Quote:
Originally Posted by nightfighter
As anyone who has come out with me will tell you, I set up close to the rocks.... not quite Clammer close, but pucker close for some. Most of the time it is less than 20' deep, often less than 10 or 12'. The macs always want to swim down and hide in the rocks, while I want to suspend them 3-6' below the surface, which with those depths, puts them on the big screen for any stripers lurking below. But if I don't hold them up, they will dig in, hiding, chafing line and leader. Big macs equals big floats. Some say the resistance of the float results in the fish dropping the bait. I concur that this can happen, might happen, has crossed my mind. I could then take the float off. But I usually just jerk the line and try to piss the fish off by pulling his meal away a little. Usually triggers a better strike. The key here being that when fishing livies, you just do not want any slack in your line. Much easier with a conventional reel. Of course once the mac sees the wolfpack, he is up on top, trying to swim his way out of danger. So once you have the spot identified and the fish all jacked up, then I will go without the float since the bait is not going to want to swim down to the waiting diners.... Pogies on the other hand are more apt to swim close to the surface without the need for a float, in my experience. Either way, staying in constant touch with a live bait is essential to avoid missed hits or gut hooked fish. Still like braid. Big Game and Ande for leaders. 7/0 live bait hook. Only downside is that I like to crush the barbs and that hook will make a big hole so I do lose some baits on the cast or when I do not maintain some tension.
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they don't call 'em rockfish for nothing....
Back to the braid for a moment... I love it for deep jigging or drifting baits over deeper water .. I love the non stretch part of it and when trolling live bait ( eels in my case ) with circle hooks it definitely improves the hook up ratio.... but after that my love can turn to hate in a hurry...Sunday night ( in pea soup fog) I have a place that I can fish early in the incoming .. the river channel is adjacent to an extensive mussel shoal.. and it is "doable " in the fog... I hadn't planned on fishing there and had brought my conventionals with 80lb braid to fish the first half of the tide in the deeper water at the mouth of the river early in the tide ( not an option with only feet of visability).... my other rod was spinner loaded with 16lb ande tournament that is primarily used for "plugging" eels...the edge I was fishing was between 4-6' and the current /drift is about 2-2.5 knots )... and dropped off to 20 -25' sharply... 4 times I hooked up with the braid.. 4 times the fish dropped over the mussel shoal/edge and cut the braid... I managed to land 2 25lb class fish with the 16 Ande before the fish moved up river.. the line looked like it went through a cheese grater but held... where the braid parted on contact...normally I use 50lb Ande mono here because of the under water hazards.. last night I was prepared.. 4 conventionals loaded with 50 lb mono.. they all look like they were in a war with a cleaver prop this morning ...but I landed 9 fish in that 25 - 30lb class... and never broke one off before the fish moved up river...
I guess it all comes down to making the right choice for the situation... like any form of fishing .. being smart and versatile about your tackle choices trumps ( no pun intended) stubbornness every time..