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where and when
it's really hard for me to decide which of these two plugs i like the best. i've had some great days on both, but each certainly has it's place. i've found that in light currents and shallower water, the spook is a real killer. white is my favorite, but i also keep a yellow or chartreuse for those cloudy or murky days. generally i'll fish a steady retrieve, but when the fish are finicky, i walk the plug in wide, sweeping arcs, pausing often. the strikes are often explosive on this type of retrieve, usually at the pause or just as the plug resumes movement. as for pencils, i absolutely love them. this season (primarily in the spring), i fished an Al Gag's "It's Alive" in pogie color, and didn't take it off for two months. i ended up crushing fish early in the season, especially in the canal the first week of june, landing a solid 34.5 pounder in the mix. what i like about the Al Gag's is that they are not only cheaper than other plugs of its type, but the colors are as lifelike as any i've ever seen, and the hardware they feature is the best on the market (VMC hooks and big 3D eyes). another of Gag's is the sea special, a canal style (flat bottomed) pencil which proved itself to me as a formidable weapon in areas of swifter current. for pencils i have a few retrieve methods. the standard is to retrieve with a steady-ish rythm, tugging at varied lenghts to give the plug a more naturally erratic movement. the other retrieve is for finicky fish and is similar to the one i described with the spook, slooooow and wiiiide, pausing frequently. i feel that the idea behind catching finicky fish is to give them a lure they can catch, rather than one they have to expend a whole lot of energy to obtain. lastly, i've found that pencils can be deadly, and i mean deadly at night. fish them like a needle, almost at a crawl, occasionally pulling back in a quick sweeping motion then pausing. hits are subtle, so avoid slack in your line. i'll put a lid on it now, but i hope this info helps a bit.
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