Lure V. Bait

[Sea Draggin]

I was going through some tackle tonight getting ready for another jigging trip on Sunday. As I was cleaning out some dead bait trolling stuff, this occured to me.........

We are basically in the first full year of no J hooks, therefore everyone is out pulling lures. My boys brought a 600+ to the scales in the Swansboro. I know Mike said he saw the biggest marlin he has ever seen following one of their lures.


Now the state record has fallen to a lure.


Seems to me this is definitely a base line for comparison. It will be interesting to see what the next 5 years produce. Interesting to see if this is an outlier, or a trend.

[Patudo]

And there was the 935 lb caught during the White Marlin Open... was that on a lure or bait?

I'm a little curious why lures were not used more frequently in the past - wouldn't many of the same crews have fished St Thomas, the Bahamas, Bermuda etc where lures are common place?

Regards

P.

[tom@marlinstar]

And there was the 935 lb caught during the White Marlin Open... was that on a lure or bait?

I'm a little curious why lures were not used more frequently in the past - wouldn't many of the same crews have fished St Thomas, the Bahamas, Bermuda etc where lures are common place?

Regards

P.

P, funny you mention this. I just made a couple of lures for one of the boats in the Pirates Cove Tournament. Their philosophy was to try something new....to add a lure in the mix with the traditional baits used in the area. My client was very open minded and stated the success of lure fishing in Hawaii as an inspiration.Good Luck Tom!

T

[alex n]

The big blue at the Open, was pitched a mackeral on a circle after coming up on a teaser, from what I understand

[tunatamer4]

My theory as to why plastics were not used as much as naturals is this....

Except for Florida and the OBX, the run to the marlin playground is a pretty good one. The crews would rather pull naturals and have possibly multiple shots at the limited number of fish raised, than just one shot if the fish isn't stuck and leaves because it felt a hard, untasty lure. At least with a natural, you have the option of a drop-back to stick what MAY BE the only bite of the day.

Also,I know that the majority of fuel consumption is burned on the ride to and from, but the extra speed needed to pull plastic can add up, which may also be a factor for some.

Just my thoughts, I could be wrong.

[Bert Rodgers]

My theory as to why plastics were not used as much as naturals is this....

Except for Florida and the OBX, the run to the marlin playground is a pretty good one. The crews would rather pull naturals and have possibly multiple shots at the limited number of fish raised, than just one shot if the fish isn't stuck and leaves because it felt a hard, untasty lure. At least with a natural, you have the option of a drop-back to stick what MAY BE the only bite of the day.

Also,I know that the majority of fuel consumption is burned on the ride to and from, but the extra speed needed to pull plastic can add up, which may also be a factor for some.

Just my thoughts, I could be wrong.

That and the fact that bait is more effective for whites and sails and most boats are targeting all 3 in their spread.

Bert

[ncbillfisher]

Your speed is different for the two different types of trolling.
Lures you are running fast to get them to look good, usually you are going slower to keep the bait in the water alot of times it is smaller ballyhoos. It is hard to keep the dredges in the water going fast with the lures in the water. Alot of times in outer banks you have a shot at all three types of fish, that is why bait works good up there. It is hard to catch a 30 lb sail or whitey on a lure on 400 lb extra hard at 7-8 knots. Hook up rate isn't very good. Now alot of the boys up there are pulling lures for blues but it hard to change something that they have always done, dragging baits.