Personal Record

[Lucky Duck]

Left the mooring at 5:15, lines in at the claw at 6:45, first SBFT at 7:30. Last year we caught one BFT all season. After two trips this year, one BFT. Yesterday seven SBFT all within a two mile radius with absolutely no visible signs of life but with a swirling 4 degree temperature change from 71 to 75 degrees. Four on skirted ballyhoo (2 on blue and white, one each on pink and purple - thanks to Larry Backman for the advice) and three on a green machine daisy chain with a bird in front. We even called in friend's boat and he landed four more. All were small (the biggest maybe 40 inches), all but one easily released at the side of the boat after brief fights and all done despite having banana nut mufins on board. What would have happened if the bananas had stayed at home? This is the day we will all be thinking about while scraping the ice off the windshield in February.

[Happy Ending]

nice job. i have never tried the skirted ballyhoo. i assume you buy a skirt, then the pre rigged ballyhoo?? care to share where you got them/how you rig them? i have my eye on that area for a trip this season, but not easy for me to get the time and get down there from ME. interesting that you were not seeing any activity and were just getting the hits???

[Lucky Duck]

A couple of weeks ago we asked a very knowledgeable frequent poster of this site (LB) how he managed to boat 5 fish on a day when most everyone else in the same area got one, or less. His answer was Ballyhoo - Ballyhoo - Ballyhoo. He was right on the money.

His advice was to buy unrigged ballyhoo instead of the pre-rigged ones. With no experience whatsoever with rigging natural baits I was reluctant to rig them myself until I saw the price of the rigged ones! $26 /3 rigged vs $17/dozen unrigged. No Brainer! Our local tackle shop (CMS) suggested youtube as the best place to learn, and we found videos of several different methods from which we chose the "pin rig method" and weren't disappointed with how quick and easy it was. LB suggested 3 oz Sea Witch skirts in Blue/white & in Pink. We could only find them in 2-1/2oz blue/white locally, and small pink lures of similar weight. 2 fish hit the blue/white, 1 on pink, and one on black/purple Sea Witch. My guess is that how the bait is rigged when you cover it with a skirt is far less important then it would be if it were to be presented without the skirt. The guys at the tackle shop all said that you'll catch twice as many fish by just putting a little hair around it then without. When asked about the colors they said it's not unusual for one person to buy every single blue/white Sea Witch in stock, leaving the rest of the colors on the shelf. I guess there is a message in that...

[kitebuz]

Congrats - sounds like a great day out there!