Fighting fire...

[Nebe]

Dead stick a pogie head or squid.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Liv2Fish]

Alright, so last night was the perfect tide and moon for this spot. Me and my brother were stocked up with fat eels and a half dozen riggies of various sizes. We got there and there was not another vehicle to be seen. This was going to be a good night!

As I stepped into the water, I new it wasn't meant to be. There was more fire in the water than I had ever seen - 10 times the amount!. I dipped a riggie in front of me and the entire eel immediately started to glow. I gave it a cast and it looked like a bomb went off. I could see my line all the way out to the riggie and every twitch looked like another bomb. We thought maybe it was just pushed up against the shore so we decided to hitch a ride with the tide out to an outer bar and see what that looked like. No change except for the fact that we were now completely glowing from head to toe. Must have looked like some kind of freaks to anyone in the ocean front houses who may have glanced out the window.

I understand all the tactics to combat it: light leader, smaller presentation, slow to no movement, etc. My question is, do the fish actually stick around when it's like this and just become fussy? There was plenty of bait around but we didn't even get a bump nor did we hear or see any signs of life. I would think it would make the ambush part of their feeding tactics pretty ineffective.

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by Liv2Fish

Alright, so last night was the perfect tide and moon for this spot. Me and my brother were stocked up with fat eels and a half dozen riggies of various sizes. We got there and there was not another vehicle to be seen. This was going to be a good night!

As I stepped into the water, I new it wasn't meant to be. There was more fire in the water than I had ever seen - 10 times the amount!. I dipped a riggie in front of me and the entire eel immediately started to glow. I gave it a cast and it looked like a bomb went off. I could see my line all the way out to the riggie and every twitch looked like another bomb. We thought maybe it was just pushed up against the shore so we decided to hitch a ride with the tide out to an outer bar and see what that looked like. No change except for the fact that we were now completely glowing from head to toe. Must have looked like some kind of freaks to anyone in the ocean front houses who may have glanced out the window.

I understand all the tactics to combat it: light leader, smaller presentation, slow to no movement, etc. My question is, do the fish actually stick around when it's like this and just become fussy? There was plenty of bait around but we didn't even get a bump nor did we hear or see any signs of life. I would think it would make the ambush part of their feeding tactics pretty ineffective.

you'l find them in the rougher water where their presence is less likely to be detected.. last few nights anything out side the tumbeling surf zone gets ignored.. plugs or eels in the wash get crushed amost on impact...that where the bait has been.. that's where the fish were..

[Eric Roach]

What a year for bioluminescence -- I don't ever recall seeing it so prominent. Even worse than the large particles (which have been really bad) is the "superfine luminescence." On dark nights, any white water looked like it was subtly lit; my hands actually glowed in the dark after a few hours in the water; white shells on the beach looked like they were under a mild black light; and even kicking over dry sand while walking the beach created fine, glow-in-the-dark splatter. It's been like this for months.

As noted above, I have done especially well in this glowing stuff (during calm conditions) with a small sand eel needle. It's thin (.6"), light (5/8 oz) and it suspends, which means I don't have to impart hardly any movement. When the water gets choppy and/or the moon lights things up, the door opens again on other options -- but this light, little needle has filled this niche very well this year on shallow beaches, especially in flat conditions.