WHAT DO YOU THINK?

[JD5652]

From someone who has VERY limited experience, I also think it's a combination of factors. I've been doing a LOT of listening around the docks the past couple of years and I didn't quite understand when I would hear people say..." boat X with 671's really "raises" the fish". And when the concept was explained to me, I still wasn't quite sure if I "believed it". However, I've been convinced that certain boats and combinations of boat/engines do "raise fish" better than others.

Of course, IMHO, there's no substitute for excellently rigged baits, expereince of when to use what and how the baists are presented in the spread.

[pellicot]

All the above is great....if you remember so make sure to record it in the log. if you take time to do it then record it and see what happens. Slick calm and raised the trim to 4 bars - caught fish. You get what I mean but know what you did and why you thought it worked. Also believing in the spread and rigs pulls makes a big difference.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Can you tell I'm a newbie here? There's some font stuff up top that I don't know how to get rid of that may or may not show up on this post...I dunno.

For those of you who recognize the name, yep I'm that Captain Fred Archer guy who writes books on big game fishing and also writes for Saltwater Sportsman (article in February edition), Sport Fishing (article in May edition) and Big Game Journal (article in this month's edition). I'm not one of those writers who writes about fishing, I am a fisherman who writes. There is a huge difference. I have operated my own custom express 36 foot charterboat out of Cabo San Lucas for many years now, have lived there for a long time and maintain a home in Southern California where my private ride is a highly customized Grady Sailfish.

This discussion of engines and hulls and squids painted on boat bottoms and spreads is an age-old one. Every time that I hear it I try to remind folks that the way that all of this stuff is "measured" is by whether fish are caught, how many or where. So, there is no doubt in my mind that you can have a sweet, fish-calling set of engines, but if you are running a bum spread you aren't going to turn on the fish that you raise and many peoples' first thought will be, "wrong engines", "wrong r's", "wrong trim" or whatever when the actual fault lies in the spread, not the boat.

Likewise, I'm sure it is possible to have a boat that sends out "bad vibrations" (whatever they are - I think almost all boats attract fish) has a nasty-looking wake, etc. but that catches the heck out of fish. Since we measure those fish-attracting things by the fish that we catch, we're back to the pattern and what's in it again. See what I mean? The bottom line is, it keeps coming back to that pattern and how good it is.

Since gamefish spend most of their time in neutral, non-feeding moods, patterns that simply represent a few individual baitfish provide darned little incentive to raise, say a school of deep tuna or wahoo that is cruising the thermocline at mid-day even if they are hunting. Of course they don't think about it, but the tunas in a school instinctively know not to burn up their collective energy going after what in fact only represents a decent meal for one of them - not the school.

It gets worse if those deep fish aren't feeding, which is actually most of the time. Here we have to turn them on and excite them into striking because when gamefish aren't hungry, they don't eat. The way to get some (and sometimes a lot) of them is to appeal to the competitive instincts of these apex predators.

I don't care what kind of boat or engines you put me on. I'll sinc the mills (habit more than thinking it means anything to the fish), put out a pattern four or six SuperBars (composite, all-speed, no tangle bars that I make) on the flats and short riggers using those new UpRiggers that I love, two bars each on each successive wave, with a pair of ballyhoo wearing "hats" and chasing in-line Dirty Bird birds rigged three feet in front of them on the long riggers. Like the bars, the 'hoos will be on the same wave, usually #5. Yes, that's a lot of lures running in close proximity; I call it "packing the spread".

I will be running a Toad teaser off a two speed reel down the middle and under the bars. It will be "chasing" a squid that is the same size and color as the ones on the bars above it. The Toad will be wiggling and darting around like a combination Marauder plug and a giant cedar plug fifteen or twenty feet under the bars. It will be sending out loud vibrations far and wide and the metal tape I put on it will be sending out strobe like flashes. Given my usual two cockpit monkeys I will also be running a huge surface teaser - either a Legend Lures Zeus or a Black Bart Extreme Breakfast, both with scooped heads the size of cantalopes and huge skirts. It will be on one side of the spread and among the bars, where it will be crashing and making huge, belly whomper surface explosions like a gamefish in wild pursuit of dinner. The big monster will also be "chasing" a squid teaser that's the same as the ones on the bars.

Switch to a school of yellowfin or a pack of FangBangers (wahoos) prowling along the thermocline. A boat with nice sounding engines and a sweetheart of a wake just passed over those fish, towing a pattern of ballyhoo aand some feathers spread all over the wake. Maybe it was you? Those sharp-eyed tunas and wahoos probably felt the vibrations given out by the boat and engines and saw that half dozen baits, or at least some of them, but why would or should they come to a skimpy dinner table like that one, even if they're feeding? And if they aren't and there is nothing up there feeding on those few, spread out baits...well?

Now here my boys and I come (I run two crew besides myself on my charterboat) on your boat that you think might not be sending out "The right song". Naturally, those tunas/wahoos hear and feel the boat, engines and wheels no matter what kind of music they are playing. And when they do those sharp eyes simply cannot miss those 60-120 squids up there being madly chased by little competitors. And there are fish under and in them and beating the hell out of them! It's a wild feeding scene that no self-respecting school of 'fins or FangBangers can resist joining in on or at least getting in there and killing those little competitors that are chowing on "all of that bait".

The oceans are the most competitive environment that you could ever imagine. Gamefish compete with birds, dolphins, schoolmates and other fish on a day in, day out basis. Even when they aren't feeding their prey drives and extreme competitiveness and aggressive instincts are a mere twitch away. And all it takes is one fish in that school - just one - to turn toward that wild party that is taking place in my pattern and here they come - all of them!

Whether they come to kill or eat, the strikes are a sight to behold. If you are watching the meter when you run across them you just might get a chance to see those red streaks coming before the carpet bombing that a whole school of gamefish lays on the right kind of wild, exciting spread. After that, Pandemonium as rod after rod goes down, outrigger clips pop and reels and your passengers and crew start screaming too. Stand there in the tuna tower if you are lucky enough to have one, don't touch those throttles, just stand there looking backwards and feast your eyes on the raw, unbridled insanity of a school of fired up, insane tunas or maybe a pack of streaking, slashing wahoos annihilating every single one of those little predators you have back there chasing all of that bait.

Pull the throttles down some after everything is bent. Do whatever you have to with the throttles and the wheel to help the boys and the crankers get sorted out and sit back and maybe think to yourself...

"Hmmm. Maybe that new, old guy on the site knew what he was talking about after all. Those fish sure seem to think so and hey, isn't that what it's all about."

"To tease or not to tease...there is no question!"

And no, I ain't teasin'.

[SunganaBeach]

Capt. Al Anderson claims he invented this idea of painting squid on the bottom of your hull. However, he also claims he only did it to see who would copycat it - it does nothing.

[ocnslr]

Great first post, Captain Fred.

Welcome to SFC, the best board by far.

Friendly, informative, fun, and supportive.

Brian

[74Formula233]

Capt. Al Anderson claims he invented this idea of painting squid on the bottom of your hull. However, he also claims he only did it to see who would copycat it - it does nothing.

LOL, nice to claim but doubt he "invented" it.

LOL

[Captain Fred Archer]

Thank you for the nice welcome and yes, this does seem to be one terrific site. The atmosphere that I have seen while wandering thru many posts is really terrific. I see pros who know what they're talking about and lots of people with less experience who have the confidence that they aren't going to get bombed and strafed by negative, shallow, loser whacko's like one sees on so many other sites when they ask questions. And I see good answers coming back from those guys with lots of water and fish time under their belts. I try to be a teacher, but never forget that the best teachers of all are the fish and the more time that you spend "in class", the more you are going to learn from them. That's if you have an open mind and are willing to experiment and learn new things. If you don't do that, all you are going to do is stay at the same skill level and not grow.

The baits on the boat bottoms thing. I agree that they don't do anything much and maybe nothing at all. The average boat hull makes for a great immitation of a big bait ball when viewed from below. One of the primary reasons why bait balls up in the first place is so that the school resembles a solid mass to gamefish, instead of being spread out so that they can be easily identified and attacked. The churning wheels are as good an immitation of bonito, tuna, or whatever attacking the rear of the meatball as you could hope for and remember, that is where fish attack packs of bait - from behind. I believe that is part of nature's plan, so that the weaklings and injured baits are the ones that die. And I want all of my baits and lures to be gamefish homicide victims with no survivors!

I wrote something about this bottom painting thing in an early book of mine. It says it all. I'll try to find it. One of the "good things" (my tongue was in my cheek when I wrote this) about such a paint job is that when you hear and feel some solid bumps thru you hull, you know that you are on the fish because they are slamming into the painted squids. If you are quick with the gaff, I pointed out that you just might be able to free gaff some of the stunned and knocked out ones out of your wake as they pop up. Saves wear and tear on the gear, ya know?

Your boat hull is the biggest teaser of them all. Set your pattern based on what the fish think that they are seeing and it will pay off in spades. And best of all, the fish won't be unconscious when you hook them!

[Murph]

Great feedback from the very informative Capt. Fred Archer.

Capt, welcome aboard, I like your articles as well as your spreader bars. Looking forward toseeing more of your feedback around the site.

Tight lines Capt.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Thank you Murph,

This is some great site. I have a ball reading all of the positive stuff that goes on here from the kind of fishermen who come here. I like it so much that I'll probably wind up being a pain-in-the-butt before too long. I have had the great good fortune of fishing hard and long on both coasts and in Cabo, along with some prime time in a lot of other big game venues and have learned a lot of things that I am certain will help any fisherman at least a little no matter where he fishes, or at least I hope that I can.

Frankly, the welcome from some of you has been overwhelming and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for it.

I hope that the pictures come thru. The big gal is my Cabo charterboat, named for my parents, who passed away as she was being built. The Grady is my California ride, owned with my partner AJ Brandon, who did all of the custom work on her.

[Capt-D]

Great Post Capt!

Welcome aboard and enjoy the ride!

-D