[Zeal]

Wow it has been too long! Missed everyone!

Yes, now then...

Even though I'm only a kid (24 years old) I fished since I had motor skills. Most of my life was on a boat until about 8 years ago where my godfather moved and took the boat with him. Surfcasting is my new world to explore (miss being spoiled with a boat though!).

However, the man I fished with constantly bailed fish (talk about a self-esteem killer growing up when the ratio was 5-10:1 fish per trip with him being the 5-10).

Frankly, he caught or bought bait, and what he did was deadstick the bait rod on one side of the boat and plug on the other side every drift. He's had plenty of times where he had both lines tight and had to hurry up to get to the other rod (Or he would plug while I was using the bait rod to learn how to properly fight the fish, set the hook, bait my hook, etc.)

The bait kept the bottom of the water column in check while he used the plugs to check the middle and upper columns. Funny though, he always called it practice when he plugged even though he has been doing it for 50+ years. If you caught a fish, great, but you still need practice. Typically he used a topwater more than anything. Sinking poppers, Spooks. The only middle I have seen on the boat always were storm shads with the tails nipped off.

The only time he live-lined was when I would be with him and that would be with eels (which produced just as much as clam believe it or not). He only live-lined when he saw fit (which was the time before it was illegal to catch Porgies and live-line them).

However, now that I am a rookie surfcaster with only a few seasons under my belt, I have only had real success plugging or bucktailing. Bait doesn't go over well with me and I don't have the luxury of time to go many times in a week before it goes bad. I used to catch spearing to get weakfish/squeteague when they felt like coming around with a seine net. If there were no fish to be caught with the net, it was a waste of time. If there were a little, slow day. (That was pre-surfcasting days)

But just looking at the bait swim in the bucket or even when live-lined taught me more than anything. What they look like when calm, panicked, hurt, how they react to getting attacked, etc.

Applying the knowledge that I acquired being spoiled with the boat but also an amazing teacher, I have seen it all 20+ years of fishing plugging and baitfishing at a near deadlock. Both produced fish of all sizes, if anything, the only difference is that bait costs money and can be used for a limited time!

It all comes down to the time, place, and knowing when to hold and when to fold and knowing your spots. I've been on party boats where the people who fish everyday of their lives of retirement or for a fishing forecast magazine eat the 50.00 dollars and just sit in the cabin for half the day because jigging wasn't cutting it and no bait was around. If you are having a slow enough day and the bait will give you only one fish instead of a goose egg, that is negligible in my eyes since you just spent hours of your time, money on gas and bait, and effort watching a pole sit there (Of course the only exception making the fish a trophy which some people live for).

But to me, I'd much rather have a day filled with throwbacks than one trophy and being bored the rest of the day.

Being without a boat, it feels unnatural to me using bait since it sits in only one place on a beach or inlet. I can cover way more ground with plugs and my surf rod with bait on it just never worked out (Skates piss me off too much and if I'm going to need a beach chair, that means I'm going in the water to surf).

The usage of bait and plugs are twofold for me at least: just is a matter of statistics which shows us what is working and also what we learn from doing both. Bait only takes you so far, plugging, there is always something to learn.

My 2 cents, which I hope isn't BS or put everyone to sleep.

P.S - I seem to remember seeing a video posted around here where a fisherman experimented this idea where he used Eels and then used only plugs and the result was that he caught just as many fish on plugs as eels. Can't remember who posted it or where it is now though.