Let’s talk tackle

A conversation in the show off your fish thread got me thinking. I love talking tackle. Not necessarily your knots, brand hooks etc.. But what suits your needs the best in your area for the fish you chase? If you want to get specific on what brands of tackle you use, rods, reels etc.. go for it. Just seeing how people fish in different regions intrigues me.

What’s your rod an reel set up? Rigs? Where do you fish? What are you fishing for? Who knows if this will take off, but it’s that time of year and I’m getting bored already. Hopefully I can get out on some stripers here soon.

Majority of my fishing is in the north eastern coastal area of North Carolina. I do a lot of inshore (dock, bridge, wading), a lot of surf and minimal boat since I refuse to buy one and mooch off others when I have a chance.


For drum from the surf I use a 12-13’ rod using anywhere from 8-12oz of lead. Our reels hold roughly 250-300yrds of 16-20lb mono and run about 30’ of 40-60lb shock leader to enable us to cast with out snapping the weight off and it also helps with pulling large fish up on the sand. Lots of times we’ll run a short 2-3’ bite leader that’s usually 80-100lb. On the bite leader will be a bead, a snap swivel (for the weight to attach to) then a hook. 10/0 circles tend to be the go to but many use large J’s as well.


Trout fishing(spotted sea trout) surf and Inshore, its quite the opposite. Using 7’6”-8” med light fast action rods is what I prefer with a 2500-3000 size reel and 10lb braid. I always use a 2-3’ section of 10-20lb floro to tie my lure too. And those lures range from 1/16oz up to 5/8oz depending on where I’m fishing. My preferred method is using mirrodines or weight less flukes on EWG worm hooks.

 

Our style of fishing for Ulua’s, 10 lbs and under is call a Papio, over 10 lbs and over is call Ulua.
I use a 13 foot rod, tip is the side of you baby finger, I throw a 9 oz lead with anchor wires.
My reels are a conventional reel (4/0) 4 to 1 gear ratio, 300 yds of 80 lbs mainline, 200 lb leaders.

we normally will use 2 rods and reels at the same time, in tournaments up to 4 rods and reels. This is a 24/7 style of fishing. I will bring 30-40 pieces of 9 oz wire leads. I have gone thru 100-200 pounds of lead per year, in my younger years. Today average price is over $2.50 and up! I make my own.

My live baits can weight up to 5 lbs. I do use eels live and cut up, octopus, whole or pieces, the more often you can re-cast? The better chances of catching Ulua. Some people every two hours, we found one hour before the tide changes works for us, tide changes 4 times in 24 hour.

Hawaii has a 100 lb club, my good friend has caught 3 over 100 lbs. my biggest is only 76 lbs and was film by a local fishing show, that join us on a fishing outing. With underwater footage following the fish after the hook up to landing.
Aloha

 

So this is a style of fishing I’ve always been intrigued in. I’ve never really talked with someone who’s actually done it though. It’s similar to how I grew up pier fishing in a sense.

I’m not sure if yall use a rod for an anchor and then slide a bait into the water with a smaller fighting rod connected via a release system (how I grew up fishing for cobia and king mackerel) or if you let your bait slide up and down the line on the 13’ rod.

I’ve fish both styles from the pier. But the single rod method I used a float rig to keep my bait from swimming to the bottom and tangling up on my weight.

 

We call that “ hanging the bait” we can adjust how deep too using a break away lead and line.
When I am using a live fish or a live eels , and we want it closer to the surface , this is what we do.

Balloons was another method , but people think using a floating device is not fair. 99% of the time the balloons will break away or burst. Lines attach to the balloons we use is very light lines. And the target Ulua’s are big enough to burst the balloons as they dive downwards as most do.

I have being fishing for Ulua’s,approx 40 + years, like all fisherman , always hunting for better ways to catch them.

Funny thing is in the end? The way you were taught , cast your line , add bait, wait till they bite. Is the best way. “KEEPING IT SIMPLE “.
We try so many ways ,set-ups , hundreds of rigs, knots, even throw rocks in the water to attract fish.

when fishing at nights , many theories about how lights , shining flashlights into the water can attracts and chase away fishes, for me to share my thoughts/experiences on this will need a whole day?

Smells attractions, the good , bad , & ugly? That is a science by itself, I read lots of studies on this . I am a strong believer in using simple green when touching my bait and gear…that is another story
Aloha