What is...........

[Diggin Jiggin]

Right now for me, its all about jigging the canal.

It's that first part of the fight when you have a good fish on and she's out in the middle & down in the rocks, and she makes that first run. And you can feel the weight of the fish, and she's taking line even though the drags almost locked down. And she finally stops, and you get her turned sideways in the current, and you settle into that brief stalemate, where neither of you can do what you want. And the currents just ripping 4+, and just holding that fish is work. It's that moment where you either get her headed in, or she gets her head turned and keeps going. God I love that..

[DZ]

I am proud of you Flap! See you soon.


Boulders, Bubble Weed, and Bass

Bubbleweed has a somewhat appropriate scientific name of Fucus Vesiculosus. (Authors note: I did a double take when I first read its proper name as it is exactly how surf fishermen feel when losing plugs in it.)


There are many different environments when surf casting for striped bass; sand beaches, gravel bars, inlets, jetties, shelf rock, etc. Perhaps the most challenging to a surf caster is fishing boulder fields. Boulder fields with their accompanying bubbleweed (also called pop weed) provide striped bass with forage such as crabs, lobsters, eels, and various bait fish.
Besides providing cover for bait fish, boulders also make hooking and landing bass a challenge. This same structure will eat your plugs and provide cutoff opportunities for a hooked striper. Factor into this equation fields of bubbleweed and you’ll find most novice casters frustrated when fishing boulder fields. Losing plugs, some costing over $20 apiece hurts, especially when attached to a cow bass.

Excerpt of an article waiting for an interested website.

DZ

[Skitterpop]

DZ

what line and leader specs do you use for such areas?

Thank you,
Mike

[t.orlando]

Favorite would be topwater, like seeing the smash. But I like catching better, so jigs and eels are what I'm throwing 95% of the time

[DZ]

Originally Posted by Skitterpop

DZ

what line and leader specs do you use for such areas?

Thank you,
Mike

Mike - another excerpt.

When fishing in this environment it is wise to use heavy duty tackle. A nine to ten foot rod with lots of back bone is ideal. A matched reel loaded with at least 20 pound line will allow you to put the screws to large bass that want to run into the various rock and weed snags prevalent in these areas. This is not finesse fishing – there is no room for light tackle unless you want to lose plugs. Bass are in these areas to feed and will readily hit your offering if presented properly. You have to be ready to yank them out of the structure.

I personally use Big Game 20 lb mono. Heavy mono leader 50-60 lb.

DZ

[Skitterpop]

Originally Posted by DZ

Mike - another excerpt.

When fishing in this environment it is wise to use heavy duty tackle. A nine to ten foot rod with lots of back bone is ideal. A matched reel loaded with at least 20 pound line will allow you to put the screws to large bass that want to run into the various rock and weed snags prevalent in these areas. This is not finesse fishing – there is no room for light tackle unless you want to lose plugs. Bass are in these areas to feed and will readily hit your offering if presented properly. You have to be ready to yank them out of the structure.

I personally use Big Game 20 lb mono. Heavy mono leader 50-60 lb.

DZ

Thank you sir! I have a few setups that will do.

Mike

[Flaptail]

Dennis looking forward to the next week.

All good stuff, diversity not only is good for the family of man but the family of Striper nutz too.

Everyone has thier fav methodology but all connected to the same goal. There are more ways than one to screw in a lightbulb.

As for the canal, I always loved jigging there but even more so since going to 50lb. braid several years back. Wow, the hit nearly tears the rod out of your hand and you can detect the slightest take no matter how hard the tide is running.

Topwater plugging is great too. When the bass comes up and hits the thing and then proceeds to slap it's tail several times before sounding and the fight is on, way coool.

Needles at night on a lonely sand beach looking to the eastern horizon and Spain ( or is it Portugal?) I hear you Karl.

And I must admit, even though it's not on the top of my list, seeing a pogie with it's head out of the water doing the shimmy of death and you can see the terrified look of hopelessness. And then the "pop" sound and the water hissing as the bubbles come to the surface is pretty neat.

Keep them coming!

[JFigliuolo]

I never met a fishing method I didn't like. If ALL ways were equally as productive I'd take throwing my own wood hands down.

[pal156]

top water on pencil poppers

[Nebe]

Early spring.. High noon... glass calm water and metal liped swimmers..... the explosions are like god dropped a cinderblock from the heavens.

Love fishing my eels, but they swim sub surface so i miss the hit- I am topwater junky.

[numbskull]

Dynamite.

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Dynamite.

1/4, 1/2 or full stick?

[BigFish]

Wood! Its all I have thrown all year is my handmades! There is nothing like it....swimmers, poppers, needles, jointeds.....its the best!

[chris L]

5 gal bucket , 12 pack of beer , 6 bunker to be chunked into small pieces catchem bigum fish sticks

[Nebe]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Dynamite.

i hope clammer reads this

[Tagger]

#1 working a spook ,, I like when they miss it and just keep getting more and more pissed. I know stop and let them hit it ,, too much fun watching the explosions .

#2 a needle .. big fish like them ..

When I fished bait, for a challenge,, I use to like to go with nothing ,, some 1 1/4 ounce jiggs,,sabita fly rigs ,, Forage your own bait from shore then fish for bass . At worst dig some sea clams at the low water line .

I try to remember the old dry fly /wet fly snobbery.. At one time all fishers fished a dry fly on top . When the wet fly came out people who fished it were looked down upon by the purist . To each his own,,, I like what I'm doing now ,, who knows what I'll be doing in a couple of years .. I only look down my nose at" poachers and pigs "

[In The Surf]

I'm with the catching crowd so it's whatever they happen to be on. Location and conditions will usually dictate this. I love hooking up and the hookset and nothing beats a screaming drag. I enjoy fishing most anything but it's hard not to get a little extra riled up seeing a nice fish rise up to tail slap or breach the surface like a trident to inhale a topwater.