them and their bass catching ability,-- much like the live eel!

I hate them. I curse them every time I land a bass on them... damn things work well once you get the mojo down.

I'm going to do an experiment, the next time I'm into fish on eels (which hasn't been lately), I'm gonna throw a sluggo out there and see what happens. I think if the fish are still there, they will take the sluggo. Then I'm going to throw out a regular plug and see if that works. I've already done half of this experiment, in that I've been into fish, then cast off my last eel, then switch to sluggos and continue to catch.

Sluggo
 

I've been experiementing with the sluggo and other artificials while in to fish with some amazing results and only to be very disappointed with alot of the proven "killer" artificials. Where I surf fish it's either a live eel or the sluggo if you want to catch fish consistantly.

Steve, be thankful the entire fishing community doesn't fish where you surf fish ;)

Many do use them, there are lots of ways to skin a cat.
In the canal they need to be attached to a 4 ounce leadhead to be effective when the bass are there and lined up anlong rips on the bottom, maybe on the rare places and times the bass are in close up top you may be able to fish them like you do, but that is not often in the canal.

The cape surf, ya right, again the fish have to be within casting distance or what will you catch? a bluefish maybe, or a seal:smash:
If I ever get fish in close at the beach, I'll certainly give it a try.
In my skiff I have landed nice bass on 7-1/2" sluggos on a small jighead up to 25 pounds so I know they work, pink is a great color:uhuh:

I've been staying out of this debate, but to your post above..... 100 % true: I fished a rocky shoreline at night on MV using live eels, must have fished 100 yards without a hit. I knew that had to be fish around, i switched to a black sluggo and caught fish the entire way back along the way I came.

ok that's amazing, the sluggo outfished the eels?

sluggo
 

The Cape cod canal is ONE place my sluggo would be unproductive bcause of all the tide and water depth. I't's not perfect.

yup, true story.

I am not doubting it happened... I'd be more inclined to believe the fish moved into the area on the walk back, or you weren't hiting far enough out w/the eel. I doubt the slugg-o could outfish an eel. At it's best it could hold it's own.


I guess anything is possible though.

sure, could have been any of those things. I think it might have been presentation too, slow moving eel vs. fast jerk bait, different part of water column

the fish may have just been up near the surface (where the sluggo is) and not the bottom (where the eel is)

the other night I was fishing point with eels with no luck. I kept wading out further and further with the tide with no results. then I saw a bass tailing about 5 yards from me. I cast the eel past him and brought it in on top - he took it. Got about 5 more bass, up to about 20 lbs, fishing the eel on top. Threw in a few traditional eel presentations with no luck during the time I was getting em on top. just goes to show that you never know.

By the way, I'm a big fan of sluggos and probably would have put one on out there to see what happened but I was out to deep to get at my belt bag.

that sounds like a dead-on theory to me. water column placement is sometimes the most important thing. I've experienced that same issue with schoolies, my usually deadly jig and cocochoe rig got no hits, but a popper slayed em.

Unfortunately, the sluggo is also a bluefish magnet. This season I have had more sluggos chomped than fish caught. My guess is the same could be true were I fishing eels.

sluggo - conclusion
 

No slight intended, but I think alot of you guys are missing or even belaboring the point which is basically that I've had really unbelievable success with the 9 inch rigged and weighted black sluggo over the last 4 season and just wanted to pass it along to those who are still unkowing about it's bass catching abilities. Night in and night out no one will convince me that another artificial will out fish this lure. Amen!

Atlantic mossbunker is all you need....:humpty:

yeah but us poor shmoes fishing from land need to fish sluggos

True, but my Sluggo (glued to a 4 oz head) works pissah :D

I sent a few emails to Herb`s company a couple of years ago highly recommending a 12 to 13" and a 17 to 18" version..... never heard one word back even as a courtesy or to tell me to flake off :hihi: .

I like the Ronz better. Better results for me. less rigging.

Sounds like U need a boat ride...:hee:

Sluggos/Fin-S-Fish & similar soft plastics are - in my opinion - the best artificial lure you can use in the vast majority of conditions (other than in certain isolated circumstances when they can't be fished for some reason - usually castability). I use them rigged weedless weighted with inserts for the surf or weighted with heavier worm weights in current and they produce consistently (when there are fish around of course, unlike now...)

I've been fishing them in the surf since the early 1990's when I first tried them out on the flats of the north side of the Cape. We were sightfishing to large schools of pretty skittish bass in broad daylight and you could see the bass swim away from most plugs, swim up to & then turn away from plugs, etc. - BUT slam the sluggos either unweighted or weighted on jigheads. It was night & day & I've been using them as my main surf lures ever since.

OK, I will keep trying them, but the last two times out other rubba has outfished the sluggo's 5 to 1. And it is not because I am googan with a sluggo; normally my rum crew is ready to make me walk the plank because I catch twice as many fish as they do when we are all using sluggo's (as we did two years ago).


Quick question: If I run out of eel skins, can I use a rubber condom instead?

No, Use a Lamb Skin.

Is this an offer, because I'll take one!