Different ways to live line?

[niko]

you can 3 way them if you're deep or in alot of current. or just hook them w/ a treble and let them do their thing. i've never trolled them but why not. you can use a ff or an egg sinker and send them to the bottom. my personal fav is put a hook in them and let them go - nothing fancy

[rhodyflyguy]

Hickory shad and bunker work good to troll with, scup not so much. All three are good to drift with. I usually troll to find the fish, then drift. Go really slow- 1-1.5 knots. 3/0 treble through the nose, which is snelld to 4-5 feet of 60-80# mono, and then to a spro hd swivel, I gorget which size.

[Goose]

I luv it. since buying my boat 4 yrs ago I spend most of my time either drifting or power drifting live bait.. I spend most of the morning catching bait, that in its self is more important. from about 9 till 2 is live lining, imo best time, fish have moved to deeper cooler water. most guys are burnt out about 11 and the wind has picked up, you leaving is big mistake. some of the best fisherman I know have convinced me rougher is often better,,, just like shore fishing. I try first hookin'um just the way they are.. behind the dorsal, second through the nose. Often times you know their there but there not interested and you need to think out of the box and this often takes time, which is one reason why I like fishing alone, less pressure to put fish in the boat and when you finally do there quality fish. Try to get find places that have no or little pressure this imo makes all the difference, when you first get there your on them then they spook, they still see its live bait but but I believe bass have that survival instinct no matter what you present them with unless the numbers are stupid or its at night. Its a good idea to have several productive areas that are in reasonal time away from each other so you can let fresh fish move in. glass rods, long leader & braid a must.

[Mr. Sandman]

Just make sure your scup is 10.5"+...they are cracking down on bass guys using those "potato chip" size scup. Last year I watched them nab several guys while watching others run from the law while dumping their bait.
IMO they should change the law for bait uses. 10.5" is a pretty good size bait.

[NEXT2NUN]

I pretty much do what Goose said. I made up some 4 oz ball sinkers with snaps.When I get in real deep water or the drift is fast I clip it on and slide it down the line.

[Moses]

Towards the end of last season, I started getting more interested in live lining. A majority of this interest came from the amount of pogies my cousin turned me on to down the Cape in Sept thru mid Oct. All of this was by casting weighted trebles to snag these fish. We either fished as is or rehooked with an unweighted treble. Definitely some good results. Also tried live lining some scup with a treble thru the nose and then a stinger treble behind it's fin. Sometimes we even clipped the fin with a pair of plyers. All fishing was done in fairly shallow depths down to 20', therefore we never used any real weights.

This year I want to expand on this concept. I'm in the process of buying a castnet and plan to start practicing soon in my yard. BTW, there was a great article in this past week's Fisherman mag. All of this effort of course is dependent on findingthe bait which will be a new challenge for me.

I definitely like Goose's comments about trying to locate the bait being more important part of the overall effort/day.

Besides live lining methods, does anyone have any related tips for locating and then catching said bait? Thanks.

[Goose]

About locating scup. If you fish near jetty's, light houses and that type of structure you'll find plenty of under size scup which isn't good but you'll also find big choggies which of course is good. If you get in open water or places like around the islands the scup is to big. I get most of my scup close,, 100yrds from shore around lobster pots, you will also find tinker macks most of the season around pots also. Small humps in 10 to 15 feet of water are also great. I never ever leave with out seaclams they out fish every thing else and are the most affordable. The big thing to remember is your boat must be still, either tied up or anchored or you will struggle to get fish in the well. I light graphite rod is good....use as little weight as possible and you will feel every thing better.