Plugs for Cutty in the fall (II revisited)

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by tlapinski

Flap, what are you using for scent?

My fall Cutty bag looks pretty much the same as my anytime Cutty bag
- 3 ounce Habs needle
- 7" Gibbs or Scud needle
- shallow running stubby needle (Tobias stubby works GREAT!!!)
- mid sized danny such as a Beachmaster or a Tattoo danny style
- old school Gibbs darter for the SW point
- a BIG pencil popper for dawn/dusk

I am in no way a Cuttyhunk pro, but for the few times I have been out there, I have put in a lot of time working and learning the island. Like Flap said, nothing that goes too deep unless you have found some of the deeper bowls and have figured out the short window of opportunity available in them.

Toby, stay true to your plugs instead of real eels or rubber ones. I use smelly jelly and Seabait. The smelly jelly in Menhaden and the seabait in worm, of course. It takes way more in skill to have fish take a plug than a live eel and personally I find that way more rewarding. Almost anyone can chuck a live eel and catch fish. We had the otw boat out one early November night along the Elizabeths last fall. Neal Larson invited a friend who didn't know that much about striper fishing in general never mind in the dark. We threw plugs ( I was using a Creek Chub original Giant Jointed black Pikie) and they were throwing swimmers. Neal was hooking and so was I but the friend was coming up empty. "Put an eel on his rig" I suggested to Neal and as soon as the snake hit the water he was on and caught like he had been doing it all his life. I stayed with plugs and Neal went to eels so he could show his bud what to do, didn't catch as many but there was something to seeing okay bass in the mid 20 pound range come in with that old timer hanging across it's jaws. We didn't get any real quality fish that night but a number in that mid twenty pound class.