Lathe on the way, need a bit of help

[Zeal]

Well it has been too long! Med school and life had other things for me to deal with (mostly of tragedy) and everything was put on hold. But I'm still kickin' and now the tools are en route!

Now, down to business: The season is upon my location and the only inlet I fish is infamous. Constantly fast, hard currents with unfriendly rocks making up the jetty. Every lure I have except my 3 oz. bucktail and heavy diamond jig gets swept and spit up by the current no matter what retrieval tactics I do (unless I really crank at an insane speed and the lure has a lip, which you guys know that leads to no lure action and no fish). The lure ends up "downstream" and swimming along the rocks just to come back to me.

I believe that my lures are just too light (correct me if I am wrong), however what do you guys suggest I build? Browsing around at heavier versions of my own plugs the fish will see them as torpedos and not bait. Typically, the lures that do produce are around the 5"-6" range, heavier versions end up 7+" making them too big (people here live-line Eels, I have yet to see anyone with an Eel plug).

If it helps, my biggest/heaviest plugs are SuperStrike's Darter and Needle (rest of the bag has Bombers, Poppers, Spooks, tins, Storm Shads, SuperSpots). The inlet current flows in from my left and continues past me to the right.

I am aiming for the lure to get that nice diagonal angle working against the current while I can get that slow and sweet retrieve.

My apologies for this long post but I aim to be as thorough and clear as possible and want to finally be able to sleep with a solution and not frustration!

P.S - Miss you guys! Congrats on the 2010 plug fish so far and amazing work on the newly turned plugs!

[ecduzitgood]

I am thinking of building a plug that has the eye where you attach the line come out slightly on one side to see if I can get a planner board type action that will hold in fast current. Still just a thought though so perhaps someone here can help that has fiqured it out. How fast would you say the current is?

[numbskull]

Large fish rarely will move far in heavy current to chase food or a plug.
A plug swimming against the current looks unnatural and fish often ignore it.
The deeper the water, the harder it is to get fish to come up.

That said, you have some choices.

Of all plug styles, bottle plugs, darters, and bottle darters (particularly the last) hold well in fast water....but they need to be well built to remain stable.
In slower water, metal lips like conrads or musso maples can get deep. In fast water these plugs can still be effective, but you need to swim them backwards feeding line as they work against the current.

Your best chance with plugs may also be near slack water. As the current dies, large fish come out of their shelter and hunt food. Dannys on top or even pencils and spooks are taken eagerly.

[Zeal]

Originally Posted by ecduzitgood

How fast would you say the current is?

According to Google Earth, the inlet is about 834 feet/280 yards wide from jetty to jetty, and the length is 1880 feet/627 yards from entrance to the back end where the current dies (I have fished this place for over a decade from a boat before now without it so I can at least mark it on a map). Standing on the jetty casting and watching the boats fight the current to get to the entrance and then drift, it takes about 30 seconds to a minute to reach the beginning of the back part of the inlet before they start to show signs of slowing down pending on the day (being in a small boat there is a wild ride). That's the only idea I can give as to speed.

Originally Posted by numbskull

A plug swimming against the current looks unnatural and fish often ignore it.

Your best chance with plugs may also be near slack water. As the current dies, large fish come out of their shelter and hunt food. Dannys on top or even pencils and spooks are taken eagerly.

My exact crisis numby! Only one spot is accessible that you can call "slack", however weed plagues that spot and fish are rarely ever pulled from there (the spot is tiny to boot). Stripers taken from this place are pretty much in that strong rip.

As for making plugs my understanding with plugs is that heavier plugs = less action. I aim to make them look like they are bait struggling in the current and not some super bait that is strong enough to be a torpedo. Would this be a place to use Maple with a little weight or would I still be able to load up Pine and get away with it for those plug models without killing the action?

[Pete F.]

That sounds like a breachway to me, that's what they call them in RI. Plugs don't typically work well when the water is moving fast thru them unless you are at the end of the jetties. On the outgoing tide this will be the ocean end and on the incoming it will be the bay side. RI has a great tradition called "rotation" where guy take turns casting, drifting (letting a plug or eel go out with the current) retreiving. Do'nt know if that would work with a bunch of New Yawkers. Between the jettys jigs will work, google: (john skinner jig) for a good NY take on how to do that.
But go for it anyways you might find a way to make plugs work between the rocks at other than slack tide.

[Zeal]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

RI has a great tradition called "rotation" where guy take turns casting, drifting (letting a plug or eel go out with the current) retreiving. Do'nt know if that would work with a bunch of New Yawkers. Between the jettys jigs will work, google: (john skinner jig) for a good NY take on how to do that.

Before the boat was gone, my uncle and I would deadstick bait and in the meantime would cast. Don't know if that fits your tradition though.

I tried looking that John Skinner Jig up on google but I really found nothing except his name being dropped for bucktails and plugs for sales and 1 book he authored.