Real Cocahoe question.

[wader-dad]

Why do we stop using them after about the beginning of May? I heard Steve McKenna give a talk and he said that it is his absolutley killer go to lure in the Spring. I suppose its big bait for the new arrival big fish theory- but at Montauk they catch 40 pounders on a 1/2 ounce bucktail. Does it represent a bait that is gone after spring? Does anyone ever try a cocahoe later in the season when nothing else is working?

[Joe]

There are people who fish the RI fall migration that buy the larger 4" ones each year and swear by them as highly effective. One particular group of four older guys has been doing it for many years - they've bought in bulk off me in the past - serious sharpies.
They just don't write articles, post on message boards, or talk publicly about it. There's a lot of success and a lot of techniques that you won't hear about, and that I never would have heard about, if I had not sold stuff to the people doing it.
If nothing is working, usually it's because you have not found the fish. I'm off the opinion that for surfcasters, the biggest issue is your ability to find the fish - not what you put in front of them.