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Back in the late 80's I didn't bother with plastic and the only offering I fished, always had a stainless wire leader. That offering was a big old bunker and for a 2 or 3 year stretch I fished Hingham harbor every chance I could, because you could fill your livewell with one set of the gill net. We were spoiled then, where else could you get a day's supply of live bait in 20 minutes. There were some evenings I'd set the net and it would take me 45 minutes to clear all the damn bunker from the net. Sometimes it really was too much of a good thing.
It was a crapshoot as to whether the catch for the day/night would be mostly bass or blues, because there was always a mix. Man those were the days, nothing like running the trolling motor on slow constant, watching the bunker casually swimming along behind the boat, waiting for that unmistakable dance of death. Suddenly the slow dance, becomes one of panic as the bunker frantically swims every which way trying to elude the bass or blue trailing it. You could feel the fear in the vibrations being transmitted to the rod. I don't know which was more fun the fight or the anticipation, watching the wakes and boils waiting for the trigger to be pulled.
That was a simple time, all you needed was a good gill net or snag hook supply, a supply of trebles and some stainless rigging wire. Twist on a treble, run it threw the nostrils, twist on a leader to the treble set just ahead of the tail. Nice rig, no letting the fish run, just bow and set, very rarely did you loose a fish to a gut hook. I only hope I live long enough to see the big bunker return to our waters, because I sure would love to fish that way again someday.
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