With Clam Chumming for Stripers in full swing now, the Gamakatsu Octopus hooks are THE most popular style hook used by our customers for this style of fishing. These hooks happen to have an off-set eye and work best when they are SNELLED on a leader, as opposed to simply tying them on.
Straight eye hooks, like the Gamakatsu Octopus SE 4X hooks, for example, can be snelled OR tied on… there is no off-set to worry about!
Take a look at the picture below and you can see the difference in the eye’s of the hooks.
Back your drag off a little! With the “Zero Stretch” lines, you can very easily break a rod or reel and with no give at all, this line can open up big holes in the mouth’s of the fish… making it easier for the hook to fall out!
Can’t find the leak in your waders, hip boots or knee boots? Try filling them with water and watch where the water leaks OUT! Mark it so you know where it is and patch it up! We recommend the Aquaseal product for anything that needs to be waterproof. It works extremely well and it’s very easy to use!
Bucktails Jigs are one of the greatest, all time, lures for catching Striped Bass. They are available in a WIDE variety of colors and sizes. BUT, if I had to pick one to fish the rest of my life with… give me WHITE!
In addition, we would highly recommend using some kind of trailer on a bucktail. Something like a twister tail, or my personal favorite, pork rind.
Many people have a tendancy to over-fish a bucktail by hoping and jigging it along. Nine times out of ten, a nice slow and steady retrieve is all that is necessary.
Is your line mysteriously breaking or getting frayed? We see this quite often in the shop, someone will stop in, have us put new line on their reel and claim that the old line keeps breaking. The next day, they’re back… with more broken line problems. the FIRST THING to check are your guides… especially the tip guide. Even a hairline crack or cut in the guide can cause your line to fray and weaken, and in many cases you can’t even see the crack… but it’s there.
Use a Q-Tip and run it along the inside of the guides, the cotton is soft enough to get caught on even the smallest of cracks. Once you find it, replace the guide or the tip…. then replace your weakened line…. again… and you’ll be good to go!
Surf fishing with fresh bunker seems to be one of the more popular ways to fish for Striped Bass on Long Island beaches, these days. However, what many people don’t realize is that the HEAD of the bunker is historically one of THE BEST, big fish, baits of ALL TIME! Too many people cut the bunker into chunks and throw the heads away… Don’t do it! Some of our more “savy” surf fisherman buy fresh bunker from us and use ONLY the heads.
When using mono… change it often. The line is the ONLY link between YOU and the FISH, so why take chances using old line? Obviously the more you use it, the more often you should change it. Plus, on spinning rods in particular, fresh line won’t be as “springy” as older line, making it much more cooperative and easier to fish with!
Braided lines are definately becoming more and more popular every season, but few people tend to use enough mono leader material. We always recommend using some kind of leader to provide just a little stretch. This will help on hook-sets and won’t let the hook open too big of a hole in the fish’s mouth! It also makes it easy to tie rigs and lures without having to worry about using any special knots!
SHARPEN THOSE HOOKS… Every hook, everytime out. For example, the mouth of a Striped Bass has some very hard parts made for crushing clams, lobsters and crabs. It takes a pretty sharp hook to stick in to that!
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