Big E Question

[awesum]

Originally Posted by etan

you are right! I make a check list and try to check them off. I also list which rod for which technique. 15 different things I want to do so far. Sometimes I forget to look at the list if the action is good. I'm sitting at my daughter's house in D.C. so you can tell I'm bored.

Nate, give Dick the list and he will check them off for you while you are casting....LOL!

[SkeeterRonnie]

anytime I have gone out.. i try to let the fish tell me what they want. It comes from my freshwater fishing and having to find out what to use quickly and being able to adapt on a whim.

I look around and see what size flyers are in the water, if there are any(most everytime I have seen em). Then I watch out into the darkness to see if they are being hit on the surface or not. I also pay attention to other people to see what the fish are being caught on the most. Once I get a general idea, i kinda formulate a quick tactic of lures to try... like - surface first, subsurface/swimbait, then iron casted and let fall slow while jiggin it slowly every few seconds. one of those tactics ALWAYS produces for me. the trick is arranging them correctly before I ever even make the first cast. If I can get it int he correct order right off the bat.. i wont have to adjust Ya know when ya got it right.. it will take about 30 minutes to figure it out

Last time out the captain was tellin me I didnt need to be throwing topwaters, cause they were not hitting them... I asked him to give me about 30 minutes to try. within 10 minutes i saw a blowup.. i never put the topwater rod down after that. I think I had 8 yellowfin on that trip. 3 good-urns, and 5 babies. both captains watched my biggest fish eat the topwater in the middle of the day.. That was a proud moment! the fish missed once and came back, i stuck her the second time

I also dont pop my topwater like everyone else. watch at how the flyers are landing and mimic them.

[fathom]

Originally Posted by ksong

When I fished on the Big E, a guy next to me got a few hit on his small yummie and tuna followed it a few times though he didn't have solid hook-ups. He just cranked fast with it. I thought someone can master how to present yummie right, the lure can be deadly.

TunaWarrior needs to chime in, he has mastered the yummie and has perfected the rigging.....

Mike you out there??

[workin]

Originally Posted by xs_tackle

I didn't see the guy Kil refers to, but I have caught a lot of YFT and I've seen others catch a lot of YFT on Carolina Lures Yummies; and, I cannot recall having ever seen a YFT caught on belly hooks or the single hooks supplied with that lure. (I'm not saying the regular Yummies can't/don't work; I'm just saying they wouldn't be my first, second or third choice.) What I have seen work is the Yummy re-rigged with a 4/0 or 5/0 Owner 4X Stinger positioned to extend to the fork in the tail of the Yummy and held in place either by embedding one tine into the yummy and/or by using 1 or 2 little rubber bands of the size sold at Target and elsewhere to secure braided hair.

I notice, however, that the Carolina Lures Yummy is noticeably larger than the Gulf's summer season flying fish; and, this may mean the smaller Frenzy model is a better shot until the local flyers grow a bit.

Hey,

I caught a nice one on one of them Carolina rubber flying fish this past May, and I used it as rigged right out of the box. Don't interpret this as a preference, I just didn't know what in the hell I was doing, so I just tied it on as-is. One caution: the rubber fish will shake loose, so it's just straight line-to-hook, and he won't conk out like he would with a big popper full of treble hooks in his mouth.

F

[Uncle Russ]

Like Drifter, I personally have never caught a YFT on an immitation flyer or even SEEN one caught--but a couple of observations:

First, I agree with Rick--on our July 3-6 trip, there were some huge flyers picke up in the nets--at least as large as the artificials I have seen.

Third, I have a lot of experience with live and dead flyers--Although there was a long period on our July trip in which none of us could give away a live flyer (I would interpret that as no fish present, except that someone next to me (I think is was actually workin, ) caught 3 on chunks while the rest of us were clinging to the flyers,) most of the time a live fish means a tuna on the hook--unless bitten off by a 'cuda.

But--when no live flyers have been available, I have done pretty well on dead ones--but here is the kicker--every dead flyer with which I have ever been successful, was recently dead enough that its wings still were extended outward. Doug was supposed to plan for a way to spread the wings of our frozen baits out to the side. But noooooooooooooooooooo. (Actually, I have to cut the boy some slack because after all, he did schlep the damned baits all the way from freakin' Florida!) In any case, my point is this: If it is true that YFT are primarily sight feeders, then I would expect that a spread-eagled artificial bait, chunked out in the manner Doug describes, and worked back in--might bet a more effective bait than a dead flyer with it's wings pinioned against its body.

Russ

[SkeeterRonnie]

shove a toothpick through the body to open up the wings. might even have to give the wings a wrap with some copper wire to keep them pinned to the toothpick (never tried it, just what i would try if presented that dilema)

[Uncle Russ]

On dead flyers (not the lures), the wings are too flimsy for the wire, in my opinion--you would have to frap them with floss to do any good, I believe. We had talked about using wire, but having looked more closely at the bait, I don't think it would work. With plastic--yeah, I think a solid support would work fine.

[xs_tackle]

Originally Posted by SkeeterRonnie

shove a toothpick through the body to open up the wings. might even have to give the wings a wrap with some copper wire to keep them pinned to the toothpick (never tried it, just what i would try if presented that dilema)

Well a couple of bamboo skewers from the chinese supermkt, some thin plastic trimmed to the shape of flyer wings and a few staples should do it. Haven't tried the plastic yet; but, the skewers do hold the leading edges of the wings extended. Of course, such a bait is fragile and would fare much better drifted out from the boat rather than cast.

[Uncle Russ]

What the hell do you know about tuna fishing, Jep? You (along with Jerry) only qualify as amberjack experts!

Russ

[etan]

jep is old! He was catching yellowfin at the floaters when the headboats were making their first visits to the floaters. On the Dolphin's first trip to Hoover they ran for 15 hrs to get there and then the rig wouldn't let them fish. They ran another 8 hrs back inshore to bottom fish. I'll bet that was a fun trip!