[schoolie monster]

The past few years I caught most of my schoolies on blue/white atom and a chrome gags. I carry a small surf bag and have had to resort my zara spook a few times when I snapped off a couple poppers. I always did just as well.

In fact, my wife and I fished side by side one day and went fish for fish... she had an atom, I had a spook.

This past year, the topwater popper action just wasn't happenin' but the fish were hitting weightless slug-o's right on top. So, I tried the bagley's finger mullet, a 3" lipless crankbait. It is also a "walk the dog" type lure. It worked pretty well, but I only had a couple to try out and I lost them to bluefish.

And I was really disciplined at switching up this past year when the bite was on... even at the expense of a few fish. After a few fish on slug-o's, I'd often drop down with a shad and also throw the popper. Most of the time, the shad wouldn't draw a strike and the popper might get a couple chasers. I'd go back to the jerkbait and start hitting fish again.