HOT LURES- your favorites

[Onokai]

Ok winter is here. I'll start a lure list of favorites.I know some just use tuna clones but thats not me.I usually have a clone or two out. I always have in my spread at least one cider plug. lots of colors or plain wood but usually at least one. Also running a bit deeper a yo zuri hydro magnum or two. Early season bigger ones smaller ones later. I run them off the stern and they run true and deep. These are always producers.I rigg them with double S/S tuna hooks. Broom tail (grass skirted) Zukers one of my all time favorites.The root beer has been a real killer, Orange/yellow good too.Offshore angler venturi jets -have one off the outside outrigger often. They smoke and bubble and produce fish.The spinner heads also stream up smoke and bubbles and they are in the arsonal as well. All colors good. Fish traps I run them to the moon up the middle or on the outside and they are hot or they are not,when the fish like e'm its one hit per tail. I like the channel Island chovie color or purple. These fish on the slide well. The new thicker hooks MC Mark turned me on to from Charkbait are an improvement on the other types of lead heads I've seen. His link to them is:
http://www.charkbait.com/cs/csc8.htm. Of course I have the usual marlin lures and assorted hawaiian ones ,the daisy chains, Green machines ,feathers, bird rigs. Most of my lures are double tuna hooks some barbed some not. A few treble hooks but I usually change them out to doubles. Some like singles I'm not one of them. I'm a rod man no hand lines. My tuna cord is on the outrigger loops not in the water. Whats your favorite lures and how do you fish them????????? Mark

ONOKAI

[Ghetto Booty]

Sevenstrand Tuna Clone. It does not matter to me what color as long as all 10 of mine that are in the water match. Albacore are color blind. They do see silhouettes. 90% of our hook ups are multiple with many sextuples. I buy the clones cause I get them for 3.99 and they swim well. Location and presentation folks.

As far as meatlines. Meatlines bring the fish up. Once a fish is on the meatline he stays behind my boat at 40 feet and 60 feet so all of his little friends follow. Meatlines are a absolutely necessary tool for multiple hook ups.

Dan

[ 01-06-2004, 07:21 AM: Message edited by: Ghetto Booty ]

[kamloops]

Mark,

I was coached some time ago, that the only way to fish for Tuna was handlines. That needs to stop.
Old habits are hard to break. What we would do was to strap an old 2/8 across the stern of the boat and V pattern the handlines appx 36" spacing. We used the same old set-up, tuna leader on rubber snubbers with 48" of 200lb mono to the feathers. This seemed to work just fine at the time. Last summer we ran 8 handlines and 4-5 rods, quanity did nothing for our scores last summer. Mel Miss. B, would usually outfish us with 4 rods and a couple of handlines. I remember a 30lb fish on a rod and a 45 minute fight.

This last season we fished handlines pretty much the same way but fished 4 standup rods in the mix. These rods were fished off the outriggers.
We fished just about every thing that I and Keta
had in our tackle box. Cedar plugs worked real well early, popular colors were blue mackeral and Mexican flag and anything with green, yellow and orange. Tuna feathers were all the popular colors, Mel Miss B. had about the same number of jigs which we would have an swap session the day before departure. Early in the season we fished tuna clones, brooms and feathers in brite colors. Later in the season we fished more cedar plugs then Dean Keywest started to kill em on white feathers with chrome heads so we started on the white fad.
Keta usually would bring birds, splashers, divers, daisey chains and Marlin lures. We had the normal amount of hook ups on gear Keta tried but usually nothing outfished the rods with cedar plugs way way out on the outrigger tips 200
yds +. The first fish or two of the am were almost always on handlines than after those died everything else was rods. There were times when the handlines would light up at different periods in the day but that was not the norm.
I still think last season was unusual with the size of the fish we landed. I don't remember any small peanuts on our boat, Mel Miss B. did present me a small tuna as a consolation prize one trip after he kicked our butt score wise.

This season I have made a promise to the boat to fish more rods and less handlines. We are also going to rig up for live bait fishing, but that means a live bait tank install.

I would like to make a couple of overnight trips
now that my fuel problems are behind me.

[Popeye]

Hey Ghetto Booty....I've been trying to get Bstnwaler and his buddy John Fagliano up here to fish with me for quite some time. Why don't you swing by and pick'm up this next season, and come fish with me! I went to school with John, and haven't seen him in many, many years

[Pilar]

Even though the fish are color blind, color selection affects the silhouette that the fish see. Dark on dim days gives you a better silhouette. But why does yellow/green work on bright days? Can albacore see UV or Infrared?

The $4 lure works for me. This small bodied homemade rig produced all summer. A 4.5" green/white hootchie with black/red eyes, 1/2 oz. egg sinker to go in the head of the hootchie and a 7' leader with an SS barbless double. If you use the perfect loop to do your heavy mono leader, make the hook end loop a little bigger so the hook points are back by the tips of the hootchie fronds. Or move the crimp if you do it that way. The fish seem not to mind the 200# mono leader but you could go much lighter on standup gear. This lure worked on the days when the jumpers would not hit the bigger feathers at all.

6" Zukers are an old favorite especially the broom tails, they smoke in the water. I always have a green/yellow broom tail in the spread. Purple broomtails worked well on diver boards.

There was one cedar plug that fished way better than any other on my boat last summer. It is a mackeral pattern green back, blue and then white on the belly. There are black bars on the sides. This has to be run on standup because the 100# leader will snap on a handline.

We run three handlines across the 7' beam of the boat. The middle one is 50' and the corners about 85'. 3 rods over that and twice as far back. On the last trips I was running a diver line on each corner about 40' long. This was a huge pain in the keister but produced fish and many, many tangles. Triples are pretty common on 'Pilar', much to the dismay of the fishers, who then get to untangle and reset the gear. A splasher hopping in the wake is good for getting something started. But the tangle problem will get you if you are not careful. Daisy chains of hootchies like Chum Kings setup with a feather chaser are good too. A fish chasing smaller fish is easy prey to a bigger fish.

I agree with some of you that standup gear is more fun. We use the 50H or 4/0 and yellow uglystick setup with 80# spectra. Although after 10 or so I've had enough fun for the day. Dragging a small fish on the handlines is a good idea and will produce multiple strikes. So will chunking the wake when you get hit with herring chopped in three or four chunks. A couple of handfuls is enough.

Another thing to do is retain a 5 gallon bucket full of blood in your bilges and hit the bilge pump when you do a driveby on sitting birds or you get bit. The wake turns red and then the rods start bucking and peeling.

Where do I get a lesson on outriggers? I'd love to try that out his next summer.

[ 01-06-2004, 09:45 AM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[kamloops]

Pilar,

Come on up North to the Dark Side.

After fishing with outriggers its like loosing your <petunia> to not have them. Kamloops spoiled me.

[No Cents]

Just for some info, last year I only used 4 poles and 2 hand lines off of my boat.
There wasnt any trouble getting over 20 tuna.
All we used where clones tried a few cedar plugs from Englund and a couple I bought from Tom but have yet to land a Tuna with one, everyone came untied, next year I am willing to try them again but this time I will re-tie my own. I know Denny on Cra-Sea also tried them and they broke on his boat aswell, But Miss B, Minaki, and Keywest did well.

[kamloops]

Troy,

My cedar plugs were OK, wern't they. I never had one problem with any of them last summer even the ones we retied.
I have a new batch ordered, the ones with the jet heads.
They come standard with 125lb mono ??I think.

[No Cents]

Tom,

It was just bad luck for Denny and I, the plugs all got fish but everyone came untied, I would say it was a Hammond curse, but Dean did well with them. Lynn was wondering where you buy your gear from. We are really ready to start getting all geared up for tuna season, no punes intended.
If you have a site or can get us some info that would be great.
Thanks Tom
Troy

[kamloops]

Troy Troy Troy,

DO you realize what you just said?

Take a deep breath, relax.

Is it snowing down there?

I'll e-mail you my links. :grin:

[WP]

My standard set-up is two handlines on the corners...about 40' back. three stand-up rods, the center rod on the 2nd wake (short) and the wing rods long. Tend to run clones/feathers and have had good success with green and (orange, black, yellow) and black/purple. When I run cedar plugs, they catch fish but the tuna don't stick as well and the lures break off more. I want to expand my offerings this year: try diver; more stand-ups and fewer handlines; Yozuri plugs (tried one once); jigs; Fishtraps; small plugs late season; and OUTRIGGERS! I need some help in getting a set of cheap outriggers to try. Otherwise I will end up doing it by guess and will probably get it wrong! All help is welcomed.
Dave

[backlash442]

Like the Yozuri because of the plastic lip. Can't get tweaked. CD14 p/b works pretty good though. Like the zuc. in the broomtail. Natural cedar plug but with a white belly. Just seems to get bit more. Abortion and Jerry Garcia. Have a deep diving (40ft) Yozuri type lure that I bought while living in NJ. Anxious to give that a try. When the water warms up and there are yft and dorado in the area I love my Ahi ***** . Thing gets bit! Seen dorado cross the wake to get to it.
Seems like a lot of you guys troll waaay back. Our flat line clips (both corners) are typically in the 3rd wake. The two outrodders are back to the 5th or 6th wake. Shot gun down the middle will usually be pretty far back in the clear water. No where near 100 yards though. Problem I've found if they are too far back you'll never get bait fish if that rod gets bit. No hand lines. Oh we did drag one back while getting towed last summer but no one saw it get bit. There's a fish swimming around with very loose lips I'm sure.

[Threemuch]

Baby tuna clone feathers. TCF-100. Small jet heads. Cedar plugs painted to the color dujour with my selection of 99 cent nail polishes. Six links of 1/4" chain with a red, green, and yellow pipe cleaner on it.

Popeye- I can work on getting Capra and Fagliano up here. I am pretty sure a ride on the Julie Rose for those boys for BFB would do it.

Kurt

[KeyWest]

Let's see. I fish rods only. Two off each outrigger - two Penn 30's on 80# rods, two Penn 16s off 50# rods. The outrigger poles typically run clones - dark colors early in the year, white later. I also run cedar plugs (purple/black) off the outside ones - plugs seem to work best way back (The only plugs I have lost are when they were in a daisy chain).

Two rods off the stern clips - Two Penn 320 LD's (with the level winds taken off) on 30# rods. I run a 16 Oz trolling weight, followed by 6' of 90# and then a Rapalla CD14 SS magnum - blue mackrell or green mackrell - these were very effective.

Two rods down the center - one mid way back (about where the outer rods are placed) and one way-way back. These are typically my cheap gear - Okuma's (I have just purchased some Avets but really want to get some more Penns). The near one typically runs a clone or feathers. The way-way back I typically run big gear - such as a daisy chain of chuggers followed by a BIG green machine.

I also run a teaser on both sides off the inner position of the outrigger. This next year I have a strip teaser. I also have tons of plastic baits I run on a daisy chain as a teaser, etc.

We did OK this year. We have 2 or 3 folks (including myself) per trip so it gets busy with 8 rods, 2 teasers and 2 people!!

[Billfisher]

I've used all of the above (except Daisy Chains,) and had some measure of success. My favorite and most cherished Albie lure, however, was a pearl-head red and white chicken feather, rigged with a small double (barbed.) This lure caught Albacore, Skipjack and Yellowfin (down south) and a couple of large Bonito in its time. It went away this summer with a large fish and a terminal break at the swivel Anyway, I've purchased a couple of red and white clones and zukers, hoping they'll produce. I also like Rootbeer.

Q: Why are so many folks up here into barbless doubles?

-Doug

Bill,
One reason is when you step on one they come out easier.

[WP]

Never had a need for a barb with albacore and if I don't need it, handling and removal (from the fish as well as from the foot and hand!) is way easier. I guess it goes back to the days I fished commercially...lots faster to get the fish off and the gear back to work! I use a few barbed hook set-ups, where I can't get barbless hooks or it is more work to change hooks than it is worth!
Dave

[Onokai]

Any ideas on all the loss with cider plugs?? I don"t think I've ever lost one .They come with great leaders that seem to hold up many seasons. Maybe back in 97 when a greenhorn aboard overtightened the drag or someone left off the clicker and all you heard was BONiK.
WP- There is an outriggger thread back in the fall all about them If I remember right. Key west and I were in it as well. Mark

ONOKAI

[Mark Mc]

Mark-o-the-south, on some (actually most) of the cedar plugs, the fit between the hook/crimp or hook/knot inside the bore is very tight. So tight, that sometimes you can hardly push the assembly back inside if it is pulled out (which happens after a fish). This mashing-in of the hook definitely boogers up (kinks) the line at the knot or crimp.

If you make a little more room in the bore with a drill or Dremmel tool, it would minimize this problem. I am theorizing that this problem may cause the weak spot that eventually breaks. It could be something else, like bluefin keep biting off your plugs!!!

- Mark-o-the-north

[WP]

I didn't have a problem loosing the plugs, the fish just seem to come unbuttoned fairly often? Thanks for the heads up on the thread. The only other reason may be the distance I usually run the plugs...far back!
Dave

[sherry marie]

Favorites?
We are no experts but by far this year the producers for us on the sherry marie were the silver and black fish traps. I didn't seem to matter where they were in the spread they always outproduced the other stuff we had out. Most days by 5 to 1 against everything else. Most fish for us this year came from the outriggers, way back.. Should we really be talking about this stuff when the season is so far away? There is something mean about it.

Ray

[backlash442]

WP, sometimes I think it's the angle of the plug in the fishes mouth that causes them to pop out. I lost a very large tuna that way. In a tournament no less. Saw it happen to a friend fighting a big eye too. That same trip back on shore talked to some guys that had the same thing happen with the plug but did land a couple of 100lb big eyes on rapalas. I managed to lose one on a rapala that day. Go figure! These were all big fish though (aren't the lost ones always big?) and don't remember having a problem with smaller fish.

[Mark Mc]

Hey y'all, looks like I may have misunderstood the original issue...fish coming unbuttoned on plugs, not plugs snapping off.

As Backlash implied, the length of a plug can create leverage that pops the hook out. Dave, from your salmon trolling days you may recall that the long crowbar hooks have the same effect. My first tuna plugs were 6 inchers, like the blue & white "mackerel" below. Now that you mention it, there seem to be more missed hookups (or, "fish-off" after 10 seconds) with that 6 inch plug than on a standard feather. The last few years we have switched over to using 4 inch plugs, mainly because they seem to get more hits than the 6 inchers. I don't recall as many "fish-off" incidents with the 4 inchers as with the 6 inchers. The very favorite is the 4 inch black & purple ("sablefish") below. The "dorado" (below) is a good one too, although the plain cedar is a "can't lose" pattern.

[WP]

Thanks Mark and company...I will give the smaller plugs a try. I plan to try a few really small plugs later in the season this year, to see if I can catch a few finicky feeders. Thanks again!
Dave

[edsr]

Favorite fishing lures - I just bring NorRiver Dave or bait'o eggs and we never run out of new ideas.

Some of Roy's feathers really worked one day and the next they didn't, fortunately, there was always something new to try.

Cedar plugs were usually good for a few fish on any day.

The most consistent lure was a Pilar Special-XXXMagnum, that is, several hoochies of different colors one on top of the other with an eqq sinker in the head - 1/2oz. to 2 oz. whatever could be shoved-up, the hoochie, double SS, barbless hook as descrived by Pilar above.

We tried double hooks on the cedar plugs and that worked also, barbless, SS. Barbless are realy much easier to deal with when a fish is boated.

We only lost one lure this year when we got tired of reeling in a stand-up rod and began to hand-line it - mistake.

Our cedsr plugs ranged from 4" to 7 1/2" and most were fished with a ring-eyed hook tied on - never lost one because of the knot. Burn a knob onto the end of the mono and cinch-up the knot tight, leaving a short tag.

Toward the end of the season lighter color lures seemed to work better, especially red and white feathers.
edsr

[Miss B Haven]

Interesting- I've without a doubt lost more fish on the feathers/jigs with double hooks than I have on Cedars and I'm running all 6 inch cedars.
Could be more cause I'm running the cedars on the long rods and my hand lines are normally jigs/feathers.
Anyway- I haven't had any problem at all with the cedars coming unpinned.

[FullDeck]

Pilar's comment/question about uv sensitivity in tuna reminded me of Fred Munz, a Biology Professor I knew years ago at the U of O that studied visual pigments in tropical marine fish including tuna. He found that "Except in tuna, multiple visual pigments are generally present in extracts of diurnal, tropical marine fishes." In other words, most tropical fish see in color, but tuna don't (tuna, marlin, and wahoo)since they have only a single visual pigment. That pigment is maximally sensitive at 483 nm (blue) and the sensitivity is about zero at 440(deep blue, they cannot see any uv) and above about 520 (blue green).
In a related article, he found that downwelling light in the marine tropics also peaked at about 481 nm, meaning that as tuna look up, they see prey against a blue background. It didn't matter whether it was overcast or not!
[img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img] That makes it easy to see your lures just about exactly like a tuna!! Just put the lure on a blue background (actually white is ok too, it will just emphasize the contrast), and look at the lures through a blue daylight filter.
White and blue will look the same (light), and green, red and black will also look the same (dark). All the dark colors will show up well in bright or cloudy conditions.
As the authors say "In a very real sense, an eye with a matched visual pigment (such as tuna, matching visual sensitivity to the background color) detects an object by not "seeing" it, for both contrast and sensitivity are maximized for dark objects."
Pretty cool...
Ref: Munz and McFarland (1975) Vision Research, 15, p 1045-1080.
Of course, that does't say which colors will fish the best. Dark colors may possibly work best to bring tuna up. But experience has taught fishermen more than vision research. Flicker is also important in visual detection.
Walt