In part one I covered the mistakes I made buying gear for freshwater bass. I also went over how little you really need to catch fish. The key is to find lures that you are confident in. Confidence is brought on by success. In this post I plan to explain to you how how I took what I learned and applied it to other types of fishing. Though Largemouth and Smallmouth (collectively known as Black Bass) are the number one gamefish in North America I feel I covered that topic enough in the last post.
Striped Bass are the number one species on the East Coast and trout are located in just about every state. I fish for these species a lot. I catch fish and do not need to carry around a sixty five pound tackle box to do it. More on stripers after the trout.
Before I go on, I have to tell you how awful some of the fishing departments are in some stores. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to Dick's hoping for a specific lure only to walk out empty. This even happens at Bass Pro Shops to me so I do have to buy much of my tackle online.
My trout box fits into my pocket. It is six inches long and about 3.5 inches wide. It has compartments. each compartment for the following; Rooster Tails, Kastmasters, Sinking Minnow, flies, Terminal Tackle (split shot, swivels)
I carry four Rooster Tails. I have a White Coachdog and Yellow Coachdog in sizes 1/8 and 1/16 ounce. I have not fallen for the hype that I need every color of Roostertail. When they go on sale I buy two or three of each size and store them in a shoebox. I also don't use Mepps or any other brand. I'm not going to waste money when I have lures that work for me.
Spoons- I carry a silver and a gold Kastmaster in 1/8 size. When there is a sale I'll stock up like I do with spinners.
I take a small sinking Rapala in the color silver. Again, other colors and brands probably work, but I', sticking with what works.
I take flies along for the casting bubble/fly combo. Since flies are cheap, I do take a small assortment. I could easily get by with using Wooly Buggers size 10 in either black or olive. For years I only used those two colors. However, I've thrown in a Size 12 Hares Ear and a big gaudy Royal Coachman for fun.
Along with the lures I bring a couple of clear casting bubbles and six pound Vanish for leaders for the bubbly/fly combo. I am sure (for example) Thomas Buoyant work just fine as does Little Cleo, but I do not need anymore gear just to "experiment"
Surf Bag-
Fishing gear for stripers is big business for tackle shops from Maryland to Maine. Thousands of jobs and millions of dollars are spent on Striped Bass. To the credit of the shops, the gear sold at them is specific to their location. Cape Cod Canal shops sell to a different crowd than those in New Jersey. The baitfish is different, the canal has huge powerful tides, and much of NJ fishing is off of beaches and jetties as opposed to a seven mile long river with rock banks on both sides.
However, you would be surprised at how many different places I need to shop to buy the gear needed for New England. Like my trout box, I try to keep the amount of gear I need to a minimum. Stripers are not hatchery raised and can swim thousands of miles a year. I can find them on sandy beaches, rocky ledges, or the aforementioned canal. I use the same strategy as I do for Smallmouth. I try to cover each life zone.
The topwater fishing for bass and blues is fun. I carry a couple "walk the dog" type lures such as Rebel Jumping Minnow and two poppers. Both poppers are homemade and painted white. The difference is, one of them only has one hook on the tail in case I run into blitzing blues. This way I only have to take a nasty blue off of one single hook
For the middle layer I carry a Cordell Redfin and a Daiwa SP Minnow.
For the lower layer near the bottom I carry bucktail jigs from 3/8- 1 1/2 ounce. I find myself using the half ounce most of the time. I carry jigheads of 3/8 and 1/2 an ounce for use of soft plastics. The plastics are Zoom Flukes in albino color, Queen Cocahoes in a pearl color. I take along three and four inch shad bodies in black back. Notice I don't have multiple colors for each lure. Lastly I use white colored grubs as a trailer on my bucktail jigs. Sometimes I'll use the grub on a plain jighead when stripers are fussy. This has saved my bacon in the past.
Along with the lures, I carry leaders that I make at home. So I need to buy swivels, leader material, and Cros Loc snaps. I carry a couple wooden egg floats, a headlamp, and a pair of pliers.
You can clearly see that my bag is not overstuffed. I don't waste money on multiple colors of soft plastics or for that matter plugs. My bag is homemade and can't believe anyone would pay a couple hundred dollars for a surf bag.
At the beginning of this chapter about surf fishing I did say that striper gear is not the same everywhere. This is true in New England. What you have just read is my RI bag. However, what I take to the Cape Cod Canal is totally different. Since the main baitfish is mackerel and much bigger than the bay anchovies of RI my gear is much bigger. To the canal I bring one box that fits in my backpack that I wear while riding my bike. In the box are a couple SP Minnows, a slow sinking Sebile Swimmer, a popper I painted blue mackerel, a big pencil popper, big jigheads, and green mackerel soft plastic. I d bring a few smaller jigs in case I run across small bait and schoolies.
Much of this stuff can be bought at local tackle shops and at Bass Pro. However, not all of it. I need to change out the weak hooks of the SP Minnows and Jumpin Minnows. I buy strong saltwater hooks along with big unpainted jigheads at NJ Tackle. They also supply wire and split rings for making poppers and wiring my wooden eggs.
At home I do have boxes of spare saltwater gear. However, unlike my Tupperware bin full of freshwater soft plastics, it will eventually get used assuming I live long enough. The reason, when I find a good deal or Bass Pro has a sale, I buy in bulk. Every year Bass Pro has their Fishing Spectacular in March. Zoom Flukes always go on sale. So I buy a few bags to replace ones I used the prior year. I try to keep ten bags on hand.
A few years ago, they had a nice sale n saltwater jigheads. I bought five or more bags of each. I'm still living off of them. The same is said of four inch white grubs. I bought so many that when I need to restock my surf bag I just go into my spare room and pull some out.
I hate paying for shipping so when I bought my stuff from NJ Tackle, I made a big order. I still have unopened bags of multiple sizes of treble hooks, split rings, wire, and one ounce jigheads. The same goes for my fly gear. When I buy flies I spend enough so I don't have to pay for shipping. So I do have more flies than I'll need but I'd rather spend money on flies that I own than shipping.
I could go on and on about each species I fish for but I'm hoping you have the idea not to spend money on lures you don't need. I promise if you think ahead, buy smart, use sales and online companies to your advantage, you can save money and space. You'll catch more fish because you'll use lures you have confidence in. Don't get sucked into the illusion you need every color of every size lure. This is what the manufacturer's want you t believe. It is their job to sell their product. It is not your job to buy all of their gear. It is your job t catch fish.
No comments:
Post a Comment