Big Bait? YES!

[Stan Wright]

I think I'm a believer about that "Big Bait - Big Fish" idea now. I don't know about with lures, but it is working with live bait.
5 1/2 and 6 1/4 Pounds (assorted 3 and 4 pounders)
Bait size 6 1/2 inches live tilapia. "Bigger bait, Bigger fish" ?...........
Sure glad I had the big fishing rod and heavy line.
Thank you Matt and Adam for taking my picture.
Aloha,
Stan

[Ca_Bass]

Nice fish Stan, I've always been a believer in the big bait big fish theory, I'm glad it worked for you! When I used to work as a pinhead on the Charter boats in California the big live bait idea worked out there too. The big sardines would usually catch the big yellowtails, lings, cudas and white sea bass. Mostly we would catch more fish with the smaller anchovies lots of rock fish, calico and sand bass. I'll be out today, and I'll make sure to not forget my ultimate tilapia if I see you and you wanna throw one I have a couple.

[skunked]

Congrats on the big tucs Stan! I didn't know you used casting gear, I guess because I didn't see any on your boat, and only saw you in pictures with spin and fly gear. That looks like a "classic" Shimano Curado 200B to me, but I could be wrong.
Again, good job! I hope to catch a 6 pounder someday too!

[Boatless]

Hi Stan
wow that is a whopper. Congrats. Is that the largest you've caught?

J

[Stan Wright]

I've caught larger, but I didn't have a scale with me at the time.

In fact, I use to catch a lot bigger fish before I got that scale. The 3 and 4 pound fish I use to catch now only weigh 1 to 2 pounds.

Aloha,
Stan

[kahuna bass]

Stan,

So the "big bait, big fish" secret, in no longer a secret. It's all good!

It sure would be nice to see the Tuc record fall!!

Mel "Kahuna bass"
Dark side live baiter

[Dave Hennessey]

This thread caught my attention, mainly because I'm freezing here in Connecticut and would rather be catching peacock bass.

BUT

We have a cousin of the peacock over here - stripers. You'd be shocked at the size of the plugs theyll hit. Throwing massive stuff is one of my favorite pasttimes for big bass of any size. I'll try to get some pictures up.

I hear something about an 8 inch Spook for saltwater...and I need to get my hands on this ASAP.

If anyone is in New England shoot me a post and we can try our hand at some 20-30 pound stripers on topwater. You just have to put up with the cold.

[Ken]

Dave, do you live in New England?

Maybe I can visit New England one day. What's a good time to visit for some schoolie stripers and bluefish? Any other fish available from shore?

Cold? What's cold? It's too warm outside right now at 6C. I'm waiting for the weather to stay below freezing consistently so I can put my ice rods to use

[Dave Hennessey]

Ken - yup I'm in New England, Connecticut to be exact.

I do 99.9 percent of my fishing from shore, and 99.9 percent of that is artificials.

Bluefish - we typically get an early run around Memorial Day. Then the meat of the season is late summer through october. My biggest this year was somewhere around 12 pounds. If you've never caught a blue, you would be in for a serious treat. You'll hear a lot about "this fish pulls hardest pound for pound" blah blah blah. Its nonsense. Blues win hands down. They are nasty, extremely aggressive, and rip line like nothing you've ever seen. And they CRUSH plugs. Seeing baitfish jump onto the beach because of a school of oncoming blues is a sight.

Stripers - you can catch these almost year round here. again, I do most from shore. best times are spring and fall. They get a little sluggish in the dead of summer. They fight, act, etc, very similar to other types of bass. Keepers here are 28" and above. anything over 10 pounds is a nice fish in these parts. My best this year was 40 inches and somewhere between 20 and 25 pounds.

The temp here now is in the 40s to around fifty during the day, but its cooling off fast.

There are other fish you could catch from shore - scup, blackfish, fluke - but blues and stripers, at least for sport, give you by far the best bang for your buck.

If you were to schedule a trip, I would definitely come late september or early october. I'd be glad to bring you out fishing.

[Ken]

Sounds good Dave! I don't know when I can schedule a trip...but I will let you know months in advance when I plan to come.

I will bring the fly gear as well as some surf gear. I guess medium spinning gear is okay for bluefish and keeper size stripers?

A 40" striper is an awesome fish! WTG!

Thanks for the invite. Come visit me in Ontario (Toronto) some time

[Dave Hennessey]

Ken - good deal.

Yeah, just give me a heads up when you'd like to come down and we can set something up.

I'm sure you know more about fly fishing than I do, so I'd just have stuff for medium sized gamefish, with lots of backing. And something to stop sharp teeth. I'm sure the standard arsenal of flies would work just fine.

Medium spinning gear will also be fine, though it probably wouldn't hurt to have something a little heavier. I have a 7 foot st croix with a penn 450 on it and some 10 lb yo zuri hybrid and that does the majority of my fish catching.

Once in a while around here you have the fun task of having to pull a 20 pound fish out from under a boat mooring or a dock, so a little bit of backbone in your setup doesnt hurt.

Other than that, its lots of topwater plugs, spooks, big swimmers like Bombers and Crystal minnows, swimbaits and bucktails, and sand eel and bunker imitations. If they are around, we'll also live line baitfish, which is highly amusing.

I may take you up on the Ontario offer at some point.

Good luck!

[Stan Wright]

Hold on there Ken.... My wife wants to go to Niagra Falls in May or June.... then we were going to make a swing up into Canada and around the Great Lakes and back down to Chicago..... You said you'd take me fishing if I ever got up to your part of the country. Don't you be running off fishing without me now!!!

Stan

[Ken]

Hey Stan, just let me know when, and I'll arrange some fishing for you

Depending on when exactly you plan to be here, you could be looking at small stream fishing for brook trout and brown trout, small river fishing for steelhead, pike and walleye in the lakes, whitefish in the lakes as well, some great perch fishing...and it goes on and on...heck, maybe even some trolling in the Great Lakes.

Generally, trout season opens at the last Saturday of April, pike and walleye opens the 2nd Saturday of May, and I think whitefish and lake trout opens the 2nd Saturday of May as well on Lake Simcoe. Most places that I fish in May are within 1-2 hours drive away. Unfortunately, muskies won't open until 1st Saturday of June.

I'd say in terms of consistency, perch and whitefish is most consistent, then comes pike (and maybe walleye), small stream trout may be okay (but I usually don't fish small stream until early summer...so I would have no clue what is hatching in May). Musky could be hit or miss...and come 3rd weekend of May, most of the steelheads has left the rivers and returned to the lakes.

I don't have a boat...but I know enough friends who do...and they're all friendly and willing to show a visitor a great time, with some great Canadian hospitality

The only difficult time would perhaps be April 10th-30th. I may have a conference to go to between April 12-16th in San Diego...and I may visit my aunt in Long Beach after for maybe a week (plus a day on a party boat fishing ) Nothing is sure yet...but I am submitting an abstract to attend the conference.

[bsp]

If you are in Long Beach you will have a chance at surf fishing for halibut. That area is very famous for it, especially the cherry beach, 72nd street, and convention center areas. If you can only buy 3 halibut lures buy a Lucky Craft Flash Minnow 110 in Metallic Sardine, a pack of 3in Big Hammers in Color #63 (Bay Smelt), and a pack of 4in big hammers in the same colors. Dropshotting Zoom Superflukes in any silvery baitfish colors also works w/a 1/4 to 3/4 oz weight. Match the big hammer swimbaits with 1/4 to 1/2 oz leadheads. Fish these on 8lb line and you may catch a halibut. The legal size is 22in, so bring a tape measure.

You guys on Lake Wilson may want to check out the Tru Tungsten Tru Life Tilapia swimbait. It is expensive but amazing. Here's a link:
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewicast07lures.html

[Stan Wright]

BSP.... that's the one. that's the bait we were using for stripers. The thing looks real in the water.
Stan