Diamond Jigging, late in the season can be some of the most active fishing of the year!! Find the birds or find the schools of fish on your fish finder and drop the jigs down!!
Instead of jigging, in a traditional sense, try the “Squidding” technique. Many people will drop a Diamond Jig down to the bottom and start jigging the rod… lifting it up and letting the jig fall to the bottom. This does work but a MUCH more effective way to catch a Bass is to drop the jig to the bottom and SLOWLY reel it up 10 or 15 turns… then drop it back down. “Squidding” is an older term but the techniques is still VERY effective!
Fishing a really sticky bottom and losing lots of tackle? Try using a “Hi-Lo” style rig, with the hooks on shorter leaders standing perpendicular, off the main line, they tend to get hung up a little less. For Porgies try something like the Read the rest of this entry »
1. Its going to be more crowded then any other place you have fished so be prepared.
2. This is not a place for light tackle since there are bigger fish in crowded rocky areas, you need stout tackle to keep fish away from the barnacle covered rocks and other fishermen’s lines
3. I like to use a long leader because of the rocks and it helps you land the fish easier when your on a rock or at night.
4. Incoming is usually better on the south side and outgoing on the north.
5. Onshore wind is good, especially on the south side where it will generate white water.
6. Darters are great especially after dark, just find a rip or moving water and cast away.
7. Bucktails and swim shad are great everywhere and anytime, it’s usually pretty shallow so 3/4- 1 3/4oz will cover most situations.
8. Carry some jetty casters or densely tied bucktails and larger rinds if you want to get a larger profile and not snag bottom.
9. In my Montauk bag I carry darters, needles, bottle plugs, bucktails, swim shad, and sub-surface metal lips in white, yellow, and black at night. Take out the needles, darters and bottle plugs and add pencil and conventional poppers, and some surface metal lips in the day, in blue, yellow, and white. That should cover most situations.
10. With the crowds stick to lures that have a similar retrieve speed as you so you don’t tangle with the people up or down tide of you.
11. Casting live eels can be deadly when the current slows. If you want to chunk try the sand beaches behind town away from the crowds
12. Any type of bait could be present so be prepared, but in the fall there are usually white bait (bay anchovies), spearing, peanut bunker, adult bunker, and mullet. Sometimes later in the season sand eels or herring may also make an appearance. Also don’t rule out young of the year juvenile game fish such as snappers, baby flat fish, and baby weak fish.
13. Make sure your bucktails have strong hooks, change all plug hooks to 4x VMC’s.
14. Keep a tight drag, big fish should still be able to take line but you don’t want a ten pound bass taking line and running down the beach crossing everybody’s lines.
17. If you want to simplify the color selection for plugs yellow, yellow, yellow, and more yellow should be in your bag.
18. Remember safety first, korkers are a must, and don’t push your limits, especially if you are not familiar with the area. Never fish Montauk for the first time at night.
Live Snappers can make terrific bait for big Fluke and Weakfish, so many people will try and put a few in the livewell on the way out.
Instead of catching them one at a time, try catching a few at time on a Sabiki, or “Bait Catching” rig! With 3, 4 or 5 hooks on a rig you can fill a livewell pretty quickly and get out to the Fluke spots even quicker!
The ONLY trouble with this is when the Snappers get big enough to bite the little lures off the Sabiki rigs!
Don’t forget the regulations though… you’re only allowed to keep 10 Snappers per person, so don’t put more than your limit in the well!!!
When fishing with a partner or a bunch of people… try mixing up your rigs, lures and technique’s. Often, one particular rig or style or bait or lure will out-produce the others and once you notice what the fish are looking for everyone can re-rig or change up what they’re doing fill the limits!
For example, Chris (from the shop) and I used to do a tremendous amount of lure fishing in the back bays for Striped Bass. Chris would start fishing with… let’s say a popper of some kind, so I would tie on something different… maybe a swimming plug or a Bucktail. This way we covered more of the water column and when one method started to show signs of being the way to go… we would both concentrate on that style.
Give it a try…. it can help figure the fish out a little faster!
One of THE most fun and effective ways to catch Fluke is by using bucktails and Jigs with Teasers tied above them. Some of the most popular jigs are the Spro Bucktails, Braid Thumper Jigs and Fluke Bullets. These are typically tied directly to the bottom of your leader and act as the sinker…. so it pays to have a number of different sizes to accommodate varying conditions.
Using one or sometimes even two teasers above the jigs can be paramount, and in many cases the teasers will catch MORE than the jigs will. The teaser should be no more than 12 to 18 inches above the jig and if you’re going to use more than one teaser we would suggest keeping them about 12″ above the jig and 12″ apart.
In some cases, when the current is simply too strong to use the jigs, and they aren’t keeping you on the bottom, try using just a plain sinker, as heavy as you need, with the teasers tied above it. This was you stay on the bottom and like I mentioned earlier… the teasers are sometimes more effective than the jigs!!
Use a permanent magic marker to color the points and the tops of your hooks and it will keep them from rusting out!
We do this all the time with Shark hooks and the hooks on Tuna lures. We sharpen these hooks with a file or stone every time we use them and if left “un-treated”, they will be rusted to death the next time you use them. So sharpen them up and coat them good with a sharpie and they’ll be good as new then next time you need them!
It’s a well known FACT that Tuna can be a very “line shy” fish and we’ve personally experienced this many times… first hand.
One particular time was the first time my wife ever came to the Canyon with us. We were anchored up for the night and we were reading the bait and the Tuna on the machine but couldn’t get a bite. We started to slowly scale down our Flourocarbon Leaders from 80lb down to 60lb… down to 50lb… down to 40lb…. down to 30lb…. FISH ON. Ended up with 11 Yellowfin’s up to around 75 pounds that night… all on 30 lb Flouro leaders. Had to back the drags off a bit and fight them gently but that’s what did the trick!
Fluke fishing is very “current” sensitive, meaning you need to be drifting or moving to present a bait properly. Fluke are predators and use current to ambush their food.
So when conditions don’t offer a nice drift, like when you have the wind against the tide or around slack tide… try bumping the boat in and out of gear, slowly powering the boat in the direction the current SHOULD be going…. essentially making your own drift!
With the ridiculous new Fluke regulations, we’re almost forced to change the way we fish for “keeper” Fluke. So you need to target the bigger ones now… fish BIG!
Bigger baits should mean bigger hooks and in some cases, TWO HOOK RIGS! A whole squid, live snappers and even large strip baits can sometimes require a tandem rig. Try an adjustable, two hook rig like the Spro rigs for example. These are great because no matter what size bait you’re using, you can adjust the hooks to fit it!
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