Let me start off by saying I love the Barn.:thumbsup: I belong to a few message boards and this one is hands down my favorite.
I have been lurking around the barn for the past year mostly just reading the offshore forum and the more I read the more I want to be part of the blue water fishing scene. I have been inshore fishing and boating my entire life, but not until last year when I caught my first BFT at last seasons no so secret spot(approx 75lbs) on a under matched jigging outfit (saltist 30h/trevla 6'6'' M)that I realized were my energy, focus, attention, and efforts would be placed.
I'm working out the details necessary to facilitate my quest. Upgrading my jigging tackle (thanks Kilsong), preparing my rig (23' cc F225) with the necessary safety equipment (radar and epirb), and ultimately the nerve to begin poking my head out a little bit at a time to gain the necessary experience to ultimately reach my goal of fishing the Glory Hole with some level of confidence and trust me I am in no real rush to get out there believe you me. I have no problem paying to go out on an open boat charter or even filling a seat and splitting the cost with a fellow barner.
Planning and forecasting is what I do for a living and so far its been pretty good (knock on wood), so with that said I'm going to start my efforts off by targeting the 20 mile line with my main focus on these specific points of structure: monster ledge and surrounding western edge of the Mudhole, Shark River Reef, Manasquan ridge, and Barnegat Ridge. The species I am interested will be Bonito, Spanish Macks ,albies, and skipjacks. :fighting:My main tactic will be trolling, jigging, and some form of bait fishing. At present I feel pretty confident in my boating, jigging, and baiting skills. I do not however feel very confident in my trolling skills since I always found it boring to do so, but it seems to me that this is one of the more effective techniques of connecting and locating schools of fish. So my first set of questions:
Clark spoons, read a lot about them. Seems to me that 0,00, and 1 size seem to be the ticket trolled on a leader connected to a trolling drail. My question is how long a leader? Some captains on this board say 20' while others say 20''. What pound? Mono or Floro? How far behind the boat? How heavy of a drail? I’m thinking my heavier striper tackle calcutta 400's,saltist 30's, Avet MXL all filled with 65lbs braid matched to MH 7'0 rods will handle this application.
Planer boards.:huh: I understand how they work, but what size's and how heavy can I go with the above tackle? How much line how deep will it go? I have read about having a dedicated XXXH rod used to just get the planer down then attach a 2 way swivel to a rubber band to another rod with the actual lure? But how do you actual get the lure down to the planner? Or should you attach the planner to the stern cleat? Again how much rope? Is there a tangle hazard to the screw? In both cases how are you going to attach the lure line to the planner? This seems to be the most overwhelming, any help would be really appreciated.
I look forward to picking your brains and hopefully building some relationships through this learning endeavor. Thanks for all your constructive criticism.
I have been lurking around the barn for the past year mostly just reading the offshore forum and the more I read the more I want to be part of the blue water fishing scene. I have been inshore fishing and boating my entire life, but not until last year when I caught my first BFT at last seasons no so secret spot(approx 75lbs) on a under matched jigging outfit (saltist 30h/trevla 6'6'' M)that I realized were my energy, focus, attention, and efforts would be placed.
I'm working out the details necessary to facilitate my quest. Upgrading my jigging tackle (thanks Kilsong), preparing my rig (23' cc F225) with the necessary safety equipment (radar and epirb), and ultimately the nerve to begin poking my head out a little bit at a time to gain the necessary experience to ultimately reach my goal of fishing the Glory Hole with some level of confidence and trust me I am in no real rush to get out there believe you me. I have no problem paying to go out on an open boat charter or even filling a seat and splitting the cost with a fellow barner.
Planning and forecasting is what I do for a living and so far its been pretty good (knock on wood), so with that said I'm going to start my efforts off by targeting the 20 mile line with my main focus on these specific points of structure: monster ledge and surrounding western edge of the Mudhole, Shark River Reef, Manasquan ridge, and Barnegat Ridge. The species I am interested will be Bonito, Spanish Macks ,albies, and skipjacks. :fighting:My main tactic will be trolling, jigging, and some form of bait fishing. At present I feel pretty confident in my boating, jigging, and baiting skills. I do not however feel very confident in my trolling skills since I always found it boring to do so, but it seems to me that this is one of the more effective techniques of connecting and locating schools of fish. So my first set of questions:
Clark spoons, read a lot about them. Seems to me that 0,00, and 1 size seem to be the ticket trolled on a leader connected to a trolling drail. My question is how long a leader? Some captains on this board say 20' while others say 20''. What pound? Mono or Floro? How far behind the boat? How heavy of a drail? I’m thinking my heavier striper tackle calcutta 400's,saltist 30's, Avet MXL all filled with 65lbs braid matched to MH 7'0 rods will handle this application.
Planer boards.:huh: I understand how they work, but what size's and how heavy can I go with the above tackle? How much line how deep will it go? I have read about having a dedicated XXXH rod used to just get the planer down then attach a 2 way swivel to a rubber band to another rod with the actual lure? But how do you actual get the lure down to the planner? Or should you attach the planner to the stern cleat? Again how much rope? Is there a tangle hazard to the screw? In both cases how are you going to attach the lure line to the planner? This seems to be the most overwhelming, any help would be really appreciated.
I look forward to picking your brains and hopefully building some relationships through this learning endeavor. Thanks for all your constructive criticism.
