Bonito! My Nemesis...

[O.D. Mike]

Bonito

So how fast do you retrieve when fishing for Bonito? I recently had bonito feeding close to my boat and tried fast and slow retrieves only to catch bluefish. The bait fish they where feeding on were 1” spearing. The lure was a deadly #^&#^&#^&#^&, so there was another boat with me and I had to ask if he had any luck? He said use a deadly #^&#^&#^&#^&, after talking to him, I pull away only to see him cast into blitzing fish and hooked up on another one!

Just trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong....

Fast?
Slow?
Let it sink?
Start retrieving as soon as it hits the water?

Thanks,
Mike

[JohnnyD]

I have zero experience, but I've always heard that sometimes you have to practically hit them in the head with your cast.

[niko]

stop casting and start trolling

[Sea Dangles]

Perhaps a lighter leader (20) and less terminal tackle would help.

[O.D. Mike]

Originally Posted by niko

stop casting and start trolling

With this said, how fast is the troll? It seemed that when I slowed the retrieve the blues would not hit as much as a fast retrieve.


"Perhaps a lighter leader (20) and less terminal tackle would help."

There was only one deadly #^&#^&#^&#^& on board so I was using 50lb flouro tied directly to the lure. Next trip will be different with 15 and 20lb flouro on board. There are no swivels for the line to line knot, I use triple surgeons knot for the braid to flouro connection.

Thanks for trying to help,
Mike

[niko]

i made the switch a couple of seasons ago. troll at 4-6 knots. i hold the rod so i don't miss the first run. braid to swivel to 4' of 20# floro to a direct tie to the lure. use small swimmers - crystal minnows, fast tracs etc....

[fish4striper]

Sometimes when they are on very small bait, the plugs, larger metals are tough to get a hook up. Get a casting egg or make one to 15-30 lb fluoro to a fly.

Troll like Paul said if no luck casting, small lures, yozuris are good, small wind cheaters, blue and olive have worked for us

[capecodkid]

3/4oz green Deadly #^&#^&#^&#^&, crank it as fast as you can without it skipping on the surface. 15lb fluoro wind-ons. You'll get 'em.

Troll if you want something thats no fun, want to weed through 2lb blues, and is stupid easy for putting bones in the boat.

[Raven]

also try trolling in an S pattern
so your not pulling your lure
always in your wake.

[Pete_G]

When the blues mix with the bones accuracy and timing get real important.

Usually at the start of a blitz it's bones but transitions to blues.

If you're not casting to the head of the school at that initial moment - you get a blue. Obviously you're going to get some one way or another, but it's the way to score some bones when they are mixed.

[O.D. Mike]

Thanks everyone for your input! Waiting for the weather to lift so we can put some of these ideas to work...

Thanks again,
Mike

[MakoMike]

Trolling at 4-5 knots. Casting as fast as you can crank. Either way target the front of the school, even cast in front of the first sign, the bones are usually in the lead.

[MrHunters]

Originally Posted by niko

i made the switch a couple of seasons ago. troll at 4-6 knots. i hold the rod so i don't miss the first run. braid to swivel to 4' of 20# floro to a direct tie to the lure. use small swimmers - crystal minnows, fast tracs etc....

[pmueller]

Pete and kid are right on. Not really something you can "target", although there are areas that are better than others.
Haven't had a ton, but the ones I've had showed, were tough to "sneak" up on in the boat, and a quick cast. One in particular was pushing so much water I thought it was a bass surface feeding. Turned out to be a 9#er.
They will put down easily with too much boat traffic.

[Billybob]

A lot of times they seem to swim in a large circular motion and it seems if you stay put, they will come back around. Some days we will just stay put and let the other boats chase, and in 10 minutes or so they are coming right back through.
I can't wait, should be any day now.

[Bunker Breath]

A lot of great advise, especially about them circling back again and just sitting put and waiting it out. The one thing I wanted to add was since I usually flyfish for them, I use different retrieves ranging from fast as I can go all the way to dead drift. It's amazing how many times the dead drift hooks up! Of course that won't do you much good with a Deadly #^&#^&#^&#^&...

[O.D. Mike]

Again, I want to thank everyone's input!

Another question is, do you shut down the motor when they are present? Or do you leave the motor running? Does it matter?

[fish4striper]

Off shore saw a big school of albies greyhounding bait, coundn't stay on them thou. We didn't have any tuna luck but put a rookie on his first blueshark, like 10ft ,he was stoked.

Inshore on the way back in, got my 1st bone of the year on the 1st cast, gotta love it!

Small blue viva parade jig, Saltwater edge still has plenty in stock.