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Holy Mackeral

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holy mackeral
4K views 15 replies 6 participants last post by  MASSfisher0311 
#1 ·
Really I mean holy popper. Lemme explain:

Fishing last night in a spot that I will tell about later,maybe. Anyways I'm deadsticking some bunker and working a storm shad on my other rod. I'm facing the water at a 90 degree angle, the wind is blowing hard to my right and because the tide is coming in the current should be moving in that direction as well. Well it wasn't, the wind was blowing one way and the current the other way. I'm retrieving the lure and see a my rod tip bounce twice then goes straight down. I drop my rod and run over, I can still feel the fish so I pull back hard to set the hook but the drag starts screaming. Crap! I didn't set the drag right and the fish got away. If theres one problem I have it is setting my drag right, I'm either too tight or too loose....

Pretty soon I'm out of bait, but I know the fish are around. I'm not an expert with lures but I've caught some fish in my day using artificials. I drop the shad 'cause it's not catching anything. I try a sluggo for about 10 minutes, but that was to hard to use with a 10' rod and tons of wind. I try another plug for about 15 minutes with no luck. I'm getting frustrated....I know the fish are around...I was getting bites earlier and it's the perfect location as far as stripers are concerned. It's got current with structure and there where some birds working in the are before the sun went down. Soooo, I swith the my one and only popper....the one I was asking about last week. On about my 15th retrieve I'm popping the thing and notice it "jumped" out of the water. "Not so hard" I tell myself. I figure I was popping it too hard....remember I've never used a pooper before and have never seen one worked. All of a sudden BAM! It was only a schoolie but I've never seen a striper jump or hit like that before. I know stripers(or any fish for that matter) can hit hard like that but I've never seen it outa the water like that before. I real in and pull back to set the hook but there was too much slack in the line....the fish shook the hook. Honestly, I don't even care that I didn't land the thing....it was just as fun watching that schoolie slam that popper.

I'm gonna try the same spot tonight with eels. I'll let ya guys know how it goes.
 
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#2 ·
top water is a blast..i had learned the hard way to slow down when workin the top...once the strike comes..stop the plug and let the fish take it down before setting the hook...a lot of times the first strike is actually the striper slamming the plug with its tail to stun the bait before returning to inhale it...it was just last fall and this year i was able to start effectively hooking up on the top..in the past i always tried setting the hook right away and most of the time i pulled the plug away and never had a chance...ive hooked a few that way but now i know it was pure luck...i also started to apply the same strike and stop method to largemouth bass and the hook up ratio has been much greater. it takes some practice..im still learning myself too, but so far it has been a hoot..i can hardly wait for a big fish to hit on top..
 
#3 ·
one more thing about your drag..i also had never set the drag correctly early on...heres how i do it...after evey trip i back off all my drags and wash and oil my reels so they are ready for the next outing...once i arrive to where i will be fishing or at the docks before stepping on a boat..i put my rod in a rod holder on a boat or in the stake pocket of the puckup bed. then i tighten my drag and check it by hand till i feel like its close to set( the more you do it the more accureate you will become without a scale) then i attach my scale (either a spring or digital will work) then i slowly start to pull..i set my drag to the pound test of my weakest line..20lb test is the lightest line i use...so the drag gets set to 4lbs..as i pull out line the drag gets adjusted so it starts to work when the scale reads as close to 4lbs as i can get it...im comfortable with a range of 3.8-4.2 on my digital scale..optimal being 4.0lbs on the dot. your drag should always be set a 1/4 of the weakest line pound rating. repeat the pull test untill your sure the drag starts to pull at the correct poundage...for example if you use 50lb test braided with a 40lb leader...set your drag to the leader strength..one more thing..when i set my drag its always done with my line going through the guides and i put my rod in some sort of holder so the rod will flex as well...this will account for any tensoin or friction created within the rod and or guides..once its set...i dont touch it..."SET IT AND FORGET IT" if you play with your drag while fighting a fish you increase your odds of losing the fish...after im done fishng i back off the drags to relieve pressure on the drag washers...per roccus' advise..it makes perfect sense to do that...sometimes i will take a break if surfcasting for hours and ill wedge my rod in rocks and check for insurance..ive never had to re-set..i keep my equipment well lubed and clean...maintenance can make or break your equipment..
 
#4 ·
Right on! It was windy this morning to be sure.

Too windy for me to get out of the car much...Didn't see anyone at a few places you have mentioned in the past, and did not check others. Suffice to say I drove a beach and went out past Louis'.

But by 6:30 I was heading back to the Neponset. Where I got skunked.

Glad to hear of a payoff on your end.
 
#5 ·
I know what you mean. The pickin's have been slow this way as well.
When ya do get that one. it's a blast.
I love to just get out there at times, away from th e stress of work, and the like.thumbsup.gif
 
#6 ·
Some times you need to increase the drag temporarily, like when a boat is about to cut you off, fish near a rock type thing. Still, don't mess with the drag, lightly add some presure to the spool instead on a run. Then when clear just let it go and you're back to where you were.
Old trick I rarely see used anymore.
Increasing rod angle can add considerably too.
Releasing the drag for storage is something I do on some reels, not on others. No good reason why, just the way I am. :icon_redface:
 
#7 ·
thanks for the advice....I'm gonna buy a cheap spring scale at wallmart later.....the cheapest digital one I saw was about $50.

Jimi you were right about the fish stunning the bait like that. When I was popping the thing I saw it come outa the water....at the time I thought that I must have done something to make it do that....after I realized that the fish must have "stunned" it then came back for seconds.

I fished the same spot again last night and to be honest it sucked. I don't know why I didn't say the spot in the first place....I was only fishing under the back river bridge in Weymouth lol. When I fished there the other day I was the ONLY person there....even though there was tons of fishing line and old hooks everywhere I somehow thought that only I knew about that spot lol. Jump forward 25 hours. There were people fishing everywhere and it sucked. Some family was there and the little kids were throwing bolders(not rocks) into the water and ligthing off fire crackers. That's fun I'm sure buy you don't do it when other people are fishing. I was livelining eels and only had half a dozen of 'em. I already lost 3 eels before it even got dark. My line kept getting caught on everything....by the end I lost about 5 premaid rigs with livebait hooks and fluro leader. :angryfire:

I didn't have a bite all night....neither did anybody else though-except for some guy in a canoe across the river....so maybe the fish just weren't around. Next time I use eels it won't be there....it seemed like the eels would go right to the bottom(they always do) but they would hide in the rocks or something(i don't blame them). Other times I tryed plugging them really slow.....really slow, with no luck. I threw those eels everywhere I thought a fish would be. On either entrance of the bridge when the tide was coming in an out and everywhere in between. At slack tide....I broke out the popper again after the eels weren't working. I realized that the other day when that fish hit, it was at around slack tide...the wind mysteriously died down and the water was calm. The same thing happened the other day....the wind died down and the water was calm...no luck this time though.
 
#8 ·
Out again last night from about 6-midnight. We chuncked some macks bunker and I livelined some eels. Nothing. Not a single bite or hit. I've caught nothing here in the last couple of days using the best bait in the world(so I'm told). I think I'm gonna pack my bags and fish a different spot from now on. This time we were on the hingham side of the river......I think my river fishing is over for the year........
 
#9 ·
Brian,

you cant catch whats not there.... even with a net.Time to search for greeener pastures.

Jimi covered the drag setting pretty well...

Set the rod in some type of holder so the tip is sitting at the 1:00 posistion.... the drag should be set at 1/4 the breaking strength of the WEAKEST link....using a spring scale.

be sure the STARTING drag does not exceed 1/2 the breaking strength of the weakest link..... if the drag system is not smooth, be sure to set the STARTING drag at 1/4 of the weakest link, to accomodate a poor drag system.... remember.... as a fish takes line from the spool the drag INCREASES, both from the shrinking diameter of the spool AND the added friction in the water... IF additional drag is needed, your index finger( thumb on conventional) applied to the spool LIGHTLY against the rim will give you all the added dag you need, if your tackle is stout enough and the line good, there is no excuse to be spooled by a bass.... they just dont have the stamina to non stop run that far... think about it... the average salt water reel holds ( or should hold) 200 yds of line.. thats 2 foot ball fields....... could you run non stop for that far ,full bore pulling a 5lb weight behind you... it's comparable...

Only fish with high amounts of red muscle tissue, like tuna's have that ability to sustain those type runs.

Bass have a mixture of red and white muscle tissue that is close to 50/50, thus giving them a good balance of raw power and speed.... look at the tail of a bass, broad and wide, made for short burts of power and speed.... look at blue fish or any member of the tuna family,., forked tails... lots of red muscle tissue.. built for sizzeling speed.
 
#10 ·
Thanks roccus....thats an awesome post. Your right about finding a different spot....I know that spot has produced in the past....in large quanities. My brother was the one who told me to liveline eels there.....and he's caught some really nice fish in his day. Roc,what do you think about the eels sinking to the bottom and hiding in the rocks? After some of my retrieves I would dip the eel in the water to make sure they were still lively and it seemed that they would go right under rocks.
 
#11 ·
its evening and roccus is most likely out haulin in cow bass..i see your on line now so ill try to help a bit with the eel thing..if roc has anything to add or different advise, im sure he will post it...if he does... pay attention..as i will be too......hook em through the bottom lip to the top..either through the top of the nose or just behind one of the eyes...make sure in all the squirming your leader does not get tangled..eels will tie knots in your leaders if you let them....now...cast just like you would ..say a plug/lure....when the eel hits the water give him about 2 seconds to head for bottom and put your rod tip up a little..say between 1 and 3 oclock....start your painfully slow but steady retrieve..just enough to keep in contact with your eel..when you feel a good bump..stop a second..if it was a fish..by now you would have felt a pull and lift your rod tip to set the hook...you dont need to yank the hell out of it if your hooks are sharp...if the hooks not set..continue with the slow retrieve she will come back for it.....if the hit is eratic and bouncy and fast....reel up expecting to change your eel...damn..blues....the point is to keep the eel moving.....and out of the rocks and such...you keep control of the eel...ive snagged once this year...and got it back..im sure i may lose one at some point...but it better be to a mad cow.
 
#12 ·
thanks jimi.....i should have mentioned that the only time the eel was going into rocks was when i put him on a fishfinder rig and just fished him off the bottom. I know it's not the best technique and later that night I decided to start plugging the eel 'cause it covers more ground. I was hooking the eel from the mouth out through the bottom of the throat.....Frank Daignault wrote about this technique in his book. When I first started using eels I hooked the eel through the mouth and out one of the eye sockets.......i stopped cause I lost too many eels (they ripped off the hook) and i felt that the eel would die faster that way and not be as lively. Jimi, did you mean to hook the eel through the mouth and behind the eye socket? or actually out of the eye socket it self? thanks that post helped a lot
 
#13 ·
just behind the eye socket.......a few weeks back i posted some pics of some 20-25lb bass i ran into......the first three fish were all caught on the same eel......he was dead from the start...out of the dozen eels in the bucket...three were left over from the night before..two of them had died from "lack of care" on my part..i couldnt bring myself to not use the dead one i started with...he was the biggest eel in the bucket....roccus told me once before..."they will even hit the dead ones"...he wasnt lying...i could have caught more on that eel but i grabbed the shank of the hook with my plyers and by accident grabbed the snell knot while unhooking the third fish..it got marked up..so i changed my leader and retired the eel...his skin is now in a bag of salt, waiting for an eelskin splug im working on...that same eel will get more bass...
 
#16 ·
thanks jimi....im gonna head out to the bait store now.....maybe some fishing tonight but definently tomorrow off of the boat. We can only bring the boat out at high tide though (in the daytime tomorrow) cause the boat yard we have the boat fixed at is only accesible during high tide.
 
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