Presenting your Bucktail in the CM Rips.....

[striper2278]

Bucktailing the Rips

As a charter boat Captain I get asked alot of questions. Either it be by my charters or through emails from other people fishing their own boats. This past season we fished alot with bucktails in the rips, even when they were bitting on eels. "On most days the bucktails would out do the eels".

Back to my point. I would have to say the most frequent asked questions this year were, "how were you working your bucktails"and "what are you doing different"? What I would tell my customers/emailers to do is, "slow and on the bottom". Now when I say slow, I mean just crawling the bucktail along the bottom, "SLOW". You can bounce it or change speeds with your retrieve, but %99.9 of the time they will go for the slower easyier target! I do keep the butt of my rod planted in my stomach area and the tip of the rod at an upward angle. This goes for spring and fall.

Tackle used for Bucktailing

We really don't use anything special as far as bucktails are concerned. We use a 1oz white "ANDRUS" bucktail with a chartruse twister tail in the fall and just a bucktail with a strip of mackeral in the spring. We use 6'6"-7' spinning rods. We find that using a spinning rod for bucktailing is easier, just because of casting purposes. Although, I myself do use a conventinal every now and again for bucktailing. Use what you feel comfortable casting and retrieving with! Also the lighter your line the better . I use 12lb Ande!

Bait Preperation

With the mackeral in the spring I have a little trick. When you fillet the mackeral out the first thing that I like to do is thin the fillet out by just removing some of the meat. All you have to do is shave some the meat off like you were skinning it, but don't go all the way. Second thing is, that I like to flip the mackeral fillet around to were you have the tail end of the fillet. I start by taking my strips from that end because it will not flake the meat and looks like more of a natural presentation. One thing that I would like to add is, I'm am very fanadical about the way my mackeral strips are cut! I make sure to cut each one with at the right legth and width, (between 4"-6") for the length. Width, I would say like you would cut your squid for flounder!

Ready to cast

When bucktailing in the rips, you should have atleast 3 if not 4 chances to get a bite on one drift! This also goes for eeling! One thing that I encourage my customers to do is cast forward in to the rip. This gives you a chance to catch a fish before the boat has even entered he rip. The second cast should be a diagnal cast. This will most likely be your best chance! The third cast should be casted back over the rip
and drug through it. You see three attemps at casting on one rip will give you more of a shot a catching a fish and should land you more fish on each outing!

One final thing that I would like to touch on is that it is very important that you cast on the calmer side of the rip you are fishing! The fish are waiting of the (backside/rougher) side of the rips, just waiting for your (bucktail/confused) baitfish to come over that hump! So be sure to cast your bucktail about 15ft or so in front of the rip and give it time to sink. Then remember Slow,slow,slow!

I hope this helps anyone who had any questions. Good luck this spring to all. Catch em'up

[ 10-07-2005, 07:40 AM: Message edited by: striper2278 ]

[aimless2]

Great info, Thanks [img]smile.gif[/img]

[NJAngler Bill]

awesome, Skip.

I'd like to add that I always try to make myself look better in the eyes of the other anglers on my boat by keeping a safe distance from both Skip and Adam Bomb. That way my friends don't realize that they're actually being outfished by another boat 3 to 1 [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 01-13-2004, 12:21 PM: Message edited by: NJAngler Bill ]

[striper2278]

Aimless2, Thank you, I hope it helps.


Bill, ahh come on, were not that good. It's just our second home

You can fish near me anytime

[NIGHTSTRIKES]

Very Good Post Skip, Thanks For The Tips & Tricks.

[striper2278]

Originally posted by NIGHTSTRIKES:
Very Good Post Skip, Thanks For The Tips & Tricks.

Strikes, thanks.

See ya at the fest!

[Brian E. Mullaney]

Great post Skip - I'll gladly join you in the spring for some bucktailing [img]smile.gif[/img]

[striper2278]

Originally posted by Brian E. Mullaney:
Great post Skip - I'll gladly join you in the spring for some bucktailing [img]smile.gif[/img]

Brian,

Come on down man! Remember to bring some of those great flies with you to barnfest! I only have a few left....The bass were loving them in the backwater and up the beach when we were jigging them! They work great!

Let's get them in the spring!

[Absecon1]

Great info Skip !

I had my eye on your M.O. thru the windshield. You stare rather intensely at the rod tip as well. When the water is warmer, upper 50s lower 60s, do you still reel super slow?

Thanx in advance.

[striper2278]

Originally posted by Absecon1:


Great info Skip !

I had my eye on your M.O. thru the windshield. You stare rather intensely at the rod tip as well. When the water is warmer, upper 50s lower 60s, do you still reel super slow?

Thanx in advance.

Absecon 1,

Now that I think about it, I do stare at the tip of my rod. Don't I? I don't know if that helps any, but I guess it doesn't hurt

When the water temps are 50-60 I still use the same speed retrieve, and it still works the same. To me stripers are a lazy fish. Think about it....They sit on the backside of structure waiting for the food to come to them. So something slower is easier to catch

All this writting and talking about it is making me crazy.....Ahhhhhhh come on spring!

[striper2278]

Originally posted by Absecon1:


Great info Skip !

I had my eye on your M.O. thru the windshield. You stare rather intensely at the rod tip as well. When the water is warmer, upper 50s lower 60s, do you still reel super slow?

Thanx in advance.

Absecon 1,

Now that I think about it, I do stare at the tip of my rod. Don't I? I don't know if that helps any, but I guess it doesn't hurt

When the water temps are 50-60 I still use the same speed retrieve, and it still works the same. To me stripers are a lazy fish. Think about it....They sit on the backside of structure waiting for the food to come to them. So something slower is easier to catch

All this writting and talking about it is making me crazy.....Ahhhhhhh come on spring!

[captainbadfinger]

Very informative post Captain Jastremski call me when you get back to Jersey.

[BIGGESTJACK]

CALL COLLECT NOW.

[VDAWG]

Skip,
some great info you put out there,awsome tactics,i think alot of people think you need a heavier bucktail in the rips,to bounce bottom,however i also fish with 1 oz. bucktails,and i also use a whie on white at times,and green on white,in the fall,and i do find that slow is almost always best,and if the bait they are chasing is big,instead of using a bigger heavier bucktail,i will bump up the size or change what its tiped with like say a zoom instead of a twister or a worm to give a bigger profile,Vinny Pastella

[capt_eds]

Great information Capt. Skip, thank you!

I continue to be amazed by the catching ability of bucktails. I used to be a store-bought rig guy, then made my own rigs. I now use bucktails for many different species with much better results. One suggestion that I'll offer is; don't give up on bucktails because you can't "feel" the bounce off the bottom in a swift current. That's one complaint I hear: "I can't tell if I'm on or near the bottom". I would suggest that you present the bucktail as stated by Skip,toss up current and give it time to sink, and your bucktail will be at or near the bottom and in the strike zone.

Come on Spring!

Capt. Ed
RFA, JCAA