Are BlackBarts Over Rated????

[Hatteras45]

I was out trolling off the bimini area and hooked up on a marlin! I was trolling ballyhoo and a couple of chugger heads. I wasnt even trying to hook up on a marlin obviously. But once we got the fish released I realized I wasn't using one of my over priced black barts!! I have fished with lots of anglers and they always resort to "you cant fish without your barts" I Disagree now. What do you guys think??

[fmoore]

I have never marlin fished, but I have fished. Did it ever occur to you that it may have been blind luck? I mean, sure you may have caught one marlin on a bait not intended for a marlin. Maybe you would have caught one or two more if you were dragging a marlin spread. Maybe Barts are over rated, I don't know. I've never even seen one in person. But I'm willing to bet that if they didn't catch fish they wouldn't be as popular as they are.

Just my 2 cents

[gottaflylee]

Over Rated, I don't think so, I have caught a lot of fish on them. With that being said, I also have caught a lot of fish on other lures also.

[Questsportfishing]

thats the one where you buy it sucker!!!! Hahahahaha

just kidding!!! barts are great.. moldcrafts are great.. Ballyhoo's are the most eaten gamefish bait around..
be lucky your catching... barts are good though

[OffTheHookB&T]

I think that since this is your first post, that you have an alterior motive to bashing Bart
You can troll just about anything behind a boat and have a chance at catching a fish. Heck, in Marlin mag, the one writer rigged a water bottle. The difference is that the Black Bart's are designed to attract fish, through years of experience from some great fishermen. Now, many have copied the Bart shapes and designs, and they might come close to the original. Another, thing that seperates Bart, Pakula, Moldcraft, (DeepC), and many others from the John come latelies is HISTORY, these lures have been there and done that!
Now, lets hear about the lure you pulled that magically caught a fish, and then maybe you will tell us where we can buy one

[Deep C]

Its all relative... Barts are like fine Jewelry... I made several lines of lures for years. Yes I made some for him too. He is by far the most demanding perfectionist in the trade. The components were far more expensive than any other on the market. So yes they are worth it from that standpoint.
The designing he did and still does goes far beyond the others. He took feedback very seriously and fine tuned to meet the criteria that his clients were looking for in a bait. again yes well worth it.

Hard to over or under rate a lure. Lets face it some of the simple baits out there have accounted for a load of fish. Plain ol jap feather, unpainted, cedar jig, green machine (Yuck!) have all been stand outs. Ilander, mold craft, etc... all fabulous in their own right...

Any given day a fish is gonna eat what its gonna eat. My spread consists of six different baits THAT WORK WELL TOGETHER... They each bring something slightly different to the table. My favorite big fish bait has drawn a few bites this season but only stayed stuck in one, our biggest actually caught. We saw a pig... the pig... and it ignored the big stuff and it too ate a hoo. Any given day...

[SeaMent]

I was out trolling off the bimini area and hooked up on a marlin! I was trolling ballyhoo and a couple of chugger heads. I wasnt even trying to hook up on a marlin obviously. But once we got the fish released I realized I wasn't using one of my over priced black barts!! I have fished with lots of anglers and they always resort to "you cant fish without your barts" I Disagree now. What do you guys think??

Hey Hatt45, 2 questions come to mind here
1. If you don't know what's in the spread , how do you know what your fishin for ??
2. If the Barts are overpriced, why you carryin them around on the boat ??
P.S. and by the way the BBs do work

[Captain Fred Archer]

Bart makes super high quality, hard thought out and tested lures with a long term, great and deserving reputation that I believe are worth the money and more. So do a few others, like Roddy Hays, Pete Pakula, Marlin Parker and others, but....

In my mind there is no such thing as "a marlin lure". An eight inch one, or just about any other eight inch lure, represents eight inch bait, be it squid, ballyhoo, sardines, flyers, or whatever. And considering all of the wild colors that don't even come close to resembling any baitfish that ever swam that many come in and still catch fish on, I don't believe that changing colors has much of a bearing on what a striking fish takes them for.

For example, take a six inch, natural colored cedar plug or hollow squid in cedar plug color...a "tuna lure", right? Well, if that's the case, how come myself and many others have caught plenty of marlin, sails, dorado, and wahoo on them?

The only time that the words "marlin lure" appear in my marlin book is when I'm pointing out the above and explaining why I call them "trolling lures".

One man's view, of course.

Website www.fredarchersworldoffishing.com

[WAHOONBOX]

COMPARED TO MOST GUYS IN THE BIZNESS...I ACTUALLY HAVEN'T CAUGHT DIDDLY SQUAT COMPARED TO MOST MATES/CAPTAINS AS FAR AS BLUE MARLIN GO....MAYBE 130 OR SO GIVE OR TAKE IN MY CAREER....I NEVER KEPT COUNT .........

I GUESS THAT IS OKAY NUMBERS BY CAROLINA STANDARDS AND ONLY 12 BLUE MARLIN IS MY PERSONAL HIGH FOR ANY ONE CAROLINA CHARTER SEASON ( '05) ....ELEVEN OF THIS TWELVE WERE ON A DINK BAIT TLD 25....I MAYBE HAD A HANDFUL OF BLUES IN THE BAHAMAS IN THE 80'S & EARLY 90'S...AND MAYBE A HANDFUL OFF JERSEY AND DOWN THE MID-ATLANIC CANYONS DOING TOURNYS....


MY POINT:
I BET IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT 70% OF THE BLUE MARLIN I HAVE CAUGHT HAVE BEEN ON A SEA WITCH/MED HOO...8/0 HOOK AND 100LB LEADER.....SOME HAVE BEEN ON #8 & #15 PIANO WIRE.........SO GO FIGURE....

A FEW HAVE BEEN ON NATURAL SQUIDS...

AND A FEW HOWEVER HAVE BEEN ON ALL LURES....AN 80'S FAVORITE OF MINE, THE SIR ACE LURE ...THE SORACE FAMILY FROM JERSEY WHICH LOOKS SIMILAR TO A LEGENDS LURE WITH THE SCREW ON SKIRT


THE MOLD CRAFT CHUGGER IN FRONT OF A SPANISH....HAS BEEN GOOD FOR ME

A BLUE WHITE ILANDER/HORSE BALLYHOO HAS DELIVERED

A LOCAL FAVORITE...SCH LURES....AKA STEVE HODGE ATLANTIC BEACH MAKES A GREAT LURE THAT HAS YIELDED A FEW MARLIN BITES



IS IT THE LURE ITSELF THAT YIELDS...THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A BLUE ATTACK? IMO....NO....

I BELIEVE THAT IF YOU PLACE THE UGLIEST MOST NO NOTHING LURE IN FRONT OF HIM WHEN HE IS HOT THAT HE WILL DEVOUR IT....AND NOT THINK TWICE ABOUT HOW PRETTY IT IS....

I WAS ONCE BRINGING IN A SPANISH MACKERAL SKIRTED UP WITH AN BL/WH ILANDER PRO ...A MAHI HAD JUST MANGLED THE SHIT OUT OF IT...I HAD JUST RIGGED IT UP AND WAS VERY DISGUSTED TO SAY THE LEAST....

AS I RETRIEVED IT, A BIG WAD OF GRASS SNAGGED THE 12/0 AND CLUNG TO IT.....WHAT A PILE OF SHIT I WAS WENCHING IN....THEN, FROM NOWHERE...20 FEET FROM THE LEFT CORNER......KAPOOWWWW! HE CAME OUT FROM UNDER THE RIG AND INHALED IT... GRASS AND ALL....THE BROKEN WAX THREAD WAS TRAILING AS WELL...NOW I CALL THAT AN UGLY PILE OF CRAP AND HE LOVED IT...

TO ME, IT'S BEING IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE TIME ....CHROME OVER BRASS.........A BLUE MARLIN COULD CARE LESS WHO MAKES A LURE....WHEN IT'S TIME TO KILL OR EAT, HE INHALES ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING SWIMMING IN HIS PATH

THE WIND IS DROPPING OUT FOR THE NEXT 9 DAYS HERE AND I HOPE TO LEADER ONE THIS COMING FRIDAY....!


ROCK ON....

[costaricasportfishing]

Maybe your Bart raised the Marlin and he just ate the rigger. Black Bart lures work just fine. Marlin on the other hand will do WHATEVER they want.