Feed em or Pop em?

[Squidnation]

The past 3 months I have been fishing mostly in Guatemala and have been learning quite a bit from the local pros. The spread is pretty much the same on whichever boat i fish with a few exceptions.

Long riggers - naked chin weighted ballyhoo
long teasers - usually a black and yellow moldcraft crazy eye
left long teaser - or on a smaller boat - center teaser - SN - chugger - Various colors but mostly pink/black/white skirt

left short teaser - SN - Chugger or something else - usually purplish in color

Right short teaser - Tuna Candy dropper chain or straight chain

two pitch baits with non-weighted ballys
1 mackeral pitch on a 50w

the mates tie a loop with floss on the main line at the point where they set their long riggers. they then clip the loop to the rigger clip. this is a benefit for a couple of reasons

1. they always set their lines in the same position. So when us gringos want to help we don't have to guess where the captain wants the bait.

2. no wear on the main line bouncing off the rigger clip

3. instant 2 second drop back since the line always pops out of the clip when he.

Our %'s seem to be on par. Some days are better then others.

The disadvantages seem to be -
1. No feeding throught the clip
2. you must pop the clip to entice the fish
3. bait may be in the wrong position for that day and its an effort to change it quickly

Personally I prefer to feed them through a clip and then come tight and let it pop. I have a feeling they loop and clip the longer riggers because of the charter's ignorance above any other benefit. A charter is not always paying attention and the fish stands a better chance of hooking himself when the slight pressure of the clip and instant dropback is applied.

Pacific sails are quite a bit more agressive then whites or atlantic sails. Read that as forgiving of our mistakes since they are dummer then Mike Tyson and always come back for seconds. Thoughts?

Would you rather feed em or pop em? why?

[LeftOar]

Normally I would prefer feeding them because there is that "extra" line like when you pop the line out of the clip. It happened to us a couple times on the long rigger where the popped bait sailed over the fish's head while he was right up slashing the hoo getting ready to eat. Capt Chico did show us how to minimize that amount of line by grabbing the line between the reel and the first eye and taking up some of that slack, and then to start feeding the line to the fish with that slack line in your hand. It does work, but can't tell you how many times guys completely forgot about that technique when people were yelling about the fish being up in the pattern. Several times the fish left that bait and went right for the other long rigger bait. What we did learn and do alot was if the fish came up on the left long, to always pop the right long out and be ready either for the fish to switch, or for that second fish to pile on. I did get used to the loop and popping, but it takes reminding yourself in between bites so you'll be ready when the action starts. Kind of like when you play baseball and are on defense in the field, and you go over the situations in your head before that next batter gets into the box!

LO

[fishvenezuela]

Bill,

You should stick to your style that you fish at home. I assume you fish your baits straight through the clip. The floss loop and twisting the line in the clip are OTL.

1. In Guatamala you do not have to shag grass. 2. Also Pacific sails are hardly a challange to hook. I think most everyone will agree with that. 3. It is also calm and you are not adjusting your baits as to different sea conditions. 4. If you are concerned about line chaffing in the clip, you can use a small ceramic rod guide insert on your line and put the "ring" in the clip. Works great especially on 6, 8 and 12lb line. 5. If you want your baits to fish in the same position always, you can mark your line with a majic marker.

Like I said the floss loop is OTL with natural baits. Lures...... that is a different topic. Besides if you chafe your line during the fishing day, you must cut the line above the loop, then tie again your double line and then measure the distance for your loop and then floss it on the line. Eats up good fishing time too.

Stick to your style and try not to "reinvent the wheel."............ Any questions?

OTL = Out to lunch!

[Squidnation]

Bill,

You should stick to your style that you fish at home. I assume you fish your baits straight through the clip. The floss loop and twisting the line in the clip are OTL.

1. In Guatamala you do not have to shag grass. 2. Also Pacific sails are hardly a challange to hook. I think most everyone will agree with that. 3. It is also calm and you are not adjusting your baits as to different sea conditions. 4. If you are concerned about line chaffing in the clip, you can use a small ceramic rod guide insert on your line and put the "ring" in the clip. Works great especially on 6, 8 and 12lb line. 5. If you want your baits to fish in the same position always, you can mark your line with a majic marker.

Like I said the floss loop is OTL with natural baits. Lures...... that is a different topic. Besides if you chafe your line during the fishing day, you must cut the line above the loop, then tie again your double line and then measure the distance for your loop and then floss it on the line. Eats up good fishing time too.

Stick to your style and try not to "reinvent the wheel."............ Any questions?

OTL = Out to lunch!

I agree completely on all remarks. But I wasn't thinking of the most important one being, I am not going to do this at home so why do it in Guatemala. That will serve me no benefit! I am not concerned about the line chafing in the clip. that would really only happen if the line got caught in the clip itself. Thanks

[merry marlin]

Learned the elastic way and still do it that way! Used to fish light lines so rolling them around on the release clips wasn't the best way, especially if the water is a little rough.
With sneaky fish, popping it is the ticket and free spooling it to him is a big part of the pleasure. It's like seeing your dogs point a quail or woodcock is more exciting than shooting it.....
MM

[Bert Rodgers]

Bill, with small baits and light line, clips are set real light too. I can't see the need for the loops. If I have a crew in the pit that I am less than confident in I will twist the line and leave the reel in freespool/click on. But I prefer to feed them through the clip.

Bert

[fishvenezuela]

People always ask how do we fish here or how do we fish there, etc........ I always say we fish the way we know how to catch fish. A fish in Cabo San Lucas is no different than a fish in OC for example. It has been proven over and over that if you fish with a traditional NC/FL trolling spread you'll catch fish anywhere in the World. I do agree however that fish may feed differently in different water/bait conditions. You may need to adjust a little but do not stray too far from your original game plan.

Chip Shafer always would say, "the same way you fish and win tournaments is the exact same way you fish and lose em." and he would also say that "every place is a winner and every place is a looser."

Very true, No?

[#1Gaffman]

Good topic bill. I fished with a mate a few years ago(he was from FL) in a tourny, he swore by rubberbanding the line in the clips(were whitey fishing). I grew to absolutely hate this way of fishing, as mentioned above every time there was grass and you would crank or jig the line it would pop. When we did have a fish come on the bait you would have to hope he would be aggresive and go after the bait, if he was tailing it we would have been screwed. And again, as mentioned above if it was rough or the bait needed to be moved a little bit you would pop it out of the clip... I know these things have there applications but im not very fond of doing it this way.

Just my 2 cents. Looking forward to more input.

[pitch bait]

Im a feed in the clip guy. I like to position each bait in the place where it looks "right" to me each bait is differnt.iSome times six inches makes a big difference. I could never commit to one spot. Now if I was bluefin fishing I could see doing this because you are fishing so far behind the boat you would only have to break out the line counter once. Yo u also have alot more pressure on the line so I could see there it could ware.

[Anthony of the ARK]

I would have to go with feed em trough the clip. Remember in isla when the sails would come up lazy and we would have to crank it away and dump it a few times to get them excited enough to bite. this would have been impossible to do that if there was a rubber band or flossed to the clip.